Thread: Oscar
View Single Post
Old 04-21-2021, 01:24 PM   #6
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
Quote:
Originally Posted by John V View Post
I'm a broken record on this, but we could still use FedEx if the region put some effort into negotiating with the management there. But for too many years the SCCA leadership just rolled over and accepted what price increases FedEx demanded, so the club is in a bad position with the reduced numbers mandated by the county as a result of COVID.

Summit Point has said they're going to make improvements to the pad as Clyde noted, but I'm not holding my breath. The site as it exists now is IMO not suitable for much of anything bigger than karts. It was not fun in the RX-8 when I did a test event last year (it's also like ice when it's wet). Summit is already making money off of multiple clubs using that pad, so why improve it? Also, even if it's fully paved it'll still be pretty damned small.


For those that haven't been, both FedEx and Washington Circuit at the same scale. They use the same colors for paddock, grid, and course. At FedEx, we had two grids int he same two places at every event. At Washington Circuit, there will be one grid at each event, but it could be at either end with the other end available for course space.

If the entire Washington Circuity was turned into a pad, there's nearly as much available square footage available for course, but in a less useful shape.

Fully paved, I think the pad could be fine. Filling the pad doesn't help the paddock or grid challenges, though.

For reference, the grass area between paddock and course is a hill with reasonably steep grading that, should it be paved, may help with paddock space, but no one wants to paddock on a hill that steep. It would be tricky to incorporate as course area as well since the transitions would have to be careful managed and you would quickly run out of margin since paddock would be downhill and it would totally suck for a car to roll downhill into paddock.

There's also a path visible between course and paddock. As it stands, that's not usable to move competition cars, but if improved that could open some more options if we're willing to have a hot transit area through paddock.

As it stands, it's marginal at best. Course layout options are limited because of the grassy areas. The pavement is usable, but not great or grippy. They have drift events on the site that apparently put peanut oil down which works against us. It's generally better than Rosecroft, but not as good as Ripken (maybe even not as good as Six Flags). I'd rather go to Summit for this than that high school in Manassass where NCC held some events a few times.

As-is, I don't think I'll be going if it looks like rain. Kevin doesn't plan to bring Oscar if we think it will be wet and I have no interest in suffering the Camaro there in the wet.

Quote:
Back on topic, SP cars are rad. It's a shame the category isn't more popular because in my opinion they're about the most fun you can have at an autocross. CSP and DSP in particular are a blast because the cars make so much less power than the available grip. It's positively bonkers driving a good SP car. Many elements where you think you should be braking can be negotiated with a lift or a breathe off the loud pedal. Elements where you think you should lift can be taken at WOT. There's nothing like it.
Sunday was the first time I'd run a non-Street class car in many years. It didn't seem like there was that much grip (see above). OTOH, Sunday was the first time I'd run a non-Street class car in many years and I may not have known how much more grip there was.

Going around the far skidpad was a good exercise in riding the line and the g readings were not that impressive. There was probably more to use in transition areas than I used because there was never a point where I turned the wheel and the front tires said, "nah." Some issues with turning the wheel and the rear end immediately screaming "Let's go for a rideeee!!!!" looseness, which may have been compounded by an ill advised lift or brake brush, but that can probably tuned or learned out.

I'm looking forward to running Oscar in NJ and Lincoln next month.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	washington circuit v fedex.jpg
Views:	500
Size:	307.9 KB
ID:	13382  
__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote