PCA SDR

Today was great.
A little less than 40 people showed up. We ran 4 groups. 30 minutes a session and got 3 sessions. Lots of driving. And very very little sprinkles.

Honestly, we need to talk about a periodic no-points format like that. Everyone loved it.

Andrew Raines

Quite possibly one of the best driving events we've done. No way to count the number of laps in 1.5 hours of almost continuous lapping. It was really a cross between an AX and a DE. Recommend we figure out a way to do this again soon!

Kudos to all the hard-core crazies who made it and stuck through to the end!

Agreed, this turned out to be one of the best AX events I've attended. Great track design, great work by Mark keeping the event on schedule, great camaraderie among the fellow participants and to top it off Greg's fantastic photos. I checked my track app and I got a total of 34 laps in 3 near continuos sessions for a total of 43 miles and about 50 minutes of track time.

Certainly glad the event wasn't cancelled!!

Ricardo

Yep, fantastic event! Everyone had a great time. The track design was one of the best I have ever seen. Thanks to all that helped put on the event!!!!

Thank you so much Mark for moving forward with today's AX in spite of the predicted rain, it was really terrific!
Sooooo much seat time--went to Bux for coffee after drivers' meeting & tanked up @ Costco while there, drove home on half a tank--that's a lotta driving, peeps!!
Everyone was in such a good mood, there was lots of playful radio chatter while corner-working & I also noticed that lots of peeps complimented fellow drivers on things done well--perhaps the lack of timing, (which I missed!) made us less obsessed with our own times & more interested in being observers.
Hoping we can have more limited-attendance events like this in the future, perhaps on weekdays to keep the price down?? I surely would participate!!
Thanks again Mark for persevering!!
Today ROCKED!!!

Sadly, it DIDN"T rain much... I was rather looking forward to the Car Control Clinic! But a gazillion laps made up for it. My odometer showed 38 miles of driving at the Q alone. Given about a 1 mile lap at the Q, 38 laps isn't too shabby!!! As other have said, it was a great event since you not only learned the track, but had extra laps to work it and try new lines. We all wished we had timing, but perhaps concentrating on driving, and not times, helped us even more! A testament to that was how FEW cones were hit in the final run sessions of the day....heck, corner workers started to get bored!

For those of you who are afraid of a little water... Without water, you don't get this:

Someone on the radio noted that perhaps there could be some luck or a pot of gold in the Q now...that the Chargers are gone....

A HUGE thanks to Mark Curran, who I know took some abuse all week for the decision to go forward. And what a GREAT decision it was. Despite 60 cancellations, we STILL had 38 hearty souls show up, prepared to do battle in the elements! Here are the hearty few at the end of the day. Note the nice, dry pavement...

+10. Very enjoyable. So much for my "never driven in the rain" ad.

A massive thanks to Mark and the AX/CDI team for a really great event! It reminded me of the DEs we used to have at Qualcomm when the surface was in better shape. I found if you drove at a leisurely pace through the pits there would be no lineup so you'd get flagged on in a running start and blast off! My student made *huge* improvements because there was so much driver and passenger seat time. I'd guess we shaved at least 10 seconds off his laps by the end of the day.

I would certainly pay more for a non-points event or two per year that had an attendance cap (40-50) as we do for DEs and TTs. If you miss the registration window, there will be another regular, non-capped event in 30 days or so. It would be nice to have timing up so you can see how much difference there is experimenting with another line.

I didn't last for the whole event. The nearly continuous lapping presented a problem for my car's brakes (not my Porsche, my other car). I suspect the brakes would have been fine under the traditional AX format, with 6 runs with a little more cool-down between them. However, during my first driving session, after about 10 runs with no substantial cool-down in between, I found myself driving up to the start with basically no effective brakes, and had to call it a day. I could have let the brakes cool down, but the thought of the brakes failing at speed was enough to keep me from even considering it. (I was hitting about 75 MPH on the straight which crossed the top of the hill.) I was very glad that the brake failure chose to present itself between runs and not during a run.

Running my Evo -- which has a much stiffer aftermarket suspension than my Cayman -- reminded me how bumpy the west lot surface really is.

All in all, in hindsight, I would have brought the Cayman on my Pilot Super Sports if I'd known better. I would have gotten more out of the event that way and had a better day. Still, that was my decision, and I did see the advantages to the format and I'm glad that so many people had a fun day.

It would have been nice to have timing operational, but I understand that the event was run with a bare skeleton crew so I understand why the timing equipment wasn't set up.

I had an absolute blast. It's hard to beat continuous autocross laps as a performance driving experience.

Great event. Huge thanks to Mark Curran, not only for going ahead with the event, but for having the ability to manage a dynamic event in progress. Nice work. We had multiple drivers meetings during the day to get input from the "customers."
I'm sure the event didn't make money, but there was big value in the amount of learning caused by the amount of track time. Picture 3 AX's in 1. (This is exactly how we grow our new instructors.) There was value in that we seemed to work tighter as a Club, knowing that greater volunteerism was needed, which always helps cement this attitude of spontaneous cooperation in the minds of newer members. There was also value in that we came up with a concept for a new driving event like this one that would make just as much money as a normal AX with half the work, e.g., Friday event (half the normal rent?), limit of ~50 drivers, no points, no timing, around $120 entry. Maybe a half day on Friday, noon to 5pm - with a normal AX the next day? (different layout for fairness). Club members seemed big on the idea, which sprouted because people were saying, "This is really fun, let's do it again."
There was honestly almost no waiting time on the grid, however, we too had to give the brakes on our 944S a rest to avoid dealing with a soft pedal on track. A relaxed lap around the lot on the other side of the trolley tracks worked fine. People were driving through puddles to cool their tires down.
As far as the weather, people were planning to drive in wet conditions. They were looking forward to it. Those are crazy people. (kidding) But when the pavement got wet, there was low-grip car control learning going on there too. And they accepted that they would have to corner work in the same conditions. Some people just love to drive.
The huge, double rainbow was spectacular. The wind wasn't bad all day.........and we only got sprinkled on twice (like those Russian hookers ).

Just goes to show you really can't trust the weather report for more than 10-12 hours out!

Sounds like the people that had the "fortitude" to show had a GREAT time.
Good on you.

I was in lovely FL, where the weather was also interesting

Time to join the chorus, the 18th autocross was fantastic! I'm so glad it wasn't canceled.
I understand all the cancellations though, I went to Orange County for an autocross the day after — forgot to put on my waterproof boots — and it rained heavily on my corner working session. Even though it let up when I got back to the pits I spent my practice sessions focusing more on my cold wet feet than my lines through the corners.

Mark made a really tough decision to go ahead with the event, and to allow cancellations for everyone who didn't want to go swimming, thank you very much. There was such fun camaraderie throughout the day, we were able to drive a mind-boggling number of laps, the whole event was wonderful.

Also I set a personal autocross speed record, I hit the rev limiter in second on the back straight. At the end of the day I was doing it consistently, which made me feel great.

I hope we can do a similar event again, maybe call it a PDS advanced study day. (With a higher entry fee so we can break even)