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Back to Stratford, CT today for my 2nd autocross event of the year with the Fairfield County Sports Car Club. The club had some special guests this morning, 4 police chiefs from surrounding towns came to compete in their cruisers! It was fun to see them out there with the flashers on, and most of them came in with big smiles on their faces. Local news channels showed up to do a little coverage, and a couple of reporters got the ride of their lives at the hands of some ace drivers.
Weather was an adventure today- I got one dry run in the morning, though the course was cold and dusty. After that each run was progressively wetter. Run 2 was just damp, but 3 had standing puddles, and I had the wipers on for run 4. Lots of wheel hop off the line in the wet, and keeping the front from plowing was a real balancing act. I don't feel like I really figured it out today. My best run of 47.1 was full of mistakes, and I was quite surprised to find it wasn't my slowest run. The fast guys were running 44s in the rain, with the occasional 43. Most were 2-3 seconds slower in the wet than the earlier dry runs. I'm sure I could have run 45s with a few more chances, but the weather got the best of everybody, and the club called the event at 4 runs. Naturally it cleared up not long after that :) Despite my dissatisfaction with my times, it was still good enough to win Rookie Non-Stock, for my 2nd straight class victory. I think I clearly don't belong in Rookie any more, but you only get to be a rookie once, I'm going to soak it up while I can :) |
LOL PO LEESE MAN wwhen are you going to hit up a track day yO? | ||
Im going to start doing some autox, just for training this year, i cant be competitive, cause my car is modded to much, and im in Street mod, but i would like to go just to be able to learn my car in a safer inviroment, | ||
Looks like a horrible tight small course?.? | ||
Well, it was a little slower than last time, while covering slightly more area. There was a "skidpad" setup in the middle which was interesting- about a 630 degree turn around a light pole. There were 2 slaloms. The sweeper wasn't as fast as last time, there were 2 big kinks in it. It didn't feel that tight though. It looks mighty slow in the video because the cruiser is taking it very easy. I suspect the chiefs didn't want to be seen as abusing their public equipment, that may have had a little to do with their conservative runs. Tom Mak gave me a ride-along in his Corvette, which was a wild ride. Standing puddles on the course, and Tom ran with the traction off. He was just telling me he doesn't hang it out as much in the wet, then we charged into the opening slalom completely sideways in both directions :) One of the reporters who got a ride-along looked like she could barely stand up when she got out of the car; her face was all drawn. She said it was a lot more exciting than she thought it would be :) | ||
alllll rightytttt!! | ||
Some pictures from the event, special thanks to Stan Marceiwicz for all the great photography! "Traffic Enforcement" FTW!
Tom Mak's Vette, this is the one I went for my ridealong in
Uh Oh!
My buddy Charlie spitting up rooster tails
Yours Truly coming in hot
Not the only white Porsche on the block? This one has a full roll cage and looks like a great track car.
Good thing it's red, or ya might lose it out there
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It sounds like you had a great time Mike. I too think you are ready to step up out of the rookie class. Your driving looked great the last time I saw you on track and the times speak for themselves. You will likely deal with power understeer with that car quite a bit. It's just the nature of front wheel drive. Can you add pressure to front or lower pressure in rear to help the car rotate mid corner? Try that. A stiffer rear bar can help too. Tom is one of the best drivers out there. Ride with him each chance you get to pick up on little tid bits of information and differences in driving. He helped me tremendously. The white Porsche is driven by Mike P (yet another Mike). He does spend a lot of time on track at LRP. His car is more setup for track so he understeers quite a bit in the cones. |
