Thanks for the pictures Jeff. Woulda said by if I knew you weren't sticking around for the afternoon.
Not that many care, but here is my post event meditation food for thought crazy insane rambling. Buckle up.
Short version (
TLDR) at the bottom.
For those of you who remember my first rallycross post, I basically was the suckiest of the suck that day.
Here's the link:
http://www.mainelysubarus.com/forums/showthread.php?8790-RallyX-in-Lyman-ME-10-17-FYI&p=130376&viewfull=1#post130376
I took a lot from that event. I had no idea what I was doing and just floundering around most of the day. Oddly similar to my first autocross. The good news is, you can get better; I already proved that with autocross. The first rallycross had RezPunk shouting at me "UNWIND THE WHEEL, COUNTERSTEER QUICKER" again and again. I could have swore I heard him shouting at me at this event. After finishing the first event and coming in dead last due to my ham fisting the car into cones and off courses, it was time to take a step back and figure out how to get better.
Mr. RezPunk told me about the concepts before, so it was time to expand upon what I knew. I spent some time reading up on dirt driving techniques in order to understand the concepts. Then I youtubed some rallycross and rally videos to watch how the drivers position everything (hands, feet) when and where. The idea is to emulate people better than you along with developing your own technique and understanding. It worked for me for autocross (Shorty and RedForester08 can vouch for me on that front
)
So a few things I had sorted out in my head and broke down into Facts, Major Goals, and Minor Goals.
Facts
- I am way too much up in my own head. Simple things like a passenger or hitting a cone can throw EVERYTHING off.
- I understand the concepts, I need to work on applying and practicing them.
- Cumulative Cumulative Cumulative. Rallycross is cumulative. There are no throw away runs.
- They will change the course. DON'T FOLLOW THE RUTS JACKASS.
Major Goals
- Navigate the course in a clean, consistent manner is #1
- Left foot brake all day. #2
- Trail Braking practice #3
Minor Goals
- Get the car home
- Don't come in dead last
- Don't die
Going over it all. I am waaaaayyyy to up in my own head. I can psych myself up and be an unstoppable juggernaut, or I can do the opposite and pooch every run. Rallycross has more consequences than autocross so this becomes infinitely more important. Passengers absolutely screw me up. I don't know why, but I just perform worse. No one wanted to ride with me (captain slow) and I was alright with that. Windows up,
WBACH on, Happy state entered.
I got to the event and after Kathy greeted me and handed me my numbers, it was time to get the tires on the car and teched. After dragging my feet doing all this, it was drivers meeting time. This causes an issue. No time to walk the course. In autocross, not walking the course and walking the apex's absolutely effs you for the day. For rallycross, this helps because they're just going to change the damn thing on you anyways.
First run. Line up straight. Windows up. Waved. Go. First. Second. Shift right foot over on gas. Shift left foot over to brake. First cone approaches. Turn. Car turns around cone. Next big turn approaches. Turn in early, apply left foot to dive the front so you can turn. etc etc all day.
Second run. Course changes. Proceed as before. Drive the cones not the ruts. Hit one Tree. Bad news bears.
But Mr 2point5RS_Dan. There are no trees at rallycross you are dumb and crazy and have no idea what you are talking about.
At the winter rallycross at the farm, I spent the day not only spectating, but learning as much as I can riding with as many people as I could. RezPunk explained to me that he looks at the course as cones are the equivalent to hitting a tree in stage rally and off course is like totaling out the car and dying (or something like that). I took this seriously and it makes sense both in the learning to drive sense and in the cumulative nature that is rallycross. If this were scored like autocross, you can get away with showing up nuts swinging and managing to scrape together a good run (works better if you know the techniques).
Morning went smooth. First run clean. Left foot braking habits established and understood, polishing of that shall commence. Run two lead to a cone. I could have said durp durp oh well just a cone and moved on; but I actually want to learn to get better, so rewind and breaking it down. Managed to hit the first corner and plant the front. This gave confidence and lead into a straight that turns onto the track. Confidence = more go fast pedal. Turn onto the silt track part at faster speed. A gate shift to the left was set up in order to slow people down. Funny, I'm going faster. Crunch goes mr gate cone. Didn't set up for the gate due to not leading ahead enough.
Lunch time. BK run with RezDog. Fuel up. Hydrate up. Sleep in the car till we start running again.
Afternoon goes smooth and I consistently practice the techniques, slowly get faster, avoid getting lost, and hit no more cones. Day ends. 6th out of 8. I'm happy with that. Especially considering who was ahead of me. I would have come in 7th, but I kept my runs clean and the guy behind me didn't. There was a 13 second gap between me and 5th place. This. Is. Huge. I've got some work to do.
Future plans are to continue practicing the skills and to slowly increase speed at events without getting sloppy. Get more sleep and less booze the night before events (yeah right).
If you read all this, Congratulations, you have a glimpse at what it takes to become a better driver, or just think I'm bat-**** insane. Getting better at driving is infinitely better than parking hard.
Thanks to Kathy, NER.org, RezDog, the fay-uh people, and everyone else.
TLDR
Practiced techniques, kept it clean, placed where I wanted and met my goals for the day.
Questions Comments Suggestions accepted as always. Mr 2point5RS_Dan is available for Co-Driving, social events, and telling you how to drive better/spend your money for you. See stores for details.
I smashed it up....only got 1 foglight now :-( Oh well, life goes on!
