Hey Everyone,

What did you think about the May 15th event?

Please share your feedback with us.

Thanks,

Denise

Overall, another well-run event. I certainly had a fun time, though I'd like to offer the following observations.

The course had a few sections that were a bit too narrow and tight -- especially that pinch near the end. Wide cars with fat tires didn't have an easy a time as the smaller cars.

The slalom sections were a good challenge, though I'd like to see fewer of them. My daily driver/weekend racer has a lot of body roll and it really came out during the runs. This must have caught others out -- what with all the spins we witnessed on Sunday.

Finally, the track surface didn't seem to have as much grip as at Homestead. I don't know if it was because of dust or of my tires turning brittle with age. Anyone else see the drop in grip level or what PSI were you running?

For the next race, I'd like to put my reservation in for Work Station #3. I saw a lot of action there and it never got dull. And with the impending rainy season, it's only gonna get more exciting!



ZR-18

Hi ZSpeedRated,

Thanks for your comments!

Regarding your comments about the course, thanks for sharing your feedback with us. I am always amazed at the different perceptions everyone has of the course. Believe it or not, I had comments about the course being too wide open / the gates too far apart. So, that is pretty interesting that you felt they were too narrow. I am just curious, what kind of car do you drive?

As for working station #3, if you come speak to me at the next event, I will do my best to assign you to that workstation. No guarantees, but I will try.

Thanks again for coming out.

As for the rest of the rest of you who usually comment on the events, where are you guys? Come on, tell us what you think !

Denise

I thought the event went well, lots of students from sat. very happy with the results. Any students out-there? Please give us feedback from the things covered in the school v.s. putting it in action at the event.

On a side note, it was funny setting the course up on sat. I wanted to remove a slalom, and Brad didn't. Funny, I thought he really hated slaloms... guess he learned to like them at the school?

Anyways, the courses we can set-up at that lot are very limited. I would love to get some more space to create a different course. Everyone thinks I can only design courses with lots of slaloms, if I had more space I would not do so many of them. I would like to see some fast lane changes, and some sweeping corners, but not 90's or 180's. I tend to favor courses that have a lot of flow to them... great for anything small and underpowered... like a CP car, oops, did I say that out loud?

DJ.

Who the hell said it was too wide?! The only part of the course that came close to being "wide" was that 90-degree right turn at Station #3. But, you really need that room to whip your car's rear-end around, and plenty of people were powersliding all the way to the edge there.

I normally drive my Camaro and Corvette at venues like Sebring, Moroso and the Homestead-Miami infield road course. So, when I saw that big cone smack in the middle of the lane and that tight right pinch at the end, I knew there was gonna be little room for error. In fact, I feared that the wind-whoosh of my car would've knocked down some cones.

Finally, does anyone have tips on negotiating those pesky slaloms? Are you just supposed to coast thru them; or do you apply a steady bit of throttle; or do you use a combination of aggressive braking-turning-accelerating to get past 'em?



ZR-18

p.s. The awards presentation is a great part of these events. I was in a club that raced on real & famous tracks; but you never really got anything for your $250 entry fee. No trophy, no timing your progress; no real competition with the other drivers.

Just out of curiosity how badly torn up is that other lot that we drive through to enter the horse track? I know ER used to use it a long time ago. I spoke to Carl briefly about it, but I have never actually walked it. Can something be done there to work around the damaged areas?

As for Sunday's course, I thought it was challenging even for us small car guys-- the decreasing slaloms and braking zones seemed to claim most people on their first run. Overall it was another great event and I am glad to see that four runs is starting to become the norm at ER events!

I liked the event --------I liked the course---
EXCEPT---for that freakin BIG a ss cone in the middle of the key west box
BECAUSE I HIT IT! (on my best run)

I hated those workers that tried to slow you down at the end of the course---

BEFORE YOU FINISHED -----there were crazy course workers gesturing like Hare Krishnas for you to slow down------almost as if they were holding a red flag, but they werent----GOTTA REMEMBER--screw em ! Scare the crap out of them-----
I actually paid attention to one of those goofballs on one of my runs.......

I want feedback on this point which has absolutely nothing to do with the event...

Ok here goes---when someone calls (my wife's girlfriend--platonic)---
I answer the phone and say "HELLO" she says either no hello just "Is Judy there ?"
or "Hello is Judy there"-----this woman knows it is me answering the phone, and has known me for 18 years---shouldn't she say "Hello David---this is Ellen is Judy there"------I finally told her the correct way to talk on the phone today---and she blew up and told me to go "screw myself"

My opinion was that she is calling my house----she doesn't have to like me----
but she needs to have proper telephone manners----

Opinions ? (seriously)------there is a history there with her husband----but if she calls my house to talk to my wife she should have proper telephone manners !
So I put my foot down-----screw me----indeed !

BTW--------
Who was that **** suck ing mother ******* scum bag in the silver
vette----you guys know the "big a ss dufus in those spaztic a ss glasses"
WELL IF I FIND STUPID SON of Bitch-------I am going to kick his a ss !

Oh wait----strike that last part---

JUST REALIZED THE A SS in the Vette with Black glasses is me !

MOD EDIT: Lets keep it PG-13 Namhel....

You might want to coast through a shrinking slalom where the paces between the cones get less. You apply steady gas in an evenly spaced slalom so to keep the same speed you enter it with when you leave it. You never, ever ever ever ever, want to accelerate-brake-turn from one cone to another. It is not a drag race from one cone to another. BTW, that is how I first drove slaloms five years ago. I'm glad to say, I feel much better now.

In an evenly spaced slalom (common everywhere except some crazy local events) you want to drive it ahead of the cones, tight to the cones and with smooth throttle. Ahead of the cones means turning for the next cone by the time you clear the cone you are on. This is called turning early and what it does is give you more room to maneuver in the space between the cones. You want to be tight on the cones because the more room you give them the more you have to turn back. If you give the cones an extra foot when you pass them, your line is two feet wider so you are turning the wheel harder and the course is getting longer. Also, the more you turn the wheel the less traction you have available so your speed is slower through the slalom. You want to give steady throttle because you scrub off speed going side to side like that so you have to maintain the speed. The reason you also want smooth gas is that you are in a highly transitional maneuver so being jerky with the gas makes an already unstable situation even worse.

A shrinking slalom, you may coast through or apply less gas but you still want to turn early and be tight. An increasing slalom you accelerate harder and still be tight and early. Anything else I miss?

If you check the thread for the last event we were kind of run out of town for trying to give suggestions. So i wouldn't be surprised if you don't see as many comments as it might just be a waste of finger strength.

Funny, I thought the opposite, this venue has a ton more grip than homestead. All I do @ homestead is slide around and light up my inner tire (no LSD).
I have a ton more confidence to throw the car around here for some reason, I have yet to feel comfortable @ homestead.
Though the trees @ hialeah are a scary proposition if you loose it.
The first runs, I kinda took it easy in the slaloms as I saw a ton of cars loose it.
The funny thing is that the previous day, at the school we ran the slaloms backwards and felt totally different.

As far as venues, on Sat for the school, I took a different route as NW74th st was closed. I came thru E32nd street and noticed just west of the parking lot we use, a huge lot, and very clean. The one we come in is in pretty bad shape.
Not sure why we cannot use that one.
It resembles the old zoo venue.

The problem with the other lots are the pot holes and pavement changes. Back in 92, that lot was starting to go bad, we had to setup courses around the holes. 10 years later, south florida sun/weather has made that lot even worse.

If someone wants to donate a pavement maker (or some way to fix the pavement), I'm sure Hialeah would be open to this. But since I've not seen where the owner of Harddrives or someone high up in DOT showing up to events, I don't think we will see this fixed.

I share your pain, I would love to go to a larger, more rectangular lot (using the access road as the pits), but it's just not going to happen without some serious money. Hialeah is still just barely alive, and I'm thankful to them for each day we do get to race there.

A side note: The lot as we enter Hialeah was home to SFSCA's "Double Trouble". That, to me, was the original Pro Solo runs. As you can see, that lot is totally destroyed.

Carl

Overall I think the event was run very well and it went very smoothly. I guess having only 131 drivers compared to the last few events (176 last month) makes things go faster as well. Hialeah is not my favorite venue as I like the course designs better at Homestead and I do think I have more grip there also. I am driving a 05 Sti on Kumho victos by the way. I know there is only a limited amount of room to work with at Hialeah, but the last two events have been just up and back in my opinion. They are smooth and fast (I got into 3rd twice), but I would have liked to see something a bit different. I still had a good time, but that damn shrinking slalom threw me off balance.