I have neither raced at Mineral Wells nor in a PCA event, but I am going to try to attend this one. Is anyone else going?
Any hints/suggestions for racing at Mineral Wells or in a PCA event?
Is I-20 to 180 the preferred route there?
Jerrett
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I have neither raced at Mineral Wells nor in a PCA event, but I am going to try to attend this one. Is anyone else going?
Any hints/suggestions for racing at Mineral Wells or in a PCA event?
Is I-20 to 180 the preferred route there?
Jerrett
I may come out if I have my car back, not sure if I will be racing but the drive would be nice.
They are nice folks and laid back...you will have a good time.
Does PCA still have the 'no roll-bar = top up' rule?
NO (pay no attention to my avatar)Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
just wanted to be heard....please drive thru.
I will attempt to get to this one.
Mineral Wells is a fun and interesting place to race. Pay attention to the surface, look for gravel and adjust your line accordingly. Things have been much better since Greg Lee starting using the sweeper out there.
Have fun!:burnrubr:
The Mavs are good people. The AX/TT group likes to have different cars out there. I'll be attending the Saturday Time-Trial event on 6/3. Gotta see if the new FM butterfly brace lives up to it's hype. ;-)
Check the Mav website for directions. Your short description of I20 to 180 is good. You turn left at the outlet mall (on your left) at I believe the second redlight in Mineral Wells. You continue on that road to the 4 way stop and turn left. Turn to the right about 100yds up the road (towards the water tower). The road kinda forks to left near the water tower. You should then be able to see the huge (I mean huge) expanse of asphalt. You will need to check in with registration. Tell them it's you first event and they'll get you someone to walk you through it all.
Now that all said, the Mav's recently changed their format. They seem to be doing all the "offical" runs in the morning and then having fun runs in the afternoon. This has caused some political problems so I hope it's all sorted out so you won't see any of it. They still want to have 8-10 AX runs, but they are trying to keep the offical runs to a low number like SCCA. Something about anyone can get a good time after seeing the course 8 times.
Ignore any bickering over that format change and just enjoy the runs.
Have fun!
Maniac Mitch
What's the drill for signing up?
Well, now it turns out that I can't go, darn it. I will shoot for the PCA event at Bedford next week, though. I have yet to race anywhere but Bedford. Maybe I'll see you all there. Thanks for the info, though.
Mav events can be entered on-line at http://mav.pca.org/Events/AX.asp (click on register on-line link), or at the event site. The on-line registration requires some info about you and your car, but only once, it will remember you for at least a year...probably longer. I register on-line, but I pay at the track instead of using paypal or credit card. That way if something comes up....I'm not out any money.
The link above for the AX portion of the Mav website has other good info on it about AXs and the Time Trials.
HTH,
Maniac Mitch
Here's a link the the course map for the Mav AX on Sunday 6/4 at Mineral Wells. Looks interesting. Someone had a good time with the corner names.
http://mav.pca.org/Autocross/AX20060604.GIF
Maniac Mitch
Looks like I will now be able to go after all. I have my fingers crossed. Perhaps I will see some of you there.
I'm out catch ya'll next time.
Well, I have now completed both my first PCA race and first race at Mineral Wells.
One problem I had was getting the tracked walked. I did not know it would take an hour just to walk one lap! OK, not quite that long, but I was only able to get 1.5 laps in before the drivers meeting. I arrived at 8 and was walking the track by about 8:30, but I guess I needed to arrive sooner. I will keep this on mind next time Anyway, I did not really have a chance to commit my focus points (cones) to memory, so I did not do too well the first three runs. I did better the second two. I also think that running the laps in quick succession did not give me enough time to contemplate the changes I needed to make. On the other hand, everyone out there had these same adversities, so it is just a matter of me learning to better deal with them.
I think Lorin (sp?) was the only other person out there from this board. There was also a guy named Robert with a red STS2 Miata with major ground effects, but I am not sure if he is on this board. As with last weekend at the ER event, Lorin beat me by two seconds. Perhaps I will fare better once I get some better tires and shocks. It is fun to have an opponent (so to speak), though. Lorin, I look forward to a long career of running against you... and any more of your brothers. ;)
The asphalt really did a number on my tires, which is fine with me, since it moves me closure to buying better tires.
I am going to try to make it to the PCA event in Bedford on Sunday, too.
Later,
Jerrett
There are a couple of Lorens, I don't know how to spell it either. one posts all the time (Tailchaser) and one hasnt in a while (lost216). What kind of miata were they in? And you could fix your hair in the sideplates of Robert's wing. ::Curls::
If you were 2 seconds behind TC then you did pretty good in my opinion.
TC is pretty fast:burnrubr:
I feel the same way about the runs being consecutive, I wish there were a chance to get out of the car and make small adjustments for instance once I didnt account for the air heating up and made my tires really slippery (even more so than th ES's already are) if I have a chance to let a few pounds of pressure out it would have helped a lot....but it's all about learning from mistakes and dealing with it the way they run it....I still always have a lot of fun out there.
TC stayed in bed and slept late... You're more likely to see lost216 at PCA events in Mineral Wells. And he's as fast as I am, so ya still did good (if not better).
His Miata was sort of a dark purple and he has a gray beard. I have seen him at every race I have attended.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackzx3_13
Dosen't TC have a greay beard? (ducking)
:clap:Quote:
Originally Posted by Billy Blaze
That's Lorin Stoltz and his zippy 96 MIATA. The other Lauren has a NB with a silver stripe and and doesn't show up to as many AXs as the other Lorin!Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
BTW. I do believe Robert (Red Miata) lurks here but has never posted, he may not want to bring himself down to our level! ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billy Blaze
Billy,
Every Mav AX I've been to, you can pull over out of the mainstream of pre-grid and make quick adjustments. Now don't take more than say, 5 minutes, but bleeding 4 tires 2 lbs shouldn't be an issue. Be careful that if you go back to your gear in the paddock, they don't think you are done for that session, so I would park parallel to my stuff and hustle around what I needed to do, then get back to pre-grid.
At the TT Saturday, we ran 1 warmup + 3 hot, gridded up and did another 1 warmup and 3 hot for the morning session, then did the same thing again in the afternoon. There was plenty of time to make adjustments, or switch student passengers and/or instructors.
Maniac Mitch