9/20/07We don't call it "racing" because that doesn't set too well with the insurance companies -- you can do it with the same car you drive to work or school every day! 8<{) We call it "autocrossing." The SCCA calls it "Solo." But, yes, I will be competing. In my case, I drive a purpose-built 1965 Austin Mini that lives on a trailer when it's not in action. You can see some pictures of it here:
http://miniownersoftexas.org/old/mini.html It amounts to finding a large parking lot or unused airport -- laying out a miniature road course using orange traffic cones -- then driving through that course just as fast as you can without hitting any cones (a two-second penalty for each cone you hit) or missing any gates (that's a DNF -- you Did Not Finish the course the way it was intended to be run, so your time doesn't count.) We run one car at a time against the clock -- but we usually have two or three cars on the course at a time -- spaced far enough apart that there's no chance of one car overtaking another. It's basically the same thing that law enforcement officers do when they're going through their driver training except that we do it competitively and with sophisticated timing gear. To us, it's an exercise in precision driving and makes you a much better driver when you're on the street. You only compete against other cars in your same class -- cars that should be just about equal to yours in terms of performance. Winning times are often decided by thousandths of a second.Next week's event is the national championship -- bringing together the top SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) autocrossers in the country and any other SCCA members who care to attend. I fall into that latter group! 8<{) I've been there seven times in the past ten years. I've never finished better than second or third out of last place -- but I sure had a blast doing it.I WILL take my camera, but I'll have to find somebody else to take pictures when I'm on-course.
John jlieberman@sport.rr.com10/8/07I friend of mine in California took about 2000 -- hopefully, a lot of my car since his wife co-drove it! As soon as he gets them all downloaded, he's going to send me some of my car in action.BTW -- I didn't do worth a poop. I had major ignition problems the first day and couldn't make up the deficit on the second. So I wound up 8th out of 9 cars. If it had run right both days, I would have been 5th or 6th.If you'll go to this link:
http://www.scca.com/event.aspx?hub=3&event=5632 you can see an aerial view of the huge asphalt pad at Heartland Park Topeka. That picture was taken last year -- at the '06 Solo Nationals. It's hard to conceive an expanse of perfectly flat, unobstructed asphalt that's big enough to run two 50-second courses on simultaneously. Most of the time we had six cars running -- three on each course -- one just starting, another just finishing, and a third about mid-way through. It was a hoot!
John 10/12/07 As promised, here's a picture from Topeka and a little blurb about my trip
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION
The last week in September, I hitched up the Mighty Mini to my Fraud pick-em-up and headed north for my almost-annual pilgrimage to Topeka, KS. I left Shreveport before dawn on Sunday the 23rd and, ten hours later, I was pulling into Heartland Park Topeka to spend the week with 1150 of my closest friends. No, you didn't mis-read that -- the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Solo Nationals is the largest competitive motorsports event in the country and traditionally draws over 1100 drivers from all over the US and parts of Canada. We can actually handle as many as 1250. Over a four-day period, each driver gets three one-minute runs on each of two courses. The best times from each course are then added together to determine the winners (and National Champions) in each of 72 classes. You basically have one car starting each course every 20-seconds with the first car tripping the lights at eight in the morning and everything wrapped up for the day by four in the afternoon. IT'S INTENSE!!!By now, you're probably asking yourself, "What in the heck is he talking about?" Let me explain. What the SCCA calls "Solo" is more commonly known today as "autocrossing." It amounts to one car at a time trying to negotiate a miniature road course laid out with orange traffic cones on a big expanse of asphalt or concrete. You run against the clock -- just as fast as you can. If you hit any of the cones, that's a two-second penalty for each cone hit. If you miss any of the gates, that's a DNF (you Did Not Finish the course as it was designed to be run) and your time doesn't count. Class winners -- especially at the national level -- are often decided by thousandths of a second. Back in our High School and College days, it was called Gymkhana or Slalom. Gloria knows what I'm talking about. She used to do it. And I imagine that others of you have done it, too, or at least watched somebody else do it. I've been doing it on a regular basis for the past 22 years, though I actually ran my first one with my Corvair on the old Spartan-Atlantic parking lot on Loop 410 back in '67 or '68.I spent all day Monday walking both courses several times -- to get familiar with them -- and getting my car tech-inspected to make sure it was legal. I ran the West course on Tuesday and the East course on Wednesday. Then I spent Thursday and Friday writing other classes for SportsCar Magazine (the official SCCA publication) and North American Pylon (a west coast publication dedicated strictly to autocrossing.)So...how'd I do? Not very good, I'm afraid. 8<{( There were nine cars in my class. On Tuesday, my ignition went flat and I couldn't get the little beast over 4500 rpm. And, with only 10 or 15 minutes between runs, there wasn't much time to work on it. At the end of the day, I was sitting dead last. I thrashed on it the rest of the afternoon and into the evening -- after making a couple of trips to O'Reilly's -- and finally got it running right. But I'd lost so much time on Tuesday that there was no way I could make it up on Wednesday. I was only able to pick up one position and finished eighth. IF the car had run right on the first day, I would have finished sixth -- maybe even fifth -- against the best autocross drivers in the country in my class (G-Prepared) which is made up entirely of vintage 60s and 70s British and Italian sports cars.Did I have fun? You betcha! Am I going back next year? Count on it! Will I win? Probably not, but I'm sure going to have fun trying!You're never too old to have a second childhood!!!
8<{)John
