Banging the Rust Off

The Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team opened its season April 5th with a members only autocross at Rowley Springs in Bristol. Upon arrival, it was immediately evident many people were excited and anxious to run. By 8am, there were nearly 2 dozen cars in the lot. By 1030am almost 45cars were there to run, a drivers meeting was held were Kevin explained the rules of the day and offered a moment of silence for Brian Moran who passed away 1wk ago.

Jim Duphiney lead Liam and Mike on cone cart walk and came up with a fast flowing course with few surprises. A good easy course to shake the rust off and try out new set ups.

The course started in its usual spot, but a tractor trailer limited course designs. The start was a slight jog left out through an intersection box in the middle of the lot. It kinked right before tightening up and making a sharp 180deg left. The turn actually tighted up even more at the exit causing a few morning runs to be off course. It straightened for a brief moment before making another left that brought you back through the intersection box and opend up to a left hand sweeper up and through the top right part fo the lot. A slight kink was in the middle of it to keep speeds down as you sped across the back part of the lot. The course then went left......again but this time into a 4 cone slalom. You had to scrub speed early to be on line for the slalom, too hard in and you pushed wide, messing up your line and sacrificing speed. The slalom ended by going, surprisingly to the left, before it made a hard right around a pivot cone into the finish.

An obstacle was added today.....the pivot cone had a picture of Brian Moran's Z06 sliding sideways and taking out the entire timing system. If you hit this cone, instead of it being a plus 1 and having 2 seconds added to your time, you paid $1. A few people hit it accidentally trying to make time, but many people purposely hit it. Just about everyone who purposely ran over the cone was applauded and cheered. I can honestly say, this was the ONLY time people came across the line knowing they hit a cone but were smiling. It almost became a contest to sit who could hit it worst. Brian took a beating today, but all in good fun. Money was donated by the cone killers which will in turn be donated to the Moran family.

The people lucky enough to be CART members and able to show up were rewarded with almost 20 runs, the ability to ride passenger all day long and driver other cars. Does the idea of beating on someone's car whom you barely know appeal to you? If so, become a member. Meetings are at Ninos is Waterbury every 3rd Weds of every month. Membership is $30/yr