May Autocross Report

Chesapeake Region

Autocross In Review

I’m happy to say that the Autocross season is now officially in full swing!

Words: Greg Hartke; Photos: Ricardo De Leon

In typical CHS fashion, as of 2 weeks before AX#1, we had 23 drivers registered (the registration cap is 65) and I was (as always) getting panicky. With 1 week remaining, we were up to 44 and I was fervently hopingwe would fill the event. Then of course, boom! 21 entries in the last week and we easily filled the registration.Happens every time and I get panicky every time. You’d think I’d know better by now, but I never seem to learn. ;)

After the AX School was held in early April (reported in my last column), AX#1 was held at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie, MD on Saturday April 16 th . As I mentioned, the registration was full (we had 65 drivers)and the weather was great – it was a bit chilly early but warmed up nicely as the event proceeded.

Mark Hubley delivered the AX trailer as usual and, as has been the norm lately, John Cho showed up early to help CHS AX Co-chair Brad Martinez build the course. John was incensed because he forgot his spotlight,but when I asked Brad if he wanted my flashlight to reference the course map while he and John built thecourse in the dark (we start well before sunrise), he said, “For what?” Oh, to have young eyes again. ;) It was a big course and took Brad and John quite a while to put together, but they got it done in good order.

In the meantime, I set up and assembled all the other equipment, including the new stand for the timing board after one of the old ones was broken in disassembly after the AX School two weeks previously. It wasalready broken and had been for as long as I’ve been Co-chair. It always required careful treatment, so afterdisassembly when packing up after the AX School, it was just “brokener”. ;) I built a new fixture out of PVC the day before AX#1 and was pleased to see that it worked fine and, in fact, better than the old one becausethe new fixture had better alignment. In hindsight, the old one should have been replaced long ago,so its demise after the AX School was a good thing.

18

Chesapeake Region

Autocross (cont’d)

You never know how set up will proceed and this time, I had some problems. Try as I might, I could not get

the equipment connected to the internet, which is necessary for live timing. Everything seemed to be working, but no connection. I worked on this for quite a while, so long that I fell behind getting everything readyand had to give up when Brad and I had to go out and test the course. By then, Registrar Meilyng Wigney-Burmaka had arrived, so I turned the problem over to her while Brad and I went out to finalize the course.

That took quite a while. There were some unusual features to this course and Brad and I had to do a fairamount of tweaking to smooth it out and make sure it was safe. The finishing sequence was a big sweeper

that fed into the stop box, requiring a long stop box because it was so fast. In the end, Brad decided to blockoff the entry road and extend the stop box into the road and that worked very well. We cleaned up somekinks, tweaked some placements, and made sure the course was safe, ending up with a course that was by all accounts fast and fun.

Meilyng also spent quite a while trying to get our computer connected to the internet, but she got no further than I did. We were both rather peeved by all this because there was no obvious reason why we couldn’tconnect. Our only guess (having seen this once or twice in previous years) was that we had overrun the datalimit on our wireless plan (we have a limited plan as a cost-saving measure), but even that’s just a guess. In the end, Meilyng saved the day by using her personal phone as a hotspot (she has an unlimited plan) to connectour computers to the internet, but even that led to limitations at times that we had to work around.Successfully, of course. Just another day at the office for the AX team. ;)

In the meantime, Lisa Gritti showed up with Porsche-shaped sugar cookies (!) that Meilyng thought were justfor her, so Brad and I never even got a sniff of them. When we were putting equipment away at the end of the event, Lisa told us that the cookies were for Brad, Meilyng, and me, so naturally I had lots of fun accusingMeilyng of hogging the cookies all day. ;) Thanks a bunch, Lisa!

19

Chesapeake Region

Autocross (cont’d)

Words: Greg Hartke; Photos: Ricardo De Leon

Unfortunately, Brad had left after assemblingthe course because he had a nasty sinus infection that left himfeeling miserable (thanks for doingthe hard part for us, Brad!), but we managed. We got started a bit laterthan anticipated because of our internet connection problems, but itwasn’t a big deal. Once we did startracing, it didn’t take long to see that we had a fast course on our handsand that we had certainly done theright thing in extending the stop box.

We ran two heats with every driver getting 6 runs and finished just before 2:30 PM. Perfect! Brad and I like tofinish just about that time so that participants can get home with at least some time left to their afternoon.Among the P-cars, the fastest driver overall was Dave C. in Class I, coming in at 46.262 sec. Second was POT’sHoward L. in Class S5 at 46.361 sec in his very new Racing Yellow car, which I mention because I’m partial tothe color (since that’s what I have ;) ). Norm F. was 3 rd at 46.516 sec in his recently obtained (and very fast) car in S5. Nice to see Norm again; I don’t think he’s been down to see us from Pa. since before CoVID. Scott B.was 4 th overall among the Porsches at 46.815 sec, driving in S5. Kevin K. from POT was 5 th overall driving in S4with 47.068 and provided me with a fun video of his best run. 6 th overall was (newcomer to AX) Eric S. at 47.756 sec driving in Class I, followed by Mark H. in 7 th with his new (to him) P-car at 47.773 driving in S4.

I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that classes S4 and S5 (and P4 and P5) have grown dramatically and

20

Chesapeake Region

Autocross (cont’d)

Words: Greg Hartke; Photos: Ricardo De Leon

the competition in those classes hasreally grown fierce with really good drivers. This observation doesn’tcome from just what I see with CHS,but also what I see at the POT races. Very interesting trend!

As I mentioned, we finished just before 2:30 and with everyone pitchingin, we had the trailer packed andready to leave by no later than 3:15. By the end of racing, those of us runningthe event are pretty worn down and very much appreciate the help we receive in getting everything togetherto be stored away in the trailer. You folks are the best!

We really had a great time at this event with a fun, fast course and those of us who run the events are reallyhappy to see everyone enjoying themselves (and their cars) so much. I was looking over the statistics from the event, though, and the one thing that really stood out was that for some reason, we had fewer Porschesout there for AX#1 than is our norm. There were 65 drivers and we had 26 Porsches and 39 Guests, whichworks out to 40% Porsches.

I wish we could get more PCA Members out there having fun with us, but I guess it’s a numbers thing. POTdoesn’t have this problem, but they have considerably more Members to draw from than we do and certainlythat’s going to make a huge difference. I know better than to draw conclusions from one event, anyway, so we’ll see how things shape up after a few more races.

Thanks to everyone who came out and made AX#1 a great event. If you weren’t there, you missed a lot of

fun! Keep in mind that AX#2 is scheduled for Sunday May 29 th at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD. This is afabulous venue and this race is our oneevent for the year away from PGS, so come join us. As always, if you thinkyou have an interest in AX and wouldlike to see what it’s like, come out and register for Taste of Autocross whereyou’ll receive multiple runs on thecourse riding with an instructor. You won’t regret it!

See you soon!Greg Hartke

21

Chesapeake Region

Autocross Points Event #2 Annoucement!

Greg Hartke

AUTOCROSS POINTS EVENT #2 – LEIDOS FIELD AT RIPKEN STADIUM SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022

Join us for the second Points Autocross event at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD!

Autocross (AKA AutoX) is a sport of navigating your car through a defined course usually on a large parking lot. Courses are set up using soft orange traffic cones which will not damage your car. Autox is a "performance driving event" and a safe way to learn how to drive your car to its limit. You not only learn how to handle your car at speeds you drive daily, but you also: Gain confidence in your driving ability Learn the limits of your car's brakes Learn the limits of your car's tire adhesion Learn correct seating, hand, and feet positions No special equipment needed We have helmets for you to borrow We have instructors on standby ready to show you how or make you better

AUTOCROSS #1 STATS:Fastest Time of Day (FTD) - Will C in his Toyota SupraCone killer - Lee C in his Tesla 3

WHEN and WHERE

22

Chesapeake Region

When: Sunday, May 29thWhere: Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium, 873 Long Dr, Aberdeen, MD 21001 Day of Event Schedule:0700: The venue opens to participants0730: Registration / Check-In opens 0745: Tech opens0830: Course opens for walking 0850: Registration / Tech closes0900 - 0910: Driver meeting0910 - 0920: Novice course walk 0930: First car off1400: Completely packed up

PARTICIPATIONParticipants must comply with PCA, CDC, state and county guidelines for COVID prevention. By signing up for and joining any of our social events, registrants acknowledge and assume all the risks in and full responsibilityfor their participation. Note that planned events are subject to change, for weather-related or other reasons.While we are striving to make this event safe, with your Participation in and Registration for this social event, you recognize and acknowledge the hazards of COVID-19, and you assume the risk of illness or deatharising from a COVID-19 infection at this event. A full refund will be issued if you feel sick during the weekprior and/or the day of the event; therefore, PLEASE do not attend the event if there is any chance you may have COVID-19 or be contagious.

REGISTRATION Log onto your Motorsportreg account at motorsportreg.com.MSR Registration will be capped at 65 drivers. If the cap is met after registration, you will be waitlisted and may be eligible to attend if there's availability. It will close at midnight on Wednesday, May 25 th .

Entry Fee:PCA Member Pre-registration Entry fee: $50 Non-PCA Member Pre-registration Entry fee: $60There are no walk-up autocross entries available for this event.

For those of you who are interested in autocross but aren't sure if you want to give it a try, we offer a "Taste of Autocross." For $5, you will get to ride with one or several of our instructors for several runs.

QUESTIONSSend autocross event related questions to the Autocross Committee/co-chairs at autocross@pcachs.org.

23