Halloween: Autocross in Sanford '09

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:23 am

Arthur McDonald wrote:

Dustin Fredrickson wrote:

Rodney took a hit on the Hoosier crack pipe and laid the smack down on Art. Though I must say, Art was very entertaining to watch.

Rodney made top-10 pax and raw in each Sanford event this year. Hoosiers or not, he's figured out that site and continued his excellent driving there yesterday.

Dustin - I only spun once yesterday. I nearly spun 3 times in the first 10 seconds of my 3rd run. It wasn't so entertaining from the drivers' seat.

All (who drive Pony cars, at least) Hail Rodney!

I had been thinking about this event all week and what a thrill it would be to take a win over Art and take the season points. I loved the fact this came down to the last event. Art having almost 2 decades w/ the club, is an excellent driver, but here's the real deal. Karl told me to take you down for your win last year in his car :shock:

He wanted some vicarious payback.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:31 pm

Definitely a fun event. It was fun watching the FS battle and seeing Ryan beat pajama pants boy.

I know you all enjoyed seeing me wear my goggles with my helmet cam. Here is the vid of my 3rd run.

http://vimeo.com/7375994

I did not have the angle quite right so most of what you see is the steering wheel(Sweet!?!?).

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

Does anybody have pictures of the control arm carnage from yesterday?

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:41 pm

Thanks to the Westerfields for a fun, fast course. Not really a n/a Mini course, speed wise, and I was certain that Martyn had me with his horsepower when he was about 5 seconds ahead of my morning times. Martyn, thanks again for making this a fun year in HS. You were a great competitor and really pushed me hard. :thumbsup:

I finished 13th in pax yesterday, and considering the hot shoes in the top ten, I was pleased. Now I'm looking forward to the Christmas party. More fun in store.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:52 pm

Gwen Baake wrote:

I finished 13th in pax yesterday, and considering the hot shoes in the top ten, I was pleased.

Wow, having finished 7th in pax (would'a been more if I hadn't coned away my fasted run), Gwen called me a hot shoe! Woohoo! Never been called that before. Thanks Gwen!

Judi Westerfield · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:19 am

Glad everyone had a good time. Glad the drizzle cleared up so we could get some dry runs. Sad to see the season over for Autocross. Hopefully, I get to go run at Carowinds over the winter at least once with CCR.

Lee Williams · **Joined:** Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:22 pm **Posts:** 75

Great job Brice!! Wish that I could have run Saturday but doubt I could have done better than your times. Sixth in PAX and Fastest ST! Way to go dude! Just keep it for next year and we should have a helluva good battle in ST.

MartynWheeler · **Joined:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:30 pm **Posts:** 303

Gwen Baake wrote:

I was certain that Martyn had me with his horsepower when he was about 5 seconds ahead of my morning times.

I'd be inclined to credit the Hoosiers. It seemed like I found a lot of traction out there in the wet, a lot more than I expected. Knowing the sealed areas were going to be slick as ice, I made sure I did as much turning/braking on the non-sealed surface. It also helped that I found really only one stand-on-the-brakes place in the course, so traction under braking wasn't that important to the course as a whole.

Might also have been gearing. The Mazda 3 has the perfect autocross gear in 2nd, takes you up to 70-ish while still being low enough to consider staying in it for pin turns. Not having to shift after the start might have meant smoother runs and more consistent traction throughout.

It was a great event, and a great way to end an awesome year. HS has been brilliant competition throughout, and Gwen earned the win at this event just as she earned the season title -- great driving, great sportsmanship, and fierce yet friendly competitor.

After this event, the competitor in me wants it to rain every event next year. But the rest of me wants warm and dry, and I hope that's the part that wins.

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

Great event other than the rain in the morning and thanks to the Westerfields. Even the "wiggle room" wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared walking the course, it actually ended up being pretty easy to navigate. Big thanks also to Bernie for letting me borrow a Corvette with functional brakes. That car is pretty darn bad ass, 400 whp is fun.

I'm disappointed in my first loss in SSM in a very long time, but I'll take 5th raw and 10th pax in a car with completely stock suspension and an SSM pax.

Carlton Whitehead · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:59 pm

That was a really fun, fast, and challenging course. Many thanks to the Westerfields for all their hard work!

I'm really grumped that I coned away my dry runs though. I thought I was going to have a clean and fast run on my last run of the day, but then I nailed the very last cone before that drag strip of a finish, and out came the expletives. I was really surprised and disappointed to hear that another cone had been called on me on that run, because usually I can tell when I'm about to hit a cone well before I hit it, and I have no idea what other cone I might have hit during that run. And I had gotten myself all psyched up about my 80.2+1. But, *sigh*... I have no evidence to support my complaint.

Congrats to Jennifer Bedell on her TIR class win, both for this event, and for the season!

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Lee Williams wrote:

Great job Brice!! Wish that I could have run Saturday but doubt I could have done better than your times. Sixth in PAX and Fastest ST! Way to go dude! Just keep it for next year and we should have a helluva good battle in ST.

Nothing pisses me off more than having my two best drives of the year being events where you weren't there. . .

I've got something for you next year buddy.

Sorry to hear your car is having troubles, I hope it all works out.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:19 am

BriceJohnson wrote:

Sorry to hear your car is having troubles, I hope it all works out.

Lee,

What's up with the car?

Lee Williams · **Joined:** Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:22 pm **Posts:** 75

Chuck,

Nothing wrong with the car... just the idiot that works on it (me). I installed transmission mounts on Friday night. Then the car developed a severe shudder... like a cylinder wasn't firing. It took me two days to figure out the obvious... that the new mounts were put in wrong somehow. Replaced them with the original mounts and no more shudder. Doh

Brice,

I hate I missed the event but damn glad you did well. Maybe I shouldn't show up more often since you do so well when I'm not there? Nah, THAT's not going to happen.

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

BriceJohnson wrote:

Lee Williams wrote:

Great job Brice!! Wish that I could have run Saturday but doubt I could have done better than your times. Sixth in PAX and Fastest ST! Way to go dude! Just keep it for next year and we should have a helluva good battle in ST.

Nothing pisses me off more than having my two best drives of the year being events where you weren't there. . .

I've got something for you next year buddy.

Sorry to hear your car is having troubles, I hope it all works out.

Clearly you choke under the pressure when Lee shows up Brice, so you should be wishing more mechanical problems with his car. :wink:

Nice driving this weekend man, very solid finish.

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Halloween: Autocross in Sanford '09

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