You'd think after 31 years of autocrossing, I'd have done and seen it all, but yesterday proved me wrong.
We had an autocross yesterday at Deland Airport, and attendance was strong with 115 entries, 30 of them novices. The day started out cold, but quickly warmed to the mid-60's as the sun rose. It was promising to be a beautiful event. I was instructing for the first two heats, and having a blast driving a variety of novice's cars. The fastest of those was a turbocharged Miata, which was a handful but very quick.
Then came the third heat, in which I was scheduled to race. A line of light showers came through just before the heat started, which wet the pavement just enough to turn it into a sea of slimy mud. My slicks, which were already below their optimum temperature, had no purchase on the slime at all, causing me to spin on my first run. I dropped a couple of pounds out of the back tires and took a tentative second run, running a clean 47.8. This was a decent time, as few were below 50, but I knew there was lots more out there since I had run a 47.0 in the turbo Miata. I was sure I could dip into the 45's on my third run, so I went out and attacked the course. Things were going well until about a third of the way through, when I suddenly found myself sliding backwards at 50 mph. I even commented out loud (heard on the video), "You've got to be kidding!" I was fully set in the corner when the tail came around, a time when I'm usually fighting understeer. I still don't know what initiated the slide, unless I just hit an especially slimy part of the course without seeing it. I dropped a couple more pounds out of the back and ran an even more tentative 48.1 on my last run, nicking a cone for good measure.
So this was the first time I've ever spun twice at the same event, and the first time I ever beat my best time with a novice's car. Even after three decades, this sport can still throw surprises at me. I'll post some video of the mayhem as soon as I upload it.
