Vintage video footage of the Nurburging

Over the past year, it seems every car magazine has had a story on how you can drive your own car on Germany’s Nurburgring racetrack. They all mentioned how the majority of the racetrack is actually a toll road and you can take a lap around it for only 16 Euros (about $22.19 USD currently). Every story also mentioned the pro-driven BMW Ring Taxis that you can reserve. It was pretty boring how each story was pretty much the same.

I figured there had to be more interesting Nurburgring stuff out there. I mean, it is one of the most famous racetracks in the world. And I was right. This video was made from home movies taken by a spectator watching regular people take their cars around the Nurburgring. All of this footage is from the 1970’s and there’s no sound, but the cars are fantastic. There are plenty of crashes and spinouts featuring original VW Beetles, BMW 2002s, Minis, Porches, and a black Ford Cortina Mk 1 station wagon up on two wheels! I don’t want to give too much away but make sure to pay attention to the  gray Beetle at 1:49.  Enjoy!

SCCA Chicago Region events 7 & 8

I know these videos are a little late but… I have been busy with my new job! Thanks to everyone who helped and encouraged me while I was job hunting this fall.

A little background. The last two events for Chicago Region are called “The Twin”. They are run back to back on a Saturday and Sunday. The course runs one direction on Saturday and the opposite direction on Sunday. There were a few tweaks to Sundays version but 90% of it was left the same as Saturday.

Event #7 was cold. The temps started in the 30’s and got into the low 40’s for the afternoon. Yeah, we autocross no matter what the weather in Chicago. The course was slippery in the morning but I was able to lay down my best time on my third run. On my afternoon runs I just hit cones like they were piñatas. I have been moving the camera around to see where I like it the best. This was on the door under the drivers side mirror.

Sunday (Event #8) was better with the temperature getting in to the 50’s. I enjoyed this direction a little more and feel I was able to link some of the sections together better. I had the camera at the front edge of the hood for this run.

As always, it was a lot of fun. I can’t wait for next season! Thanks to all the Chicago Region people who put on great events this year!

Autocross Events #5 and #6

Wow, I took quite a break there. In my defense, looking for a job takes up a lot of my time. Hurry up and improve you stupid economy! Anyway, onto the autocrossing videos.

Event #5 had a very fast course. The first slalom you could enter on either side. I found by going to the right of the first cone I could carry more speed through the slalom and pick up a couple seconds. The turn before the finish was very tight and a lot of people nearly spun trying to power across the line.

Event #6 had some fun elements. I liked the turn around as I could make the 2 turns into 1 big sweeper since there was a ton of room at the far end of the lot. Some people complained that there wasn’t enough room to set up for the first slalom but I thought the transition from the gate before it was fine. The finish was rough as you had to almost look out the drivers side window to see the line after coming down the short straight. There was a lot of tire smoke in that area during the day LOL.

This weekend is the big 2-day season ender. Can’t wait!

Chicago Region SCCA Event #4 7-26-09

July 26th was bright and sunny. The course was laid out so that we started and ended in the middle of the space with a turnaround on each end. Lots of slaloms which is my weak spot. In my afternoon runs I just started attacking the slaloms to see how fast I could go before I spun. I never did spin so I will have to try harder LOL. I am getting better at linking some of the course elements, but I could have taken the first turnaround a bit wider. I kind of dove for the inside cones and ended up having to brake pretty hard.

I was 21st out of 43 drivers in my class. Mid-pack as usual. My sixth run was my fastest of the day.

Video from May 30th autocross

I wanted to get this video up sooner but things have been mighty hectic around here.

There were no autocross events scheduled in June or most of July for the Chicago Region SCCA. The June Sprints took place at Road America and the SCCA Solo National Tour was in the area in early July. Both of those are very popular events with members. I thought about attending some other local club events but decided to enjoy the time off and get some things done.

One of those things was to have bionic surgery so that I am better, faster, stronger… just like The Six Million Dollar Man (but with a $20 co-pay). Actually, it was just a minor procedure on my toe. I should be able to walk on it normally by the next event on July 26th.

This was a good course with some fast sections and a couple of slow parts that could catch you by surprise if you weren’t looking ahead. I really enjoyed the middle section from the turn into the chute to the turn around. You could charge down the chute and line up perfectly for the first cone of the following slalom, but there was an offset gate at the end of the slalom that made a lot of people turn wildly and either take out the inside cone (which I did once) or miss the gate entirely (which I also did once).

If you took a wide line coming out of the first slalom you could really sail through the first left-hander. Instinct makes you want to drive at the cones and make a left turn so it took a lot of concentration to get out wide and make a gentle arc around the inside marker. Same thing with the last slalom. You could swing wide at the end, turn before the gate, and almost drive straight through rather than staying tight and having to make a hard left.

It’s probably easier to see it than explain it. Lets go to the tape…

Fun, fun, fun.

SCCA Chicago Region Autocross 5/30/09

Another great event put on by CR-SCCA! The course was tight in spots and it taught me a lot about slowing down to go fast. LOL I will have video this weekend where you can see me miss gates and plow into tight corners.

This Mustang II was totally prepared and a really neat car to see out on the track.

***Bonus Lesson***

Here are the 3 ways to cross the finish line after a 90 degree right hand turn.

First, Understeer. Thank you to Mr. What-up-ski for demonstrating this painful way of slowing down.

Next, flat cornering…

…and finally, oversteer. Possibly the funnest way to finish.

Chicago Autocross Event 2 5/17/09

It was a great day for autocross, bright and sunny with temps in the high 60’s. The day was long as I had to work the last heat of the day. I left my house around 6:20am and didn’t get home until 8:30pm. Whew, I was exhausted but it was a lot of fun. The course was good, there were offset chutes that kept going further left and the last one was way to the right. You can see in the video I almost didn’t clear the first cone of the last chute since you had to turn so hard.

This was my best run of the day. A 63.567 that put me in 34th place out of 56 drivers in my class. I need more practice.

4/26/09 Autocross

My first official event! 4/26/09 at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL.

It was a lot of fun. There were a variety of cars there and everyone was really nice. I also achieved my goal of not being last in my class. Bonus!

These videos were made possible by my excellent in-laws and their Christmas gift of a GoPro Motorsports Hero Wide camera.

Best run in the morning. It had just stopped raining about 15 minutes before this. Camera was inside and you can see the amount of steering input required.

This was my best run of the day. This was in the afternoon after the track had dried out. I moved the camera to the roof for the afternoon runs.

I am already registered for the next event. I can’t wait!

Autocross School

Hello everyone! Wow, that was a long break. Life has been so hectic lately and winter isn’t the best time for car stuff anyway. It’s good to be back…

Earlier this month I attended The Learning Curve put on by the Chicago Region SCCA. It’s a 2-day autocross school where you learn proper driving techniques and how events are run. It started with about an hour of classroom time and then it was over to the lot for practice runs. There were 2 short courses set up and I ran course 1 in the first half, course 2 in the second half. On Sunday, they were combined into 1 big course and it was timed so we could experiment with racing lines and see how we were improving. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I had an excellent teacher who took me for a wild ride in his prepped car. It was a blast. Below are some pics I took of the event. There were all kinds of cars, from vintage vettes to new M3’s to Scions (love the old school wheels on the XA).

My favorite group shot of the day. A Miata, a Lotus,a VW GTI, a Neon, a 70s Corvette, an S2000, and my Vibe GT.

Me on the course! Courtesy of Mike Bridge.

Look out! Comin’ thru!! Ha ha, actually I was proably 100 feet from this person and turning the opposite way but the camera guy was at a funny angle.

Cant wait to get back out there!

First Snow

We had our first snowfall of the season last weekend. In honor of that, I thought I would post some snow racing action. Enoy!