Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team Autocross # 10: Racing with a different stripe.

Under a hot and sticky New England sky, one hundred and nine drivers came together to compete at the LAZ Parking Lot in Hartford, Connecticut. The calendar says September, but the weather said July. The A/C power upgrade came just in time, helping the timing crew to keep their cool.

The LAZ lot is one of the smoothest we run on, and everyone looked forward to a fast course. Designer Bill Evans' layout was described as "Captain Hook". The drivers started perpendicular to the trailer and went into a fast, sweeping left for most of the lot. The first trap Bill built in was an offset gate that tightened the finish of the sweeper. If you tried to run hard here, you were off line for the simple looking, hard to handle, right left slalom. Most of the off course runs were recorded here, as driver after driver failed to remember to negotiate the slalom. An equal number remembered about the slalom too late, and killed multiple cones in an attempt to make the impossible.

Off of the slalom, you were now into another fast left that defined the outer portion of the hook. My first run, I was greedy, held my braking too late at the end of the sweeper, and was caught in the second trap: the left 180 hairpin that marked the entrance to the inner hook. Most people only made this mistake once. The inner hook was now a fast, right 180 turn. Trap number three was at the end of the one eighty. A right hand out of alignment gate, was set to intimidate the unwary. Several drivers turned before the out of alignment right for an off course. Most drivers braked too hard, killed their speed, bobbled the turn, and tried to make it up by accelerating into the left 90 and the finish. The fast drivers were able to rotate right thru the offset, catch the car, and rotate left for the finish. This allowed a little show business to creep into the event, as some drivers danced on the fine line of control, and paid the cone price for missing the edge. The course got the maximum out of the real estate and the competitors.

As for the results, in AS technology was defeated by Detroit Iron, with Joe Solury's 90 Vette beating Justin Lau's 06 STI by less than .3 seconds. CS looked like a pre-owned Miata center, as Michael Koloniaris beat the return of Charles Aucoin by just over one half second. Good to see you feeling better Charlie! GS was a close one won by Todd Kean's Impreza over Joe Rathbun's Neon by less than one tenth of a second. Was it really James Bond in HS? No, the winner was Luis Gomez in a diesel Jetta. You had to see the smoke screen it put out to believe it. In second in the class was Tom Cavuoto in another Jetta.

ASP was won by Brian Moran's Corvette, beating Jonathan Williams' Elise by just over four tenths of a second. The BSP winner was Leo Ficks in an Evo, winning by eight tenths of a second over Phil Mackaronis' Camaro. A new name was at the top of CSP, as Mike Lodsin's Civic lead the way over Paul Omichinski's Porsche by less than two tenths. Timothy Kong won STS in an Impreza, over James Reinle's Civic by just under a half second. Marc Boerma was first in STX in his Mustang with Yaro Taeger in second in the same car.

First and second in Street Mod were Liam Dwyer and Matt Cummings in Evos. These two drivers finished second and third respectively, in the FTD challenge. SM2 and FTD once again had Nick Fandacone's name attached to them, as Steve Gartner finished second in class in a boosted Miata. BP, or the collector car series, was won by Dennis Polio in a 64 Vette, beating Bob Peplow's Corvair. Two neat, clean, well prepared old cars. If you want to know about FP, look up the last five or ten write ups, and you get the idea: Jay Bode over Bob Doiron. Bob is looking to see if he can find the number for Acme Products. I think he is really about to bond with Wile E. Coyote. Travis Lariviere made a rare autox appearance and won AM in his track Civic, beating one of Gary Frankel's Fiero collection by 1.9 seconds.

Twenty four novice drivers signed up for the event. A group of autocross widows decided to give it their annual try. I was conned into providing a car, and the new Volvo C30 hatchback had it's North American competition debut. None of the wives won, but they all had a good time, and we had a lot of laughs over the good natured bantering over FWD (fastest wife of the day). Andrew Weinle won YN, Peter Noble won XN and Pete Meschak won ZN. Barb "Lead Foot" Bode frolicked to the fastest wife win.

We'll be back in Hartford on September 23. Just three more events before the season end. Stop out and run, it's fun!