 |
President's
Message
|
 --by Bill Dally, GGR
President
Finding the
line
As an autocross instructor I often see a student
who is pushing their car very hard, driving right at the limit,
having a great time - but not getting a low time. The problem,
of course, is that they have cranked up their speed without first
finding the right line. The line here refers to the exact path
a car takes through an autocross or road course and the right line
is the one that gets the car through the course in the least amount
of time. To drive well, you must first find the right line,
and only then start dialing up the speed to the point where your car
control skills find their limits. The driver who keeps pushing
without backing off and finding the line will ultimately find
themselves frustrated when they see that people who clearly aren't
driving as fast (or at least not sliding the rear end out as much)
are getting lower times.
Finding the right line is more of an
issue in autocross. Our road courses don't change and so over
the course of time there is general agreement as to what the right
line is on a road course for a particular type of car and you can
find course guides and videos that demonstrate driving the right
line (and even discussing the few popular variants - do you double
apex turn 2 - at Laguna or Thunderhill?). Each autocross,
however, is a new course and a new line to be found. For a few
courses it is a challenge to just find a legal line - that doesn't
result in a DNF (did not finish) - but for most courses the
challenge is to find the fastest line.
The fastest line is
rarely the shortest path around a course. Rather its is the
path that widens the turns in a manner that allows the car to carry
the most speed through critical parts of the course - and in
particular enables the car to carry the most speed into the longer
straights where the higher velocity is integrated over a
considerable distance.
On some courses the right line is
pretty obvious. These courses tend to have individual turns
separated by straights. The right line consists of starting at
the outside of every turn, getting as close to the apex cone as you
can without knocking it over or out of the box, and then
accelerating out of the turn using all of the available room.
The free variable here is where you apex the turn (where you get the
closest to the inside edge of the turn). If there is room left
over at the exit - apex earlier - if you have to back off the
throttle at the exit - apex later.
The harder courses are
ones where turns are linked together so that a fast line around one
turn requires sacrificing the turn before or after. Optional
slaloms (where the direction you pass the first cone is optional)
can also complicate finding the right line. Leaving the first
cone to the left may favor entering the slalom while leaving it to
the right favors exiting the slalom. You need to figure out
which is strategically more important.
Find the right line at
an autocross - as in life - involves planning, foresight,
reflection, and experience. The planning process starts with
the course walk in the morning. As you walk the course, do two
things. First, draw a map. This will help fix the course
in your mind and will also give you something to refer to later in
the reflection stage. Second envision your car negotiating
each feature (turn, slalom, or gate) and decide (a) where to turn
in, (b) at what point you apex the turn, (c) where you exit, and (d)
where you should be looking. It may help to number the
features and write down these four points (at least where they are
non obvious) for each feature. It sometimes helps to turn
around and look backward through a feature to see if the path that
seemed very smooth forward looks as good backward.
Foresight
comes in when you drive the course. The single thing you can
do to improve your line is to look ahead. Many "line problems"
stem from a driver fixating on the current feature - I've got to hit
this apex - and then upon arriving at the feature looking up and
realizing that the car is not pointed in the right direction to get
to the next feature. This can be avoided by always looking one
or two features ahead. Once you turn in, ignore the apex and
look to the exit. As you approach the apex look past the exit
to the next turn. For linked turns you may even be looking to
the exit of the next turn or the one after that. Looking ahead
causes your brain to compute a smooth path to the point you are
looking at. Driving to one point and then looking up to the
next point results in a jerky - and slow - connect the dots
path.
Reflection is what you do between your runs and during
your rest period. In addition to socializing, drive the course
over in your mind - and critique your line. Look at your map
and find the longest straights. Are you getting the fastest
launch into them? What could you do on the turns before the
straights to carry more speed on exit. Go through each feature
and ask yourself if your line could be improved. Make
some notes on your map about what to do differently next time.
You will quickly find that driving the course a few times in your
head is almost as good as taking a lap in the car.
Experience
takes two forms: your own and others. As you become more
experienced yourself you will start to see the right line without
thinking about it as much. At the same time, you can learn
from the experience of others. Watch the lines that the top
drivers take and ask them why they are taking a particular
approach. Ask to take a ride with them (if they are an
instructor) or to have them ride along with you and critique your
line. Under their mentorship you will wind up learning a lot
faster than if you left it to trial and error.
Most of
what I have said above about finding the right line on an autocross
course applies to life as much as it does to driving. Instead
of the turns, slaloms, and apexes of an autocross course, in life we
deal with decisions, jobs, and relationships. While completely
different, the same principles of planning, foresight, reflection,
and experience apply. I see many friends who are working very
hard but not getting to where they want to be. To avoid their
trap, back off on the speed a bit and find the right line.
Start with planning - draw up a "map" with goals, decision points,
and options. As you execute your plan, look ahead - just like
on the course - to see the effects of a decision a few months - or
years - down the road. Take time to reflect (odd how
working too hard can interfere with this). Periodically
revisit your map and update it. Critique your own
decisions. And finally, take advantage of the experience of
others. Cultivate a few mentors whose experience can help you
progress faster than you could on your own. Pretty soon
you will see your times coming down - and goals being
achieved.
Finding the right line is also an issue for the
club. We (the club) need to make decisions about how to evolve
our existing time-trial and autocross series. Our long running
debate on time-trial safety rules and our search for a long-term
autocross site are examples of the issues we face. We also
need to plan new types of events and find ways of better serving the
needs of our evolving membership. In addition to the four
points above, to find the right line as a club, we also need two
things from you the members. First, we need your ideas.
If you have feedback on our existing events or ideas for new events
or services, please contact me (at ggrpresident@gmail.com) or the
board (ggr-board@pca-ggr.org).
Second, we need your help. We are an all volunteer
organization. Get involved. You will find that its
rewarding and a great way to get to know some great people.
Bill |
  |
Letter from
the Editor
|
--by John Celona, Nugget
Editor
May Be a Late
Nugget
My apologies if this month's Nugget arrives in
your inbox a bit later than you're used to. Work has been rather
busy lately. I'm actually writing this on an airplane, but,
unfortunately, actually putting the Nugget together requires
Internet access to the service's web based tools. Possibly I could
risk turning on my wireless card without crashing the plane, but
there's far too much tread remaining on my tires to risk it.
What! No
Historian?
My call for a GGR Historian last month
appears to have fallen on deaf (busy?) ears. A few folks volunteered
to make their back issues of the Nugget available for the purpose of
creating an electronic archive of them, and thanks very much to
those folks for stepping forward.
Perhaps a clarification
would help. I used the term "GGR Historian" only because that term
appears in the GGR Redbook, which is the repository of all the club
history and procedures we are trying not to lose track of.
However, we presently have and are only considering one
task: taking the lead in creating an electronic archive of back
issues of The Nugget. After that task is completed, the lucky
candidate can have their name recorded in that same Redbook for all
posterity and enjoy an early retirement party.
For some
number of years going back, assembling the electronic archive will
only require assembling PDF versions of The Nugget which already
exist but are not all in one place. At some point, scanning old
issues in paper form would be required. It is an open question (on
which the candidate may certainly opine!) how much and in what
manner to undertake scanning. An easy, cheap solution would be
attractive. Too much time and money would argue against taking that
road. Yes, the club is prepared to provide some financial support
for this task, and, no, how much has not been decided.
There
are two reasons for trying to get a complete, electronic Nugget
archive. First, we have hopes of obviating the need for GGR's rented
storage area, which is currently costing the club $1,200 per year.
Although we've not yet entirely excavated the storage area, we
expect that back issues of The Nugget will be a large part of what's
there.
Second, our super new webmaster Paul Larson advises
that enormous storage is available at low cost with our new web site
hosting service. He further promises to put at least some of the
back issue online. Members would then have the opportunity to peruse
back issues at their leisure. As the monthly column by our nefarious
past editor Jim Bauman shows, more than a few yucks and escaped
bargains are lurking there.
Sadly, of course, success in
this project might raise a question about the continued vitality of
Mr. Bauman's column. Not to worry. I have complete confidence in his
editorial ability to extract the "nuggets" each month and save
readers the trouble.
If you're interested, do email me and, as always, thanks
for reading.
John
|
  |
| Competition
Corner |
 --by Dan
Thompson, Competition Director
All righty folks. Spring
is now officially here and it is time to drag your garage queen out
and participate in one of GGR's many competitive events. Our
first AX of the 2008 season was a success. We are back at
Alameda Point, albeit at a new site. We are on runway 725,
which is very long and very narrow. For those of you that came
out to the first AX of the season, thank you for
participating. It was a bit wet and cool in the early morning,
but by 10am or so it was nice a dry, with a party sunny sky.
There has been some discussion about the course, I will take
all the responsibility for your enjoyment or lack thereof. It is
just an AX and the next one will be different. It was the
first time any of us had actually set foot on the venue and we
weren't sure what we would have. Expect all the courses for
now, to be similar, although a bit less twisty. We should be
purchasing a new wireless timing system, with a repeater. This
will enable us to do a long one way course, giving us the entire
200' width to make a very enjoyable, less twisty, course. Don't
forget our next AX will be at Alameda on April 12, make sure to come
out and give it a try, or at least come out and watch and say
hello to some friends.
Our next Time Trial will be at
Thunderhill on April 18, 19 and 20th. Yes, that is right,
THREE days of track driving. Should be a fun long
weekend.
On the "rules" front, there should be a
Technical Bulletin issued in the next week or so concerning the big
subject of the off season. Yes, we should finally have a
closure to the Seats/Belts/Harness situation for DE and TT
cars. Stay tuned. PCA National has approved Minimum TT
Standards that were proposed and pushed thru by our very own Larry
Sharp. Thank you Larry for seeing this issue thru to it's
completion. As soon as the GGR Board has had time to discuss these
new standards we should be able to finally put this to rest for this
season.
OK, weather is getting nice so get out and drive that
Porsche.
Dan |
 |
February Membership
Report
|
--by Jeff Kost,
Membership Director
Total
Members: 2523
Primary:
1477
Affiliate:
1045
Life:
1
New Members:
24
Transfers In:
33
Transfers Out:
2
New
Members
|
Laurie & Kurt
Delimon |
|
San
Jose |
|
Jason & Evelyn
Derderian |
San
Francisco |
2005 Boxster
|
|
Eric
Ebbel |
Hillsborough |
1968
912 |
|
Charles
Faulk |
Redwood
City |
1984
911 |
|
Robert
Faust |
Redwood
City |
1977 911 Turbo
|
|
Nina
Feero |
Half Moon
Bay |
|
|
Bruno & Becki
Filice |
Foster
City |
2002 996 TT
|
|
Jason &
Jocelyne Gardner |
Oakland |
2007 997 C4S
|
|
David & Susan
Haase |
Moss
Beach |
2004 Carrera 4S
|
|
Jeffrey
Harris |
Los
Altos |
1985
911 |
|
David
Harrison |
San
Francisco |
2006 911 C4S
|
|
Dennis
Jacobson |
Clayton |
2001 Boxster
|
|
Vivek
Jain |
Cupertino |
2008 911 Turbo
|
|
Candace
Kirsch |
Redwood
City |
|
|
Noel
Lara |
San
Carlos |
|
|
Derek
Lee |
San
Francisco |
2008
911 |
|
James
Lee |
Orinda |
2007 Cayman S
|
|
Julian
Lighton |
Portola
Valley |
2008 911 4s
|
|
Stuart &
Caroline Marshall |
Los
Gatos |
2005 Boxster
|
|
Nils
Mattisson |
Mountain
View |
2002 Boxster
|
|
Todd
Mckenna |
San
Francisco |
2003 Carrera 4S
|
|
Scot
Plewacki |
San
Francisco |
1987
911 |
|
James
Stubbe |
San
Jose |
|
|
Victor & Loren
Viegas |
Atherton |
2004
911 |
|
Marvin
Weitz |
Santa
Clara |
1982 911 SC
|
|
James
Yee |
San
Jose |
2004 911 GT3
|
|
Paul
Yeh |
Sunnyvale |
2008
911 |
|
Jeff
Yu |
San
Jose |
|
Anniversaries
40
Years
|
Richard
Wallace |
Los
Altos |
1987 944s
|
20
Years
|
Stanmore
Cooper |
San
Francisco |
1970
914 |
15
Years
10
Years
|
Thomas
Ahlberg |
Greenbrae |
1996 993 TT
|
|
Jim
Montalbano |
Montara |
1998
911 |
|
Doug
Ostler |
Alamo |
1997
986 |
|
Pamela
Reitman |
San
Francisco |
|
|
Dietrich
Schulze |
Pleasanton |
1991
944 |
|
Debbi
Waterstone |
Los
Gatos |
|
5
Years
|
Dan
Child |
Half Moon
Bay |
1999
996 |
|
David
Chune |
San
Francisco |
1984
911 |
|
Thomas
Dinkel |
San
Francisco |
1967 911 Coupe
|
|
Tyler
Gage |
Orinda |
|
|
David
Ledford |
Fairfield |
1982 911 SC
|
|
Lisa
Murad |
San
Ramon |
|
|
Tracy
Paugh |
Belmont |
|
|
Roger
Peacock |
Bolinas |
1987 911 Carrera
|
|
Bev
Prowell |
Lafayette |
|
|
Mary
Stanton |
Alameda |
|
|
Annette
Stringos |
Hamburg |
|
|
Ron
Wong |
San
Carlos |
2003 Boxster Ca
|
|
Charkene
Xuereb-Yovino |
Union
City |
|
|
Rick
Zobelein |
San
Mateo |
2003
911 |
|
Paul
Goldman |
Redwood
City |
1973
914 |
|
Alex
Kilgo |
San
Francisco |
1991 C2 Turbo
|
|
Jean-Francois
Vincent |
Cupertino |
2000 Boxster
| |
 |
|
