The day finally arrived. We were ready (we being my buddy with the Chili Red JCW MCS in front of me) for a great day of Autocrossing. We arrived at the “track” early and setup base camp.
Autocrossing is an all day affair. A little research on the “tubes” provided a fairly complete checklist for an enjoyable day. Take the essentials: Chairs, cooler and drinks-water, Gatorade, etc.-lunch as there is no lunch break, tire gauge, compressor and…well you get the idea. Then it’s off to registration, and of course computer problems set them back slightly, but eventually we got registered and were assigned our number 703 and 704. Being that we drive Minis, we get to run with the BMW group meaning we go first. Also Minis get their own class so we are not running with Miatas, M3s and Corvettes.
After registration you get to walk the course. This is an important step in having a fun and successful day as you get to see how the course is laid out before driving it. Having autocrossed twice with Mazda and once with Chevy, I knew what the course markers meant. Turns are laid out with multiple cones on one side and a single cone on the other and you have to drive between them. Slaloms have one cone lain on its side at the start of a row of cones which points to the side to drive on. While walking the course take note of direction of slaloms and examine the turns to look for the best line (the fastest way through). Most courses are laid out to be about 45s-60s from start to finish.
Finally, it’s time to race. It wasn’t that bad, they started pretty close to on time. Everyone lines up on the “starting grid” which is just to rows of parking spots. The starters will call the cars to the starting line one at a time (number order is not really important), mark your run number on the windshield sticker (1-6) and then give you the signal to start. They have to wait till the car in front of you is about 25-30 seconds into his run because they run three cars at a time, one at the start, one in the middle and one at the end. You can see this in the video. When it is your turn to go, punch the the throttle, shift it into second gear (and leave it there) and grab the wheel with both hands and don’t let go until you cross the finish line. The courses are so short and are designed with no real straightaways so you really never need to shift out of second. Collect you time, return to base camp and get ready to do it all over again…
But that is not all. While you were racing you may have noticed the people out on the course restting the cones that you knocked over. What? You didn’t see them? Neither did I. You are so focused on the course and the next turn that you probably wouldn’t notice an elephant sitting by the light pole, but trust me they are there (the people, not the elephant). These people are not volunteers, they are drivers…like you. Yep, after the BMW heat is over, it is time for the Non-BMW class to race and now the BMW drivers have to chase down cones. That is not a figure of speech by the way. When you clip a cone at 30MPH, it goes sailing a little ways. You have 25s or to run out to the course, grab the cone and reset it where it belongs. There is actually as much adrenaline in this as there is in the actual racing. After two heats for all classes, it’s time to clean up the “camp”, help out the organizers in collecting cones, and get your awards.
Autocrossing is a great way to learn what you and your car are capable of. Racing is to be done on a track, and since those are scare on the Island of Long, this is the next best thing.
Enjoy the videos. Hopefully these will stream.
Second Run
Best Run
