I've also attended the Lexus event on Sunday. Since my plans to make it to
AAS event on Saturday feel through due to food poisoning, I thought to have
a little fun at the Lexus's expense on Sunday.
The "big" course was flat out to the turnaround, somewhat similar to our
fist event there, and then just a bit slower on the way back. Good exercise
in the looking-ahead since they won't let you walk the course <g>. I'm not
sure who was my "Pro driver", but the car control was very impressive. The
whole point of the "hot lap with the PRO" exercise was to impress the
public and the Dukes of Hazard driving style works well for that purpose.
<g>
The small course was very tight with just couple of spots were you can get
on it. Out of the 3 cars provided (IS300, A4 and 328), I though the Lexus is
the best all around car, but I felt Bimmer was better for autocrossing. I
was very disappointed with A4. I had expected it would be the best car for
that surface. I've seen A4's do very well in SOLO2 competition, but the one
I've driven was soft, understeered in the worst way, and was down on power
in comparison to 328 and IS300. The BMW felt stronger, more predictable,
more neutral and the easiest to drive fast. I thought I was at least 1 sec
faster (according to my butt timer) than in other two cars. OK, maybe it's
because I'm more familiar with BMWs. <g>
By Sunday afternoon the surface was reasonably clean with well defined grove
on the big course. The grip was pretty good. I think street tires work
better on that surface than Hoosiers. The Kumho's should work the best.
Thanks to Lexus for an afternoon of fun.
Boris.
00 Boxster AS84
Weel, nice event
----- Original Message -----
From: <Sethracer@aol.com>
To: <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 10:17 AM
Subject: Lexus Drive - Hangin with Mr. Cooper
> Well, I attended the Lexus IS300 drive-a-thon on Saturday at Golden Gate
> Fields. My brother, Tony, got the invitation and brought me as a guest.
They
> had two courses set up. First, a low speed course with varying conditions,
> such as a sandy patch to test the ABS and some pop-up "hazards". On this
> course, you could drive the Lexus, an Audi A4 or a BMW 328. All were
> automatics, of course. The other course was a higher speed course, sort
of
> like a typical SFR Solo II course. At first, they let you drive the course
> alone, as fast as you felt comfortable. You only got one lap, then back in
> line. After about 45 minutes, they started "Hot Laps" Now with helmets on,
we
> rode with a "Professional driver". There were several name drivers there,
the
> Pobsts', and a Corvette driver of note, Bill Cooper. It seemed the intent
of
> the hot laps was to see how many OEM type tires they could go through in
the
> least amount of time. They were hanging out the tails of the (rear wheel
> drive) cars on all the sweepers, just smoking the rear tires. The crowd
was
> quite impressed, (sort of like DeAnza College!<grin> ). After my brother
and
> I made our way up to the front of the line, we let others go ahead until
we
> picked Bill Cooper's car. Two passengers rode with each "Pro" driver for
two
> laps. I climbed in the front, my brother in the back. I told Bill, "We've
> both seen you race, impress us!" And, folks, I was impressed. He would
toss
> the car into the corners, they feed the wheel back in reverse lock to hold
> the tail out attitude all the way through the corner. All of this was
second
> nature to him, he kept up a running commentary on the car while driving -
> right at the limit. I know it wasn't the fastest way around, but it sure
> showed the flexibility of the handling! A possible conversion occurred, as
> well. After driving the Lexus around on his own lap, my brother mentioned
> that the next time I was going to Autocross my street Camaro, he'd like to
go
> along and try driving it. Hee Hee - Just like the drug dealers, the first
> one's free! - Seth Emerson
>
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