Auto-X


Mid season, I half expected to see Ryan back in this. After doing it for 8+ years, it should be hard to just step away… right? More and more, I feel like this is just my website and Ryan is never coming back. It’s true that he was only half here in the first place. 75% of the content has been mine all along, but at least the site didn’t have such an egotistical, self-righteous tone to it. Or if it did, at least it was in partnership with Ryan. It’s all me now.

When life gets hard, I want to write about all the shit I feel inside. I’m learning now more than ever that there is a lot more to life than my car. Whether or not this stuff is worth living for, I can’t say. It’s all very exhausting, and only makes my car life harder. I find meaning where I can. That said, I feel like I’ve opened up enough to you all as it is. You’re all car guys, but your not all my friends. Nuff said.

Auto-x results are in. CSCC event #2 results are here. I’m really not out to toot my own horn. I’m good at auto-x, but I haven’t always been. This is a discipline where the car really isn’t that important. I want everyone to know what is possible. Competition is good. Beat me please. Think about your driving, ride with guys who are faster. Get better. Win. Make me feel like I suck. I’ll stfu.

Really… I know I’m not good on the greater scheme. How meaningful is a result in a field of 40 people anyways? Not very. Truthfully, I’m not that interested in attending the really BIG events (ie: south of the border) until I feel like I’ve conquered the local scene. Even then… I feel like I’ve got to REALLY conquer it.

Does it offend people that I’m out to make them look bad?

Nine days ago, I said that event 2 went well for me. I got faster every run. The little tweaks I made to the car had the desired effect… I even found it worthwhile to concentrate on holding an angle 360 degrees around the g-circle on track. In fact, I managed 2nd in PAX. Great, all things considered, but 1st is the goal, and Robin is a long ways off in the Integra.

The second event didn’t go well for me. As I mentioned, I was having problems shifting into second all night (eventually the clutch blew up). Considering the mis-shifts and the rest I was happy with my first three runs. The fourth run however, I made the bad decision of putting my visor down while on course, to protect myself from a hoard of mosquitoes in car (sic). Doing so resulted in a much too late brake for a 3rd gear slalom, and not giving up on that put me in the worst off track excursion I’ve had yet. End run.

Event 3 results are here. A full second back from the erroneously categorized DSP Celica of Dave. Beaten by Ambrose in the MR2 also. I feel slow. The course, with a couple LONG acceleration points, definitely made things more challenging for my low powered car. But there was a good transitional section at the end where I felt like I could have made back a lot of time. Next time I’ll do better.

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