Drivers that are clearly aliens from another planet

So yesterday I was down in Stockton, autocross day. There are a lot of guys with Corvettes, because fast. There are a couple guys with very similar ZO6 cars, fast version of fast car, and a lot of them are on Hoosiers, bring the car on a trailer and all. One nice older guy daily drives his, street tires, not Bridgestones or Rivals, seems like a human. On a 45 second course he is a full second to a second and a half faster than the guys on Hoosiers, who are all good drivers. I was running the grid, so I was kidding the guys on the R comps, "Shouldn't you be faster than him?" that sort of thing.

He regularly whips up on guys driving open wheel cars on R comp tires too. At least he uses his powers for good, rather than evil. Does anyone else have any local, freak of nature drivers? I am just glad I don't have a Corvette.

Burn the witches!
The AX I did yesterday had an FS Mustang take top PAX time by nearly two tenths, and win the Street class by nearly two seconds.

There are drivers and then there are operators.

The drivers being in the minority.

Back in the late 90's, my boss was the type of alien you speak of. One memorable example was the time he set FTOD at a wet autocross in a borrowed Mazda RX-3 wagon!! His explanation was, "I don't know, it was a little damp and nobody else was driving fast."

The first time I let him drive my AE86 was on a twisty backroad that I was familiar with, and he tackled it at a speed that had me nervous, but way smoother than I ever could have driven it, perfect rev-matched downshifts, etc. Then he remarks something to the effect of, "this thing is fun an real responsive!" and then slows, does a little flick, spins it 180 on this narrowest of two-laners, chuckles slightly, and carries on back the other way.

He was unearthly fast and able to drive just about anything to a surprisingly high limit right out of the box.

I knew that guy. Lucky for me, he was an Alfa driver, so I learned a LOT from him.

The best part about "that" guy (I've met more than one), they are super nice, and really enjoy helping you be a better driver. These are the guys who really make the hobby special.

David Whitener is the guy hanging out with Andy Hollis in the recent AX tire tests. He's got a closet of national champion jackets. A couple of times a year he comes down and drives with us in Houston. He's incredibly nice, but we all feel bad looking at the results. It's kind of depressing to see how big the gap between "fast locally" and "actually fast" is.

I have had two of the "Resident Aliens" from northern California, Bryan Heitkotter and Mark Scrogs, co drive my car at an autox. It was a real education in how much of the pace was car and how much was driver. I was more than a second behind both in the same car running on 45 second courses.

The upside after kicking my ass was they both complimented my car setup.

We have a local-ish guy that runs with us. I've seen him take raw FTD in an E Street MR-S. And we've got some solid drivers in some quick cars, including a D Mod Caterham Super 7 on R comps, among others.

Type Q wrote: I have had two of the "Resident Aliens" from northern California, Bryan Heitkotter and Mark Scrogs, co drive my car at an autox. It was a real education in how much of the pace was car and how much was driver. I was more than a second behind both in the same car running on 45 second courses. The upside after kicking my ass was they both complimented my car setup.

Video that was making the rounds in 2000-2001ish

Then you should be watching Pirelli World Challenge races!

http://world-challenge.com/latest/series-news/heitkotter-doubles-gt-sunday-utah-motorsports-campus/

mazdeuce wrote: David Whitener is the guy hanging out with Andy Hollis in the recent AX tire tests. He's got a closet of national champion jackets. A couple of times a year he comes down and drives with us in Houston. He's incredibly nice, but we all feel bad looking at the results. It's kind of depressing to see how big the gap between "fast locally" and "actually fast" is.

Yeah, David's a freak--and I mean that in a good way. Look at his times in our tire tests. I know it's his home course, but he's part alien.

My buddy garret is like that. The guy is sort of a "car geek" but doesn't know the nuances I do, he's an RN. Drives a Subaru Legacy AT. Very unassuming. But like you've all said, "he's the nicest and most humble guy" maybe we are on to something here... The guy that's the quietest, is the fastest? It's kind of like guitar players, the guy that says "oh, I'm not very good" is usually incredible. The kid that shouts "I'm better than everyone in band class!" Is the tool to avoid.

I have seen/met/known a number of such people over the years, but they always seemed drive cars that were better set up and/or faster than mine too. I knew that I wasn't a national caliber driver, by any means, but it was still difficult for me to judge exactly how much of that was a difference in drivers vs a difference in cars. It wasn't until I got beat in my moderately prepped (regionally competitive) STS Sentra by an older gentleman driving his wife's stock automatic trans Crapalier on generic all season tires, that I finally had the necessary moment of clarity.

SnowMongoose wrote: Burn the witches! The AX I did yesterday had an FS Mustang take top PAX time by nearly two tenths, and win the Street class by nearly two seconds.

if only PAX meant anything.

Spoolpigeon came over to our regional event earlier this year and raw timed all the Hoosier clad cars in his STR car. It's a little depressing to be changing back to street tires after an event and the guy who just railed you drives away on daily driven street tires........

Fortunately he's a cool cat that everyone likes. I'm just glad Tom O'Gorman doesn't autocross with us. That kid might as well be green and have arrived in a flying saucer.

Yeah, those types are both humbling and a bit awe inspiring. I always thought it would be fun to let one of the aliens drive my car so I could see how much I was leaving on the table, but it was more fun not to know. I know enough to realize I have no alien DNA at all in me.

In reply to KyAllroad:

Spool is even alien-like in pretend driving on GT6.

T.J. wrote: In reply to KyAllroad: Spool is even alien-like in pretend driving on GT6.

Spool is somthing else and even better he will share his knowledge. All you have to do is ask. If I ever decide to try Auto X I am going to fly down and get lessons from Spool. Or fly him up here.

Yeah there was "a guy" that would make some locals cry. He would show up just before tech closed in whatever of his cars was running that morning. Sometimes an old shadow other times a small pickup. Sometimes nap in his vehicle before his runs as he stayed up all night working on his lawnmower for his lawn service or something. Beat everyone in his class and with the pickup he got FTD to lots of applause and groans. He finally went on to win some nationals and stuff.

Fast. Drove my car on a fun run to set a time for me to shoot for. Maybe 1.5 seconds faster than my best while missing a shift.

Daddio drives at our local (FCSCC).

A while back he had a Street Mod Evo that he drove to Nationals and won Street Mod in. He came to our local lot on a day when we were running on our bigger lot. He raw timed everyone by 4 seconds and paxed everyone by 2 seconds in the car.

In reply to KyAllroad, T.J., and Dean:

Tom O'gorman is my alien driver of choice. The guy is fast in anything and a genuinely nice person too.

WE have to deal with Clemens Burger in our locals and his former co-driver in an equally fast car Dan Stone. They make me feel so slow.

KyAllroad wrote: Spoolpigeon came over to our regional event earlier this year and raw timed all the Hoosier clad cars in his STR car. It's a little depressing to be changing back to street tires after an event and the guy who just railed you drives away on daily driven street tires........ Fortunately he's a cool cat that everyone likes. I'm just glad Tom O'Gorman doesn't autocross with us. That kid might as well be green and have arrived in a flying saucer.

Yeah, he's alright. I mean I've seen faster. Driving the sooperKia I dont' get to raw time that many people... ok, at least half, but PAX? I smash them. Love being to 10 and top 15 in a friggin DD Kia.

We have one with our club, Mike. I've had him codrive my cars before and its always a struggle to not be in the dust.

Miata, he tends to be 3-4 tenths faster than me.

Mustang, years ago when I was really in sync with it. we would run about equal times. That being said, he was equaling my times just hopping into it.

Mustang, now... he waxed me by a half second in the AM, drove something else in the afternoon and I felt lucky to close the gap to 3 tenths.

Of course, he got a jacket in the last year of G-stock, trophied in G-street (he was in a Celica, the Fords had an advantage from what I gathered) This year, B-street

We have another guy who is just off his pace, but you can tell he is working hard for it.

Mike... It takes little to no apparent effort. He will hop in, first run will be really fast, second run he cleans up the early parts of the course a little (dropping only a little), and maybe a third run to fix small details for that last sub-tenth. And this will be in a car he has never driven before.

For instance, I recently moved and met my neighbor at an autocross I was organizing (yeah, it was a "that car looks familar" and talk to him and discover that we live across the street from one another). He has a LS1 FD RX7 with coilovers and all that. Just a beginner autocrosser though, he went to a test and tune and had Mike try his car to see what was in it. BAM, 2-3 runs and set an almost FTD with it, observing that FTD would have easily happened, but the RE71R's were overheating. (Hugely faster than the car's owner, but moreso, car he had never driven before and right out of the gates a precise run within hundredths of FTD)

I aspire to cleanly beat him sometime.