So, this is a bit of a backfill of what had been a commentary-free post of pictures from a Minnesota Autosports Club Autocross Novice school. This was the first performance driving event for both myself and the Erk.
More pics and some commentary below the fold.
I was really happy with how the Erk did. I wasn't 100% comfortable with the state she was in when I ran (and I don't think we'll get there anytime soon), but, blissfully released from having to keep the car available for daily driving, I decided to jump in and have a go.
Two of my biggest reactions:
- 9 psi and 175-odd bhp are definitely not on the low end for this sport. Power was not a limiting factor at all.
- The car handled suprisingly well. It was quite neutral, I think I scrubbed all four corners at once more often than I found myself pushing. That's almost shocking for a car that's historically been limited by nose-heavy attitude and is currently riding on embarrassingly monster-truckish springs (see pics for body roll-alicious examples). What was the x-factor here? Course type or surface? Driver? I'm not claiming I'm so good I made up for the car, on the contrary, was I driving too conservatively in one way or another? Only further data will tell, I think.
But, did I win?
Well... it's not that kind of event, see, it's a learning experience and, um, everyone who improves, "wins." And by that, I mean no, I did not win.
You can check out the days "unofficial" results here.
So, yeah, low 30s out of 55 puts me pretty firmly on the low end of average, but, hey, I have to qualify my performance a bit. There's more to it than just the raw numbers.
The Erk was the oldest vehicle running by a full 9 years. If that's not a striking example of how well those crazy germans know their biz, I don't know what is (that was an unfortunate rhyme). Take a look at the list from 33 down, and check out the number of post-2000 vehicles in there. It was either car or driver skill that made up that for decade or more, and one of us is getting our props. Check out a few things trailing the Erk: 04 WRX? 03 Is300? Yup, there ya have it.
Despite the obvious suggestion in the title of the event, not everyone there was a novice, by any means. Some folks had run most of the previous season, and just never taken the 2-day course.
Well, I talked a little about who was behind me, let's take a look toward the front of the list. We had two miserable punks freshly returned from the Skip Barber school with a pair of well-equipped M3s. Yeah, there are some gaps I'm gonna have a hard time closing. When those little bastards could keep the damn things on the course, they were uncatchable. Other than that, you can find a Porsche, a Lancer and some of its classmates, Elise, and, as always, some frickin' Miatas.
- I wasn't being all snarky about improvement being the true goal, and if you check my individual runs, it was constant improvement with only one half-second hiccup on the way from my first run to a last run that was almost nine seconds faster (on a course with a rough median of 32-second range). Everyone else was improving too, comments from instructors had this as one of the fastest novice schools they've ever run.
Well, after ten times around the course, with the day getting quite a bit warmer in the afternoon, the Erk started persistently overheating, and had to be put to bed early. Looks like the fan wasn't kicking over to its highest speed, and the coolant soaked too much heat during the long staging waits.
Definitely a good time, though, and even though the Erk is now down for refitting until probably next season, I'm glad I took it out to get a taste of the track. Gives me a little better idea of what my effort is going towards.
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