In the very next sentence after the one you highlighted I gave both drivers props for both doing a great job of driving. Geez, trying to praise people is a tough gig around here.

It is kind of a back handed compliment when you say the light weight Mustang, like he had an advantage. Why even mention light weight? And Greg is right, he probably does only have about 250 HP. I have driven it. It does not have a lot of power compared to most of the cars out there. Mike has it set up beautifully with his suspension and he drives the hell out of it.

Because HP to weight ratio is important.... it explains how a "relatively" low HP car can be so "quick". But of course... then that discounts the drivers skills because just because it has a high HP/Weight ratio wouldn't mean much with an unskilled driver. Light weight is also a GOOD quality in a "race car" -- so I think he was paying Mike a compliment. It takes some skills to build a car that is properly balanced and is light weight but stiff and strong.

HP don't mean jack in a Good Guys autocross. A good miata/driver would of mopped up the whole damn field.

Id have to disagree with that one.

Go run a small SCCA venue and get back to me. Rupp and I ran almost identical times in Autocross at El Toro. I got beat by 4.5 seconds by the fastest miata at my last autocross. I realize he was on A6's but he would have been in the Maier/Tucker time zone on street tread.

I sat out there this weekend and watched Mike in his Mustang really rip around the track and I was really amazed by it. It's a very nimble vehicle and he drives it beautifully. I consider the 'nimbleness' of his car to be a result of weight and suspension. I thought to myself(as others did), it's going to be very difficult for anybody to come close to beating him on a track like that. When I saw the results posted here, I was like, wow, somebody(Tucker) actually did come close. I tried to write a nice post where I complimented some people and I wrote those few sentences you're focusing on because I was amazed that someone actually came close to Mike's blazing times, and I included the 'both drivers' thing to give Mike credit also. I said lightweight, because YES, his car is lightweight and very nimble on a track like that and I didn't think anybody could come close to him and the way he drives it. Maybe I should've used 'nimble' instead of 'lightweight', so it gave credit to his suspension setup also.

Reading your posts where you're hammering me for not properly giving Mike props, I realize now that my assumptions are false about how having a lightweight car is advantageous on a tiny autocross track like Del Mar's, and that HP makes little to no difference on that same type of track. I was thinking of ways to make my car lighter(carbon fiber, aluminum engine, etc) to make my car more nimble and quicker(along with other suspension mods). I guess it's back to the drawing board for me!

Mike did a great job of racing and so did everybody else. :cheers:

Have a great weekend. :cheers:

Chris,

I guess it gets a bit frustrating when I hear people say the only reason Mike does well is because his car is a bit lighter than theirs. There is much more to good times other than weight. I am sorry if this was not your intention. You are not the only one to say it, so my comments were more directed to others that say the same thing.
It looks like the entire group of autocrossers are getting better and that is a great thing. Better cars and better driving.

Brian

Thanks Greg, The family had a blast this last weekend. The group of people that this sport brings together is BY FAR the best people around. It was great to spend some more time with you, Rodger, Doug, Brett,...... It is pretty awesome that a group that is out to beat each other can be such good friends and genuinely want to help each other go faster even if it means getting beat.

I know i was not the only person out there that commented on the fact that its a tight group of people when the heads of some of the larger company's, ie. Kyle from DSE, Mike from Maier, Brett from Ridetech, all played musical cars and took turns tearing up the course.

The other stand out for me was Jess Gould was out their running the Dart! Even though she was not the fastest it was the most fun to watch!

Skill beats HP every time.... just because a guy has big HP doesn't mean he has to use it. This even works at a drag strip. Sticky tires beat street tread every time... Light and quick beat heavy every time.

Mary Pozzi = beat you every time
Mike Maier = beat you every time
Brian Hobaugh = beat you every time


Steve Rupp - not so much. :rofl:

Sorry Steve.... just had to dig someone somehow - so tag you're it in this post. :D