This was another Equipe
Rapide Autocross, only held in a different plave from the
previous two I have attended. The surface at Pennington Field
was concrete parking lots, and very different from the paved surfaces
at Texas Motor Speedway. Personally, I like it much better mainly
because of the amount of grip that this surface allowed.
Running the exact same set up as
previous, which was neutral and responsive, I was able to place
much better than I had been able to previously. This time there
was even tougher competition and I figured since the temperatures
were reaching 100 I wouldn't do too well. Turbos don't like hot
air. The course layout this time was a little more technical than
the last two track layouts, and I was forced to row through gears
during this event. The last two events, I was able to make use
of my gobs of torque and just pretty much left the car in second
gear the whole time. During my different runs I experimented with
shift points, heel & toe, and line to try to shave tenths
off my times. I eventually got much better towards the end of
the event, and my "fun-run" times were even faster than
my official times. I dipped my times into the high 34 second range
and was pretty consistent overall. Of course 20 runs in a row
(uninterrupted) is enough to let anyone get a better feel for
the track. However, the heat and the extended time at redline
had an adverse affect on the car. The heat and g-forces seem to
have loosened up something inside and the car has developed a
VTEC sounding resonance in first and second gears under hard acceleration.
I took it to VW and they just said not to worry about it. Everything
was fine, but I just developed a sound from twisting the chassis
and driving hard. hmmm...
Well, this event was pretty fun
and I am looking forward to the next couple of auto crosses. I
would have to recommend anyone who hasn't gone out and driven
an Auto X...do so. You will learn a great deal about how your
car handles, as well as how you drive. You'll have some fun too!
^_^
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