Slipstream - December 2005

Photo by Charlie Davis
TT #6 and AX #6
by Chuck Machala
The last autocross of the year was held at Mineral Wells on
October 16. Since it was the last one in which I would be
chairman, I wanted the course to be special. After bouncing a
few ideas off Charlie Davis, I decided to go with a stack of optionals,
one after another, so that the option you took on the first would feed
in to the second, and so on. As usual, I wanted the course to be big
and fast as well. In the end, the final design was a co-conspiracy of
Charlie and myself.
Sunday morning was perfect: 60 degrees with not a cloud in
the sky. The course walk took at least 45 minute for most people
and along the optionals near the start, groups of people debated as
to which was the quickest line. Before the start and throughout the
morning sessions, many different possibilities were tried by various
cars and various drivers and discussed at lunch time. This is one of
my favorite things about the autocross. Given about 16 possible
combinations and only 8 runs, you need to come up with a
strategy to find the best line for you and your car and then execute
your best run quickly. My car likes it when it’s cold and I knew that
in the afternoon it would warm up. I wanted to try and get a good
run done in the morning.
Everyone who completes a run is a good source of information
and I always try and talk to as many people as possible to get
their inputs. Everybody was forthcoming on what they thought the
best combination was through the optionals, where they could
improve their time, and so on. After talking with Ed Mayo and
several others after their runs, I had a pretty good idea how I
wanted to use the morning runs.
Andrea Bell making her way through the gate.
My first run I use to learn the course and I never worry about
my time. I usually go 110% to determine how fast each element can
be done. This time was no exception and I think I ended up with
three hit cones and a 118 second run. Not bad considering the top
time so far was in the 112 range. The second run was very good, but
I ended up hitting a cone in the very tight section near the end.
That was a 112.68 including a two second penalty for the cone. A
110 was definitely doable! My strategy for the third run is if I don’t
have the class leading time or close to it I back off a little and just
get a good time on the books. I ended up with a 111.23 which was
good enough for top time so far. The last run I used for exploration
and ran the optionals in a different manner. While I drove well, the
line was not faster and I logged a 114 and change.
Photo by Charlie Davis
Chuck Machala and Mark Steele going virtually head to head!
The afternoon runs were critical and first place in class 6 was
on the line. Mark Steele in his 944S2 was just a half second behind.
I focused my afternoon runs on trying to get in the low 110’s by
doing the pivot cone better. There’s was gravel that made a wide
exit in the pivot cone a bad idea. In the first three runs I was not
able to improve on the morning time but Mark cut my lead to only
one one-hundreth of a second in the third run and then broke into
the 110’s on his last lap. With only one remaining I gave it
everything I had but couldn’t improve again. Mark ended up with
top time and a tie for first place in class 6.
The women were also battling it out for top time and first
place in class 6. Shelly Burbank ended up with ladies’ top time and
grabbed a share of first place class 6 (with Lisa Steele) for the
season with an excellent time of 114.
I’d like to thank all the people who helped make my time as
chairman a fun and rewarding experience. They are too many to be
named. It’s a great group of people and I urge anyone who hasn’t
tried it to come out next year. You’ll have fun. The schools will be in
February and March and if you haven’t tried it and are a Maverick
member, your first autocross, time trial, or school will be free.
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