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Originally Posted by MikeK
Dean is still the king ... he drove my car today for just 3 runs, all with a passeneger and he beat my best time out of my 12 runs. Well done Dean, and thanks for the pointers.
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Thanks Mike. You are all driving so much better, your cars are so much better prepared, and you have been kicking my STX butt all season... I was afraid the old fart had lost his touch...
I actually worked with both Sue and Mike this afternoon, 3 runs each with them driving first, so I could watch, and then alternating 3 runs ending with them.
The things I noticed in both cases are the same things I have to remind myself about and what I usually forget under the pressure of 3 runs at national events. I encourage everyone to think about these before you walk(Mostly #1), and before each run...
1. Am I using the whole course? If my car is not less than 12 inches from turn in, apex, and track out cones or points, I am throwing away tenths.
2. Am I looking around the corners and through the slaloms (Eyes up), or am I only looking up when I'm done braking, or past the first cone in a slalom?
3. Are my hand and foot motions smooth? It may require turning in earlier but slower, and braking earlier, but in the end it will be faster. And don't forget the gas. If I do #1&2 right, I can start adding gas as I smoothly unwind the wheel.
Mike is way more aggresive in his car than I am, but in a couple places, while he was fighting to miss track out cones as the car pushed towards them, I was already unwinding the wheel and on the gas. If you combined the best of what he was doing with the best of what I was doing, there was probaby another 4-5 tenths left in the car or a low 48, possibly a high 47.
While Sue is smooth, she was not using all the track, forcing her to go much slower through the corners, and in 2 places grab a gear where at least in one, it probaby wasn't necessary, and the upshift cost her time.
The last thing I'll mention for now is picking the right "open" corners to be fast in. Today, the key corner on the outbound run the 2nd right headed toward the chicane gates. I saw many people fast though the first left before it, but in most case, those people pushed out to the right side of the course pinching their entrance to the right hander and forcing them to lift to get through it. This cost them tenths all the way to the brake/lift point in the chicane.
Oh, and Miatas are still a blast to drive. They are no STI, but Sue's bone stock '01 is still one of the best balanced cars I have ever driven, and incrediably easy to control at the limit.