stripethree

Today proved one thing, leaving very little doubt. My own worst enemy when I’m out on an autocross course is, me. Well, ok, it’s a dead heat between me and cones, and I certainly took out my share of pylons today. I ran a 38.629 (+3), 39.322, 39.506, and 39.068 (+1) which put me 54th (out of 105). I placed 1st in STX Open by a full second, but there was a competitor in STX Novice that was only 2/10ths behind me. I was able to PAX in the 900s (908, barely…) which was 40th out of 105. The results of my time only runs were the slap in the face of what I was doing wrong. I was not driving aggressive enough, not even close: 38.484, 38.280, 38.017 (+2), 37.940 (+4) were my times in my second heat. So that was, minimum, a full second faster and I probably could have cracked off a clean run in the 37s or at least been damn close. For some perspective, the clean 38.280 would have jumped me almost twenty spots in terms of fastest times and into the top 25% of PAX times. While the event was certainly fun, it’s frustrating to know that I am leaving so much time out on the course.

I have three weeks to mull this learning experience over. Next event is the first weekend of November at the Sierra Municipal Airport. That will start three straight Sundays of autocross with events in Phoenix the next weekend and a double event in Tucson the week after that. Time to put up or shut up.

Video of all 8 eight runs: