Challenge Expert Drivers

In reply to admc58:

Only one throttle, manual up front, auto in the back. The rear engine uses a fly-by-wire throttle that we're controlling with a home-grown servo controller, which uses the front engine's throttle position sensor as input. Made a little video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZdnFY0Ev0&feature=plcp

Per Schroeder wrote: I almost want to build an enormous vending machine to dispense the expert drivers in random order to teams that want an expert driver.

You could just have team draw a name when they register.

Hey Alan...had a last second change of heart and will be coming down with last years car (the ScAries K car) without our autocross driving team member, so I will need to enlist an autocross driver this year. Problem is that Barry and I are about 5'8" and 160ish lbs. It has a 15" wide aluminum seat, so anyone much heavier will have trouble. If I remember correctly, you are about my size, yes?

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

I think Pat heard Andy wasn't coming...

FYI, I have been to several autocrosses with Danny Shields present. I think he finished with FTD everytime in his Boxster. He's a damn good driver!

SVreX wrote: I think Pat heard Andy wasn't coming...

You got it backwards....he heard I was coming!

After seeing Steve take a run in my car I think I told him it was worth building the car just to see him drive it. It was.

I'm looking forward to Thursday to see what shows up. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday cleaning up the car. Paint chips, re-painting parts, etc. No interior means I waxed the floor of the car, and the inside of the trunk. Tomorrow I'm planning to do the last of the clean up under the hood, and then start the exterior waxing process. This Sound familiar to anyone... to everyone. :)

AutoXR wrote: Wish we could be there so George could drive the car again, it finally runs on all 4 :( See you all in 2013!

DRAT!

That's too bad, I think we would have a shot @ FTD in your Monster Civic--I LOVE driving that thing!

All of the drivers can pretty much drive anything abt as fast as it can go, after a few cracks @ it, as Steve said.

That being said, I have a real penchant for AWD, as that's what I've campaigned in one form or another since '05 Also, turbo cars are up my alley. . My weakness? True slush-box auto cars, unless they have full manual control.

And Alan--that course we put together last year was the best I've driven @ the Challenges--let's do something similar this year... ;-)

See you all on Fri.

George B

Weird. There was a need for Expert Drivers at the Challenge and my phone never rang.

I've known and driven with both Alan and Steve for many many years, and all of you have to quit giving them a big head!

Seriously though, they are both very fast and I wouldn't care which one drove my car. If you watch them though, they have very different driving styles, but end up in the same place.

I still remember the first time I drove with Alan. I had only been autocrossing a couple of years, and Alan drove my brand new '89 Swift GTi at a small lot in Motlow,TN. While making small talk about how the shifter looked a lot like a woman pleasing object, he damn near set FTD and beat my time by about 4 or 5 seconds on a 35 second course. Very humbling. Oh, and Alan is truly GRM, he has crazy ideas about very odd cars on an hourly basis.

For Steve, his old DSP X1/9, in second gen. suspension form, is still the best autocross car I've ever driven. It might as well have been hardwired to your brain. Yes, it was that good. Not only is Steve a very good driver, he's a suspension guru as well. Trust me, X1/9's do not drive like that, as good as they normally are.

In reply to Pat:

Be very happy to drive your ScAres K. I'm 5'10 & 180 but not too wide in the hips...I'll leave my wallet at home....

Alan

In reply to GTB_ZR1: I too really liked last years course, no real bad spots and a ton of fun on the fast section/s.

I'll be there for course setup.

Alan

spin_out wrote: Steve is awesome in any rear engine car. Just plain fun to watch him drive.

Right, so I now know who to ask to drive my 500ci Cadillic-powered Fiero. And he can then laugh at me for how terribly it drives.

I'd love to hear feedback on the MX-3, def still a work in progress, but all notes will be made with next years KLZE swapped car also being applicable :-)

To all of you builders who let us "Professional Drivers" drive your rides today...a huge thank you for all the fun, thrills and terror;)

Alan

I'd like to thank George for setting a great time in my turbo civic. It looked fast to me. Gonna heat wrap that exhaust for next year and see if I can keep the coolant temps down a little more. That seemed to be the deciding factor in getting a 40.xx time today.

I'd like to thank grm for creating an autox course that required fourth gear. And i'd like to thank myself for creating the world's worst autox car.

Thanks, guys--I had a blast as usual driving some of your creative, creations!

Phil, you Civic T, was very-well turned out & fun to drive. I agree, there was definitely a 40.xx in it (on streeties, no less) if it wasn't getting heat-soaked.

Dan, that little Mazda was also well-done & easy to drive--just get that brake pedal issue resolved to help modulation & boost confidence, and it will be much quicker.

Where were all of my AWD buddies this year--we need to represent!

Good luck to all today @ the strip & have fun!

Thanks George, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's coming back in 2013 with heat wrapped exhaust, hopefully better tires and possibly a relocated radiator if the exhaust wrap doesnt fix it. I intend to be able to hot lap that car without issue. Although, I think I will run 2 of the laps and then let you take the other 3. I figure I should drive the car I built. lol