stripethree

There is it, the first autocross course I designed. There were some minor adjustments wen we laid it to pavement, simply because said pavement has some issues. The course was tighter and more technical than the usual courses run in Tucson, but overall reaction the day of and the day after appeared to be very positive. I was nervous when we were setting up the course as parts of it, specifically the area after the first slalom, looked not only difficult, but appeared not to flow as well as I would have thought. Fortunately, it seems that I was wrong and most people seemed to welcome the challenge.

What made things more interesting was that the lot was not vacuumed prior the event as it usually is, so the first heat had to deal with all sorts of slippery pavement clearing out the line for the later heats. I ran my competition runs in the first heat and time only runs in the second, and the latter heats definitely had at least a slight advantage. The course was fun and faster in some spots that I would have thought; drivers setting up properly for the box in the upper corner as well as the final slalom were rewarded well.

My times were pretty good, but not my best, as I hit a lot of cones. My times were 45.513 (+1), 45.860 (+1), 44.884 (+1), and 45.288 in heat one and 45.081 (+1), 45.846 (+2), 45.430 (+1), and 44.738 (+1) in heat two. Like I said, lots of cones, only one clean run but still a lot of fun. My competition runs were good for 26th in raw times, 16th in PAX out of 59 entrants. I didn’t reach my goal this time of PAXing at least 900 but I was close at 889.

Summer attended this event and rode shotgun in my time only runs. I think her experience can be summed up by this picture…

…and the big smile on her face. After the first run I asked her, ‘So, did you breathe for that 45 or so seconds?’. Her response: ‘Ah, I don’t think so!’. I’m glad she came out and got to see and experience this crazy addiction of mine and that she had fun doing so. Now, can I get her to drive? Hmmm…

Here’s the video of all 8 of my runs:

Back to SIR we go to start a new year and a new series in Tucson.

The course was fast and fun and the rain just added to the sliding fun that the gravel laden surface provides well enough on its own.

Things went well though, despite the added challenge of the weather. I managed clean runs with times of 44.947, 43.768, 42.457, and 42.992 whereas the fastest time of the day was a 38.306 in a Super Stock C5 Z06 Corvette. In terms of the overall results, my best time put me at the 12th best raw time and the 8th best PAX time. It also put me at the top of a small STX class, however, the E30 M3 that usually kicks my ass was absent, and there is always the STX prepared WRX that runs in the PAX category rather than Open which always keeps me humble. This time, it was by a hair under 2 seconds.

Here’s video of all 8 of my shots at the course, 4 competition runs followed by 4 ‘not even time only’ runs. The turnout was light and there just weren’t enough before to score the time only heats.

Autocrossing for the third weekend in a row and I think I brought my B game, at best. The course was good, there was a nice dip coming in the last hard right before the home stretch which threw me off all day. I hit the same cone exiting the crisscross heading into the box of doom twice and added an extra one coming back into on one of those same runs. I did not get the most out of my shots at the course at actually counted, coming away with 48.586, 48.504, 46.597 +1, and 47.149 +2 to finish second in STX open (but nearly 2 full seconds behind the leader), 24th in raw times and 17th in PAX times. Fun runs were progressively better running 47.096, 46.718, 46.790, and 46.301. (Results)

A fast and challenging course at Southwestern International Raceway on Sunday, unfortunately it was long enough to cut the usual four runs to three. I faired pretty well, but my best (second) run was tainted by obliterating the cones in the slalom coming into the finish. My times were 68.622, 66.337 (+3), 67.609 which put be almost two seconds behind the STX leader, an ’88 BMW M3, and nearly four seconds behind a STX classed WRX competing in the PAX category. So I still have some learning/work to do. Overall, I finished 25th in raw times, 15th in PAX times.

Go to SIR for autox this morning at it-way-too-early-on-Sunday (630 am departure).
Work the first heat.
Run the second heat.
First run, come back, front driver tire is holding less pressure than I set it at before going out. No way this should happen with temps in the 90s.
Then I hear it. The ominous hissing of air escaping the tire. I ran over something on that run that punctured it, dead center of the tread. That’s a wrap, one and done.
I also happened not to have a spare with me, which will never happen again, now.

Managed to limp the car home, thank goodness this event was in Tucson. Now time to see what one of the Monte Carlo wheels looks like on the car. At least the AZBR SCCA folks were kind enough to offer a refund of my entry fee as well as multiple offers to codrive. Good people.

Since it seems I can’t get through a month’s worth of events without something going wrong, I am thinking I might take a break from autocross and sleep in on more Sundays because this is just frustrating and it’s outweighing the fun. At least the Phoenix event two weekends ago went well, aside from getting my ass handed to me.

Sunday was another fun day, this time with the SCCA Arizona Border region.

In car video (17.47 mB).

Fast, fun course, reminded me of the National Road courses from Cumberland with the addition of some gravel and a random RV in the middle of the lot that had to be ‘designed around’. Results aren’t up yet but I know I got beat by at least a few cars in my class, including a beautiful BMW E30 M3. Ah well, the video showed me some things i need to pay more attention to to improve. Sierra Vista is up again this weekend, this time at the airport. We’ll see if the concrete lives up to the hype everyone has built it up to be.