CART Autocross # 9 And now, for our next trick.

The Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team held autocross number nine of the 2007 on August 26 at Rowley Spring in Bristol, Connecticut. It was the last event this year at the Rowley Spring lot, and it was one of the best. The skies were partly cloudy, holding down the heat, and the humidity had dropped overnight. One hundred and eight drivers, including thirty one novices registered for the event.

Course designer Bill Evans created a sweeping, fast course with just the right amount of twisty parts to challenge everyone. The start traveled across the lot and took a right turn to continue on the outer perimeter of the pavement. This section was just plain fast, taken almost flat out for even the fastest cars. At the end of this straight, you braked fairly hard, and turned one hundred and eighty degrees right around a pivot cone. Back on the gas, to a slight right offset and then slow down for a one forty five degree left. You now had to choose how to navigate the slalom. The fast way was to take it as a fast right left right twitch, and only go thru two gates. Some people were lured by the siren call of turning less at the exit of the one forty five and then having to take three gates on the slalom. This section also caused most of the off courses called, because driver after driver focused on the slalom, and failed to take all of the gates. A great time saver, but it doesn't count.

Out of the slalom, and accelerate hard into a fast one eighty right turn, followed by right left /left right offset to slow you down for the finish. The finish was straight forward, but had a wall of cones at the end to make sure you got the idea to STOP. It was announced at the driver's meeting that failure to come to a complete stop would result in an off course run. Despite the best efforts to get the idea across, several drivers got a case of the red mist, and lost good runs to a tough call. The slow down section also caused a delay in the event. As one of the competitors lost control of the back of his car, and tested the integrity of the crash box that held the finish timer. The timer came thru fine, but the wire got mangled when it was run over. After the quick application of electrical tape, we were ready to roll again.

For the results, Tom Mak got his 350Z back on track, after trailing for the first two runs and won AS, beating Justin Lau's STI by by less than two tenths of a second. CS was won by Michael Koloniaris in a Miata, beating Rick Huntoon in a Solstice. Rick just moved up from the novice class, good run, Rick. Ray Chang, bumped up from DS, won CS in a Protege, beating Rob Carter's Miata by a .160 difference. GS has been a good battle all year long, and this event was no exception. Todd Kean in an Impreza RS beat last year's champion, Brad Snow by .065 seconds. Tom Cavuoto's Jetta won HS, beating Kevin Fitz Maurice's 17 year old Subaru by just over seven tenths of a second.

Brian Moran's Z06 won ASP, beating Jonathan William's Elise by over six tenths of a second. Leo Ficks in an EVO won BSP handily, beating Steve Merchant in an STI by over 1.3 seconds. Paul Omichinski had control of CSP in his Porsche, beating Sho Torii in a Miata. Liam Dwyer had no competition, and won FSP in an EVO. For STS, it was Timothy Kong in an Impreza RS by two tenths of a second over Mike Lodsin's Honda. Street Mod was a cruise for James Velgot's STI , beating Robert Pielli Jr's Mini by nearly two seconds. Nothing new in FSP: Jay Bode over Bob Doiron in the Fiero battle. Gary Frankel ran unopposed in AM, so got the win. DM was a mix of bumped cars. James Jaffe in a BP Miata won the class, beating Brian Smith in a CP Mustang. Matthew Struski won STX in an Impreza, winning over Yaro Taeger in a Mustang by seven tenths of a second. Nick Fandacone won SM2 in the winged 350Z by over 1.5 second, beating Stephen Gartner's boosted Miata. Greg Cullen won Y Novice, Jason Brooks won X Novice, and Chalin Santiago won Z Novice.

The FTD battle was hard fought, but Nick Fandacone carried the day. James Velgot came up two hundredths of a second, short, and Tom Mak was a half a second behind. FTD has rapidly become a focal point of the event, and a fun thing for the PA announcers to play with. Each good run gets a cheer from the crowd, and the trash talk is constant, but good natured.

The last four events of the year move to LAZ Parking in Hartford. Stop on by, and give autocross a try.