Roundy-Round with the Vettes

["Duane Collie" <drcollie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ever try an 'autocross' on a 1/4" mile NASCAR oval?

We did yesterday as the Northern Virginia Corvette Club invited us local
Bimwads to play on Old Dominion Speedway.  Rafael Garces set this up (dat's
his silver 328 on pages 50, 51, 52 of the Nov. Roundel) and it was
outrageous!  So how do you set up an autocross on a banked oval?  Well - ya
kinda 'cone' it in the turns a little bit. Do three flying laps to get a
time.  More time trials than autorcross, actually, but hey - call it what ya
will.

Observations:

1)  Banked ovals are most kewl.  The car bites and digs in.  Maybe those
NASCAR fellows are onto somethin', here?

2)  Corvettes are pigs in the tight twisty stuff (tell you something you
didn't know already).

3)  Ain't no substitute for Cubic Inches and Horsepower (where ya heard that
one before?).

Out of 30 cars running for the day, I had FTD until this wimpy 450 HP
Lingenfelter Corvette took the track. My 1:12 time went south as he posted
in a 1:08.  This car literally rocketed down the straights.  So he lost a
bit in the twisties - big deal - he clobbered back in the straights.  As a
couple more high-hp modified Vettes took the track it was whittled down to
1:06.

So the Vette guys ooooohed and ahhhhhed us Bimwads in the tight stuff,
amazed at how we could flip through the slaloms.  We Bimwads, on the other
hand, stood agape at the massive horsepower demonstrations these guys put
on.

Conclusion:  Local Vette Guys are way kewl - know how to have a good,
boisterous time (unlike the P-car crowd).  Heck, they even bought us Pizza
at lunchtime - how can ya not like 'em?

Duane Collie
SVR/UUC/Bubba

------------------------------