Slipstream - April 2006

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Snow and Ice? Who Cares? Photo by Gray Cat Graphics By Cathy Howard I’ve had my license for six months and my parents encouraged me to do the Ladies/Teen Autocross and the Autocross 101 schools. At first I wasn’t too excited to do the schools because I don’t like driving and the weather was horrible. It never got above freezing the entire weekend. It was snowing and sleeting off and on the entire time. Saturday I was scared because I was driving my dad’s ’96 blue Miata. Since I don’t drive it normally I was afraid of messing the car up some how. My amazing instructor, Betty Perrine, came out in the horrible weather just for me. (Thank you, Betty! I really appreciate it!!) She was very helpful to a first timer like me. She showed me that hitting a cone and pushing the car was not going to hurt it. We started out with the braking exercises; I only locked up the brakes once that day. After that we worked on the skid pad, which I fell in love with! I could have done it all day, but since I couldn’t, I did it as much as possible. This was for sure my favorite thing to do. The first time Betty did the skid pad I got so dizzy I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do it. I knew I had to, so I took it slow the first couple times and then didn’t want to stop. We moved on to the slalom. I wasn’t a big fan of it, but it was still fun. The increasing was my favorite, followed by the evenly spaced, and then the decreasing. I had the most trouble with the decreasing, and it was also where I hit my first cone dead on. After our lunch from Jason’s Deli we started the autocross. Betty and I only walked the course once due to the weather. When I got into the driver’s seat I spun out for the first time ever in my life. It was a new feeling, but with all the practice I had done in the morning I knew it Students lining up for their Autocross laps . . . ...Chuck Machala was eager to get out of the biting cold! Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Cathy Howard on a autocross run without Mitch “weighing” her down. was safe, my parents didn’t get to see it, but I got applauded by a ton of people who did. I’m normally an overcautious driver, but as soon as I could recognize the feeling of the back end coming around, I was addicted. Sunday I got a different instructor, Mitch Williams, who is more experienced with Miatas and taught me more about the car and its power. He also pushed me to go faster and not to listen to my “safety self” as he called it. It was hard to go faster, but I tried. The weather was still miserable, probably even worse because it had time to set in over night. In the morning I was in the second group so I started out with the slalom. The night before I told my parents that I didn’t want to go alone, just because I think that it would feel awkward not having someone telling me what to do, but after Mitch got done instructing his other student he talked me into going alone for the first time. Wow, did it feel different not having the extra weight and having to think for myself. After I did my first run Mitch got in the car and asked,“Do you want me to stay or get out?” I responded,“Get out!” I actually felt more comfortable going alone, even though I thought I wouldn’t. Moving on to the braking I did a lot better, I locked it up many times and other times I made a pretty good stop, with out locking it up. I was pretty proud of myself! Then I got to do the skid pad again. I was told many times that I was doing well, especially for just driving six months. After lunch we did the autocross, which was the same course from the day before. I lowered my time, spun out three times, and DNF’ed again. After doing these schools I feel more confident in my driving skills. I am actually kind of glad that the weather was how it was because I learned how to do all this in bad road conditions meaning that when it’s a nice day things will be easier. I have to send out a HUGE thanks to all the workers that stood out there in the cold for hours both days, if it wasn’t for all of you I never would have gotten this experience and learned so many things. I also want to send another HUGE thanks to my wonderful instructors for taking time out of their lives to help me. I am going to do a few autocrosses just because I finally understand what my mom means when she says it gets in your blood. I have a hard time resisting the urge to make the back end come out around when I go around a corner or a curve in my dad’s Miata, or even in my Saturn sometimes! Thank you to everyone who put the schools together! I really appreciate it!! 20
Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Cyril Reif getting Jason Rogers to take a late apex line thru the pivot cone. Lisa Steele giving some pointers to Andrea Bell. Gary Leto taking a very tight line through the slalom Cathy and Mitch look on as an instructor demonstrates the course. Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Photo by Gray Cat Graphics Ed Mayo teaching Adam Ussery how to take a corner at the limit. The slalom exercise helped to teach smoothness and control. John Leto all bundled up! Bryan Bell risking frostbite. Ice quickly covered everything . . . including unattended helmets! Andrea Bell’s fancy “hats”. 21
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Slipstream - April 2006

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