stripethree

That was definitely the most fun I’ve had in this car.

Was the fourth car to arrive at 7:30 behind a Boxster with its owner putting on comp tires (and well worth it, I think he was fastest of the day), a red WRX wagon, and a cherry/maroon red 993. Sweet. I think what struck me most, before we even got on the course, was the atmosphere. No one was a dick, to put it simply. I was a definite newbie and asked some definite newbie questions and got some great help and tips from people, young and old. Cool shit. I had to wait a while to run, but that gave me a chance to watch two full heats (40 cars, 3 runs a car) go through which I think helped me when my time came. I also had one of the event organizers/instructors ride along on my morning runs, which I thought was very cool that people were volunteering their time to do so. My first run I came in clean with a 35.01 and a huge grin on my face. It was well worth the wait. Second run, I got crossed up and missed a gate: off course. Third and last morning run, I got down to a 33.95 but took a 1 second penalty for hitting a cone. For some context, most people were running in the 31s and 32s, with some exceptions both ways, including the aforementioned Boxster, which was knocking down 27s all day long. The afternoon runs I ran solo and ran clean all three times. Times were 35.01 again, followed by a 33.7?, then 33.27. They’ll be posted on the CDC site soon so I can double-check them. I was happy to improve on every run in the afternoon and was very pleased that I ran mostly clean runs and only got lost once.

As I kind of alluded to earlier, the people were awesome. We talked to a bunch of people from MR2 folks, to Porsche folks, to Audi folks, and it was just cool. After my half of the heat in the morning, walking out to work the second half two different folks I’d spoken with earlier (and who answered some of my newbie questions) complemented by efforts; I guess it was all just a nice change. There was only one other VW in attendance, a 1.8T Jetta that appeared stock running on steelies, so Vee-Dub was not so much in the house but it didn’t matter.

The variety of cars was amazing too from Minis (old and new) to various generation 911s, a Pantera, a trailered in Cobra (no, not a Mustang), and of course the assortment of Miatas, MR2s, WRXs & STIs, etc. etc. Next time I have to remember to make sure my video camera is charged and that I bring a camera that’s better suited to the event (read: SLR for faster and manual focus abilities).

See ya in Manassas on April 15th; can’t wait.

Props to Ted for most of the picture taking, esp. while I was driving/working. Thanks again!