Our August autocross capped our third straight weekend of driving.  The late July race, followed by the Subaru driver training event and now another autocross insured we were getting our money's worth out of our tire investment! 

Since our current location is so limited for space, the track designers have had a difficult time creating tracks that allow the more powerful cars to "stretch their legs".  This rewards cars that are nimble and come off the corners quickly.  Our S2000 is pretty nimble but because of the low torque curve, our ability to get off the corners is more limited compared to the larger displacement and turbocharged cars. For the first time in quite a while, we had a track that required the use of 2nd gear!  You read that correctly, in many of our autocrosses lately, I've been able to run the whole track in 1st!

The start line sent you speeding toward the first turn, a sharp 90 degree left hand turn. This led to a short chute with a slight kink but if you took the preceding corner correctly, you could make this a small straight.  The next left was a sweeping double apex turn that led to a long row of cones we called the "finger".  You had to slow down to a crawl to make the tight right hand around the "finger, " or risk not being able to negotiate the next complex of left-right-left which was very tight.  This then opened up to a sweeping left that lead into the fastest part of the track, a three cone slalom.  At the end of this you were required to enter a "triangle" and then brake heavily for the start of your second lap.  Remember  the sharp 90 degree turn we opened with, it was now a sharper 120 degree turn that you approached at a much higher speed than the first time around.  This created some problems for some drivers as they overshot their braking point.

In a departure from our normal routine I raced before lunch in the second heat and Fran raced in class after lunch.  The closest competition in AS was my friend Collyer in his Porsche 911.  He ran in the first heat and put down a best time of 43.925 on his last run.  This always puts additional pressure on me since I know the "time to beat"  For the last two events, I've felt the car has been more difficult to drive (than usual) and very "loose".  I am wondering if the rear tires have reached the end of their useful life?  To try to help matters, I decided to use our tire temperature gun to verify our rear tire pressures and try to "tune" out our handling problems.  

My first run was a clean 44.673, and made me feel petty good about the prospects for the next 3 runs.  The second pass would have been quicker if not for a cone.  I ran around asking which cone I hit but nobody on the starting grid could tell me so this would stand at 45.733.  The third run also had a cone, and just like before I was unable to "track down" which one I had hit.  This one was better still at 43.999 with the cone penalty!  As I readied myself for the last pass, I mentioned to Jennifer that I couldn't figure out where I was screwing up, but it didn't matter since it was my last try.  On this pass, there was a timing light problem and I did not get a time, but I also hit the same cone I had on the previous three tries!  It was the last cone in "The Finger" that was tripping me up.  I guess you know which finger the track was showing me!  On my last run through the track I gave the offending cone a bit more space and had a clean run, finally.  This earned me a best in class time of 43.000 and also placed me 4th overall and 4th in PAX.  In later conversations with some of the corner workers at "The Finger" they said I was just nipping the cone, and in two cases I knocked it over because I ran over the base!

For the last few months Fran's closest rival has been a BMW M3 piloted by our friend Jayson.  He and Fran have exchanged finishing orders several times but lately the tide seemed to be swinging his way.  Not this month!  Maybe it's because she ran on a cleaner track (after lunch) or maybe it's because I had the tire pressures set better since I ran first, but she emerged on top by over a second!  Her best time of 46.011 placed her 4th in AS, 27th overall and 23rd in PAX.