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Autocross Update July 2023
Chesapeake Region
Autocross Update
By:GregHartke;Photos:RyanBoxler
A week before Autocross #3 on Saturday June 24th, I was nervous because the weather forecast was not auspicious. I kept a careful eye on it, though, and was certainly relieved to see the forecast improve as the week progressed. We had showers at the end of the week, but the likelihood of showers in the forecast was dropping and while it rained the night before the race, Saturday morning was damp and maybe a little drizzly as I drove down to Bowie, but no precip once I arrived. It was humid and damp at Prince George’s Stadium (PGS) when I arrived, but that was easy to deal with compared to rain!
The AX team is a well-oiled machine now. Pinto Soin, John Cho, and Phong Nguyen were all there early along with (of course) AX Co-chair Mark Hubley delivering the trailer. Doug Slocum was also kind enough to show up early to lend a hand, so we were well organized and ready to rock and roll. Mark and John went out to drop cones on the lot, after which Mark went off to retrieve his car and we got down to the serious work.
As usual, John and Phong (along with Doug) went out to build the course while the Amazing Pinto and I got everything else set up. There’s a lot of work to do, but we all know what we’re doing by now and it went smoothly. Mark was back pretty quickly from retrieving his car and (as course designer) went out to finalize the cone placement and finish the course build. Jeff Dwyer also showed up early to help Pinto and me get everything set up.
Mark and I were ready to do the safety runs (used to check safety and ensure that the course was drivable) in no time. Interestingly, we didn’t have to do much – less than usual tweaking, I would say. We had actually prepared two course maps for the day, with the “A” course to be used if there was no rain and a simpler “B” course for rainy conditions. I made the call for the “A” course immediately after arriving and that was certainly the right choice.
The course design was so good and the build done so well that we didn’t have to do many safety runs. Course tweaking can take quite a while, so this really saved time and we were able to get participants out to walk the course well ahead of schedule. I must say that it was fun sliding the car around in the damp conditions during the safety runs, though. The downside was that my car got all spoogy from the damp conditions and everyone knows how I hate it when that happens. ;)
The one minor problem we had that morning was that we could connect to the hotspot, but it wouldn’t give us internet access. I fiddled with that for quite a while and even got Phong to look at it, but it never did work. Since I joined the 20th century and now have a cell phone of my own (someday I may even make it to the 21st century ;) ), I used my cell phone as a hotspot and texted Marilyn to ask her to bring my charge cord with her so that my phone wouldn’t run out of juice. We were in business!
Marilyn (an unsung hero of the AX team) arrived around 7:30 or so with her Subaru Forester filled to the gills with AX needs. Four cases of water, ice in a cooler, snacks, etc., plus (a new addition) a water chiller. For the five years I’ve been CHS PCA AX Chair, there’s been a water chiller in the trailer, but I could never get the stupid thing to work. Since Marilyn and I both hate all those single-use plastic bottles of water (so wasteful!), we took the chiller home after the last race to see if I could get it working. I downloaded the manual for the bloody thing and quickly discovered that it works fine if you (are you ready for this?) turn it on. Yup, that was it. There are three unmarked switches on the back of the unit (where you can’t see them) and if you turn on the proper switch, it chills the water very nicely. The switches are now marked. ;)
In my emailed instructions to participants, I told everyone we wanted to reduce our use of bottled water and asked them to bring their own water bottles and fill them from the chiller. Yes, we’d continue to have bottled water available, but I wanted to minimize the waste and asked folks to refill their bottles from the chiller if they wanted more water. I was incredibly impressed with the positive response we received – many folks told me they were very happy we did this and I think we wound up with about half the number of plastic bottles to recycle compared to normal. We’ll continue to use the chiller going forward.
As we were setting up, I received a phone call from my buddy Mark Miller (who was racing that day) asking where everyone was. OK, that was a little confusing, so I told him we were right here (naturally). ;) Turns out Mark didn’t read his email carefully and had gone to Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen for the event because that’s where we’d raced for AX#1. (He couldn’t attend AX#2, which was at PGS.) He figured he was done for the day after that little faux pas, but I told him no worries, I’d move things around so we could accommodate him if he couldn’t get to PGS in time for Heat 1. As it turns out, he did make it in time for Heat 1 and I don’t even want to think about how he did that. ;)
I had a full registration (65) for AX#3 almost three weeks before the race and also had a modest Waitlist. As race date approached, I received a fair number of cancellations and there was also a flurry of last-minute cancellations. That was a bit odd and
because of the weather forecast, which to my knowledgeable eye didn’t look bad at all. We also had several noshows (one for a medical emergency) and for that reason, we only had 56 drivers at AX#3.
Tell you what Those who cancelled missed a fun event. Mark’s course design was spectacular, right up there among the best I’ve ever driven. That opening sequence was blisteringly fast, with many of us bumping up against the rev limiter as we roared down the course to tap the brakes and slither down to the first corner. There were many opportunities to go full-throttle and pick up speed before hammering the brakes for the next corner and how often do you get a slalom with increasing spacing? What fun! The Chicago box on the closing sequence was quite an interesting challenge (it was actually tilted CCW relative to what you see on the map) and did a perfect job of slowing the cars down for the turn into the stop box. Very tricky. If you did it wrong, you lost a lot
As if that wasn’t enough fun, we had a little race-within-a-race that day. Jeff Braun and Chris “Crash” Nolan (long-time, highly experienced POT AXers and DE drivers) decided to have a little match to determine the fastest driver. To do this, they borrowed an underpowered economy car that they’d both drive to determine the champion once and for all. Watching Jeff and Crash race that car was a hoot! Let me tell you, the tires on that car were in agony and you could hear them screaming for mercy whenever those guys were on the course. ;)
Unfortunately, Phong’s car was broken, so he wasn’t racing in this one, which was really a shame. (It’s tough when you come to an event like this, work all day, and not race.) In addition, Scott Borden’s car was in the shop for some work, so Scott brought his Kia EV6, which was certainly interesting for him. His biggest complaint was that there was no way to turn off the nannies and that really limited what he could do. He still had a good time, though. It was also disappointing that Dave Critcher was absent that day, having a prior commitment that kept him from racing. Dave was mightily disappointed, too (I still think Dave is the best driver among all the CHS AXers), and we certainly missed him, but there are priorities!
Racing started at 9:32 AM, almost right on schedule. The track dried out pretty quickly for the Heat 1 drivers, so they had no complaints, especially since we moved along very well and everyone got 7 runs. We had a shower at the beginning of Heat 2, but again the track dried out quickly and it was of virtually no consequence to everyone getting good times. We finished racing at 2:02 PM and because everyone was so helpful, we were packed up and ready to leave shortly after 2:30 PM. What a great day it was! I wasn’t the only one who loved the course – there were a lot of very positive comments about the design. Mark is really killing it with his course designs so far this season, which is his first in this role.
Kudos to Michael Tavenner, who was 1st overall and first in S5 with his 2017 Cayman S at 47.675 sec. As I mentioned last month, S5 now has a wealth of great drivers and that Class was very hotly contested. 2nd overall and 2nd in S5 was newcomer Mark Eller at 48.989 sec in his 2023 GT4, who continues to be fantastic even though he’s just starting out in AX. What a driver he is! Wow! Good buddy and POT AXer Bill Schwinn had his best AX finish ever at 49.548 sec for 3rd in S5 and 3rd overall. Bill is like me and likes to keep his 2018 Sapphire Blue 911 GTS clean and beautiful. It may not showcase Racing Yellow like my Cayman S, but I don’t hold that against him. ;)
ing because he only just started racing last year and is already highly competitive in his beast of a Turbo.
POT AXer Kevin Keaty was 5th among the Porsches, 7th overall, and 1st in S4 in his 2014 Cayman S at 50.005 sec. Andrew Keffalas was 8th overall, 6th among the Porsches, and 5th in S5 with his beautiful 2023 Boxster GTS 4.0. Mark Hubley was 9th overall, 7th among the Porsches, and 2nd in S4 at 50.373 sec in his 2015 (properly-colored) Racing Yellow Cayman GTS. Dan Ruddick was 11th overall, 8th among the Porsches, and 2nd in S4 with his 2015 Cayman GTS. The Cayman GTS is new to Dan – he was racing a Mazda Miata last year and decided pull the trigger and join the Porsche-racing fun for 2023. Having a blast, too. Do you think that was a good choice? ;)
Ah, yes. There’s one other major award to make – remember I mentioned that we had that little contest (grudge match?) between Jeff Braun and Crash Nolan. After the dust settled, the winner was… Chris “Crash” Nolan! Ol’ Crash came in at 59.435 sec in 50th place overall in the feisty Yaris. Jeff Braun finished 52nd at 60.962 sec. Crash was awarded a painstakingly constructed trophy for his efforts while poor Jeff just shook his head, amazed that Crash was able to best him by a little better than 1.5 sec. These guys
cash certainly had the better of it that day. One thing I can say for certain is that that poor Yaris was awfully happy when they were done. Jeff said the tires were rolling over halfway up the sidewalls. I’m sure that remark was a bit hyperbolic, but it was entertaining watching them tear it up in a car that was as unsuited to AX as they come. ;)
As usual, everyone had a great time at another CHS PCA AX. We also had another seven folks come out for Taste of Autocross (ToA) for competitive rides as passengers with our Instructors and had a blast. Thanks to the Instructors for taking them out and showing how much fun AX can be. It’s a great recruitment tool – after a bunch of rides, several ToA participants are now all psyched up to come out and try it for themselves.
Gridmeister Lisa Gritti was there and provided those of us working in the trailer with a variety of her perfectly cooked chocolate chip cookies. Lisa’s chocolate chips certainly raise the spirits of those of us in the high-intensity jobs in the trailer. Thanks so much, Lisa!
As I write this, AX#4 at PGS on Saturday July 8th is less than a week away, so we’ll be out there tearing it up again soon on another of Mark’s courses. If you haven’t seen AX before, stop by and say hello while watching us blast around the course. You can even do ToA to see what it’s like – I doubt you’d be disappointed. ;)
Looking forward to seeing everyone again at the races!
