This is something that I had written for another website, but it turns out I never really finished it. It is incomplete now, but I will finish it soon and post the conclusion up within a couple days.
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My Auto-X X-perience
Gary Carter Rogers
7:00 AM Sunday March 30, 2008. I awoke and took a shower. The car was already loaded down with tons of stuff. I had a chair, cooler with drinks, my low-profile floor jack, torque wrench, breaker bar, pry bar, and pretty much every other socket and wrench necessary to completely disassemble my car. I left my house making the 30 minute drive to the auto-cross site. I was very tired, the night before I was awake until 3:00 AM, but I was dedicated, I was on a mission, to race my car for the first time.
I had been aware of auto-x since I got my car. I always wanted to try it but I felt that my car was not up to snuff in the suspension department to do anything but roll around the course. There was also the age thing against me. In order for me to take my car to auto-x and drive I would have had to have a parent present or they sign a waiver. I found this to just be an obstacle that would be eliminated with time, and it gave me time to beef up my car.
8:00 AM: I pulled up to the site and rolled down my window so I could sign the waiver to get in. I went and parked my car and drank a coffee drink to get loaded up on caffeine. I started to follow the crowd over to the registration table. I had already pre-registered and all that was necessary was for the nice lady to check my driver’s license and confirm my registration information.
I walked back to my car and began unloading the mountain of stuff that I had jammed into my trunk. Yes, I had lots of junk in my trunk. I got it all unloaded and made a pretty sizable heap in the landscaped area behind where I parked. I found my roll of blue painters tape somewhere in the heap and began numbering my car. I had chosen the number 1337, for reasons some readers of this may get, but most will not. I got the number on, and then I had to spell out NSM on the body panels for my class. The N in NSM stands for Novice, which is a separate sub-class only for novice drivers. Very fitting considering this was my first event. The SM stands for Street-Modified, which is a class that is very liberal on the allowed modifications; this however does not come without penalty. All the other Street-Modified cars are much faster than mine, and the PAX which is a multiplier that allows competitors to compare times across the board regardless of class is very low (The stock classes have the highest PAX multipliers and one of the lowest is the Street Modified class).
I had to classify my car with the Street-Modified class because I have a carbon fiber hood, and per SCCA rules the lowest class any car can run in with weight-reduction body modifications is Street-Modified.
8:30 AM: Just after putting the number and class on my car I noticed a friend pulling into the parking space opposite to me. It was Andy in his new Mini Cooper S. I know Andy because his family frequently visits the restaurant that I work at, and his daughter, Caroline, even works there as well. I said hi and Andy pulled his car next to mine. He asked if I was registered yet, I said yeah and he walked off to register since he only had about thirty more minutes to register before things really got started. I continued to prepare everything and checking over random mechanical things before taking my car to be inspected by one of the event safety stewards.
Andy came back some minutes later and unpacked a minimal amount of stuff from his car and he started checking tire pressures. Then he saw my torque wrench and asked if he could use it to check his lug nut torque. I said sure, and made sure it was set to 80 ft-lbs and found a socket that fit his lug bolts. I finished all my messing around and Andy asked if I had taken my car to tech inspection yet. I replied that I had not as of yet and that I was not completely sure where it was.
Then I followed Andy, in my car of course, over to where the inspections were taking place. When it was my turn I popped my trunk and got out to remove the hood pins on my hood to open it. The gentleman began inspecting things in my engine bay. They needed to make sure I did not have any excessive fluid leaks, that my throttle return spring works correctly, and that everything is secure, including my battery. My rubber battery tie-down was a little old and worn, but it kept the battery secured enough. I was informed that this was okay for today, but before the next event it should be replaced. The tech then looked inside the car for loose articles that may shift during flight (I am writing this on an airplane). That was good, he checked my brake and clutch pedals for sufficient pedal pressure. Then he took a peek at my trunk which was completely empty sans my stereo amplifier mounted securely on the seatback. I had passed and received a nice sticker on my windshield for my hard work.
9:00 AM: After heading back to my parking space Andy suggested that we walk out to the course and take a stroll around it to get familiar with it before driving around it. I obliged and followed. We walked around and Andy started to ramble on his thought of the course. He made sure to tell me to take his advice with a grain of salt since Andy himself had only competed at a handful of autocross events himself.
9:15 AM: One of the event coordinators called over the PA system announcing a guided tour of the course for novices. I walked over to the start where the group was forming. One gentleman walked us slowly around the course explaining each element of the course and some general tips and strategies to follow.
9:30 AM: The drivers meeting time had come. All the competitors gathered around the timing van and listened to the safety talk on course safety, and then the speech on workers duty and marking cones. They then ran through the run groups. It turned out my class would be running with group 1. Great, my first autocross and I don’t even have time to sit back and watch some runs before I have to go.
After the drivers meeting had concluded I walked back to my car and began getting ready to move my car over to the grid, the area where the cars that are about to run are staged. I was all set and made the short drive to the grid and then backed my car into a space. Parked next to me was a 1990 Honda Civic with big wheels and nice brakes, other than that I was pretty much stock. I started chatting with the driver and found out that his Civic was an automatic. He told me that it is most definitely harder to run the course with an automatic because you can never really hold the car in a specific gear when you want to.
To be continued...
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My Auto-X X-perience
Gary Carter Rogers
7:00 AM Sunday March 30, 2008. I awoke and took a shower. The car was already loaded down with tons of stuff. I had a chair, cooler with drinks, my low-profile floor jack, torque wrench, breaker bar, pry bar, and pretty much every other socket and wrench necessary to completely disassemble my car. I left my house making the 30 minute drive to the auto-cross site. I was very tired, the night before I was awake until 3:00 AM, but I was dedicated, I was on a mission, to race my car for the first time.
I had been aware of auto-x since I got my car. I always wanted to try it but I felt that my car was not up to snuff in the suspension department to do anything but roll around the course. There was also the age thing against me. In order for me to take my car to auto-x and drive I would have had to have a parent present or they sign a waiver. I found this to just be an obstacle that would be eliminated with time, and it gave me time to beef up my car.
8:00 AM: I pulled up to the site and rolled down my window so I could sign the waiver to get in. I went and parked my car and drank a coffee drink to get loaded up on caffeine. I started to follow the crowd over to the registration table. I had already pre-registered and all that was necessary was for the nice lady to check my driver’s license and confirm my registration information.
I walked back to my car and began unloading the mountain of stuff that I had jammed into my trunk. Yes, I had lots of junk in my trunk. I got it all unloaded and made a pretty sizable heap in the landscaped area behind where I parked. I found my roll of blue painters tape somewhere in the heap and began numbering my car. I had chosen the number 1337, for reasons some readers of this may get, but most will not. I got the number on, and then I had to spell out NSM on the body panels for my class. The N in NSM stands for Novice, which is a separate sub-class only for novice drivers. Very fitting considering this was my first event. The SM stands for Street-Modified, which is a class that is very liberal on the allowed modifications; this however does not come without penalty. All the other Street-Modified cars are much faster than mine, and the PAX which is a multiplier that allows competitors to compare times across the board regardless of class is very low (The stock classes have the highest PAX multipliers and one of the lowest is the Street Modified class).
I had to classify my car with the Street-Modified class because I have a carbon fiber hood, and per SCCA rules the lowest class any car can run in with weight-reduction body modifications is Street-Modified.
8:30 AM: Just after putting the number and class on my car I noticed a friend pulling into the parking space opposite to me. It was Andy in his new Mini Cooper S. I know Andy because his family frequently visits the restaurant that I work at, and his daughter, Caroline, even works there as well. I said hi and Andy pulled his car next to mine. He asked if I was registered yet, I said yeah and he walked off to register since he only had about thirty more minutes to register before things really got started. I continued to prepare everything and checking over random mechanical things before taking my car to be inspected by one of the event safety stewards.
Andy came back some minutes later and unpacked a minimal amount of stuff from his car and he started checking tire pressures. Then he saw my torque wrench and asked if he could use it to check his lug nut torque. I said sure, and made sure it was set to 80 ft-lbs and found a socket that fit his lug bolts. I finished all my messing around and Andy asked if I had taken my car to tech inspection yet. I replied that I had not as of yet and that I was not completely sure where it was.
Then I followed Andy, in my car of course, over to where the inspections were taking place. When it was my turn I popped my trunk and got out to remove the hood pins on my hood to open it. The gentleman began inspecting things in my engine bay. They needed to make sure I did not have any excessive fluid leaks, that my throttle return spring works correctly, and that everything is secure, including my battery. My rubber battery tie-down was a little old and worn, but it kept the battery secured enough. I was informed that this was okay for today, but before the next event it should be replaced. The tech then looked inside the car for loose articles that may shift during flight (I am writing this on an airplane). That was good, he checked my brake and clutch pedals for sufficient pedal pressure. Then he took a peek at my trunk which was completely empty sans my stereo amplifier mounted securely on the seatback. I had passed and received a nice sticker on my windshield for my hard work.
9:00 AM: After heading back to my parking space Andy suggested that we walk out to the course and take a stroll around it to get familiar with it before driving around it. I obliged and followed. We walked around and Andy started to ramble on his thought of the course. He made sure to tell me to take his advice with a grain of salt since Andy himself had only competed at a handful of autocross events himself.
9:15 AM: One of the event coordinators called over the PA system announcing a guided tour of the course for novices. I walked over to the start where the group was forming. One gentleman walked us slowly around the course explaining each element of the course and some general tips and strategies to follow.
9:30 AM: The drivers meeting time had come. All the competitors gathered around the timing van and listened to the safety talk on course safety, and then the speech on workers duty and marking cones. They then ran through the run groups. It turned out my class would be running with group 1. Great, my first autocross and I don’t even have time to sit back and watch some runs before I have to go.
After the drivers meeting had concluded I walked back to my car and began getting ready to move my car over to the grid, the area where the cars that are about to run are staged. I was all set and made the short drive to the grid and then backed my car into a space. Parked next to me was a 1990 Honda Civic with big wheels and nice brakes, other than that I was pretty much stock. I started chatting with the driver and found out that his Civic was an automatic. He told me that it is most definitely harder to run the course with an automatic because you can never really hold the car in a specific gear when you want to.
To be continued...
so wheres the rest? i thought you said you completed it?
who's fake ? that's the people I hate 
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