My work schedule has caused me to miss several much closer events recently, and I need my seat time!
Mock me, sympathize, call me crazy, or tell me why it would never work for you.
I don't care, I drove from Central Florida to Southern Georgia and back for an event today, and had a great time.
I'm really glad I left my good tires at home. Rivals don't like rain, and I drove through at least a dozen showers. The two-year-old, already flipped set of re71r bridgestones weren't as fast on the course, but I felt a lot safer getting there and back.
In case you're wondering, the water on the pavement is from cooling the tires between runs.
Guys drive a lot further to see their girlfriends.
good on you. Have fun and be safe
mr2s2000elise said:
Guys drive a lot further to see their girlfriends.
good on you. Have fun and be safe
Well, now that I think about it, I guess I have the Miata instead of a girlfriend.
I'm sure I'm better off. I think my wife would agree.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
what my wife doesn't know - won't kill her 
Haha. I had a rule in the past that however long the drive was, the event had to be at least that long....
Mountain bike rides, boat rides, racing, etc...
I got a lot more. Enjoyment out of life when I dropped that rule.
Sometimes you just want a road trip to do something cool for 10 minutes.
Hey Doc,
I understand how you feel. We just got home this afternoon from hauling 700 miles total trip, to race a dirt late model.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
If I had fun is the only metric for success while playing with cars for me. Sounds like you won!
I once drove 17+ hours to Nebraska to compete in the US Nationals . . . six runs total. It was an epic week, though :)
Woody
MegaDork
8/31/20 6:32 a.m.
When I read the thread title, I thought you were high and your odometer was broken.
Woody said:
When I read the thread title, I thought you were high and your odometer was broken.
You have a special ability to see things that others don't see. Your interpretation makes perfect sense.
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
I did a fair amount of that when I was racing downhill - hours of driving for a single 4 min race run, although I usually did get at least a half-dozen practice runs on the course. The worst one was back in 2015 when I wrecked hard on my third practice run on Sat and hurt myself to the point where I could barely walk, much less continue riding and then racing the next day. Just driving back home to SE PA from western VA took extra time because I had to stop every hour or so to get out of the car to stretch. That was a rough weekend (along with the next two months of recovery).
I think it's because of my DH racing past that autocross makes sense to me. The idea of the competition not actually lasting very long. If all you look at is the seat time, then you missed the point of autocross.
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
Either way it's quite the distance traveled for 4 and a half minutes of seat time.
I've driven from Michigan to Gainesville to watch someone else autocross my car, and I got 2 autocross runs and 11 drag passes @15 seconds each. I think you got a bargain.
wvumtnbkr said:
Haha. I had a rule in the past that however long the drive was, the event had to be at least that long....
Mountain bike rides, boat rides, racing, etc...
I got a lot more. Enjoyment out of life when I dropped that rule.
Sometimes you just want a road trip to do something cool for 10 minutes.
. Unless 10 minutes is not good enough for the girlfriend. Just sayin'...
This was also a trial to see how a full day in the car would feel. There's some good events here in Florida a like distance from here.
You had a great time. You totally won.
Duke
MegaDork
8/31/20 8:49 a.m.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
Mock me, sympathize, call me crazy, or tell me why it would never work for you.
I don't care, I drove from Central Florida to Southern Georgia and back for an event today, and had a great time.
Seat time isn't the point of autocross. All those holier-than-thou trackday types who make fun are missing the point. It's fine if it's not for you but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be for us.
mw
Dork
8/31/20 1:04 p.m.
ZOO (Forum Supporter) said:
I once drove 17+ hours to Nebraska to compete in the US Nationals . . . six runs total. It was an epic week, though :)
That was a great week Rob! You need to figure out a way to come back again sometime.
between Martin Sports Car Club and the SCCA there should be no reason to drive that far to go autox in Central Florida; but, hey at least you had fun and found a way to fit it in your schedule! That's all that matters.
DirtyBird222 said:
between Martin Sports Car Club and the SCCA there should be no reason to drive that far to go autox in Central Florida; but, hey at least you had fun and found a way to fit it in your schedule! That's all that matters.
Oh, you're right. There's multiple autocross events much closer to me here in DeLand. Unfortunately, I am scheduled to work on many of the weekends of those events, so if I want seat time, I have to travel.
I end up searching for possible events to attend somewhere within a workable travel distance. Now I know that I'm able to extend the distance out to a couple of hundred miles, I have a lot more options.
It's actually fun to run with a lot of other groups. I'm a member of Martin, Central Florida SCCA, and FAST, and I've competed with Citrus PCA and the Buccaneer, Gulf Coast and Dixie SCCA clubs.
2006- 2007, I drove 1000km round trip for ever rallycross in Edmonton. Totally worth it.
And to think I got tired of driving 130 miles round trip every weekend for 10 passes (on a good Saturday) that lasted between 12.9 and 13.3 seconds each.
I drove around 300 miles for 5 runs my first event. Funny enough also in an ES Miata.
dropstep said:
And to think I got tired of driving 130 miles round trip every weekend for 10 passes (on a good Saturday) that lasted between 12.9 and 13.3 seconds each.
I've been fortunate enough to live minutes away from a strip and I'd take my Honda CBR1100XX out there from time to time.... my nerves could only handle three or four passes a night.
The Dixie Region folks are a great group. It's basically my adopted home region as I run most of my events up there dye to the better sites and more seat time. I'm seriously considering the September event, just to get out and do something. See you there maybe :)
