Yet another Equipe
Rapide Autocross, this time the first of the new 2002 season.
Also out at Mineral Wells Air park like in the previous page's
description.
After another very long drive to
get out to the air park we arrived to the scene about 8:30 am.
There were already tons of cars there setting up, and healthy
line at registration. The car was reading about 33 degrees so
it was pretty darn cold out there. We realized that we also left
the cooler at home with all the food and drinks we had prepared.
DOH! Pretty stupid, as there is usually NO time in between all
the chaos of the day to go get any food or drinks, and we are
out in the middle of nowhere...so we are screwed.
So we get registered and head out
to the car to start dumping all the extra junk in the car. After
walking the LONG course we headed tot he car. I took everything
out...skateboards, jack, spare, tool box, air compressor, etc
etc. It was a good amount of junk which probably ended up being
a 100lb weight reduction. Which is decent but I would be running
all day with my Step dad in the car and that adds another 180-200
lbs right there. After airing up the tires and getting the cameras
all set up we had some time right before everyone was gridding
up and getting tech inspection so we ran into town to get some
junk at the local gas stop. One blister pack sandwhich and a bottle
of water later we get back in time to get gridded up to start
the first heat.
After a lengthy and somewhat unusually
THOROUGH tech inspection we finally get ready to go. However there
are so many cars and so little organization going on in the grid...we
end up waiting about another 30 minutes for my first run. The
first heat was disastrous for me and in my first run I forgot
the course in places. I mean hey, it had been hours since I had
walked the course and I only did so once, since it was 30+ degrees
out and LONG. However, I didn't DNF or hit any cones...but I definitely
didn't go as fast as I had liked. My second run was better, dropping
two seconds but there was still plenty of room for improvement.
My third run was terrible (picked up3 seconds)...I came in way
too hot in two key places and just understeered into oblivion.
Once again a miracle that I did not DNF or hit any cones, but
I actually had time to throw my hands in the air, shake my head
a bunch, and wait for the ensuing understeer fest to stop so I
could get the car back in line. Uggghh...
Next was the work heat. We ended
up working the corner that I had the most problems with and saw
everything about what not to do and where to avoid the gravel.
The gravel seemed to be a key reason for people spinning and losing
it in the turns. That MUST be why I did so terrible, we were cleaning
the way in the first heat and paid the price! Yeah that's it!
I can't suck that bad. ;) The work heat took FOREVER...close to
two hours and was just horrible on all of us out there. The sun
came and went but the wind was slightly cold and we just basically
burned from both the wind and sun. We all were dying for water
and some chapstick after the work heat.
With the work heat done, I just
wanted to get my runs done and go home. This place is rediculous
and I really think I have made up my mind to NOT go out to the
Minreal Wells events any more. Sure the runs are fast and long...but
it's just so far out and no civilization close for getting provisions...forget
it.
Ok, back to racing. the third heat
was going to be a long one as well because there were some people
with two and three drivers per car as well as others who were
left overs from heat 2 and were gridded up before the heat 3 people.
So needless to say each run had about 30-40 minutes downtime between.
But that gave us time to shoot the breeze, change the camera placement
and fart around. My first run was pretty decent this time dropping
4 seconds from my previous run and another second from the fastest
of the first three. I finally got the slalom and tight left hander
down without plowing through them, but there were other areas
where I could have gone MUCH faster. The next two runs got even
faster but I just lost all concentration in certain areas and
totally wussed a few parts.
I never got quite as fast as I
had wanted to, but oh well. Better luck next time. I did place
5th in street tires class, so that's not too bad, and once again
about mid-pack in the rapid pax index. Which is basically a total
index of all the cars complete with handicaps to place everyone
together "fairly".
My two new front Dunlop SP sport
5000s were shredded on the outer edges again, but I think mainly
this is all driver fault. Other than that the car ran fine. I
hit third gear atleast in three places around the course...so
you can tell it was pretty fast with me hitting a personal 70+
mph in one place. Indicated of course, but anyway...it was a fun,
fast course overall with very little technical areas. Mostly rewarding
high power and mechanical grip overall I think. I didn't too bad,
but not as good as I had hoped either.
Make sure to check out the video
to see the footwork.
<<
back
>>
Next
^
back to top
