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Left: The man lifts used for filming were in the middle of the course, out of the way. Right: The world's biggest video screen, recently added to TMS
They had video camera stations and Man Lifts set-up inside the course, and the layout had one crossover, but it made for a much bigger layout. If you look at the map in my previous post they had a LARGE area for the autocross to run in, much bigger than Goodguys used the week before. This is where SCCA normally has the paddock when they do the TMS Road Course autocross events, and it was BIG. There were a few "gotcha" sections the designer put in there, trying to make it challenging, but nothing that someone with 25+ years of autocross experience couldn't see past, heh.
Event Results: http://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us...dds-four-more/
Left: The Autocross course was overlooked by the Optima Prime trailer. Right: Dennis Pittsenbarger was announcer all weekend
There was a slight delay while some timer issues were worked out. The USCA folks had a brand new timing system, but the wireless lights were apparently interfering with another signal. The Texas Region SCCA folks working the course and instructing helped them diagnose the issue and it was found that the 3+ TV cameras around this course were stepping on the signal for the lights, so they fixed that after a bit. Before they did Jimi Day sent our group to go make one run on the speed stop course, while they fixed the issue. I'll talk about that in the next segment. Also, the weather was super sketchy. Rain was in the forecast (not if but when) and the temps had fallen, with winds whipping up all day. You'll notice dark clouds in many of the Saturday pictures, and that's what we ran under all day - a constant threat of rain.
Once the Autocross course finally went hot around 10 am I got in a fast first run. I was lucky to have Amy, Kyle and Jason spotting on the course, listening for times, and helping with tire pressures and getting me ready before each run. I made a few more good runs in the first session by the time we were told to switch events with the "Even" group. At that time I was temporarily in the lead for the Autocross. We came back to this area 3 or 4 different times that day, and I quickly found out that my early leading times had fallen. I was in the low 43 second zone in the morning but the big gun drivers were already in the 42s and Brian Hobaugh was in the 41s. Yikes! I stepped up my driving and worked the tires hard, trying to maximize rear grip.
The rear tires became the limiting factor in everything on the autocross course that day. Yes, even with 335s on the back the car struggled to put the power down from this stock Coyote 5.0 (433 whp SAE). I was pushing the car to the edge of the cones, and picked up more than a few cone penalties that day (often just stepping on the cone bases, which is verboten in USCA). The event announcer (Dennis Pittsenbarger) was noticing my quick-ish times but was quick to also point out my penchant for cone penalties, and dubbed me
The Conekiller, heh. He had nick names for lots of people, like "Cookie Monster" for Jon Miller - who had won a big bag of cookies in the Poker Run - and "Five Eights" for Marc Sherrin. He kept all of us informed as well as entertained all day, standing atop Optima Prime announcing.
I earned the Conekiller name, of course, but luckily this wasn't a "3 and done" sort of event. I kept making autocross laps until I could get a faster time clean. Then I'd push in another area and run until I had it clean and faster. Rinse, repeat. Over the day I made close to 20 autocross runs - more than most but less than a few. I worked my way into the 42s, then the high 41s. At one point I had a 41.7 second run but that wasn't good enough for the win, as Hobaugh had his orange Camaro down to a 40.900 second run. Brian Finch and Kyle Tucker both had 41.7 times a hair quicker than mine, so I was in 4th. I didn't think I could catch Hobaugh but was so close to Finch and Tucker that I kept making runs, looking for a tenth...
Side note: everyone was supposed to stop in a stop box after the autocross Finish timers, but I quickly noticed that most of the Pro drivers blew that off, as it wasn't manned like the stop box in the Speed Stop event. I kept killing my brakes to try to make that stop box, and it was TOUGH. But the new Ford Racing M-2353-CA" ABS/TC module worked brilliantly and our Mustang was definitely stopping well, considering the hefty weight it was carrying. All of the weirdness I've noticed when autocrossing on street tires was gone - with this ABS module I could go from wheelspin into full ABS braking without it missing a beat. It never once let me down all day - success!
Left: Our latest ballast weight rack, now with MCS remote reservoirs installed. Right: Our Mustang on the autocross course
We had the TT3 ballast plates removed (above) but the Mustang still pushed 3550 pounds, then add another 200 pounds for me. Many of these top Pro drivers were in purpose built muscle cars and were much closer to 3000 pounds, which was the class minimum weight for the "GT3" class - the class we cared about.
Towards the early afternoon, after we had stopped for a lunch break and got going again, I was making autocross runs and the the fuel level got very low on the Mustang. I was parked in grid at the autocross course, strapped into the harness and ready to pull up for another run, so I asked Jason and Amy to go back to the trailer and grab the fuel jugs then get them filled at a nearby gas station with 93 octane. There were no active fuel pumps at TMS that day, but the gas station was about a mile away. I would keep making runs while they were getting fuel.
Strangely they arrived back to the paddock with a 5 gallon fuel jug and dumped that into the tank while I was strapped in. I figured they found a competitor with some 93 octane and would replenish that next, but I asked them "Where did you get that fuel?" They said, "It was in our trailer". "Uhh.... that's not one of
our fuel jugs. You need to find out what you just poured into the car, please."
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