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Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 8:06 pm
by Adam Wright
I did my first autocross today and drove like I was on fire, I even came in 2nd in my class! (There is a caveat here...)

These cars want to be driven, drive em!



You can check out more pics on my blog:

https://unobtaniuminc.wordpress.com/

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 8:14 pm
by Jon Schmid
Congratulations, Adam. As for the "caveat," how many cars were in your class?

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 8:17 pm
by Adam Wright
Jon Schmid wrote:Congratulations, Adam. As for the "caveat," how many cars were in your class?
That would be 2....

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 8:51 pm
by Vic Skirmants
Ooooh K.

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:33 pm
by Alex Mestas
But you had fun right? That's what really matters!

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:59 pm
by Bob Forman
So the guy who won the class finished next to last?

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:17 pm
by Jon Schmid
Adam Wright wrote:
Jon Schmid wrote:Congratulations, Adam. As for the "caveat," how many cars were in your class?
That would be 2....
Classic. 35 years from now you can tell everyone how you finished 2nd in your first event. Hopefully no one will bother to look up the lineup. 8)

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:01 am
by Adam Wright
Jon Schmid wrote:
Adam Wright wrote:
Jon Schmid wrote:Congratulations, Adam. As for the "caveat," how many cars were in your class?
That would be 2....
Classic. 35 years from now you can tell everyone how you finished 2nd in your first event. Hopefully no one will bother to look up the lineup. 8)
Over time the story will get better, because technically I won the class because the other 356, driven by my friend Greg, seen here, was having carb problems in the 2nd go out and stopped running after 6 runs, while I made it through all 8. So he was a DNF for the event.

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:08 am
by Ron LaDow
Adam,
A 2:01 lap is kind like in the 'ones'. When I was drag racing, a 12.2 was 'getting near the 11s', etc.
See Uncle Steve on youtube for fish sizes.

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:23 am
by Brian Jones
Hey Vic, Cliff - you both better try and squeeze some more horsepower out of you engines as this new guy Adam looks like he could end up becoming a bit of a challenge.

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:38 am
by Adam Wright
True to form, there is nothing Big John can't fix. The inner hinge was tweaked, but the door closes fine now. I tried to hug John but he wasn't really feeling the moment like I was...

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 3:31 pm
by Adam Wright
I took the 914 to the PCA autocross on Sunday, thinking there won't be another one, so I will win my class. Of course this was my thinking last time, I brought the 356, and another one of those showed up, and beat me. So once again my plans for class dominance were foiled, another 914 showed up, and beat me. Ironically, had I brought the 356 I would have won my class, oh the irony!
Either way, three things in life I have found are pretty good even when they aren't, Pizza, Autocrossing, and the bedroom, never really had a bad example of any of the three, even when it's bad, it's still pretty good, all things considered.
I drove the 914 hard and it did really well on the tight turns, way out performing the 911's and Cayman's, the skinny worked. Had I had more experience I could have probably gave them a run for their money, but I was too busy going off course and eating cones, but having a blast!
Drive em like you stole them!!!!

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 6:19 pm
by M Penta
Nice Adam, looks like fun. 914's must be great for this.

I had some informal instruction by a pro 'slalom' driver in Germany, and the best advice I remember was "never look at the cone, only look next to cone where you want your tire to be"

Reading the cones gets easier with experience, autoX courses can be very complex. I have far more Rally Cross experience then I do AutoX, and the RX course are usually easier to follow, but presents its own challenge when course is constantly changed so you cannot follow the tire tracks.

You should come to a hill climb up here, Mt Philo is coming up in October and probably less then 2 hrs from you. No cage required if you stay under break out time (which is quite fast!). Lots of fun!

Oh yea, nice car!

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:37 pm
by Paul Allen
I think I also finished 2nd in my first autocross, in my $750 '64 C.

In 1973.

Re: Drive it like you stole it!

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:40 pm
by Paul Allen
Adam Wright wrote:...technically I won the class because the other 356...stopped running after 6 runs, while I made it through all 8. So he was a DNF for the event.
I've never heard of that method of scoring an autocross.

Typically the fastest time wins, period. A guy can make a single run, and if it's the fastest, he wins the class.