Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team Autocross # 11: Under the Gun

On a unseasonably nice fall morning, one hundred and twenty two drivers signed up for CART autocross number 10 at the LAZ lot in Hartford. This was going to have to be a short event. The LAZ lot is a satellite parking facility for the Chevrolet Music Theatre in Hartford, and a country western show was scheduled for that evening. We would have to be off of the pavement by 3:00 p.m. so we were under the gun. We were going to have to hold it to 3 runs.

The course consisted of two loops. Sounds easy, right? It wasn't, as driver after driver lost their bearings, forgetting how many times they had passed thru a set of cones. From the start, you accelerated down the lot, and turned 180 degrees left, back up the lot. Top of the loop, you turned 180 degrees and re-entered the course where you had started from. Accelerate down the lot again, but this time, only turn 90 degrees left, onto a connector that lead to the other loop. This loop was basically just a 360 degree left skid pad. Upon exiting the skid pad, you took a left sweeping turn into a left right left kink, and the finish. It sounds easy, but it continued to baffle drivers the entire day.

It was a familiar name at the top of the FTD board, with Nick Fandacone beating James Velgot's STI by .5 seconds, and Sherman Baumann's Dwarf by .6 seconds. Several drivers broke the 34 second barrier as they grew accustomed to grinding out left turns.

AS was led by the AWD brigade, with Justin Lau (Subaru STI) beating Jeffrey Guerrera (Mitsubishi EVO) by just over one tenth of a second. BS was won by Mike Miller's Porsche GTE, over Tom Mak's Nissan 350Z. Tom was one of the drivers who had a tough time staying on course, just managing one clean run, but it was good enough for second place. CS, or Miata World, was won by Michael Koloniaris over Quinn Kizis. DS was a group of first year drivers, with Glenn Clegg's Cobalt winning over Philip Oswald's Porsche 944 Turbo by almost two seconds. Ken Frey killed ES in a MR2, beating Rob Carter's Miata by almost three seconds. GS, a fairly large class, was once again won by Todd Kean's Impreza over Jeff Batch's GTI by less than a second. The HS race was decided by less than one tenth of a second, as Pat Huxley in a Civic beat Tom Cavuoto's Jetta.

BSP had STI's at the top, with Randy Laroche beating Jeffrey Wooten by just over three tenths. The CSP race has tightened up, but it was still Paul Omichinski's Porsche 924 over Mike Lodsin's Civic by under three tenths of a second. FSP was a close one as John Bubela's Midget beat Chris Fuhrmann's Mirage by less than three hundredths of a second.

Street Touring S was another close one. James Reinle (Civic) beat Timothy Kong (Impreza) by two hundredths of a second. Street Mod was won by James Velgot's STI with four tenths of a second over Travis Lariviere's Civic. Street Tire X was one car, two drivers, and car owner Marc Boerma beat Yaro Taeger in a shared Mustang. SM2 was same old, same old, Nick Fandacone beating Stephen Gartner's stealth Miata by over two seconds.

BP, or the antique class was Dennis Polio's 64 Vette Roadster beating Bob Peplow's unsafe at any speed Corvair. FP: nothing new to report, so I won't O.k., O.k. Jay Bode beat Bob Doiron. A Modified was the run what you brung class, and Sherman Baumann in a Dwarf beat Dean Cusano in a Jag by two seconds.

We had twenty two novices register for the event. Ryan Menard won YN in a Civic, Michael Levchuk won XN in a Honda S2000, and Bill Petras won ZN in a Mazda RX8.

Two more events are left in the season, with several year end championships still up for grabs. Who will win autocrosser of the year? Driver of the year? We're almost there, stay in touch.