Last Sunday I went out to the stadiums to see what this autocross thing was all about. I’ve been driving in racing sims (well, Need For Speed anyway, all the way back to the first one that they did with Road & Track consulting) since I was twelve and enjoy a bit of twisty road more than is probably normal, but I’ve never actually done any performance or competitive driving. With a car of my own and a local club or three running fairly low-risk events like Solo II, it was time to change that. I arrived at the event site around 8:30 in the morning, not certain if I was gong to run or just watch and maybe mooch a ride or two. Right of the bat I met Gary Hartman, who runs an MR2 in E Stock. Although he declined to let me ride with him (something about 190 pounds of passenger screwing with his corner weighting — guessed within ten pounds! O.o) he was very helpful and offered to walk the course with me, and ride along as an instructor if I decided to run. When the course opened to walk, he took me through it, explaining the terminology and pointing out the lines he would take, and variations I might consider.

I then met fellow KU student Len Necefer, who is in STS with an Integra. Len and I talked shop on cars, and later on I got a chance to ride along on one of his runs. Len is fast. Also, his passenger seat doesn’t have a racing harness. Something to keep in mind if he ever offers you a ride…

I did end up deciding to run, and ended up in second heat. I wasn’t very fast, but I didn’t get lost on course and I had all clean runs. Rick Hartpence, an experienced autocrosser who drives his Miata in STS2, rode with me for my last two runs and helped me improve. He drove one of them, and ran a 75.4 — not bad for his first time in a FWD car, and two seconds faster than my best time of the day! — and was a great help in learning the ropes. Thanks, Rick!

I got stuck working the course in third heat. By that time the temperature over the tarmac was over 100 degrees and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. I got thoroughly sunburnt, but didn’t mind: there was an ITA-prepped RX-7 and two Formula Fords running in that heat! The sound was incredible.

At the end of the day, Rick’s time was good enough to put my car in second place out of three for H Stock, between a madman in a Mini Cooper and a ricer with a modded-out Civic that somehow got classed with me. Not bad for the first time out. I’m looking forward to the next local event, which is on August 10th at Kansas Speedway. We’ll see if I can get new, better tires by then!

I’m maintaining a list of my results and an events summary here.