4 the wussies that missed the Autox

[aggie97]

I should have some video up by morning of the three of us that actually showed. Weather was Awesome and there wasn't a drop of water on the tarmac.

As for the course, let's just say it was F-A-S-T!!! I hit the 6500 rpm rev limiter in 3rd gear on the back stretch and that should be about 104mph......UNHEARD of on an Auto x!!!!

Had a great time and the turn out was small but we still took all day. I did finally hit a cone and spun the car for the first time. Tried doing my best impression of a WRC rally driver and "almost" had it.

Here are three links that are already up and i will add more later. They are big, about 22 meg each. As always right click and save as. And turn up the sound!!!! Trust me, you'll love it. I have been looping the first 5 seconds of mattr1.mpg for about 15 minutes......

I lucked out and had great light and a skilled camera man on my vids, thanks Darren. I however need to work on my camera skills and I apologize to Darren and John......who I lost for about 20 seconds in the trees. Damn dark cars!!


www.aggie97.com/mattr1.mpg First run
www.aggie97.com/mattr2.mpg First Spin ever....it was fun!


Ok, let's see what these do for bandwidth damage.....these should be back up already but may go down again.

[Nick]

that looks fun as hell

[Darren M]

Hay Chris, err I mean Matt. Thanks a ton for the vids!!! Not to mention the ride. I forgot how much fun it was to ride co-pilot during these events. I too had a very un-normal day yesterday. I didn't spin at all. That's quite odd for me, I'm usually pushing too hard during the first or second run and then relax for the 3 or 4.


Oh and by the way Nick, it's more fun than that!! Unfortunately I don't have a video to digital convertor otherwise I'd post my in car pics. Matt the drift showed you was nothing compared to later action. Talk about a busy steering wheel.

See you guys next season if not sooner. Next one in March right??? Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to pick up some race tires by then!!!

[Darren M]

Awww c'mon Matt, post the spin!!!! That was some awesome smoke!

[Darren M]

Matt, those are some cool vids. What's even cooler is I can watch the inside shots as well. We're going to have to fab up some kind of camera mount for your car and trade camera's everynow and then. When you go to buy the actual mount for the camera let me know as mine simply is the shizzle dizzle. It's abit pricey, 50 to 60 bucks, but works at all angles and is strong enough to hold my big camera up at a 90* angle. Thanks again for the vids. March can't come soon enough.

[32VfromHell]

yeah......i sorta woke up at noon, whoops! :(


I had the car gasses up and the route planned out and everything :(

[aggie97]

Originally posted by 32VfromHell
yeah......i sorta woke up at noon, whoops! :(


I had the car gasses up and the route planned out and everything :(

You could have still come out and watched!!! You would have had a shorter drive than I did home......

As for the camera mount, I think a cage is in my future. Just a 4 point for now and I can add to it later if need be. That will allow me to mount my harnesses and a camera mount. I would love to post of some video of the sweeper on the back side from the inside of the car. Accelerating from about 35 mph upto 70-80 through a series of left-right-left boxes and then a sweeping left turn upto 100mph and then slamming on the brakes for a 30 mph corner while driving on the edge of gravel and grass of no man's land. That would have been cool.

Time for brakes, cage and R-compounds on some new Race wheels......Vette's beware!!!

[aggie97]

HOLY SHIT.....I just checked my site stats for bandwidth and there have been 3.6 gig of downloads on these videos since 10pm last night!!!!

I might have to take them off line later tonight as I am getting close to my quota and need some cushion for my other stuff.......

All those down loads and no comments....?

Now wonder Autox isn't as popular as drag racing!!!!

[juiced93coupe]

man, that looks fuggin FUN!

[Darren M]

Sorry Matt. I've posted on another board where I came from. Theirs at least 20 guys there that have seen you spin. ;)

[aggie97]

Originally posted by AcidPete
Sorry Matt. I've posted on another board where I came from. Theirs at least 20 guys there that have seen you spin. ;)

It wasn't that spectacular was it? In my defense, the paving at that corner sucked regardless of my heal/toe downshifting abilities!!!;)

What is the site so I can go see what you guys are saying behind my back.....:D

[aggie97]

Sorry Gang, ran out of bandwidth. 6 gig in 24hrs.....not bad. That was supposed to be my monthly allottment!!!! Guess I won't post the spin next time!:D

[JohnTheAggie]

So does that mean I will have to wait a month to see my video? :mad: ;)

[ozzeran]

SHIT! I missed out on the videos, damnit.

[PeeWeeC5]

Damnit... I wanna see the vids..:mad:

[Darren M]

I'll see if I can snag some bandwidth from a few buddies of mine. If so I'll post the links here.

[aggie97]

Well, I can buy more bandwidth but what they charge, I could burn CDs and mail them to about 10 people cheaper. Let me see what I can work out and I will try and reopen one or two of the videos.


I am sure there is someone on here that could host them as well.

I will update later.

[Beej]

cheap ass, could not even look at the video. Dont you have a job. :D

[aggie97]

Originally posted by Beej
cheap ass, could not even look at the video. Dont you have a job. :D

Ok, went back to the two important videos....for Me anyways!! Bandwidth is coming.

I can email or give link to other videos of those who were there....John, PM me and I will give you a link to your video....it turned out OK?

Go back to the top for the links.

[aggie97]

Hey Darren, I was going to ask you. how did my car feel when you were riding along? I know I missed a couple of downshifts but what I was wondering was if you could tell if the car was bouncing too much or bottoming out any. You have been doing this alot longer than I have and was going to ask what your overall impression was during the ride.....power, braking and handling. I know you can't tell too much from the passenger seat but any input would be helpful to see what I need to do next with the suspension.......if anything. It seems to work pretty well now but I think some wider and stickier tires are definitely in order........not the bald ass KDW's that didn't hook worth a crap.

I am thinking that I am going to do the brakes and atleast a 4pt cage over the off season so I can feel safer once the added power comes back. with another 50 hp at the wheels, I am sure the brakes are going to be a BIG necessity as things will be moving alot faster. The cage is mostly for safety since I got the harnesses now. Gotta protect my brain bucket!!!!

I am also looking at the Koenig Villans 17x9's with Victoracers or the 555rII's. They are much cheaper than the hoosiers and should last the entire season if I rotate them. I just want to see how the class rules are going to be setup for next season. I hope it will be based on displacement and not tire selection......We will rule the 5.0 liter and under class!!!!

Thanks in advance.

[Darren M]

By no means am I an expert at this stuff so take this as opinion NOT FACT. However, as far as over all feel. You're car felt real good. Not as tight as mine, but like you said that 6 point cage makes a huge difference. What I noticed most was the traction. I think your torque arm REALLY helped w/ the hook. I'm currently looking at adding such an arm to my setup. That and the brakes. I have yet to dive into my brake problems but I'm almost 100% sure that I've boiled my brake fluid and that cuased some serious problems during those runs. When you go to do your brake mods let me know as I'll probably be interested in your old pads, rotors etc. I doubt I have enough cash anytime soon to get my brakes upgraded so any donor parts from upgrades are more than welcome! ;)
Over all the power and cornering was by far superior to mine, however you must start driving with both hands on the wheel and get off that shifter. :eek: You look cool but I'd be willing to bet you'll spin because of it. ;) Also, I'm working on building some cheap brake cooling ducts this winter. If you're interested we can compare notes when I'm done and see if we can make 2 sets.


So what was your take on my car? The last run w/ you in it was by far the fastest and best run of mine for the day so hopefully it was a bit boring but fast.

[aggie97]

Yeah, driving with one hand is going to be a very hard habit to break. As for brakes, mine aren't as good as they used to be. I too think I have boiled the fluid and need to replace all the brake fluid AND get stainless lines. From what I understand, the stainless lines and fresh fluid will make a car brake totally different. That doesn't change the fact that the brakes will fade, but will change the feel. My next step is to work on getting the pedals fixed so I can heel/toe better. I think I have it figured out and it won't take 20 minutes to do so next time I should be braking even later and smoother.

On your car, after looking at the videos and riding in it, I think there are two things I would look into. More negative camber and possibly raising the suspension. Watching the video of some of the fast corners it seemed as though the car may have been porpoising or bottoming out some. Maybe that big ass swaybar on my car made a difference.

I think the seat will help a bunch too by keeping you planted during the drive.

It's kind of funny.....I have been going home at night and watching my videos over and over trying to figure out how the hell that Z06 was 5.96 seconds faster!!!!! Not to mention I have been getting a kick out of watching them on my bigscreen and home stereo......I just love the way it sounds now!!!

[32VfromHell]

when i got stainless lines, it definately made the braking threshold more "textured" i guess, you could feel and judge a little better with it.


im MOSTLY a two handed driver, but ocassionally i will catch myself taking something with a hand on the shifter :mad:


Definately NOT what you want in a chicane, thats for sure.

[aggie97]

Originally posted by 32VfromHell


Definately NOT what you want in a chicane, thats for sure.

Actually, I used to have the problem of steering one handed and getting tossed around in the car prior to the new seat and 5pt but now even in the chicanes we had this last weekend I had no problem controlling the car.....besides, upper body strength has helped in muscling the car around up to now. If we could find a way to get Darren's in car video up, you would be able to see what we were doing on the back sides of the course with the high speed left-right-left combo and then just how hard we were braking into the north backstretch for a low speed chicane and just how much lateral distance was being covered between turns. In the off season, i am going to try and fab up an incar mount. Maybe even get a 4pt cage.

I know when I finally do a driving school, they are going to ride my ass about one handed driving. I have tried to relearn with two hands driving around town but I just feel so awkward not having my hand on the gear shift.:( All the years I have been getting flogged around in unsupportive seats I have used the center armrest as a boltster to hold myself in the seat. It is just going to take some time.

I am going nuts sitting here waiting for the club to post results so I know how I did. There was a small turnout compared to normal and I think I did real well in my class this time but we shall see.

[aggie97]

Here are the results from Saturday I got 6th, Johntheaggie got 8th and Acid Pete got 9th. Considering the first 5 cars combos......we did pretty good.


Class: 'Y' Total Entries: 14 Time Diff. From 1st
1T 2002 Chevy Corvette 73.844 - - Z06 on R compounds
2T 2004 Subaru WRX STI 76.315 Traction?
3T 1992 Chevrolet Camaro 76.510 AXing for about 8 years on victoracers.
4T 1987 Mazda RX7 Turbo II 78.131 Whored out race car on slicks
5T 2000 Chevy Corvette 79.470 C5 on Toyo race tires
6 2000 Ford Mustang GT 79.819 Me on street tires
7 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo 80.883 Season Champ on Victoracers
8 2002 Mustang GT 80.886 John on street tires
9 2000 Ford Mustang 81.251 Darren on Street tires.
10 2003 Mazda Protege 83.610 On R compound tires
11 2000 Chevrolet Corvette Torch Red 84.410
12 1999 Dodge Dakota 85.578 This was with 2 cone penalty!!
13 1987 Mazda RX7 Turbo II 89.074
14 1994 Acura Legend 3.2L 96.125

All in all the mustangs did VERY well considering the competition.

Good Job guys.

[JohnTheAggie]

I don't remember Nathan having his red MR2 out there on Sat. I saw him out there, just not his car.

You will be seeing a lot of this beast next year (probably from this angle too):
http://www.dfwstangs.net/hosting/JohnTheAggie/90gt.jpg