Autocross early in the season can be a mix of frustration and freezing along with joy and elation. When we started up last March (2014), the day was downright inhospitable. Massive soaking rains. Rather cold. Against everyone's better judgement, we pushed hard to have the event anyway. And we were pretty glad at the end. The joy and elation came through despite the tough conditions. This year proved to be drastically different.
It wasn’t exactly warm in the morning - low 50’s F and a bit windy. I was expecting it to be even windier down on the runway, with it’s lovely location right on Narragansett Bay. But conditions proved to be about the same on the tarmac as it was back at my house - pretty much perfect! So the day was off to a great start. Attilio and I banded together to make the trip from Northern RI down to North Kingston as we’ve done many times before. We had to avoid some surprisingly psychotic drivers in Providence, surprising only because it was early on Sunday morning for the true psychos to be out and about.
We pulled up to find Fred hanging out solo at the secret, unmarked entry point. Spirits were high and we caught up a bit. Gary pulled up next in a shiny new stock FRS. I took one look and thought, “Here we go. Time for spin cycle.” After talking to Gary a bit about track days with the Porsche club and his car, I made mention of the rotational tendency of his car and he looked at me a bit quizzically. Time would tell on that score.
Kathy kindly let us through the gates and down the gravel path to the runway. The road is less treacherous now than before, but driving over lots of chunky gravel is always an odd way to start a track day. There is far less dust though than there used to be. Better for motors.
As we dumped our extra weight from the cars, we talked more. Brother Rich was there - so great to catch up with him and his always classic E46 M3. His new Pilot Super Sports were getting their maiden run. We met Silas in his ridiculously nice STi. It was seriously kitted out, complete with baby seat for his 2yo still strapped in back! Definitely my kind of guy. Kathy would be driving her DD Mazda wagoon with the killer purple wheels. Always good to see a jalop-style wagon out on track. If only it were brown. And a Volvo. Can’t have it all.
We were a small crowd for the morning, but we win either way. More people means more great conversations. Fewer people means more great driving. After this long winter, I was ready to see how much rust would have to go before I could crawl my way back to the level of incompetence I’d achieved all last year!
We started with the classic 4-cone-slalom exercise. And we did a lot of them. It’s truly one of those things that really doesn’t get old. As the brain warms up, the tires heat up, the speeds speed up, the car starts sliding, and then you have to adjust to it all. Even the most simple of car-control exercises combines so many complex elements that mastery is very elusive.
As minor vindication of my early conversation with Gary about his FRS, which I later dubbed (“Frequently Rotating into a Spin”), he started the first of many rotations to come. In stock form, the platform is just really prone to letting the back end come on around. I have yet to drive one, so I can’t put my finger on why exactly this is so true, but we’ve seen a few examples now and it’s the same story each time. It may be alignment - not enough camber in back. Or maybe spring rate or roll bar stiffness? Or maybe it’s under-tired (probably, but it also may not be the root cause). Looks like something I need to google. Or try if I can get a ride in one some time.
We moved from there on to the lane-change (“don’t kill the kids”) exercise. Fred and I chatted about our speed getting through there. He was very quick in his Miata. Later in the day I’d find out just how good that little car is.
We ended up the morning session with my personal favorite, the shoestring drill. I’ve described it before so I’ll spare you, but even some of the instructors struggle with this drill because the “track” is undefined. You really need to pick your line through the turns, your turn-in point, brake points and throttle-on points with very little visual reference on a course where each turn has a different cadence and is off-camber. It’s so much harder than it looks and so easy to overcook. So the first thing I did was go out and overcook every turn I could. I may have spun twice. So much fun!! The feeling where your car is losing it’s grip and you’re wondering if you can hold the slide, or whether you need to add a bit of opposite lock, or if you are now just a passenger - it gets no better.
I battled against Instructor Dave’s expectation of my best time - he thought maybe a 33 but the best I could muster was a 35. Still, seems like just last year I was fighting to get into the high 30’s. So progress must be happening. The toughest thing seems to be maintaining patience in the hairpin 180 at the middle of the exercise. So slippery and tight that you can only lose time with too much aggression. Interesting exercise in aggression - then self-control - then aggression. It really is a great warmup for the full course.
It was then time for lunch and the racing!! The crowd filed in. A couple of muscular Mustangs. An 90’s Vette (often scares me since many are attached to owners who struggle to drive them, but this one was far better). More Miata’s, some massaged economy cars, and the lovely 280ZX that belonged to Jimmy pictured above. Turns out Jimmy is quickly becoming a driving junkie too.
After some safety chat, we got down to business with course familiarization. I thought I would remember things better, but amazing how foggy the mind can get over winter. Attilio let me know he was going to best my times and that I’d better be ready. He was joking. But serious. But joking. I decided to take it slow, largely to make sure the folks who just came for the afternoon would get some good laps in for their money. The joy of being there all day is that you can jump the line and get way more laps in. But I hate to totally abuse the privilege and I really want to make sure everyone has a great time. Another exercise in patience.
After getting some good laps in, Fred, Rich, and I were chatting and it came to be that we started to drive each other’s cars. This might have been the highlight of my day. It’s great to master your own car, but it’s really involving to hop into something totally different and see what happens. Fred’s Miata was so much fun. The handling is just ridiculously perfect. The brakes work so well on such a light platform. His winter upgrades are spot on. The car rotates on a dime with the short wheelbase. It’s really addictive. He is a smart guy for choosing that car. Rich’s M3 was also really amazing. It’s about the same weight as my car, but different dynamics. It’s got that great M-power up high in the revs, but it was set up to spin the rear tires really easily so I had to accelerate with some caution. We figured out that the tire pressure was up a bit high overall and Rich reported that a drop in pressure really helped get the power down. Such a great car. Lovely shifts and very composed. For a stock vehicle, it’s hard to get much better.
Jimmy took his 280ZX out and promptly got lost on the course. For safety’s sake, I offered to take him out for a ride in my car so he could get to know the track a bit. Nice guy. Hopefully it helped him a bit to get a lay of the land. Hopefully we’ll see him in the class in the morning soon.
It was a great day on track and the final fun was getting a go in Attilio’s mad machine. He had been reporting far more neutral suspension feel as of late, so it was a good time to hop in and see how it would do. It was the most interesting and most challenging car I drove that day. And maybe ever. There is so much power. I thought it was turbo lag I felt at times, but it may more likely just have been the fact that the car has so much power everywhere. It can just come on so fast that you have to be careful how much you use and when. It was like driving a 60’s muscle car in some ways. The similarity may be that the power can overwhelm every other part of the car, but it’s different because the suspension in the STi is already really good. Just so much power!
By the end of the day, I was complete dog food. It’s that exhaustion that comes from things like building a rock wall. Satisfying but bone-tired. The adrenaline and the cerebral exercise and the excitement take everything out of you. And that may be the best part.
I hope everyone will come join us at some point. My poor 944 had a last-minute issue that prevented a full shakedown, but hopefully that is the next great adventure. Trying to get a 29 year old car to get good again - fun stuff.
Thanks again to ADSI for a really great day!