Good fun On June 11 at Riverside AX
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:39 pm
Looking at the results, there were 10 San Diego members that showed up for the night time autocross up in Riverside. 5 of those managed a top 10 finish with Tom Tweed placing 3rd overall in his little GS car. I was definatly disapointed to see an M3 get TTOD though.
The volunteers did a great job, though I think they were unprepared for the amount of drivers that showed up. The very unofficial nature of everything makes more sense with what I hear is their usual attendance levels of 20 or so cars. That night they joined with the Orange Region and 66 cars registered. I think I left the event after 3am, after all the runs, but before they finished figuring out results. The parking lot was very small compared to Qualcomm, but they managed to squeeze a decent sized course (mostly of straits and 180 turns). Runoff was also a bit short, there were places where cars came close to eachother head on and turns/slaloms were right next to walls/polls/fences/etc.
I had lots of reservations going into the event, but I must admit to having a great time and I don't think anyone suffered any car damage. The first practise session was somewhat frustrating (I think for everyone) as there were many turns at almost full wheel lock and maybe 10mph. Those of us who can't shift into first at speed were stuck lugging the motor out of those turns way below the power band. By the end I was starting to get the hang of it and dropping my times down (as was everyone else).
This is only the second non SDR AX that I have been to and both of them have made me realize what a great job our volunteers do running our events and how lucky we are to have the stadium at our disposal. San Diego manages to run events with more than 100 drivers, pairing instructors, checking saftey, everything -- all that and keep things on time enough for 12+ runs.
This isn't meant to be disrespectful of the Riverside/Orange regions or say they did a bad job as much as it is to make sure everyone realizes how good we have it and that it is entirely due to the great volunteers we have.
Results can be found via the Zone 8 page here.
Pit Area:
The Course:
[/code]
The volunteers did a great job, though I think they were unprepared for the amount of drivers that showed up. The very unofficial nature of everything makes more sense with what I hear is their usual attendance levels of 20 or so cars. That night they joined with the Orange Region and 66 cars registered. I think I left the event after 3am, after all the runs, but before they finished figuring out results. The parking lot was very small compared to Qualcomm, but they managed to squeeze a decent sized course (mostly of straits and 180 turns). Runoff was also a bit short, there were places where cars came close to eachother head on and turns/slaloms were right next to walls/polls/fences/etc.
I had lots of reservations going into the event, but I must admit to having a great time and I don't think anyone suffered any car damage. The first practise session was somewhat frustrating (I think for everyone) as there were many turns at almost full wheel lock and maybe 10mph. Those of us who can't shift into first at speed were stuck lugging the motor out of those turns way below the power band. By the end I was starting to get the hang of it and dropping my times down (as was everyone else).
This is only the second non SDR AX that I have been to and both of them have made me realize what a great job our volunteers do running our events and how lucky we are to have the stadium at our disposal. San Diego manages to run events with more than 100 drivers, pairing instructors, checking saftey, everything -- all that and keep things on time enough for 12+ runs.
This isn't meant to be disrespectful of the Riverside/Orange regions or say they did a bad job as much as it is to make sure everyone realizes how good we have it and that it is entirely due to the great volunteers we have.
Results can be found via the Zone 8 page here.
Pit Area:
The Course:
[/code]