Knox Mountain Day 2 results

congrats to everybody who ran the Knox, especially Darren and Farz. I was there and saw both of them run and you couldn't even tell it was their first time running.

BTW it was a sweet scene seeing the AWD lunch the way Farz did.
And remember that RX-7s are superior and you have to watch for them MUHAHAHAHAHA

This might be long and boring so you are warned. =) I had an amazing time. We were working on the car until 2am Friday morning, ran into a few setbacks like lack of suspension and a seat that fit but we managed to get something together eventually. Left Vancouver at noon Friday, Farz got an hour of sleep? Arrived at the mountain around 4ish. It was the first time I've ever seen the hill up close, and I was really intimidated, I remember driving out the grab dinner and looking at the hill, thinking to myself, "I can't believe I'm doing this." First time at the event, we had to figure out what to do registration, tech, etc. Having Tommy pit for us was great. Without him the event wouldn't have gone so smoothly. Anyhow, around 7ish Farz and I walked to hill with Carl and Johnny, I thought seeing the hill from the base was intimidating, but looking off turn 4 is damn scary.

Saturday, first run of the morning. I was so nervous, my heart was pounding really hard, had to keep reminding myself it didn't matter, only a practice run. It was nice having support from others like Pat, Farz and Tommy. Took it easy first run to learn the hill, car was running really rich stuttering all over the place. Car felt really slow. After farz's run we ran into some problems with the brakes, our pedal would almost hit the floor, not very confidence inspiring. Kept that in mind and ran my 1st official run, 2:12. Farz was choked that his first run wouldn't count because it was practice although is was a respectable 2:10.xx, his first official run was a 2:12. I gave up my 2nd run so that we could try and solve the bugs with the car so Farz could get his 2:10. I was so happy he clocked his 2:10, it would have been a shame to give up a run and have him miss his target. Sat evening Farz was adamant he'd get a 2:08 on Sunday.

Sunday, first run up, tires cold thought I'd take it easy. Car felt much stronger, most of the rich stuttering was gone, and new brakes pads stopped much better although we still had bad pedal feel. On Saturday I overheard chickenman give Farz and others some pointers on some of the turns so I ended trying some of them. Turned in a 2:08, I was in disbelief. All friday and Saturday, Farz kept saying "No launching and shift slowy, we need to make sure the car lasts". Of course he does a AWD launch for the crowd and clicks off a 2:06. Wow, I didn't think I'd be able to beat that, but I pushed a little harder second run, pulled in a 2:05.5 bogging the launch. Farz's second run he pulls a 2:03.9, I knew it would be really really tough to match that. My goal was to beat the RX-7 who was sitting in 2nd place. 3rd run, sitting at the line... dumped the clutch at 5grand... bogged it. I was so pissed off, charged into turn 1 too hot trying to make up for the crappy launch and hit the tire wall. Rookie mistake and luckily the car only sustained very minor damage. The intensity of trying to better each others times was so strong we completely forgot about lunch! After Farz clenched 1st in SP2, we realized that we hadn't eaten anything since 7am!

One of best things from Knox was how friendly and supportive everyone was. Even the pre-grid guy was getting into our little battle! He'd give us each a little prep talk "You can't let him beat you! You gotta go for it and take home bragging rights!" It was great having lots of support from everyone, it's truly a "family" event. I'd like to thank Chickenman and Carl for help with the car, Tommy for pitting for us, without him we wouldn't have been able to run at all. Thanks to Gary and Joe for helping us get that stupid 12mm allen lugnut off so we could drive home! And of course Lowell and Tommy from L&R Racing for working into the morning hours to get us to the hill with the racecar. Johnny is right about Knox, once it's over, all you can think about is the work that needs to be done for next year. Hope to see more of you on the hill next year! My goal next year, destroy Johnny's time... bring it Mr. Sandhu!

[ May 22, 2002: Message edited by: BaD KaRmA ]</p>

[G Wellwood]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Phantom:
To answer Greg, the car is geared to run 115 mph, which it never reached...<hr></blockquote>

I guess with everything in life, there are compromizes. I guess to get downforce you have to compromise terminal velocity. To gain good tire life you compromise traction. To gain horsepower you compromise longevity. To gain handling you compromise comfort. To gain an acid trip you compromise brain cells.

I'm glad you all could come up! See you next year!

Greg

[Phantom]

Great event. Record entries. Really impressed by the rookies (Farz and Darren), not only in the driving but also the determination in putting the car in the event when parts were missing and delayed. Impressive result too with the Talon getting third fastest terminal speed up the hill. There were some fast cars there and it was no small accomplishment for the two young guys to post that kind of result. Great driving by Farz and I am sure times will drop for these two young guys in future years

Personally, I would rate my last run as the most exciting ride of my life (and I had more than a few over the years). I pretty well held it WOT after initial turn in at Turn 5 until I blew past all the brake markers at Turn 8. The car had unbelivable brakes and cornering power. To answer Greg, the car is geared to run 115 mph, which it never reached (at Knox or Ioco Hillclimb a few years back). The governing factor is aerodynamic drag which limits the car's top speed to slightly under 100mph with the current power plant. With the CVT keeping the engine at one engine speed at WOT, it gives the impression that the car is not accelerating (which is actually true for the last half of the straights at Knox).

I am happy that all the VCMC drivers kept their cars' shiny side up. Brushing the tire wall is one thing (Johnny and Darren), but putting it on its roof or hitting a tree is a much more serious matter and I am glad it didn't happen.

Great driving from the VCMC guys and thank you for all the support from friends who drove out to spectate as well as all the interests shown on this thread.

Joe

[ May 20, 2002: Message edited by: Phantom ]</p>

I didn't get the event results I wanted but I posted a few pictures and stories about the event on my web site www.solomotorsport.com

Guido

[Bigger is Better]

Hey Guys,

Another great year at Knox, I am pretty sure this is the highest showing that we (VCMC) have ever had at Knox, both as competitors and spectators. It is really great to see the club moving into some of the "bigger" solo I events. Now we just have to get you VCMC spectators to run next year!

I think every VCMC competitor had a good event: Farz and Darren were fabulous in their Talon; I believe Farz set the class record for SP2! (?) Joe had a great event, I don’t know how he has the guts to drive so fast through the corners. Peter Sheck had some problems with the clutch, which held him back. John Hafner had some engine issues but he still managed to run a 1:41.

I was doing well on the first day getting familiar with he hill again, on Sunday for my first run my plan was to run a real aggressive run to feel out a few corners that I felt I could improve (with Chicken's and Cam's help) and it was going pretty good until turn 7 where my new line was faster than I expected and I didn’t brake early enough for turn 8. With a combination of braking too late, lots of rear brake and knowing the car wasn’t going to slow down quick enough to make the corner I decided it was better to go off backwards/sideways than nose first. As I went in sideways my left rear quarter caught the tire wall it sucked the front of the car into the tire wall as well. The hit felt really hard and I was expecting the whole right side of the car to be scrap metal but when I got out of the car only the quarter was pushed in, the rear spoiler was bent and miraculously the front splitter survived the while ordeal. Unfortunately after that I lost my nerve and just geezed it up the hill for my other two runs. (We are going to put the crash video up, forgot to turn on the mic so there is no sound, which is a good thing so you cant hear me screaming like a school girl when I was going to wipe out).

More pictures from Knox HERE

Anyone know where we can get the full event results for Knox weekend?

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Neon Racer:


What's the block they put underneath the car at the start line?
<hr></blockquote>

Since there is a bit of hill at the start line, for cars to be able to let go of the brakes at the start and work on the clutch and gas, they both the block behind the car, so it doesn't roll down.

I lied.. All the pics are now up. Have fun!

Special thanks to HyperREV for the pics.

what did i tell ya? the multimedia is now up.

HyperREV sent me some awesome pics, and I'll put those up tomorrow.. err today... tonight even.

[Neon Racer]

Congrats to all the participants - looks like it was a lot of fun!

Congrats to Farz on placing FIRST in his class, and Darren taking home Third. Excellent first time out!

I'm just cleaning up a little right now, and I'll have the multimedia section up before sunrise

[Neon Racer]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by VCMC Membership:
Video clips are up too.. Phil will put up appropiate links on our multimedia page, for now go http://www.vcmc.ca/videos/knox<hr></blockquote>

Again, nice videos...cool shots with the radar gun.

What's the block they put underneath the car at the start line?

Hmm...noticed that beside Chris's Neon, there was another white one (non ACR or Sport too)

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Neon Racer:
Nice pictures!

A few questions - what happened to the white Mustang? And what happened to Johnny's car? (sporting the ground effects kit I may add

And that car that's on the side of the hill - who was that?<hr></blockquote>

Curtis's white mustang clipped a pole and the right rear wheel assembly is dead.

Johnny spun out @ turn 7/8, did little damage to the rear spoiler and fender, was still able to run after the incident.

The silver Rx-7 spun out @ turn 3, 2 huge rocks stopped it from rolling down the cliff. -as seen in the picture. Don't know the driver.

Congrat to Farz for his excellent NOVICE performance, and Joe scraped off 8/9 seconds in the last run! These guys have BALLS