No car prep rules, no class designations, no protest forms. That’s what we found when autocrossing our VW Golf GTI this past weekend with the Florida Citrus Region of the Porsche Club of America: all non-Porsches landed in a class simply called Fun.
And we had fun.
We had fun exploring the…
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And how about a few more pics? An old friend recently purchased this 997 GTS. It looks very yummy.
Love the flares without a wing.
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On the way home, I got the “good spot” when stopping for lunch.
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And the victory meal: Publix sushi with a side of Judas Priest.
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And a snack for the car, too, before home.
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The last few years I've gone down the 'run whatcha brung' path, and it's pretty great. Yeah I'm still trying my darndest out on course, but as long as I can drive the car home, who cares where I end up.
I'll concede that I enjoy the competition of a typical event, but I have to agree. What you're describing is the perfect day.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
It was fun–and very fun hanging with you. Also, that Publix is at the corner of 44 so, yeah, we were both discussing the same route out of Tavares.
I used to love going to the BeaveRun open autocross that they'd hold on July 4. No classes no scoring no stress just seat time.
My local Corvette club puts all non-Corvettes into the "Metal cars" class. It's hilarious, there is much awarding of awards in the Corvette classes but no mention of the Metal class if you happen to post FTD by 2 seconds. BTDT :)
When I started a local autocross club, we basically didn't have classes. It was all just timed fun runs. Same with the Flyin' Miata track days that we run every year. After the first run, you know who's close to you and that was your competition for the day. I have always done autox and our local time trials that way - it's more fun to build an interesting car than to be a slave to the rulebook. I build my car and let someone else worry about the classing if they care.
The exception to that was when I ran Targa Newfoundland in 2008. I did my best to optimize for the class, but I had a whole lot more fun when I switched to Open for 2011.
Locally we had a class denoted ZF (zero berkeleys), with a PAX of 5. It was intentional to be a "come have fun and not care" class. That got changed I guess recently to FWC (fun with cars). Since I gave up SRS BZNS in 2016, its been much more freeing just showing up and having fun a couple times a year.
The combination of me being el grande mofo, having minimal skills at best and driving the least competitive cars generally puts me in the FUN class. It's always a good time!
I love autocrossing for fun. Of course that's all I do, but that's on account of my refusal to run anything remotely appropriate for autocross. Just wish I could do it more, but unfortunately my nerves are shot and haven't recovered.
(Gratuitous white W126 shot driven by me to complement the other white cars) ![](https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod.mm.com/uploads/2024/04/24/1713981790_img_0380_mmthumb.jpeg)
You want inappropriate for autocross? I took a run at one of our events in my crew cab Dodge 2500 diesel (with Fox shocks, of course) on a course that some Miata drivers felt was too tight. I did not post FTD. However, I did beat some Miatas.
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I forgot to take pics, but one of our regulars made up FUN magnetics for the side of his Miata.
Keith Tanner said:
My local Corvette club puts all non-Corvettes into the "Metal cars" class.
I wonder how the Elise owners feel about that? :)
Tom1200
PowerDork
4/24/24 10:17 p.m.
I am autocrossing the Foxbody Mustang for the first time Sunday.
There will be 5 drivers in CAM-T including my son and I.
I will be trying hard but we are simply there to have fun.
I find autocross classing more frustrating than anything. Its far better to just run for fun or to stay sharp between track days. I tried hard once just to prove I could do it and the club reclassed my car on me after I won the championship.
I can totally relate. Since JDM kei sports cars are ridiculous fun to autocross, but aren't exactly known for ease of classing, I run my Suzuki Cappuccino with two different clubs in the "Not For Points" class, and I have a ton of fun!
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Everyone in our run group seems to have fun, and the "category" is bursting with entrants at every event. I run alongside a huge variety of vehicles. There is a lot of talk of striving for personal improvement over one's runs, and sometimes some comparison of times across unlikely "competitors" pops up. I love it, and I am not sure I would switch back to competing in class.
As a second benefit, if I decide to change it up and take a different car to the next event (working on the Cappo, or just don't want to drive a tiny car to a further-away event) there is no concern about being able to do so. I have no season points to screw up, and can take whichever car I want to a given event.
Tom1200
PowerDork
4/25/24 12:06 a.m.
In reply to Jordan Rimpela :
I will see your big white car and raise you another.
Notice it says FM on the rear fender. The starter broke on the F500......my son had driven out in his LS400 and so we pressed it into service.
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This is currently what I am doing now because I don't really have a competitive car. It's fun to me because its close by and its mostly a car meet/hangout with friends that has some driving involved.
Tom1200 said:
In reply to Jordan Rimpela :
I will see your big white car and raise you another.
Notice it says FM on the rear fender. The starter broke on the F500......my son had driven out in his LS400 and so we pressed it into service.
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With all the high viz jackets of the course workers, it looks like you are hooning thru a construction zone at Fontana. Oh wait you proably are...
Keith Tanner said: it's more fun to build an interesting car than to be a slave to the rulebook. I build my car and let someone else worry about the classing if they care.
^This. I give credit to the people who take the time to dial a car in to dominate a selected class but that's not for me, personally I just want to build my car the way I want it and take it for a good rip through some cones
Jerry
PowerDork
4/25/24 8:43 a.m.
When you treat every event as a fun event... I am not competitive, and pretty much treat every event as a fun-run test-n-tune. I can't remember the last time I stayed for trophies, help pack up a bit close to me and head home. If they didn't hand me little scraps of paper at the end with my time, I probably wouldn't know until I get home & they post something.
See if I can find my first AX in the '06 xB, not exactly competitive.
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Noddaz
PowerDork
4/25/24 9:14 a.m.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
David, are you implying that Autocross is not supposed to be fun?
I am shocked, just absolutely shocked. ![wink wink](https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/static/ckeditor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png)
I need to get back out the and not have some fun...