Pizzafest II Autocross Fun Runs!

[Ron Katona <ron3b@xxxxxxxx>]

I had so much fun at Pizzafest I wore the rubber completely off my R1s!
OK, they were about done to begin with, but you get the idea...

The autocross was a blast. A last minute change to the course due to a
trailer being parked in the lot made it a more HP friendly course, but
that also emphasized braking and planning ahead to maximize those long
straights.

The fun runs afterwards were probably the most enjoyable I can remember
at an autocross. You've heard some of the details already, but I really
can't remember that many people hanging around letting other people
drive their cars, taking people for rides, going along for rides, etc.
Really an unbelievable scene considering that in some cases we're
talking about $40,000+ new cars or old cars that have been painstakingly
maintained. People were swapping keys like business cards at a Shriner's
convention. To me, this defined the spirit of the entire weekend.

My highlight was driving an E36 M3 on an autocross course for the first
time. Andrej Dolenc wanted too see how an R1 shod 318ti felt on course
and I forced myself to drive his street tired M car. The sad truth is
that I was almost two seconds faster in the M3 than in my sticky tired
4-banger. I immediately started daydreaming about how fast I would be
with this car, R1s, and a little practice. Still almost 2 seconds off
FTD I figured, but I _really_ didn't need to take this ride! My poor
bank account is cowering in fear somewhere.

Andrej will be happy to know that I didn't take Pat D's advice on launch
technique. Pat was um... "working" the start when I rolled up and asked
how to best launch one of these M things. He leaned over from his
recliner and said "rev it up as high as it will go and sidestep the
clutch." Hmmm... I thought about it, but then remembered that Andrej was
driving my only roadworthy car at the moment. ;-)
- -- 
Ron Katona

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