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Re: Ayer NT: B course, first slalom

To: autox@autox.team.net, geez@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Ayer NT: B course, first slalom
From: PbPied@aol.com
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 09:18:28 EDT
Mark,

I did see the shorter distance wisdom in heading to the right on the
slalom entry...  but decided against it for only one reason:  I'd have had
to lift to make the offsets after the slalom.  Instead, I chose to enter on
the left, as it allowed me to run from the START to the far end of the runway
flat out, rowing the shift lever 5 times.

For those not in attendance, by my admittedly inaccurate pacing method,
I estimated 1000 ft. of uninterrupted acceleration.  Bending a kart through
a slalom and offsets does produce enough scrub to reduce the actual
speed gain, so it was not like running a straight drag in terms of top speed,
but it was really fast!

I meant to take a G-Cube and Palm setup to record my runs, and really
wished I had, as the surface at Ayer had very few bumps which would have 
caused any funny spikes to appear on the results.

Anyway, for what I drive, the momentary pause in acceleration would have
easily negated any time gained by shortening the distance.  During run #2
on that course, I had to lift and downshift to 5th in the offsets coming back
because I got sideways (driver input error).  I figured that alone cost me at
least a full second, probably more...

Alan Sheidler

In a message dated 06/12/2000 3:52:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
msirota@isc.upenn.edu writes:

> For those who were at the Ayer NT: I ran the B course on Saturday.  We
>  were quite indecisive on which way to take the very first slalom, right
>  off the start.
>  
>  Going to the right was clearly a shorter path, but it would be
>  pretty busy at the exit of the slalom.  Going left was a much easier,
>  straight, flat out exit, but longer.
>  
>  I went left on the first run, right on the second, left on the third.
>  My co-driver went left on all three.  I saw perhaps three other people
>  all day go right.
>  
>  On Saturday night, we looked at the runs in Geez!, and discovered
>  that going right, as I had originally suspected, was faster by a few
>  tenths.  I told a bunch of Sunday runners about it, but couldn't
>  convince a soul -- too much "group think".
>  
>  Certainly that might not be true for some cars, but I was able to go
>  flat from the third slalom cone to the turnaround at the end, either
>  way.
>  
>  Anyone else go right and record the run, for comparison's sake?
>  
>  Mark

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