AZPCA REGION 2022-2023 AUTOCROSS SEASON EVENT #8

The2022-2023 AZPCA Region Autocross Season Event, number 8 and the last event of the season, was held on Saturday, April 8, 2023, at Arizona Motorsport Park (AMP) in Litchfield Park. The weather was AZPCA Region perfect, and 42 drivers had a fun-packed time negotiating a well-designed course to end the season on a good note.

Of course (maybe pun intended), there were the usual slaloms and gates. However, this course had an optional four-cone slalom leading into a double right-hand box element that allowed a little bit of drifting for a faster exit leaving the box if it was executed perfectly. If you were too greedy and/or overzealous with the drifting maneuver through the box, you would meet up with a wall of a gazillion (lots and lots) cones.

An optional slalom is not an element that you have an option to either slalom or not-to-slalom, you must slalom. The option is the drivers get to choose the path to take for entering the slalom. The decision will either be the correct path or the wrong path insofar as to the drivers’ lap times.

The drivers will have to factor in the slalom exit path for properly setting up for the entrance into the double right-hand box element. Depending on the path the drivers took through the slalom you will either be on the shortest (fastest with a lower time) path or the longest (slowest with a higher time) path through this element, and, either be in the right or wrong position to enter the upcoming double right-hand box element. The choice is the drivers to make and that is why it is called an optional slalom.

Joshua Murakami has been an AZPCA Region member for about a year, Happy AZPCA Region first anniversary! He signed up as a “Taste of Autocross” entrant and brought out a beautiful Black 1990 Porsche 944 S2 Cabriolet, that has been in his family for a long time. Joshua’s car still looks brand new.