There's a reason we "fast" Miata folk stay away from Porsche Club of America autocrosses. OK... Two reasons. First, we really like to drive with our tops down, and the PCA requires a roll bar for convertibles to run top down. Second, the course designers employed by the Maverick Region PCA are evil. Pure evil. And did I mention masochistic? I'll find that Chuck Machala fellow one of these days...

However, last Friday while pondering our autocross options for the weekend, a number of us discovered that we could either not race, spend two days in the sun in Mineral Wells for an SCCA divisional, or head over to Pennington Field for a skills challenge to beat all challengers as hosted by the Maverick Region PCA. So we signed up. And thus begins our list of firsts, as forum veteran sammm was to be indoctrinated with his first PCA event. Once we arrived, we discovered that long time listener, first time caller, valhalla and his son were also there for their first autocross.

valhalla tidies up his numbers before hitting the course

Let's see... I'm missing a first or two, as this was the first time I've run R compounds "just for the heck of it" and the first time I've driven my own car at a PCA event. It was also the first time that treibenschnell stood me up for our 6:30 am meeting to caravan to an autocross. Sounds like a self-nomination for the ever-popular Holly's Miata Traveling Trophy to me...

Another first? How about first gear... There were six (or more depending upon driver style) first gear turns. Most drivers shifted down to first three times. Another? Well... I've never seen anyone use reverse on course before... Apparently the last hairpin as she exited "the maze" was a bit too tight for Leslie Hollinsworth, but a quick shift to reverse made it a three-point turn and a respectable time.

As usual, joe.miata lays down some blistering times

POS Racing flirted with the better side of the 60 second mark, but never quite snuck past. jrw hung out in the 61s on his Ecsta 712s (and bling-bling wheels). sammm turned up the heat and posted a couple 61s as well. We also saw some great times from Tn and some incredible consistency from valhalla - we expect he'll be a force to be reckoned with once he replaces his all season tires.

Someone left this little fellow on the dash of the POS Racer

Since it was, in fact, a Porsche club event, I suppose it's only fair to comment on the Porsches... Those of us working corners near the skidpads certainly enjoyed the three wheeling antics of car 54 (and 45) as it lifted the inside front wheel all the way around the pad. Most amusing was watching the young lady driving it drop the wheel after exiting the pad to see where she was going.

It was also rather impressive to watch the 914's nimble cornering as they negotiated the hairpins - not to mention just seeing that many 914's in one place with no visible rust.

As always, the Porsche club made us feel welcome. The fast guys like it when we show up to scare some speed into the 911 owners that never get out of first gear. If you've never made it out to one of the Maverick Region events, we highly recommend giving them a try. You certainly don't want to miss their excellent driving school series in the spring.

Now for the final tally. That's "more firsts than I can count", 6 hairpin turns, 2 360 degree skidpads and four 1 hour heats that meant we were done by 3:00. So... are you ready for the next one?

joe thinks "Dang... I'll bet he hears it if I start letting the air out now..."

tailchaser takes the class win and Fast Miata of the Day