OK, I did the first event this past weekend, and I'm already hooked! It's about all I have been thinking about since Saturday. Lucky for me, there is another event in a town about 45 minutes from where I live this coming weekend, so I don't have to wait too long to get my next fix!
I thought that I would fill you guys in, give a quick synopsis of my day, and post some of my observations.
First of all, I roll into the parking/paddock area, and I instantly felt so out of place. Seems like the car of choice for this area is either a Miata, an S2000, or a Vette. There was only one other "American muscle car" there, a 2012 Mustang V6 vert. Looked very similar to my 07 GT/CS, white auto with a black top. Although I knew that those cars were in a different class, I still kinda felt like I had brought a knife to a gunfight.
So anyway, I guess I looked more like I was going to a car show than an autocross, with my 20" wheels and all. Oh well, I guess that I had "noob" written all over me. No big deal, everyone's a noob at some point, right?
Anyway, I met several great folks there, and rode with three differnt guys in three totally different cars, a first gen Miata, a 2011 Mitsubishi EVO, and a guy with a gutted out, race prepped mid 80's BMW 3 series. It was very interesting to me how much differently riding in their cars felt from me driving mine. It seemed like they were able to drive MUCH deeper into the corners than I did, and their cars didn't seem to be nearly as tail happy as my Mustang. I am sure a lot of that is experience as well, because I think that I could have driven my car a good bit harder than I did, but I did struggle to keep the car from spinning out all day.
Anyway, I digress. I DNF'ed my first run because I missed a gate going into a Chicago box. Time was 55 seconds and change. I was actually happy to come in under a minute! LOL My second run was a clean run, in the 54 second range. I hit one cone on my third run, again 54 seconds and change.
My afternoon went pretty well, with three clean runs, all 54 seconds. Unfortunately, I did not take my 7th and final run of the day because of a tire issue. With my wide tires and lowered suspension, I had developed a serious tire rub at the end of my 6th run, and actually shaved a big slice out of my driver's side front tire, right where the sidewall meets the contact patch. I think the tire is fine, but I am going to switch sides before my next event, so that the area that has the slice shaved out of it is on the inside of the wheel. I was bummed to not get that last run, but I didn't want to risk doing the same thing again and ruining a perfectly good 20" Nitto.
My goal for the day was to have fun and not make a fool out of myself. I definitely had a blast, and I think that I did the latter as well. I had to run the NSTX class, due to my tire/wheel size and my lowered suspension.
At the end of the day, believe it or not, I didn't even check to see how I fared. I know that I was NOT in the top 7 out of 20 novice drivers at the event. I just couldn't bare the thought of finishing dead last, so after the trophy presentation, I just packed up and headed home.
It was a fun, but very humbling experience as well. There was a middle age woman in an Infinity that beat my time handily, as well as an 80 year old man in a Miata that kicked my butt as well. LOL
My expectations of myself were low going into the event, so I am not disappointed that I was slow. I knew that I would be. I turned similar times to the dude in the 2012 V6 vert, and he had done autocross several times before, although he was still in the novice class. I did turn in some times faster than some of the Miatas, but there were several that were faster than me as well. The FTD was a 46.something by a guy in a F500 car. The "local expert hot shoe" turned a 47.something in an S2000. The guy I rode with in the BMW turned a 51 something when I rode with him, and the EVO DNF'ed becasue of missing a gate. He was rolling on that run, though. I think he was doing 49's and 50's most of the day. I can't remember what the dude driving the Miata did when I rode with him, but I know he was giving it heck!
So for next time, I am going to switch my front tires, remove my wheel spacers (if I had not been running my wheel spacers up front, I don't think tire rub would have been an issue at all.), and probably run a little lower air pressure in my rear tires. I was running about 45 psi, and was just couldn't get the rear end to hook up. Also, I ran 45psi on the fronts, and I think that was good, as I didn't seem to roll over on the side wall. I am also going to make it a priority to get the local instructor to ride with me so that I can get some pointers. I probably should have done this last weekend, but I was kind of caught up in the excitement of it all, and before I knew it, the day was over.
