I knew going into this event that it was going to be a tough one. I work the overnight shift and usually get Friday nights off so Saturday events are tyically do-able, but this week I was scheduled for Friday night. This meant autocrossing on zero sleep, with the second half of the double-whammy being that Kate wasn't going since she had to prep for a week-long work trip.

Despite the less-than-ideal conditions, I pressed on regardless. After no small amount of debate and frequent checks of the forecast, I threw in the towel and got the hardtop out of the shed and turned Captain Slow into a cozy coupe. It's not the way I like to drive, but it sure beats getting rained on or driving while under the claustrophobic soft top. Once I got to the event site, though, conditions looked pretty good so I got a buddy to help take the hardtop off and ran top-down like God intended for the morning runs.

I had debated disconnecting the rear sway bar in advance of the event, hoping that would get the rear tires to grip better and help the car rotate in tighter corners. A Miata.net thread on the subject during the week offered conflicting opinions, and rain on Friday cemented the idea that I would leave the mechanical bits alone and, if the car was not handling to my taste, I'd have to compensate with my driving.

I had ordered a CG-Lock and it arrived early in the week, so that was a new toy to play with. It's a small device that is attached to the seat belt tongue and prevents the lap belt from getting slack as one drives. Short of a full harness, this is a great tool to help keep a driver from moving around in the seat, which helps with comfort and concentration. So far it seems like a good buy.

Aside from the CG-Lock, the car was just as it ran the previous weekend. All that was done was a check of fluids and lugnuts. I stopped at a gas station on the way to Baysox Stadium and pumped up the tires quite a bit, and it was off.

I had never run with Capital Driving Club before but had read plenty about it over the last year or so since thinking about getting into autocross. It had a reputation as a friendly club that was warm to newbies like me, and I found this to be true. We're starting to see some familiar faces as we are making more frequent appearances at these things.

I was in the second run group and got to do the heavy looking-on as the first group ran, kindly drying and cleaning the course for those of us who would run later. The course combined a couple sweepers with tight turns, only using the upper part of the lot. There were no slaloms, which was a nice twist (pun slightly intended) since those things tend to frustrate me more often than not.

Unlike the two Autocrossers Inc. events we've done, I didn't go off course in my first run. I did the first set of three runs fairly drama-free, maybe because of, or in spite of, my having a passenger. I was in line getting ready to make the first run when some guy asked if he could come along. I said sure, grab a helmet and come on in. As he was getting the helmet I started wondering to myself if this guy was going to get a show, a clinic, or a good example of what not to do. He probably hoped for one of the first two, but wound up with the last.

My guest left me to myself for the third morning run, and I put up what was probably my best run of the day. The car handled well, rotating nicely on the sweepers. My enthusiasm for speed cost me in a couple tight sections, with the now familiar front wheel lock-up.

The tire pressures built up pretty well on those three runs, and I went down a few PSI all the way around for the final set of runs, and chalked the tires to see how close to right I guessed.

Lined up for the second runs, apparently the 42.03-second run was inspiring awe among some younger Miata drivers who were also just getting into the sport. They had some questions and one wanted to ride along, and I said OK. I wowed him with an off-course run the first time out, and I was probably trying too hard in the next couple runs to put up good times. I figured that 42.03 would stand up and started prepping for the ride home, noticing that the chalk marks on the tires showed I was pretty much where I needed to be pressure-wise, at least on this particular day. That was encouraging.

I got home around 3PM and I was pooped. But it was worth it, spending the day around good people who ran a good show. We'll be back to run more with them down the road.

Our next venture will probably be with WDCR SCCA at FedEx Field sometime in the second half of September.

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