Challenge Expert Drivers

Here's who we've got coming as Expert Drivers for the Challenge next weekend:

Alan McCrispin
Steve Hoelscher
Danny Shields
George Bonafede

...and I'll probably help out when I'm not beating problems into quiet submission.

While all of us are national level drivers, there has always been a bit of a line for Alan. Alan's good and all, but we also need to have the event run smoothly. Adding Steve Hoelscher back in to the mix after a couple year absence should help the situation. Steve has an even more impressive autocross mantel than Alan and is particularly good in mid-engined cars

I almost want to build an enormous vending machine to dispense the expert drivers in random order to teams that want an expert driver. Sadly, Margie didn't give me approval to build the Stig-o-Matic.

Per

Per Schroeder wrote: Sadly, Margie didn't give me approval to build the Stig-o-Matic.

It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Actually, a Stig-o-matic machine would be so easy and cheap to build..... Just have to have all the drivers dress the same and come out of an enclosed tent.....

Steve Hoelscher?

It was be awesome if someone had an X1/9

You could dress them all Stig identical; then it would be hard to tell which one you were getting.

All great drivers, so the one you get does not matter a lot, and they'll risk their life in your low buck creation for no charge. :) Alan does have a Lot of Challenge FTDs. I really like how he comes out the night before to mingle. (Or is he hunting for the fastest rides?)

Steve is awesome in any rear engine car. Just plain fun to watch him drive.
Here is Steve driving my Fiero in $2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh_Nc6-buVw

I do enjoy seeing Per come out from behind the table to which he is normally chained to drive some cars. I think I remember cheering a wild ride in a Volvo.

Danny, I can take him or leave him. Kidding. I'm just kidding. He is the king of smooth.

Yeah, if your car is destined for mid-pack, please don't kill Alan. Poor guy doesn't get a break on autocross day. If you see him or any of the other drivers sweating their arses off and looking hurt, do the mighty white thing and toss them a bottle of water and/or leave them alone for 5 minutes and let them cool down. If you see them at the Hotel, buy 'em a beer or a drink.

We've always tossed the keys to Alan, as he scored us a great run our first year, but Jesus, Danny Shields and Hoelscher? It's not like these guys are slouches. Chances are any pro you put in the car is going to hand your ass to you by multiple seconds, and no offense to Alan, but if my car was RWD, I'd be tossing the keys to Danny. Spread the love around.

I've never run the same course 9 million times in a bunch of cars held together with boogers and bubble gum, but I'd guess that long after the adreline is gone, it's a labour of love.

I'm still not sure what to do here...

Half of me says "No way in HELL i'm going to drive 14 hours just to let someone else drive my car."

Half of me says "Well, i've been driving this thing every day for 3 years, i don't think anyone is going to be able to hustle it better than myself."

And half of me says "Now that it seems to handle WELL, maybe i should hand it off in an effort to Top 10 this bitch."

There's just too much of me to contain within one whole.

idea for a cheap stig o matic. Figuring that each driver can really only do x number of runs reasonably. Take x number of the same colored marble and put it in a bag. Each expert driver has their own color. Before the event, let challengers blindly pick from the bag to get a marble. You get the expert you get. Keeps it random and fair. Just a thought.

Hi Guys. I thought I would re-introduce myself since I missed the last couple of Challenges due to conflicts with my schedule. I work in the Racing Industry and August through October is a very busy time, so I missed the last couple.

For those who don't know about my history with the Challenge, I was recruited by Mongrel Motorsports to drive their Challenge Winning V8 Miata a few years back. That year Per pressed me into service to drive some other cars in the interest of fair competition and the next year he asked me to come aboard as one of the "Pros". I drove most every year since until my work schedule interfered.

The highlights of my resume include 6 Solo National Championships, an Evolution School Instructor and a Grand Am GT team Setup Engineer. While all of those Championships were in mid-engined cars, don't pigeon-hole me. I can drive anything; fwd, rwd, awd, etc... with a lot of experience in turbo cars. In fact, I am just off a 6th place finish in SSM in a Turbo MR2. I only had one full event in the car before Nationals and it was a first year build.

By the way, Alan McCrispin and I are old friends. We have been autocrossing together for something like 20+ years. We have competed, coached, built courses and prepped cars together so we know each other's abilities quite well. I have also known Danny Shields for nearly as long and have great respect for him. George too, but then I have only known him for a brief 10 years or so ;)

And if you are on the fence about whether to drive your car or have one of the pros drive for you, consider this. I have improved the time of every team who's car I have driven at the Challenge and would assume the same for the other Pros. Yes, you may know the car better than we do but Per brings us in for a reason. I wouldn't want you to spend all of the time and effort building the car, drive 1200 miles and then not know what could have been. If you want to drive the car, find a local autocross and go drive. If you want your best shot at winning, you need to make use of every available advantage. I can promise you you will get 100% effort from any one of us.

Any dual engine car experts?

in the "just my luck" department, Danny Shields has many autocross titles in the mazda mx6, the under-skin twin to my '96 probe gt that i challenged in 2006. Danny gave me many pointers on car prep prior to the challenge, but was unavailable to drive that year due to back surgery (unexpected, iirc) not long before the challenge. :-(

i was bummed until someone said "get that Alan guy to drive your car. he's pretty good." i had one of the other pros take the first three runs, then scott lear took a run, then Alan got in for the final run and took 0.8 seconds off the other guy's best. that night at the hotel i asked him if there was anything left and he said "at least another half second. i never go that hard on my first run in a car."

poopshovel wrote: Chances are any pro you put in the car is going to hand your ass to you by multiple seconds,

+1 George is approx. 6 seconds faster than me in my own car. ...

How tall are the pro's? My seat sits a little high. I am 5'10" and fit. Barely. .

Steve is very tall. Alan is not. I am not sure about Danny. But I've seen Steve fold himself up into driving just about anything.

ALL of them can drive the snot out of a car.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I'm still not sure what to do here...

It is highly unlikely you will out drive the pros. Highly.

I suggest you try both.

I don't usually bring a top 10 car. I'm there for fun. So, I usually let a couple of the pros take them for a few laps and ride shotgun. It's a great learning opportunity, and tremendous fun. Then, I get behind the wheel and try to apply what I've learned.

I'm usually nearly 2 seconds off the pro time, but driving MUCH better than I ever have before, and having the time of my life!

sporqster wrote: Any dual engine car experts?

Is there something special coming??

AngryCorvair wrote: i was bummed until someone said "get that Alan guy to drive your car. he's pretty good." i had one of the other pros take the first three runs, then scott lear took a run, then Alan got in for the final run and took 0.8 seconds off the other guy's best. that night at the hotel i asked him if there was anything left and he said "at least another half second. i never go that hard on my first run in a car."

Yep. No way you can go 100% on the first run. Typically, we drive to 85% on the first run and then push to 90-95% from there. For the Challenge, trying to drive at 100% is counter productive. Trying to drive such unique cars with no practice more demanding than you can possibly imagine. Any mistake will ruin the run. So the driver must leave a tiny margin for error. You can't exploit the performance envelope of the car until you know where the limits are.

If you want to maximize your opportunity, give us at least two runs in the car. The second will almost always be significantly quicker.

Incidentally, I consider this event to be one of the biggest driving challenges in motorsports. To get in car after car, that are all so unique, with so much performance, and all with different characteristics. No practice, no margin for error and the requirement that you extract as much potential from the car as you reasonable can, mistake free. There is nothing like it anywhere else in motorsports.

By the way, when you ask me to drive your car, I understand that you are entrusting me with all of the time and effort you have put in to getting there and are counting on me to produce the best results possible. I take that responsibility very seriously.

-Steve

SVreX wrote: Steve is very tall. Alan is not. I am not sure about Danny. But I've seen Steve fold himself up into driving just about anything. ALL of them can drive the snot out of a car.

I am 6'2". Danny is about my height. George is shorter, Alan is probably the shortest and under 6'.

I have shoehorned myself into lots of tiny little cars so unless its REALLY cramped, I can probably fit.

-Steve

Hi there GRMr's!!! Time for my FAVORITE event of the year.

My family is driving down and will be there midday Thursday and I will be flying down from Huntsville via Dallas...it's a work thing and should be there Thursday at about 2pm. If anyone is near the airport I could probably use a ride to the hotel?

Many of you know me from past years and you know that I try to drive everything that is offered to me regardless of how fast or competitive it is. Fyi: The Thursday night walk around is something that I really enjoy doing and it is the only time that I get to really look over the builds and ask questions.

I'm really happy to have Steve back this year... As Steve said, he and I have been racing in different classes at the same places for 20+ years and really enjoy the competition. We both absolutely LOVE jumping it to different cars and trying to maximize them...no matter if it is a Honda 600 that thinks it is a bicycle, a BMW that wants to rip the wheel out of my hand as soon as I start turning the wheel, or a VW bug with 400+hp and no brakes or one of the many a Hoonda that are always there.

Last year when the brakes failed on Andy's bug I broke my thumb and drove the remainder of the day trying to hold it off the steering wheel.

I can't wait to see what you guys & gals have turned out this year...

Alan McCrispin I am a pro driver and this is a closed course!!!

admc58 wrote: ...no matter if it is a Honda 600 that thinks it is a bicycle...

...or a Schwinn tandem which actually IS a bicycle!!

Wish we could be there so George could drive the car again, it finally runs on all 4 :(

See you all in 2013!

SVreX wrote:

sporqster wrote: Any dual engine car experts?

Is there something special coming??

"Special" is the right adjective. http://jalopnik.com/5927172/this-twin+engined-escort-is-a-little-lamborghini?tag=car-hacks

sporqster wrote: Any dual engine car experts?

Aaaaand that is why I love the challenge!

sporqster wrote:

SVreX wrote:

sporqster wrote: Any dual engine car experts?

Is there something special coming??

"Special" is the right adjective. http://jalopnik.com/5927172/this-twin+engined-escort-is-a-little-lamborghini?tag=car-hacks

How may throttle peddles? Automatics at both ends? Something like this has been rattling around my head for a couple of years...Sounds like a blast!

admc58 wrote:

sporqster wrote:

SVreX wrote:

sporqster wrote: Any dual engine car experts?

Is there something special coming??

"Special" is the right adjective. http://jalopnik.com/5927172/this-twin+engined-escort-is-a-little-lamborghini?tag=car-hacks

How may throttle peddles? Automatics at both ends? Something like this has been rattling around my head for a couple of years...Sounds like a blast!

That's interesting.

I drove the Fiero hybrid from a few years ago. It had an electric motor driving the front wheels, and two throttle pedals. I had to learn to roll my foot onto the second pedal that controlled the electric motor on corner exit to put the power down without terminal understeer. It was very cool.

-steve