So I finally got the WRX out for some autocross this past weekend and had an absolute blast…. intoxicating is the best word to describe how it made me feel. I’m still speed drunk and find it difficult to concentrate on anything but analyzing my runs over and over in my head thinking of the mistakes I made and the improvements I should make.
I placed 19th out of 39 and my friend Arnold Fuller was 11th (we were both in novice class). I was the fastest of the other two cars in my specific group (Novice D Stock.) Both were late model 3-Series BMWs.
Obviously I couldn’t take any photos of my car competing (see the videos and Adam Ward’s photos below) but I didn’t have to work while group 3 was competing so I got to ride with Arnold on his first run and his fastest time of the day. I also got to take these photos. Arnold is driving the white primer Civic hatchback #16. And yes – that’s a go-kart (two-speed shifter-kart to be exact) getting some off-course air while doing about 40 MPH.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coreyfoster/sets/72157608623512953/
And here are the in-car videos from my third and fourth runs. My third run was my best score at 94 seconds and some change while my fourth run was my fastest at just over 93 seconds, but (as you can see and hear) I wiped out two pylons resulting in a 4 second penalty. I think I hit a cone near the end of my third run (you can hear it in the video), but it must have stayed inside its bounding box because I received no penalty.
The WRX did great and I learned a lot about the car since I was able to push it to the edge of losing control. Sadly, I’m not a good enough driver to keep it on the good side of that fine line and my turns were terribly wide since I was going too fast, over driving my ABS and basically drifting the car through them with all four tires spinning (you’ll hear them screaming in the videos) trying to keep the car on the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiP7XLSBMxc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HsqLi6uiO4
And this set includes the photos of me driving that Adam took: http://henklin.ridethepig.com/
2 Comments
Corey,
I forgot to ask in my last comment. I’d like to post a blog entry at RacingReady.com about your awesome first time out autocrossing. Please let me if know its okay…
I’m sure the variety of people who read my blog would like to hear your perspective, written in my blog’s style, about autocrossing Nashville style!
Let me know!
Dan S. (http://racingready.com)
Corey,
Here’s the link to your information I just posted on my blog:
http://racingready.com/2008/12/18/nashville-autocross-coreys-new-obsession/
Enjoy!
Dan S. (http://racingready.com)