Autocross #8 October 17, 2005
Sunday was the Gold Coast Porsche Club of America autocross at the National Car Rental Center Office Depot Center Bank Atlantic Center — where the Florida Panthers play between NHL strikes. I procrastinated on registration and by the time I got around to it the X-Class (non-Porsches) pre-registration was full. Officially they don’t allow X-Class registrations on-site but I decided to go anyways — if nothing else I could hang and watch. My pit crew (aka little brother) pulled an all-nighter on X-Box Live and opted to pass, so I left all my gear (including the “track” tires and camcorder) at home so I wouldn’t be stuck loading / unloading all that stuff unnecessarily.
Luckily the PCA folks did let me register on-site. And the site is amazing. They set up the course on the parking lot immediately adjacent to the arena, which provided us with something unusual for a South Florida autocross: Elevation changes! The lot was probably 8-12 feet higher at the arena side than the far-end, plus each parking row was lower down the center for drainage. There was literally no section of the course that remained flat and level for more than a car length or three. Big time fun.
My run group was scheduled last and I ended up working the finish line during an all-Porsche group. It was interesting. The guys (and gals) in 924 / 944s, older 911s (pre-964), and Boxsters tended to post the best Porsche times. Most of the 993 / 996 / 997 drivers were just plain slow — too afraid of breaking their very expensive toys, perhaps — and I’m pretty sure I beat a few guys in post-930 911 Turbos.
For my runs I had pumped the stock tires up to 45psi front, 42psi rear — a bit lower than I’ve been running the Kumho MXs but much higher than the owners manual suggests. In retrospect that was a mistake, more sidewall flex probably would have been beneficial on this course. I took an instructor along for my first run. Mostly he just told me to look further ahead. “If there’s anything you lack, it’s not confidence.”
I went solo for the rest of my runs and my performance was very inconsistent, I’d pick up time on one lap and give it all back the next time. Two downhill, off-camber sections gave particular trouble to me — one was just ahead of a slalom, the other before a trick turn designed to cause an early apex. A second trick turn offered more trouble, this one aimed at causing a late apex — I tended to get all four wheels spinning through that one.
Didn’t do as well as I’d have liked, but I did have plenty of fun. No doubt I’ll be at the next GC-PCA event. With tires. And the camcorder.
Also, the ER folks have decided to add the site to their rotation and have already booked a December event. With points events happening close to my home occassionally I may just stop going to Homestead / Hialeah…
- Posted in : Uncategorized
- Author :tby
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?