Why I'll always autocross

David S. Wallens said:

Unfortunately I had to skip our latest autocross when I noticed our water heater leaking the night before. Could it hold another day? I dunno, but I decided to spend Sunday shopping water heaters. Turns out I was able to do the entire deal online, so lesson learned....

I was wondering where you were since I saw you registered. XS-B competition with Martin is deep, I'm expecting to be midpack in overall raw time, but close to the bottom in the class lol.

OCCC in August?

BobbySmith1953 said:

I've know Maury for years. We met at a PCA auto-x back in the 1980's. Great guy and we still chat on occasion about the hot auto-x tires and set ups etc. So glad he's still running strong. That gives me hope that I too will get going that long. Cheers Maury...my hero.

I remember Maury vividly, that orange 914 he drove so brilliantly, he was the poster child for 'smooth is fast'. You could watch him run the course and it didnt matter where you were running, it would 'look' slow to the uninitiated, but then the clock would show an almost unbelievably quick time. And such a super nice guy. Always willing to talk about any subject you showed an interest in, he was friendly and engaging, and always respectful and helpful to new people. He certainly was a help to me in my early years in the sport. I wish him the very best. I hope the 6 cylinder 914 that he road raced is still going strong too. Never got to see him drive that one except at one autocross and because it was set up for more open courses it did not fare nearly as well on the tight courses of the day in BRR as his 4 cyl 914. Hope you are still doing well Maury...may the cones you hit be few, and the apexes many.

I came to autocross via a childhood experience in which I was the unbelted child 'ballast' in a fairly current TR-3a a friend of my father owned when we lived in the Bay area in the former great state of Californication. I hung on for dear life while the somewhat crazed driver ( it was california in the sixties remember) attempted to set FTD. I held on for dear life and wanted to do it AGAIN and again. From that point on, I was a G junky. Fast forward to my early thirties and a strong association formed with BRR-SCCA and a well worn 74 Chevy Nova...some of you may still remember it. Its beginnings as an autorcross car were humble to be sure, mostly stock, but eventually became a strong contender in B street prepared as development of the car and my driving skills progressed. There were other notable cars that made appearance as short term rides, but the Nova was a real long termer...approximately a decade. The color of the car changed to protect the guilty and discourage easy recognition with dubious effectiveness. Eventually between the ravages of rust, lack of money, divorce, job change and other such life events, its went to the crusher somewhere after being sold for the drivetrain. Current autocross/track cars include an older WRX and an even older Legacy Wagon. Oddly the wagon is the favorite of the two. 

In reply to aw614 :

Hopefully yes to OCCC in August.

And, yeah, I was packed and ready to go. 

I mowed the lawn Saturday evening and noticed the water while putting away the mower. It wasn't much water, but it was wet. Our water heater was original to the house, so it was from 1977. 

New one was installed that Monday. 

I like auto-xing and find it useful when I'm in a new car that I'm uncomfortable with.  However once I'm comfortable with the handling of the car I gravitate towards track days.  I don't like the ratio of not driving vs driving time at an auto-x. 

I ran my first autocross in a 1977 Toyota truck, in 1977.  I autocrossed the truck because it was all I had and I wanted to go autocrossing.  As the years went by, I did enough to the Hotuck to make it obscene amounts of fun, to where when I could afford a more appropriate autocross car, the Hotruck was too much fun to stop driving. I had a stretch of I think three years when I was never beaten by anything on street tires.  How times change!  The Hotruck remains the best handling thing with doors I have ever autocrossed, but it is sooooo slow in a straight line it is no longer competitive.

But it is still in the garage, and it still comes out to play every couple of years.  The 1999 Miata ES car is probably faster, and my daughter will codrive in the Miata but not the Hotruck, so usually the Miata comes out.  The Hotruck is cooler...

In reply to FSP33Hotruck :

Photos of the Hotruck, please? :) 

Why I'll always rallycross......  as long as there are venues and groups doing it.

When I saw my name as the first two words in David,s article in GRM my jaw almost hit the floor. Now I just found this thread today. Thanks for the kind words from Bobby, Danny and livinon2wheels, who I cannot identify. Not driving as well as in the 914 days but still having fun trying. Back then, when I usually won the class, my goal was to improve each run. Now when mid-pack is the best I can do in mostly Corvette AS...back trying to at least get faster each run. Ironically my current 2018 Cayman has the same size engine as the 914, 4-cyl and 2 liters, albeit with turbo for 300hp vs 91. 

David we missed you at the 1/15/2023 Martin AX, cold as the devil but 113 entrants with times. This old geezer was 3 of 3 in AS, 34th overall and 28th PAX. Nothing like the 914 days to be sure but still having fun doing it...at 91 now. And a PCA AX this coming Sunday at the same site. Usually do a bit better with PCA classing.

   I Autocrossed back in '03 and early '04 and have been trying to get back into it ever since. I used to look up the local schedules (within 60 miles or so) and jot everything down on a calendar then hang it up and look at it with a hopeful gleam in my eye. Now I just hit V-tec once in a while and take the occasional corner a bit fast on my daily commute.

David Elfering said:

My first autocross was in 1986 and I was hooked. Me and a buddy couldn't afford the A008 tires so found some used Eagle Gatorbacks and did the best we could in my Omni GLHS. 

My dad had a GLHS too, terribly unreliable but fun. 

I have wanted to try autocross, there are very few venues left and the last couple times I went to one to watch years ago they were too badly run to be safe enough I would participate.  I might try PCA autocross instead though, I have an old Boxster now and they let other cars run anyway.

Yes. All of the above! I am "only" 67 but intend to Autocross until forced to stop. I also enjoy making modifications to my car "Mistress" in cold winter months. Studying, re-working the engine or suspension to make the car a little easier to drive, a little quicker as budget allows. Beats getting a subscription to Netflix!

I don't remember what year it was but my first driving autcross was in a 69 opel gt on semperit tires a brand now long out of favor. The car survived  my abuse with nothing broken but the rubber doughnuts that supported the exhaust system a little chewing gum and bailing wire tied it back up so I could get home. I was hooked long before that. I was 8 years old  which would have been 1960 and got my first ride on an auto cross course with my neighbor who was friends with my father- Charlie had a TR3a and back then there were no helmets or seatbelts- Charlie drove the wheels off that car with me hanging on for dear life. That's when I was hooked...I never got to drive in one till I was 19 in my first car. I'm no less hooked today at 71. Mobility issues make it more difficult now but I'm still hitting at it. Mostly do track days now and find it more rewarding but still enjoy autocross.

I started out autocrossing in 2010 and then started road course track days and now road race in endurance and vintage events. I'm quicker than most on a road course track day, but get my hat handed to me whenever I autocross. I think the autocrossing I have done is one reason I can learn a track quickly.

 

I autocrossed last weekend–first event of the year–and, yeah, it was fun. My friend bought his twin boys–their second autocross–and love seeing them get hooked.