tourbillon001

as the title says this is kinda of a silly dilemma with no real consequences
but here it is.

There is a PCA autocross on sunday. My PCA region does an autocross once a month and rewards points at each autocross to crown a Champion at the end of the season.

Points are rewarded as follows
1st place 9 points
2nd Place 6 points
3rd Place 4 points
4th place 3 points
5th place 2 points
6th place 1 point

We are two autocrosses in and my point total is ZERO LOL. In all fairness I have not attended either of the events this year. The current leader in my class has actually won both autocrosses so he is sitting on 18 points. There will be 11 more autocrosses this year, so his lead is not impossible to over come.

I want to win the over all championship and I believe my odds are very good as long as I attend all the rest of the events. My dilemma is that I have a GTR this weekend and I'm actually thinking of taking that car to the autocross just because I won't have the option to do so later on. The rules do no allow you to run two cars because when you are not driving you should be helping on the autocross course. If I take the GTR i would be competing in the open class and not scoring any points for the S4 class that is made up of 911's, 911s, Turbo's, GT3, and GT2 that are showroom stock.

I'm actually leaning toward taking the GTR because I would actually really like to post the best time overall for the event and I think the GTR gives me a better chance. Love it or hate it, the GTR is both faster than my car and much easier to drive at the limit.

So the question is do I take my 911S and go for points or do I take the GTR and go for over all glory.

I look forward to your answers

Cheers
Matthew

Macster

If at the end of the season and you come up short on points, will the memory of driving the GTR this session make up for not winning the overall championship?

I thought not.

Go for points!

Oh, suggest your competitors, the points leaders, skip the points race and drive a non-points car. In fact, offer to let them drive your GTR.

Sincerely,

Macster.

tourbillon001

This is an awesome plan LOL. He is not exactly driving a slouch. His car is a very nice GT3

mdrums

I doubt you'll post fad test time in a gtr against Danny Shields in his Boxster S....but go for it have fun and post up the results.

tourbillon001

you would most likely be correct....... but I have a trick up my sleeve and guarantee I'll post a better time than Danny this sunday, because he has another commitment and won't be there

I think Danny could take out a Yugo and still post FTD.

Danny is one of the nicest guys you will meet, hes the type of guy who would give you all the right info to beat him, but actually doing it is a different story. His absence is actually one of the reasons for my dilemma because if he was going to be there I would just bring the Porsche and worry about winning my class.

tourbillon001

I am running a completely stock car.

alexb76

WHO CARES about points, etc... TAKE THE CAR and attend the event that YOU ENJOY THE MOST! If you were in F1, the it's all about points, but I think you probably enjoy tracking and hence enjoyment factor must be #1 IMO!

PS. It's a REALLY SILLY dilemma!

mdrums

Yep Danny is awesome....your trick is too funny! I wish I was going to be there to hang with you and I thought about going.... but I've been traveling so much and doing track days that this is a 1st weekend my wife and I've been home together in a month...so.....

Go have fun, let us know which car you took and the lap times. I still think for an AutoX and knowing the usual Suncoast tight set up's that the Porsche might be a better choice

tourbillon001

and its actually not really what I want to do. I'm taking the GTR, but only because there is an issue with the 911. I had new rubber put on the rear and I'm not sure exactly what is wrong but there is a major disconnect from the front to the rear. The car feels dangerously unstable and there is a brake issue upon turn in. Not being all that mechanically inclined I'm not even going to try to diagnose the problem but it was not present before the rims and tires were taken off the car, so I can only imagine it has something to do with that.

It will go to Porsche on monday and the GTR and I will do our best.

Mike in CA

Odd that your region doesn't allow for driving 2 cars. We have to work when our group isn't running too, but since there are both morning and afternoon sessions, and multiple runs within each session, there is plenty of opportunity if someone wants to do a fun run in one car, or drive someone elses car, and then run for points in another. Doing that doesn't interfere with work responsibilites in any way.

Also, you may be surprised at the GTR's performance on a tight autocross course as opposed to a road course. A very competent driver in our region brought his GTR and Porsche 996 GT2 to an event last year. The GTR was like a bull in a china shop and couldn't crack the top 10 while the older GT2 did much better. Will be interested to hear of your results. Good luck.

tourbillon001

be exactly like a bull in a china shop, and had actually decided to take my 911 but as stated above, I had new rubber put on today and it has caused a stability issue. So I have no choice, I'm going to try to ride the bull.

speaking of riding the bull I took my Gallardo and my 911 to the last one and did exactly what you said and ran booth. I was much faster in the 911. Some of that could have been my reluctance to push the G and my willingness to beat on my 911. It was just a total pain in the rear to run two cars in the same session and once I was in the hunt for class win and close to best of the day I just put the pretty but slow lambo away

mdrums

Tourb, how did it go today? I almost came up for the event...but stayed with the wife and took her to eat.

tourbillon001

As for today's results I'm afraid I let you guys down. I was a serial cone killer. The GTR was like a bull in a very small china shop. It was almost comical at how many cones I killed, but each run my lap times were coming down as I was collecting cones. On my last run of the first session I decided to do something different, not hit any cones. I ran a 47.1 which put me second over all. First over all was a state champion auto crosser sitting on 45.6

The second session started and my cone killing ways commenced although this time I just kept killing the same single cone over and over again. My times were 46 flats but then you had to add 2 seconds for that pesky cone. The state champion was kind enough to tell me to just slow down and run a clean run and my time would be great. So on my final run of the session I took his advice, slowed down, accelerated less, braked more and avoided all cones. My run felt so slow............ but I was met with lots of thumbs up as I was parking. I thought they were just happy I had not crushed the time equipment, it turns I had put up a 44.9 best of the day so far. Unfortunately this prompted Cory the state champ to switch from his street tires to R compounds which resulted in a 43.8


So I finished the day second over all with the fastest time on street tires. I think with another session I could have found more time but not enough to over come R compounds or the impovements that he surely would have made as well.

As for next time I'll be in the 911 trying be kinder to cones

mdrums

Yep autox is is all about being smooth and precise....if you over drive the car and jerk it around you will not be succesful at AutoX or track driving.

Same thing happens on the track when you do a smoother lap and it feels slow you will find that it is one of your fastest laps.

I enjoy AutoX myself but when you are ready to come out to Sebring for a DE let me know and I'll be happy to be your coach for the day.

utkinpol

smoother is faster all the way, but it is kinda tricky as 'smooth' does not mean 'slow'. proper balance between entrance speed, exit speed and traveling distance is all it takes to get best time but to get there, to the level where you just 'feel' what to do is not easy at all.

i am surprised GTR with all its electronics that should theoretically prevent sliding allows fast AX times as at AX you will pretty much slide all the way across the course, I cannot make my car be competitive with PSM on ever as it interferes all the way and I thought GTR is even worse in regard of those electronics. But still it is probably way more about a driver than about a car and that is where AX really rules as it levels the field pretty much nevermind what cars you get out there.