Autocross Recap: WDCR SCCA, May 2 2010The last time out, we had a terrible performance. The result of the four runs were DNF, DNF, DNF, and a spin. It doesn't get much worse than that, and I got to reflect on that for a full two weeks since there wasn't anywhere to run the following weekend. We returned to action on Sunday with the same group, Washington DC Region SCCA. The venue was FedEx Field again, but this time there was a new wrinkle. Instead of running on one of the expansive main parking lots by the stadium, we were relegated to a smaller one a little off the beaten path. This was a late change that probably had the local SCCA folks scrambling to design a new course, but the end result was a decent romp on a fairly bumpy surface. What the course lacked in imagination, it made up with a couple-three opportunities to get some serious speed going. The highlight was a long sweeper, which was allegedly a slalom, that had most flat-out across the top of the lot. As a nice bonus, this straight didn't even end at a low-speed turn, instead emptying into a wide-radiused right-hander. In the '99 Miata, I thought I'd be needing third gear for this stretch, or at the very least flirting with the rev limiter. It turned out to not be the case, but each time I came storming up that hill and breezing through that so-called slalom, I figured that the limiter's cutting in would be hapening any second now. STR was the last class in the opening heat, so we got to get our runs in before the day really heated up, and before any chance of thunderstorms happened. I think the whole day went storm-free, but the threat was definitely there as the morning sessions wound down. Even though this was the second WDCR event, since I had such a fiasco in the first one, I had no idea how I was going to stack up to the competition. After the first run, though, I had a pretty good idea and it was encouraging. They run us in order of our car number and I, running #93, was next to last each time out. This was good since I could hear over the P.A. my time after each run and, usually, where I stood in class. Each time out I picked up time, including an eye-opening full second on my third run, and at the end of the day I finished up with a 44.8 second time of record. There were thirteen drivers in STR on Sunday, with seven or eight different makes/models/generations of car among us. When the results were published, I was pretty happy to see I had cracked the top ten, winding up ninth. The entire top ten was extremely close, with the biggest gap between positions being 0.56 seconds. Most positions were decided by only one or two tenths. As good as I felt about ending up ninth, I was a little unhappy to see that the eighth place driver beat me by a mere 0.05 seconds. I don't know if it's good or not that I know exactly where I could have been at least a tenth or two faster - I hiccuped a little approaching a pointer cone late in the last run and had to make a quick adjustment to stay on course - but I suppose it's not a bad thing to know that without that one very easily identifiable mistake, I could have leapt past one or two more drivers in the standings and been even more in the thick of things. Both me and Kate are back in action next weekend. Autocrossers Inc. is putting on a unique event in Waldorf, where we'll have no lack of seat time. It's a full-day autocross with our getting four official runs in the morning, then taking a break for lunch, and finishing up with four more fun runs. I'll stay in STR but run the STS-spec Captain Slow, while Kate will probably be running in STS with her Ugly Duckling. Parsimonious Racing News Archive |