So this was one hell of a day. Manassas isn't exactly close to Baltimore, and they start at 8:00am and I needed to be teched by 8:45am, so I was up early. I think I left a little after 6am and I was making pretty good time most of the way. But when I got into VA I ran into some trouble. Let's just say VA road system sucks. I think it was I-66 I needed to get on and I'm pretty sure I got on it, but the signage was so small and poor that I wasn't sure I was going West or East. I needed gas soon anyway, so I took a smallish exit to find gas and get back on the road going the right way for sure. Well, this turned out to be a mistake. First of all, I had to pay a toll to take the exit, but you weren't informed of this, nor could you see the toll, till after you took the exit. So I had to pay $0.50 for no apparent reason. Next there were no stations for quite a while but I finally found one. I could see a sign for I-66 East ahead so I felt confident I was where I needed to be. So after I fill up I keep going down the road where I-66 East was. But there was no exit for West that way as it turned out. So I turned around and drove back to where I got on this road. No signs or exit of any kind, so I keep going for a while. I end up driving all around the area finding nothing and getting nowhere. I was getting pretty pissed, especially since it was already past 8:00am. Also, I some how managed to find a couple more random tolls to take my money, only to turn around and have to pay again. By about 8:15am, I was again back where I started and just took the unmarked turnoff next to where I entered. Now I got really pissed because this road wasn't labeled, PERIOD! I drove for miles in what I hoped was the right direction and not ONCE did I see a sign telling me WTF road I was on! Anyway, it was close to 8:45am and I knew my dad was there and already teched, so I called him and got him to tell the organizer that I was lost as shit and to ask it I could get signed in for one of the later heats and tech whenever I got there. Luckily, he let me do this. Otherwise, I would have lost my 3 morning runs which would have sucked. Finally, after driving past numerous exits with tolls going to roads and place I had no clue existed, I found I-66 West or something. I can't remember, but the point is a figured out a way to get where I was going, but I'm pretty sure the other highway was taking me North or something quite a way out of my way. I finally get there and got teched and my day could finally start. Seriously, I should never be allowed to drive without a co-driver, more on that later.

So I forgot to mention, I got a helmet of my own before this race. Its the snazzy black one in my profile pic. Its a flat black o'neal one with very nice padding inside. Very comfy, and it looks pretty badass. The screen comes off easily too, which is really good for a hot day like this was.

Anyway, my dad ran his G35 first and did pretty well. All of his runs were pretty good and his times only got better throughout the day. He was actually pretty brave with his nice new car. He got the rear out a decent amount, but I'm not sure it helped his times much. My runs were pretty close to a disaster. This group loves to make challenging courses, and this one was pretty mean. The first time, I just lost track of where the track was and pretty much forfeited the run. The second and third runs went well, except for these damned cones at the end of the center straightaway. They were used twice for the two loops. They matched the second loop's path pretty well, but were completely bizarre for the first loop. Basically, the straightaway curved to the right approaching a hard right turn. But the last pair was WAY off to the left. Almost everytime I just reacted and went to the right of the pair because that just made more sense.

I was a little annoyed but still had fun. My afternoon runs went better. I got my dad to co-drive the first run, but he sucks at it and I still made the same mistake. The last two runs I got one of the instructors to co-drive and not only made it through the course but got some good tips and dropped two seconds from the first full run to the next. I wish I had known the course earlier and could have ran it right, cause I think I could have improved a lot more.

I talked to a couple good people too. I talked to this woman who turned out to have a nice WRX. She was pretty nice, and didn't look half bad, but she was married and probably a little too old for me. Otherwise, I don't think I would have hesitated to get her number.

I also talked to this guy with a turbo'ed RS. It was one nice car and he had some good runs. So I talked to him about his setup and all. Good conversation, not sure why I felt the need to share all this here though.

They posted the results to the race today. Even though I had the second to last raw time , I had the 11th best indexed time out of something like 70 or 80 racers. So even though I was still slow as shit, I had one of the best improvements in my skill there. I'm pretty happy about that. Not only cause I got, I think 93 points, for it, but I can still improve a ton, so my next race should be really good, and have one of the top indexed times.

First off, the only thing really interesting to post. The pics and vids.
Pics here:
http://www.walmart.com/agt/bounce.gsp?ID=78B70CCA293FE24C0F29E492346ACD83DD56&sharee=tamarac@comcast.net
Vids here: http://www.putfile.com/crashmaxx

Now a quick overview of autocross for the ill informed. Its basically a race in a parking lot with you street car, and perhaps daily driver. They lay out a course of cones and everyone does timed trials. The people with the best times get the most points. But there is a catch, if you hit a cone, you get 2 seconds added on to your time. Often just one cone is enough to ruin a great time. You will lose your whole run if you can't stay in the course, don't finish, or can't stop safely at the end. Now as for the points, the better your time the more points you get, but also, there is an index meaning that if you improved a lot from your last event you can get a large sum of points from that. I think that covers the basics. The car can be completely stock and all you need is a seat belt and a helmet on to race.

Anyway, this was the first event for me to actually compete in. I had been to some last year, but wasn't able to compete. You may notice I have a very nice fiberglass hood in other pics. I had to remove it and put on the stock one to be in a competitive class. But as it turns out, this group doesn't follow SCCA rules and seems to have no classes. So the hood and now a rear sway bar will soon be on car. I actually stayed in a hotel the night before because we drove from quite a ways away, and more so, we had enough points to get a free room. My dad went with me and raced his new G35.

I feel I did very well for a first time. My first run I got confused half way through and went way off course and just finished my run short. The course was a slalom and then a sort of figure 8 and a strait. Well, the figure 8 was ill defined and I found myself driving straight with no cones telling me where to go. My other two morning runs went much better. Last year's champion and previous road-bike pro Francois rode with me and was my co-driver. I didn't really need help since I had realized my mistake as soon as I finished, but he had some good advice and I was happy to know I couldn't get lost again. They were slow runs, but I finished and didn't touch a single cone.

The afternoon runs were much better. I simply pushed the car harder and harder each run. For example, I basically stayed in first for the entire slalom. Now I doubt you have ever driven an impreza, but the gears are absurdly short. In fifth gear on the highway, it is at 3500rpm at 60mph (might be wrong, I can't remember currently). So first gear is insane, and I was revving the crap out of it. It was very fun, even if I did still have the slowest times. I didn't hit a single cone the whole day (ironic considering my name, huh).

My car is rather poorly equipped for this sort of thing. It is a 2002 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS, which I will soon have all over this page. Anyway, imprezas are great cars for this sort of thing especially, but mine has 3 problems. First, it is underpowered. It is even heavier then previous generations, but still only has 165hp and 165ft-lb. It has good torque and a great power-band, but an intake or exhaust would help greatly. It may just be a better choice then a WRX still, as they have enormous amounts of turbo lag and power under 3000rpm is important here. The second, and most likely biggest problem is the tires. They are BF Goodrich Traction T/A's but are only high performance all season tires and are no where near track tires. I should have stuck with my original plan of getting P Zero Nero M S tires, but too late now. I would be so much better off with stickier tires. I was scrubbing, squealing, and pushing even at such slow speeds. They will have to do though for now. My third biggest problem I will fix. The car pushes about as bad as a FWD car would. This makes steering almost non-existent at times and looses any traction the tires may have. So I will get a rear sway bar very soon. It will most likely be adjustable and I will probably get solid end links too. This will stiffen up the rear a lot normally, and I can adjust it to be about race car stiff. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, this will make the rear break loose before the front. The stiffer the rear is, the less it will roll and hold traction in a corner. So it will lessen push and at some point, make the rear come out and rotate the car excellent. A.K.A. power slide or drift. I wish I had video of this one WRX, it whipped around so hard the rear tires started to come up and the whole car spun like a top. It was awesome. Of course, this will make me susceptible to spinning out, but I have a decent amount of skill with this and can use a more moderate setting. Better drifting would be a great thing for me to learn.

My dad was so much faster then me. He never hit a cone and in the end got his times close to the majority of the faster drivers. He had a great time. But I must point out that his G35 is sweet and surely the reason he did so well. It is a brand new 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe with sport package. He's got about 300hp, stiff suspension with a rear LSD and his tires are rocking. They are 19" rims that are gorgeous with very sticky new summer tires on them. It is very hard to break the tires loose. So even though he barely pushed it, the car more then made up for him. He will have a fun time in snow though.

So I had a great time and think I will race the whole rest of the season I can. I may even do a rally-x later, but they are very far from where I am. I hope to do a track day or two in VA which will be nuts. All for now, later.