Fastest time of day on very old tires

[mwizard]

Here is a link to the Top official time of the day for todays ESCA event. http://youtu.be/3PymGp1tYz4. I post this because I bested it in the afternoon by .8 sec on tires that have 147 runs on them! I have been using Goat P softened tires for 38 runs for a total of 146 runs on current tires and I am very pleased that they are still working well! I am going for 2 more events this coming wkend on the same tires.
I creates another convert by letting another driver try my car(he drives an MGB with a V8) and afterwards he was saying his wife was going to be mad at me.
Mark

[mwizard]

Ok, got beat by an old(and well set up) Corvette today by 0.3 sec. Finished up with 168 runs on the tires. Maybe they could be revived with more Goat P, but I am satisfied with almost 50 extra runs. In 2 weeks I will have data from new tires to compare.
315 views with no comments? Did I do something wildly inappropriate here?
Mark

[mikey]

nothing inappropriate, but .. since you asked.. If others viewed based on the title of your post (as I did originally), there might have been some assumption that this was a story about a great accomplishment. I'm glad you're having great fun in your race car, but there's no comparison to the other types of vehicles at the event when you're in a formula car. In the absence of other formula cars, you'll always crush the competition.

Not throwing stones, I'm guilty of taking my FE to my local Corvette club autocross in the past, even knowing nobody else would be in a formula car. I did it for the seat time though and can't claim any great accomplishment for my FTD, which was also accomplished on useless old tires at the time, beating a national champ driver and his C6 Z06 by more than 4 seconds. This on a course that was not particularly tight and setup to favor high power Corvettes on a generous runway course at 40+ seconds in length.

Keep getting out there and get all the seat time you can. Running cheap old tires at autocross is great to improve your reaction to over/under steer. Post the video links, we all like those too. Just remain humble that you had a decided advantage in vehicle choice compared to everyone else there.

cheers

[mwizard]

Mikey,
Thanks for the reply. I think the great accomplishment in my post was how well the old tires worked. I realize that a FF at many autocross events is like taking a gun to a knife fight and I pointed out TTOD as evidence that the tires still worked as well as that I picked the right car to get in this position.
You are right that I need to get more seat time and it is nice to get it with 1/3 more runs on the tires.
I hope some of you make it to the Crows Landing Tour and Pro out here in CA for some serious competition.
Mark

[Brian]

I think the point was that you don't actually know how well the tires worked because you didn't compare them back to back with any other tire, let alone an optimized new or scuffed tire setup. On the other hand, on a grins for dollar basis you may well have found your optimized setup!

Brian

[Stan Clayton]

What I'm curious about is where you source the goat pee...

[formulasuper]

What I'm curious about is where you source the goat pee...

Exactly! And how long do I soak them?

[Jim Garry]

The stuff works. Just don't breathe it or let it touch your skin.

[mwizard]

What I'm curious about is where you source the goat pee...

Thor Oil Tire Prep #5 Goat P. Can't find the original order, but here is the phone # for Thor Oil 610-582-7211.
Mark

[mwizard]

Exactly! And how long do I soak them?

First time I spread it on the tire tread area and let it dry for maybe 1 hr and then a 2nd coat and then wrapped it in plastic for 24 hr on way to an event. I also adjusted my rear bar about 1 in stiffer and did not have to re adjust it softer for the almost 50 extra runs. I never got the usual oversteer as tires age.
Mark

[stonebridge20]

The stuff works. Just don't breathe it or let it touch your skin.

Having grown up on a farm, I was taught that at an early age. Pretty universal to most farm animal piss .

[formulasuper]

What I'm curious about is where you source the goat pee...

Now you know.

[jim murphy]

The one time that I tried goat pee the smell got into my clothes and forced me to move the coated tires out of my basement garage as my wife started screaming about how bad the whole house smelled. I had to strip down before she would let me come up the stairs - the clothes had to be bagged up and trashed. Thankfully, it was warm as I had to open up all the windows in the house to air it out - tough to do when you are almost naked!!

I have been using Formula V Traction Treatment ever since - not as powerful as goat pee but it does not smell no where nearly as bad - still can't let it get on your clothes as it permanently stains.

Jim

[TedV]

Jim,
Thank you for not posting pictures as evidence of your goat pee experience. The described visuals are bad enough.

[stonebridge20]

The one time that I tried goat pee the smell got into my clothes

Jim

A poncho for yourself and some rope for the goat and you should be good to go.

[mwizard]

Ok, today we got 1 and 2 best times by more than 1 sec on new tires. I am certain the new tires worked better, but not so much that I will forgo Goat P this time. The 50 extra runs were great for my autoX budget. Video from today. They used every cone they own for this set up
http://youtu.be/XnWet36yM9c
Mark

[chrisw52]

Ok, today we got 1 and 2 best times by more than 1 sec on new tires. I am certain the new tires worked better, but not so much that I will forgo Goat P this time. The 50 extra runs were great for my autoX budget. Video from today. They used every cone they own for this set up
http://youtu.be/XnWet36yM9c
Mark

that would have been a gymkhana course for me. I would have been using reverse in that tight stuff..

[Lynn]

The course designer should be kicked in the genitals.

[Dick R.]

The course designer should be kicked in the genitals.

Actually, the "walls of cones" courses are a long time San Francisco area tradition and well liked, at least in the old days, by the locals. The pre SCCA rules defined the course with the white lines and the cones were to help find the lines. When the MANY SF area autocrossers who went to Nationals and WON we had to learn how to drive gated courses.

Dick
SF area autocrosser from 1975 - 1986 when I moved to Raleigh.

[chrisw52]

Actually, the "walls of cones" courses are a long time San Francisco area tradition and well liked, at least in the old days, by the locals. The pre SCCA rules defined the course with the white lines and the cones were to help find the lines. When the MANY SF area autocrossers who went to Nationals and WON we had to learn how to drive gated courses.

Dick
SF area autocrosser from 1975 - 1986 when I moved to Raleigh.

Problem is Dick, that the wall of cones these days are used to keep the drifter contingent who keeps showing up to our local events.

These drifter wanna-be's keep slowing down the event because they suck at drifting and keep knocking down half the course each time they run, hence the narrow sea of cones.

A few of them are pretty good, and I enjoy watching them, but the majority of them just suck at driving much less drifting.

[Barry Ott]

Hey Mark, how old are the tires when you put the GP on them? Are you putting it on between each event or just one time?

Thanks,
Barry

[mwizard]

Hey Mark, how old are the tires when you put the GP on them? Are you putting it on between each event or just one time?

Thanks,
Barry

Barry, I started at 120 runs with a double application. It seemed to work best if I used it every other event which worked out to about every 2 weeks. Every week was too much.
Mark

[Barry Ott]

Cool, thanks! I'm curious, what did the tires do when you used it for each event?

[jim murphy]

Too many cones on course, especially whole "walls" are a real pain to set back up when someone messes up - they don't hit just one or two, they hit 5 to 10 and this inevitably causes the red flag to come out and more re-runs makes the day a whole lot longer and the course workers more worn out. National HQ has promised to not allow too many cones on future national courses for these very reasons.

Any bad drifters get tossed for dangerous driving on course. This is NOT the point of Solo competition.

Jim

[mwizard]

Cool, thanks! I'm curious, what did the tires do when you used it for each event?

The first run they felt squirmy, the 2nd, ok and the 3rd TTOD.
Mark

[mwizard]

I have my own opinions about the course; too many cones is one of them, but in order to not get in trouble and because I do not volunteer to design courses, I will sit on the rest of them.
Mark

[Barry Ott]

The first run they felt squirmy, the 2nd, ok and the 3rd TTOD.
Mark

Thanks Mark!