I swear The Pea is smiling! We went Autocross racing today!
I only rode shotgun - you don't really need a co-driver for AutoX - Merrilee drove. I'm still a little chicken and had already earmarked the cash the entry fee would have required for The Young Fresh Fellows show coming up later this week instead. I was happy to help navigate the course, hang onto the suicide strap and let Mer handle the power sliding 'round the turns.
Traction control very much off (as they say on Top Gear) it was a little damp when we ran and she actually got a couple controlled slides out of my front wheel drive, automatic transmission (but turbo charged) New Beetle.
Our number was 976!
No, I am not washing the car until at least one person asks about it!
Our sticker to show we passed the tech inspection and
yellow paint dots, one for each of four runs!
The race is put on by The Willamette Motor Club and is completely volunteer run, so if you race you have to work a shift chasing cones and spotting missed gates. That was almost as much fun as driving, plus we were placed by the most technical part of the course, so dammit, if money wasn't tight, I would have run in the afternoon Novice class! I got a good schooling on right and wrong lines, which gates were easy to miss, much easier to see what was what when not hanging on for dear life.
We critiqued all the cars and decided our favorite of the day was a black VW Corrado. Pretty. And fast! The ugliest car (in our humble opinion) was a Mad Max inspired 80's vintage Celica Supra in brown with black trim. Pretty gruesome. There was an early 90's Jetta GLI we dubbed "Skippy" coz she had a rear wheel in the air 'round every turn! Waiting in the parking lot to run the afternoon session were five Ford Fiestas all in a row.
There's more AutoX coming up. The Summer's only just begun! I will be racing - in the driver's seat - soon!
2 comments:
it is a rush to be the driver. it feels like forever, and only a moment. you'll be shaking from the adrenaline rush at the end.
try to ride along in other cars, especially the hot ones. a lot of drivers will take novices on-course. you learn a LOT doing it that way, but you have to concentrate a lot on what's happening outside of the car rather than inside.
i did this for a few years in my vette, and really learned a lot about driving. it's saved my butt a lot driving around town, and that's the reason we sponsored our son doing autox when he was learning to drive.
There was a guy running a 'Vette that day and he was very FAST.
I've rode RallyX (same as AutoX but in a field) with two of Merrilee's friends who share an Evo 8. THAT was exciting.
Was poking around on a New Beetle forum I belong to and there's Beetle only AutoX events, Will definitely check them out.
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