so, E and I attended a "ladies practice" autocross yesterday. the idea of a practice event, of course, is that there's no competition, to get everyone a lot of runs, and to encourage people to have instructors ride with them, to ride with others, and even to try each others' cars and so on, all of which can be a lot more fun than an actual competitive event, and a better learning opportunity. the goal of a ladies practice is to encourage women to try autocross and get better at it an so on, in a low-pressure friendly environment. because, and this should come as no surprise, there are a lot more dudes than chicks out there racing cars, and the ladies sometimes feel intimidated.

what's great about the practice is a lot of guys show up to help out, so the ladies can spend the whole time driving without having to chase cones and so on. though the guys get some run time at lunch and afterwards, so really everyone gets a pretty full day of racing excitement. this was E's first time out -- she's been working up to it for a while but finally took the plunge and had a great time. she had to flog her poor crappy automatic daily driver around, but did well regardless -- she was naturally smooth and controlled, and improved markedly over the course of the day. it was fun to go and help out, meet some new people, and see E start down the path to speed obsession. plus I got about 8 shots at the course myself and got some good instruction in the bargain.

today we went to a regular event, and though E was nervous at first to drive in front of all those fast people (a lot faster than me), she got over it and did nicely. and everyone is super friendly to new people, especially women. so a good time was had by all. the only downside for me was that, being the usual sort of seattleish cave dweller, I am seriously sunburned, and utterly exhausted by all the standing around and working in the sun. it's not easy to find an entire weekend for racing, but when you can manage it, it's very satisfying -- lots of practice time all at once, with plenty of repetition and refinement is the best way to learn and, for me anyway, provides a more satisfying sense of understanding and improving. good times.

Yesterday was a mixed day autocross-wise. On the one hand, I got one truly inspired run where I "drove it like I stole it"; on the other, because of horrible delays, I spent a lot of time out there for very little actual driving.

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but anyway, I have that second run. it was all flow, man

I'm #3! After today's race, I moved into #3 in my class (the set of people who have cars comparable to mine). If I just show up at the next event, I should finish the season in third, which might even be good for a trophy. How did I do this, you ask? Well it's not by my excellent driving, though I have been improving and doing well by my standards. Unfortunately, I'm in a tough class, and the regulars are all still 2-3 seconds faster than me. however! I have better attendance. at the end of the season, your best finishes in 7 out of 9 events will be added up to determine your final score. At this point, I'm the slowest of the three people who haven't missed more than two events. Here we go adequate attendance!

Other than that, not much to say about today's race. It's this event called "Enduro" -- unlike regular autocross, where you get 4-5 runs through the course, spread out over an hour or two as people take turns, in Enduro you get one shot at the course, you run four laps, and your best lap is your final time. It's kind of fun, and a change of pace, but with no time to really reflect on your run, it's hard to improve. especially for a relative beginner like me. So I had three runs, all around the same time (whereas usually these days I improve significantly from run to run), and wasn't very impressive.

Another good day of autocross yesterday. At the practice a couple of weeks ago, I felt like I was getting better at understanding a course, figuring out how to navigate it, and getting it done with the car. At the autocross the next day, I found the course tough on the first couple of runs, but then figuring out how to smooth things out and improved a lot. Yesterday was similar. The course was extremely tight (even tighter than the usual courses they shoehorn into that parking lot) and on my first couple of runs I felt like I was thrashing against the impossible, unable to put any of the car's power to any use.

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Awesome. One of the best days of racing I've had. Today's event was a practice -- no championship points, no complicated recordkeeping, no restrictions on passengers and car-swapping -- and ended up being a great learning experience. For one thing, turnout was low and we got lots of runs -- six in the morning and twelve in the afternoon. The course changed a bit from one to the other, due to a boat that had been left parked in the middle of the course but was moved away by lunchtime. but a lot of it was the same, giving us lots and lots of tries at getting it right.

Lots more racing stuff below the cut!


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This may have been my best weekend of racing yet. Saturday was especially fun because not only did J come along, but Tom and Michele came as well, and they all seemed to have a good time. I've been trying to get J to ride along with me when I run the course, but she's been chicken. But once Tom jumped in and had a great time, she and Michele had to try it too. They all looked cute in their borrowed red helmets too.

Anyway, that's not the only reason it was a good weekend. On both days (especially in contrast to last week!) I felt in control of the car, like I knew what I was doing and how to approach the course. More importantly, I felt like I was learning how to use the car and how to choose a strategy. I was generally smoother and faster than I've been before, and my times were generally not bad. I specifically asked J to watch and tell me where I looked slow or unsmooth and report back to me -- it's amazing how obvious it can be from the outside where someone's driving wrong, even when it's hard to tell from inside the car (or hard to process that information while you're driving and hard to recall it when you're done). Anyway, she was able to point out where I could go faster and drive better, and in most cases I could already tell, a sign that I'm getting better at learning as I drive.


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I have not (to some people's relief) been posting much about racing lately, mostly because I haven't been racing much (see previous annoyed posts regarding brake problems) but also because I just didn't feel like it. After a couple months of non-racing, I went to one today, just got home. It was in Packwood (huh huh packwood), which is south of Mt. Rainier. I don't go to many Packwood events because it's a longer drive, but on the other hand it's very scenic and interesting enough to not get dull. I went a different route this time which involved about 25 miles on a narrow, twisty forestry road alongside a river.

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The autocross season gets started again with a handful of events in January, February, and March titled the "slush series" for obvious reasons. I went to the first one on the 22nd, my first event with the new BMW. It wasn't that slushy -- the day was mostly dry with a little drizzle. Unfortunately, the ground was wet at the start. And though it dried off eventually, I was in the first run group and got the full slush experience.

As I was expecting, based on driving the M in the rain, I had some trouble controlling the car. On my first run out, I could feel it wanting to slip in every turn and, sure enough, I pulled too hard going through the slalom, overcorrected, and found myself backwards. But hey it's the necessary initiation on every new car, right?. Second run, I was more careful, easing into each turn, and ended up with a pretty slow 51.943 -- other comparable drivers were getting 47-49s, and the top drivers were bringing in 42-43s (later the times would get lower, but partly thanks to the course drying out). This run wasn't really much fun, since I felt like I was babying the car the whole way. Third run went better -- still careful, but pushing a little harder. I was still pretty slow, with a 49.900, but I got an inkling of the idea that, with practice, I could learn to make the car slide the way I wanted it to go, instead of just driving like an old man and hoping it stayed on course. Not sure what happened last run, but I was up again to a 51.298 and I hit a cone.

Certainly, the car could be much better set up for the wet (tires mostly; the ones on it are pretty lousy), so a few changes could be a big help. But beyond that, the big key is going to be practice. The MR2 required some serious adjustments, but since it was a very precise, balanced car, that was mostly about planning and control. Not to say I mastered the MR2 during my short career with it, but I had some sense that I knew what I was supposed to be doing. This car, I think, is less disciplined, and learning to drive it well is going to involve getting to know when and how it's going to lose it and learning to make use of that. I think the fun potential is much higher, but it's going to take a lot of practice. At any rate, I'm looking forward to learning it; my only complaint is not getting enough seat time.