Quote:
Originally Posted by Imp
What's your benchmarK? You talk about being off pace... don't say pax. Please. Week to week, weather, conditions, minor setup changes will change your time vs someone elses time in a different class. So the 1st thing you have to stop doing is comparing yourself to other classes (*if you are).
Second, week to week, you may not be driving the course the same as someone else. I've had courses where I've driven certain elements exactly the same way that I walked them in the morning. Come to find out, that wasn't the fast way though after talking to others. So you could be driving what I call "a different course". And because courses change week to week, you may not even think that it's your driving, but try to blame the car (again... guilty and learned from it) because last event, and next event, you may be driving similar lines to everyone else.
It's a head game. What I'm saying is don't get wrapped up into what others are doing (unless you think it can help, like course elements - but then again, that's still up to you). Can you ride with others? I'm not calling you a novice, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we think we are doing right, sometimes we need to see that we missed something, so a ride out with someone else could help bring that to light.
Lastly, AWD to RWD is a hoot. I went from my STX wagon to a BS RX8 from '04-'05. Come to find out, I (at the time) drove my AWD wagon like a RWD car, and had it set up like that too, so the transition wasn't that hard. But having someone that went from AWD set up with a penchant for FWD driving inputs (which it can also do)? Yikes!  AWD does mask some driving skills, especially with grippy tires... where you can just lift, turn and mash to rotate and power out. Requires a little more finesse with RWD.
--kC |
I'm definitely not benchmarking on PAX. I have a few friends that are regularly beating me in PAX now that are giving me a hard time, but I let them have their fun and am not worried about that.
My benchmark is against my fellow SSC competitors (we've been averaging 5-7 locally) and myself. There have been a couple events where I didn't even have to look at the other SSC times to know I was off pace. I'm just having trouble placing the car where I want sometimes and I'm going back and forth between understeer and oversteer (within the same run). I'm sure most of it is on me, but I honestly don't remember struggling with this kind of inconsistency when I competed with the twins in 2012 - 2016.
Like I said, I'll just keep at it and thankfully we have a good local SSC group where we can share ideas and feedback. Your idea about riding in other cars is good one, and maybe some of us SSC guys can trade cars for Seat Time Only runs.
Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.