1999 SCCA Solo 2 (autocross) Round 5

Rookie Stock 1 Solo 2 Championship Points for 1999

Round 5 Results

Today's round of the autocross was held at Candlestick Park (3Com), unlike the previous rounds which were all at the Oakland Coliseum. The lot had three noticeable effects on the course.

First, the lot is bigger. As a result, today's course had a little more space between some of the corners. I think this lends an advantage to cars with better power-to-weight rations because in the straight sections they can get out there more quickly.

Second, there is a big "peak", or crease, running diagonally along the middle of the lot. When the course was initially set up, it looked people were going to be getting some air at the end of a little straightaway. But before the first run group started, the course was tweaked so that the crease was crossed in a slow corner.

Third, the pavement at Candlestick is much grippier and harsher than the Coliseum. I figured this would mean some extra tire roll, so I started with some extra tire pressure: 34 front, 40 rear.

My first run was a 61.836, best of the group. On my second run I improved to 60.461, but Joe Friedman pulled ahead with a 59.891 in his BMW M3. I had gotten a little loose in a couple of places. Now, I'm not experienced enough to know the difference for sure, but it seemed to be oversteer rather than simply driving too fast in the corner. So I raised the rear tire pressure by two more pounds, to 42.

My third run improved a tiny bit to 60.455, and it definitely felt like the understeer was lessened, perhaps even a touch too much. So, I decided to put one more pound in the fronts to bring back a little more oversteer. Unfortunately, for my final run I really got the rear end out on the first sharp corner, and ran a 61.332. I guess that extra pressure was a bad idea. Or I was pushing too hard.

Final result: 2nd place out of 16 drivers in class. That's two rounds in a row in 2nd place. Not bad!