USA Autocross report

[KWM338R]

it was a beautiful day on Saturday in New England for the latest Porsche club autocross event. the air temperature was in the mid 80's F and low humidity which was a nice change from the hot and humid weather we've had of late.<br>
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got up early for the drive to the event, strange how I don't have trouble getting out of bed on a day like that unlike getting up to go to work! the car ran great on the 80 mile trip and I arrived nice and fresh. afterregistration and tech inspection we walked the course and plotted our routes through the cones. It looked a fast and fun course as one would expect from a bunch of Porsche owners looking to unleash their beasts on a disused air field.<br>
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I was in group 16 - any other, by virtue of the fact I was in a Dolly and not a Porsche, so I had to work the course before I could run. I got the easy task of walking around with the sound meter. other than the bugs it was great to see the cars at full tilt through the cones.<br>
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Ok now its my turn. I've done a couple of autocrosses before so I know not to give it too much stick on the first run. I took it relatively easy to get the feel of the car and the course and get some heat into the hard roud tyres I use ( i really need to get some sticky rubber to have any chance against the competion). the car ran really good and felt pretty stable despite not being able to drop the back end down because of rusted up spring seats on the Spax shocks that came with the car, I'll take tham off and clean them up before the next event.<br>
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Run #2 lets give it some this time. I had a passenger on this run, a guy new to autocrossing who liked the look of the Dolly.<br>
this run was going great the car was smooth, I was driving pretty good and the passenger wasn't screaming. and then this happened on the last cone...<br>
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<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.jacques.org/AX/video/sellers ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>
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It got worse in the pits, the passenger got out and noticed coolent flowing at an alarming rate from in front of the left front wheel. !@#$ it, what have i done now! popped the bonnet and saw the problem, where on earth is the cap off the expansion bottle? a quick scan round the engine bay and pits proved fruitless. it must be out on course somewhere. off to control and a radio message was sent to the course workers to look for the cap. events were not about to stop for a lost cap so I hitched a ride with a nice chap in a 944 to the local parts store. back with new cap in hand i topped up the coolent popped the new cap back on and lined up again for another run. our session was almost over, I was told i'd only get one more run.<br>
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RUN # 3 went pretty well, shaved 3 secs off my first run. as I passed the control tent they waved me back to the start line. Result! I get nother run.<br>
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Run # 4. I was all fired up on warm tyres, lets nail it this time. the car felt fantastic and I had the course fresh in my mind. crossed the finish line with an 80.658, my best time by far and only about 4.5s behind my friend in his Boxster. <br>
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going back out to work I heard the call, who lost their rad cap? that would be me mate, cheers.<br>
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The afternoon session didn't go so well for me, we had another 4 runs but I couldn't get near my best time, I kept missing the loud pedal when going from the brake pedal. i put it down to driver fatigue, Its pretty hot and tiring standing out n the sun all day. On the way home I missed the pedal whilst driving at normal speeds, somethings amiss I thought. when I got home I poked around under the dash to see whats going on. Hmmm.. this accelerator pedal seems to have a bit too much side movement, oh !@#$ it I've got the dreaded crack in the bulkhead! more work to do before the next event.<br>
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anyway below is a link to the results, I'm in group 16. I was pleased to get a faster time than the two WRX's. Car 111 listed as a Bini Cooper was in fact a Lotus Elise. The only car I was dissapointed not to beat was the Eclipse, but I don't know what tyres were on it.<br>
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<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.ncr-pca.org/autocross/2005/e ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>
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Cheers<br>
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Mark<br>
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PS is Smifter still the motorsport correspondent for Dolly mixture. feel free to use this article for a future edition if you want.

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (In its component form)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)</p><i></i>

[SMIFTER]

Nice one Mark - sounds like a good fun event. We would never be able to hold such an event in the UK where people could casually walk along the side of the track like that thanks to our nanny state rules and regs!<br>
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Sorry but Things are a bit too hectic for me to organise articles at the moment - if you could send stuff direct to Andy though I'm sure it would make a good article<br>
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cheers<br>
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Graeme

<p><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.smifter1971.pwp.blueyonder.c ... >Smifter's Dolomite Sprint Website</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>
<br>
1974 Soon to be non Triumph powered Dolomite Sprint to scare myself senseless.<br>
2004 Smart Roadster 80BHP to laugh myself senseless<br>
1997 Audi A4 2.6 to bore myself senseless.</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p206.ezboard.com/bthetriumphdolo ... SMIFTER</A> at: 29/7/05 10:58 pm<br></i>

[Carsreunited]

Well done Mark. Some serious scalps on that results list.<br>
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Shame the Spax went west as I reckon with the back end lower you could shave a few more seconds off that time. Treat yourself to some Avo's for Christmas. <br>
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Scott

<p></p><i></i>

[KWM338R]

Thanks for the support gentlemen. I'm going to sort out the Spax before the next event on August 20th. should then be able to nail a few more fancy automobiles.<br>
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the video was taken covertly by one of the course workers and the other people on the edge of the course are also course workers. This is America remember, everyone entering the airfield has to sign not only their life away but also anyone elses they may have happened to come across in their life!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
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I'll keep you posted on the next event.<br>
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Cheers <br>
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Mark

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (In its component form)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)</p><i></i>