It is time for my comeback... 2000-2500lb cornerweighed 3/S and 1000hp motor

**Erron Spalsbury** · 02-28-2012, 12:49 PM

Seat time, seat time, seat time.
At every race I see guys with lesser cars stomp guys with high end rockets. It's occasionally the parts, it's hardly the build, it's usually the guy that can drive whatever car to the limit and keep it there lap after lap. Seen Tommy's Rabbit? He'll keep pace in all of the glory of a 8K dollar build.

We need to go turn laps in Chumpy. That'll give you a good idea where you sit on the butt-o-meter and level of comfort. As a reference, Ray vs. Kenny at HPR in Chumpy for testing. Ray, a seasoned auto crosser and time trialer in an MR2, a low powered squirrley ass heavy car. Kenny, a drag racer with years of experience in 2K HP cars. Ray was 7 seconds per lap faster. Each had 2 hours in the car.

What I'm honestly saying (as a friend) is don't show up expecting to win, that never works, especially for me. Show up with a plan to have fun and do your best. Winning is just the perk of your best being better than everyone elses.

As our friend Ron the pro-rally racer says, (who waded up an UK EVO7 a few months after he bought it) "Just remember, it's not a question of "if" it's a question of "when". Can you walk away?".

I hate it when he says that....LOL

**anyonebutme** · 02-28-2012, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by Erron Spalsbury

Seat time, seat time, seat time.

Truth. Same also goes for staying on cheap street tires for as long as possible. Nothing teaches extracting the most out of a car like not enough traction (and power, not having it teaches momentum conservation). Way too many people jump to r-comps or HP too soon and develop bad habits because the tires/engine hide their mistakes and poor driving, until they get slaughtered by another driver with the same or less prepped car. Also, plan for at least the first year just being shakedown and figuring out the car, setup is such a bitch going in "cold" with little data.

**J. Fast** · 02-28-2012, 11:51 PM

Yup true story. When I went thru FAASST Performance driving school at Pueblo Motorsports Park I wasn't allowed to touch the brakes. I had to learn how to conserve energy and maintain momentum which was awkward for me at first. If you can imagine how hard it is to not hit the brakes when approaching a corner at speed it just feels awkward because it's the absolute opposite of common sense. Trust me when I say your instincts tell you otherwise and it's a hard instinct and habit to overcome. I wanted to tap the brakes but after getting bombarded with "no" and "you're doing it wrong, try again" it finally soaked in and my lines actually started overlapping. Believe it or not coasting and relying on the tires and suspension resulted in very fast lap times and the most consistent times for me. I shaved almost 4 seconds off my lap times when I coasted vs. drag racing and braking at each corner so Judy's course was a great learning experience for me. On my last lap day with Judy I was actually 1/2 second faster than my instructor, Jake, and he was running in his FAASST STI with Bilsteins on comp slicks. I was running in a stock 3/S at 14 psi with Tein lowering springs and Dunlop Direzzas. It took me almost 400 laps of training before it clicked and stuck.

That was over 10,000 logged laps ago for me at PMP Err. The first year CO3S came back when I started trying to rebuild it with everyone we had 6 meets at PMP. I logged over 3000 laps there that year.

Just last week when we went to the Unser Racing Experience, I was sitting in the lobby and perfectly content with watching the crew run. I swear it Tom insisted I drive, I didn't want to. I was actually just hanging with Alli and Landon in the observation room looking at the track. I said "no thanks"! Well, Tom ended up paying for me to lap. First time on the track never seen it before in my life. The racing officials literally did a 1/2hr crash course safety brief and walkthrough with me; I got suited up and hit the track.

I started in the last car as the field was waiting on me to finish up... My race result card reads. Position by best Lap time... Lap 1 J. Fast, Lap 2, J. Fast, Lap 3, J. Fast.... LOL for the whole race (except for lap 4 when someone wrecked out and caused a full course yellow. At the top of my card it reads "Ranked 326 of 97025 racers, racer since 2/12/2012, 1st visit, and 1st race. My second visit card reads... Ranked 16 out of 97342 racers, racer since 2/12/2012, 2nd visit, 2nd race...

On the other side of that there's something called talent and instinct. You ever seen a pro snowboarder or skier get pounced on by someone with 1/3 of the experience and training? Maybe play tennis or racquetball with someone who does it every day, and not having played in years you pick up a raquet and proceed to just whoop their ass and wipe the floor with them? Maybe you know someone who smokes two packs a day and drinks a sixer everyday and he could stand up and run a marathon and not do a single bit of training? Lesson learned, some people have to train and practice to do certain things, for others it just comes naturally and because of their instinct and god given natural talent no amount of training can replace it. The only way to defeat them is to wait for them to lose interest, age out, or make a mistake.

Not saying I'm that guy or anything like that, just saying there's guys like that out there. I don't need seat time bro, I'm a pit guy remember. That drivin stuff, I sub that out

**anyonebutme** · 02-29-2012, 12:00 AM

Does that mean I should insert my resume to be the driver?

**J. Fast** · 02-29-2012, 12:04 AM

The car is for hire, actually! I was going to Nav... and have Ron or Erron drive. But certainly needs a driver.

**green-lantern** · 02-29-2012, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by anyonebutme

Does that mean I should insert my resume to be the driver?

**Erron Spalsbury** · 02-29-2012, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by J. Fast

The car is for hire, actually! I was going to Nav... and have Ron or Erron drive. But certainly needs a driver.

What? Awe man, drive your own car. I'm starting to lose sight as what the car is for? I thought we were building you a car that you can come and race with us in. This is about having fun, not all build-y, techno, super theory crazy, let's go have fun!!