Slipstream - April 2004

Time Trial 103
By Scott Edwards
The smell of toasted brake pads, sticky rubber, and high
octane fuels lingered over Mineral Wells on March 7.
After months of planning and scheduling, the annual
Autocross and Time Trial driver education event went off with
out a hitch. The Sunday time trial began with a cold, overpowering
wind and died down to a breezy low 80’s day. What a
great cool day to run a driver education with cars ranging from
Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, Mustang, Chevrolet, and Mazda.
... Boy, I forgot this car was made
to do these things ...
Wendy Shoffit did a great job planning out the
instructors and equal run groups for the morning instruction
time and the afternoon time trial event. Many people began
to learn the limits of the car and themselves behind the wheel.
Of course, there were a few people who learned the end limit
of their car and had to trailer their rides home. Overall, this
was an educational event for everyone.
It was great to see some familiar faces out there
behind the wheel along with quite a few new people. Many
of those faces were buckled tight and holding intently to
insides of the car as their students took over the cars. My
instructor brushed the off-season cobwebs out of my head
and had me holding the grip bars inside my dad’s 964 before
letting me take reign of the car. “Boy, I forgot this car was
made to do these things,” I thought.
Photo by Kevin Hardison
Photo by Kevin Hardison
George and Scott Edwards put their car through it’s preseason warmup.
This event went smoothly and got me revved up for
this upcoming spring and summer time trial events and
autocross events. As always, my dad is excited to get this
season on the way. I think he might be more excited about my
new job. This way he has already let me know I can start
paying for the tires I am so gentle with and the other minor
expenses. I started off the season with a big win… being faster
than my dad (we won’t consider the fact that I corded the tires
before he ran the full course and actually got a time).
Tom Snodgrass looking ahead to the apex of the hairpin.
Overall, this was an exciting weekend to start off the 2004
Maverick Region group. We had a great organized group of
people with many years of experience setting up these events
and instructing on how to improve one’s driving skills. The
Maverick Region is continuing to grow and bring out new
people to the time trial and autocross events. This friendly
racing and continuing growth of friends makes for a good
group and exciting year to come for Maverick Region.
Photo by Kevin Hardison
Brian Petri gets the green flag for another run on the Time Trial course.
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