The short answer: I don't really know. You may have to figure it out for yourself by coming next month.
How the Hula Hooptie Racing Team (tm) was born... [photo credit: Crystalmarie Asteria]
The long answer: While the weather forecast looked iffy for 8/17, the weather gods smiled on us once again and provided a beautiful day for racing by the bay with barely a hint of a shower and spells of welcome shady relief periodically from the clouds. But otherwise, a sunny and hot summer day on the autocross training course. The morning class turnout was good! We had nine students (unless I'm forgetting someone): Rich, Jessica, Attilio, Tran, Harrison, Joel, Derek in a crazy S2000 race car, Alex in a WRX and me. Joel and Derek had a decent amount of track experience coming in but no autocross. Tran, Harrison, and Alex didn't have any ADSI or autocross experience (hope I'm getting all that right...). So we had a few regulars that ADSI can't get rid of like me and some fresh blood and minds. Based on that mix, we got both the most basic and most challenging exercises for the day: slalom for everyone all day!
We started with the classic 4-cone, 60-foot run. Cone three died multiple, cruel deaths. Every time it popped it's little head up - BAM! Someone wiped it out. We won't name any names (Attilio and Derek). Then we moved on to the longer slalom. About 9 cones spaced 75 feet apart. More space means larger turn radii and higher top speeds. And more cones meant more time to test different speeds and test the limits. More poor little cones suffered at our expense. Then Anthony threw in a new hurdle: varying the space between the cones and making us drive with no braking. We had to figure out what speed to drive from the get-go or we were going too slow or too fast for what would be coming our way. The end result? Well, lets say it was still bad for our cone friends. By the third-to-last cone or so, I was consistently getting my rear-engined car to want to exhibit classic 911 handling behavior: leading with the rear bumper. Thankfully its catchable in the 997, but you can see how the early cars must have been a real handful. The 930 turbo definitely must have been a widow maker...
Next up was the perennial backwards-track-walk. It was good to orient the newcomers to the layout and strategy of one portion of the track. It was tough without the cones set yet to see the actual path of travel, but I think they caught on. There was a lively discussion around "sphincter control" and how you need to develop it beyond your initial comfort zone. Forget the sally "pucker factor" at that two-bit Skip Barber place. We're talking all about sphincters and how you control yours at ADSI! Oh, and how part of the track has a passing resemblance to asymmetrical testicular appendages. Needless to say, poor Jessica had her work cut out for her trying to pull us all from that little gutter...
Next up it was race time! The afternoon group rolled in and started getting set up. The Miata drivers mysteriously forgot their helmets. And a very sweet black NSX appeared like the ghost of Aryton Senna. Very sweet little ride. Plenty of tuned and lowered and cut up and hooptied and awesome cars made their way into the two groups on the two sections of track. We had Challengers, Corvettes, an Evo VI (right off the boat from Japan), Jesse's awesome E30 M3 unicorn, Mustangs, a Z4 BMW, and lots of WRX. We were down an Aston Martin, vintage Cobra (Factory Five?), and a few other notable cars but it was great to see Jeff in his home-built supercharged FRS (with new BRZ decklid spoiler!). He's a good dude.
Then the mayhem was on. Cars ran both tracks and laid down some decent times. I did more ride-alongs than usual. Having done this a fair amount this year, I'm finding that I need to visualize my lap more and go out for a smoking one now. I drive less, but I think I drive in a more aggressive and focused manner now. I know where I want to try something new and really push the limit. And I exceeded those limits quite a bit to the point where I surprised race-instructor Matt with some new-found aggression. Attilio was out there looking to crush his times. And his car was compliant and wicked fast. I did one ride along...and that thing gets moving fast in a very short distance. It's a weapon for sure. Attilio is certainly starting to find the pointy end of it too.
Speaking of weapons, Hershey unleashed his massive diesel dually pickup with straight pipes on the course. And got low 50's for times! The thing spun the rear tires in all gears from the start all the way down the first straight of the short course. It was nuts.
Rich and I saw some hula hooping going on and ran in fear. We had to leave to keep our homes happy, actually. But I think he shares my fear of shaking one's hips rythmically on purpose. And when Anthony is shaking what he's got, it's time to head for the exits.
All told, it looked like ADSI got some new fans who will hopefully gain a bit more instruction and get back out there to keep us veterans honest. I only saw one VW head home early on the trailer after blowing up first gear and likely a diff (for the third time). No Subaru's died in the making of the autocross that I saw. We did kill many, many families of cones. And I'm sure some tires and brake pads are much worse for wear. That's what we have to do in the name of fun and learning, though. Thanks to the ADSI crew for another fun day of learning and "sphincter control" practice!
Coming up next will be the Wicked Big Track Day at Thompson on Sunday 8/24. Then the Porsche Club concours event at the Elms on 9/6 that you won't want to miss. The next ADSI autocross is Sunday 9/21. Only two more after that one, so get on board while the weather holds!
Keep it sideways and at the limit!!