tpryor

Way to go, Eccles!!!!!!

I'm sure Brian wasn't happy, as he made his runs at the Tour, ran up to Dallas for the Rev-It-Up, set the fast time on Saturday, then came back to run at the tour on Sunday.......

BUT, I'm glad it was you!

Congratulations, buddy. I expect you to win in Monterey now.....

Imp

Great job! Laguna Seca is a ball man... last year it was. :D

I hope to repeat my win from Boston this year and see ya out at Laguna!

eccles

Thanks guys, I'm stoked.

Funny thing is, I wasn't happy with my run! I thought I lost some time going into the uphill right-hander a little tentatively, and conversely took the off-camber 180 on the back side of the hill a little too hot, pushing wide and pinching off my approach to the three-cone slalom over the next crest. But I nailed the last part of the course, and went through the lights thinking "I could have done that better - guess I'll have to rely on my second run." I was somewhat surprised to see my time on the clock, but I still didn't think it was close enough to the Pro to get into the placings, so you can imagine my surprise when I looked up at the Big Board and saw a 685. I stood there stunned, waiting until the Overall results cycled around on the screen, before I convinced myself that it was real!

On my second run, I cleaned up my act in the two areas I mentioned, but I killed the Kenny cone on the exit of the "bus stop" and threw it away.

Just before I left, another competitor put down a time that would have had me beat, but he coned it away as well. It was nice to be the one benefitting from that for a change, instead of the one doing the coning.

So now I need to call the guys at Mazda South and arrange to borrow a 3 for a few weekends. Seat time, seat time, seat time.

Cheers,
Jon.

Genom

Congrats eccles. This might be a step in the direction of having another 8 :D

eccles

Well you just know that if I manage to win the 3, I'll be trading it on an 8.

Winning_BlueRX8

haha man that was you the announcer interviewed saturday? I didn't realize that! Congratulations! I'm gonna tell my friends I drug 3 friends out to Lone Star Park and we all had a blast.

Winning_BlueRX8

or was that brian...I saw brian over in the skills clinic. The instructor singled him out and had us all watch his run

eccles

If it was late Saturday, it would've been Mr Matteucci. He drove up from the SCCA National Tour in Houston after he finished his runs down there on Sat, then drove back again that evening. Keen. Almost makes me feel guilty for beating him on Sunday. Almost.

Winning_BlueRX8

haha, congrats again. Yea, it was late saturday, so I guess it was brian. Awesome, congratulations!

rxeightr

Good going eccles !!
So when do you get to run the big course for all the marbles?

eccles

Thanks all.

The final is not until September; Labor Day weekend, I believe. Should be nice over there at that time of year.

Cheap bastards only pay for the winners themselves to go; we have to pony up a second airfare and a few extra bucks ourselves for the wife to come along. Feh.

We'll make plans as the date approaches, but at this early stage I suspect we may extend our stay and make a vacation out of it while we're there.

Ike

Great job eccles, if KC wins in Boston we'll have to have a little good natured forum rivalry between the Mazda guys and the Subaru guys

eccles

That's one thing I like about autocross - all the rivalry is good-natured.

billdo

congrats eccles!

I did the houston event and was wondering if the dallas course was set up basically the same as houston. I ran a 30 flat at the houston (I know its slow, but it was only my second time so cut me some slack) and was just wondering how the two compared.
Good luck at the finals!

eccles

Last year, the courses in Dallas and Houston were almost identical, but this year they were totally different. The LSP lot had a lot more undulations than GGP, to the extent that the cars were actually out of view for several seconds in one section. This made it a lot more challenging, with the camber working for and against you at different points of the course.

It was also run in a clockwise direction, the opposite of the Houston course.

billdo

Thanks eccles,
I was wondering if each event was mapped out over a general plan or just started from scrach. Also, at the next rev it up I am going to pay much more attention to the way the front runners make their runs. The faster guys are all 1 to 1.5 sec. faster than me, and I cant seem to find where they are getting that speed. So I am going to basically try and copy most of everything they do. If you have any tips on how to gain a whole sec., share the wealth!:D

eccles

It seems that they generally try to include the same elements, but obviously they have to shuffle them around depending on the available lot. In Houston, you had[list=1][*]3-cone slalom[*]"bus stop"[*]90-degree left[*]straight(ish) section[*]sharp left[*]3-cone slalom[*]finish[/list=1]while in Dallas it was[list=1][*]3-cone slalom[*]90-degree left[*]90-degree right[*]180-degree off-camber right[*]3-cone slalom[*]"bus stop"[*]sharp right[*]finish[/list=1]
As for where to pick up time... if you were to take a ride with the Pro, you'd be amazed just how much harder you can toss it around than you think. If you plan on getting into the sport, find yourself a local club that allows passengers in competing cars, and ride with as many good drivers as you can. Then go out and try it yourself. Don't be afraid to kill a few cones - until you find the limits, you won't really know where they are. Lord knows, I killed a few cones on the practice courses finding out how hard I could push the 3.

And speaking of the practice courses, a word of advice for anyone else planning on running at Rev-It-Up: by all means do all three Skills Centers, but do most of your practice laps where you're going to get the most, and most valuable, practice. Each clinic features some elements that you will encounter out on the competition course, and I suggest you run each one once, then decide which you need to practice most and concentrate on it.

I didn't bother with the Tire Dynamics because they were using Mazda 6's on that course, and I wanted seat time in a 3. I divided my runs between the Racing Line and Car Control clinics - both were using 3's, and one allowed me to experiment with the slalom while the other allowed me to practice the "bus stop" transitions.

Imp

Ya know, I feel sorry for Brian... last year... 2nd place. Houston... 2nd place, Dallas... 2nd place. I'd start to have a complex by now.

eccles

I was starting to have a complex myself - I coulda shoulda woulda won in Houston last year and this, but for cones.

I wonder if Brian will go interstate in search of a win this year - apparently Daddio drove from Indy to DC last year to get a drive.

Imp

Boston, NY and Philly for me.

--kC

adrian-1

Congrats eccles, Do you still do the Spokes autocrossing in another car? Revitup in Dallas was my 1st experience with autocrossing (33sec both runs). I plan to try Spokes either this month or next.

eccles

Yep, I run the wife's yellow '02 Miata in Spokes events, though I guess I'll be borrowing and running a 3 between now and September - gotta get some practice!