[SWortham]

Yesterday I had an autocross with the BMWCCA club at the Texas Motor Speedway bus lot. The surface out there is a sealed asphalt that's quite slick. It always takes some adjustment on my part when I go out there since it's so different from the other sites.

My main rival this year has a Toyota MR2 with a Toyota Solara V6 motor swapped in. And so far he's beaten me every time I've raced him. That is, until yesterday. Although his car is substantially lighter and has the same tires as mine, I think my car should have the advantage on paper with a 120 hp advantage and AWD. But he's been racing for longer than I have and he's definitely a better driver than me. I enjoy the rivalry as we definitely push eachother to the limits, and we've always congratulated one another on a hard fought victory.

Anyway, in typical fashion the first 4 morning runs of mine were not so good. I was getting 62, 63, and 64 second runs. Whereas Nathan (the MR2 driver) put down a 60.7 second run. But the beauty of the BMWCCA races is that we get 8, count them... 8 runs. And during the lunch break I reviewed the video of my morning runs to try and figure out what I was doing wrong and where I could make up time. This "break" has always been a huge benefit for me in the past, and it certainly helped again today.

When I went back out there I felt much more confident that I really knew the course. My 5th run was kinda crappy with another 63 second run. I guess I was taking it too easy. Then there was my 6th run where I put down a 61 second time. I thought... OK, just a little bit more. Then came my 7th run which was fast, smooth, tight, and even better than I expected. I did it in 59.9 seconds, clinching first place (my first of the year).

The video...
YouTube - 2008 Lone Star BMWCCA Autocross #6

[RallyMe]

Sweet victory! Congrats on your first win. Can't wait for the video.

[SWortham]

Thanks, and the video is up.

[RallyMe]

Awesome driving! It looks like you've become alot smoother since the last video I watched of you racing. Looked like a fun autox course. I like the oversteer you got in that left hander going going into the tight right.

[SWortham]

Thank you, I'm glad it looks better. I still feel like the slaloms are my weakness, but I guess it didn't show as much in that video. I think the way I had the suspension tuned this time helped too. Turn-in was really good without being too tail-happy.

And yeah, that bit of oversteer you're talking about was an accident but it almost worked to my advantage since I somehow stayed on a good line. And I got the car under control and was able to brake just in time for that next corner. That's partly why I was laughing at the end of my run. The other part was the whole winning thing.

[Booster Boy]

I should be there with you next month. I'll be at MSR for the next event and the night ax

Should be getting some suspension goodies from vorshlag too. Need some tires too but looking for a good deal.