ER - Challenge Cup #1, Autocross February, 22nd

[altiain]

For a guy who whines about rollover protection or lack thereof, Kestrel sure hasn't been in any hurry to install a roll bar in his car - the one thing that might actually protect his head if he ever does get it "shiny side down". :P

I got 2 of my friends to come along with me to the pca autox school
see you there Iain!

Will do - it should be a lot of fun.

Iain

[Kestrel]

For a guy who whines about rollover protection or lack thereof, Kestrel sure hasn't been in any hurry to install a roll bar in his car -

You misunderstand my whining. I think AX is safe enough to run without any rollover protection, hence I am in no rush to install a rollbar. I think PCA is being foolish with their "top-up" rule. If they are that concerned -- more concerned than SCCA or ER or most other clubs running AX -- they should just require a rollbar and be done with it. It's the "top up is safer" mentality that gets my lederhosen in a twist.

You'll remind me that at an AX early last year -- I think it was a PCA event -- they did have someone roll (in a WRX, if I'm not mistaken). Well, I'm waiting for the day when one of the "safe" top-up ragtops (god forbid it's a Miata ) goes over... then when the body comes out in four pieces, we'll all see just how safe that little piece of brilliant thinking is .

But it's OK... that's just my [warped, and very vocal] opinion. PCA can run any way they want. And in the end, there are plenty of other places I can race... in a terribly unsafe manner with my top down and no rollbar :P .

I'm not picking on you alt... most people on this board are OK with it all, or they just don't care enough to "vent". One day I'll get over myself and just install the bloody rollbar.

By the way, you may notice that I don't make too big a fuss when MSR requires top up. They probably should require a rollbar, which would mean I couldn't run. So on that score, I stay verwy, verwy quite (said in my best Elmer Fudd voice) .

[POS Racing]

Well looks like the following folks will be in beautiful Mineral Wells on Sunday!

• POS
  JRW
  Tailchaser
  Mark52
  onething
  Kestrel

Anyone else planning on going to Mineral Wells tomorrow??

[Kestrel]

What a way to start the season!

It was a great day for autocross, and we had an excellent showing by the Miata crowd:

• -1st in CS by JRW, who was basically on fire all day long
  -2nd in ES by POS Racing
  -1st in Tire Class by onething
  -2nd in DSP by Spec Miata Dude

I think we had a total of 11 Miata pilots at this first event:

- 7 CS
- 2 Tire Class
- 1 ES
- 1 DSP

But for the first time in [at least] two years, there were no Miatas in Novice class. Come on boys and girls -- we've taken the Novice Crown for the last two years... who's going to get it in 2004?

[altiain]

Congrats to JRW - I spoke with Jon W. this evening, and he said mentioned the fact that he got beat.

I heard Kestrel and tailchaser also had new tires out there today, and didn't do so badly themselves.

As for the Novice crown... we hooked a few novices at the PCA school today who might have have a shot at that title.

Sorry I missed you guys today - see y'all next weekend in Miserable Wells!

Iain

[BigDmiata]

Sorry I didnt make it out there for the event. My car was in no shape to race. If someone passed my car at tech I would have laughed my ass off.

[Mark52]

I had the trailer hitched to the Miata and ready to go to Mineral Wells, but sudden illness Sunday a.m. kept me home The really sad thing is that I felt fine by noon Anyway, congrats to all you weiners, I mean winners.

[Kestrel]

I heard Kestrel and tailchaser also had new tires out there today, and didn't do so badly themselves.

Ah... no... Unless you call 3+ year old Hoosiers new. I'm still trying to burn off the tires I got when I bought that second set of wheels. I got 'um last year, and that rubber was already 2+ years old.

On the other hand, I wasn't too disappointed with my performance. Funny to say that when you place 4th, but I'm telling you CS is gonna be tough this year! I'm not expecting to place very highly in the trophy hunt, but I do expect to learn a lot and become a much better driver as I try to chase the "Big Dogs". I'll continue to behappy with my performance throughout the year as long as I'm close to the eventual winner.

Wanna know what I learned yesterday? I don't know s#@t about reading a course. On the initial walk-throughs, I was absolutely convinced that you needed to take the slalom the "easy way". This meant going left around the first cone (taking the cone on your right) and carrying the speed up the hill. That also meant giving up some speed at the end, but that was OK since it was a tight right-hander... you'd have to give up a lot of speed anyway. My thinking was it was better not to lose any speed at the bottom, carry that speed to the top, and give up the speed only when you had to. Well, I would be wrong. In this particular instance, you ended up not giving away too much speed at the bottom if you went to the right of that first cone (took it on your left side), and I trimmed 1.5 seconds off my time when I went that way. Who suggested that? John B. Of course, I didn't listen to him until my third run.

Well, everything in life can be a learning experience, if you pay attention...

Huh? What was that?

[POS Racing]

Results are Available! (PDF)