My Fourth SCCA Autocross Day Part I
Although I was without my ’68 Camaro for my fourth SCCA autocross event, showing up in the ’01 Trans Am WS-6 on the morning of the 13th and tech’ing in was uneventful. Although the Trans Am would be legal in ESP, I decided to race in CP since there is a year-long points race and I would be spending most of the year in my ’68 Camaro which is not legal in ESP. This time my map covered all of the area that we race, and I was able to get all of the cones down pretty well while I walked the course. The course started off to the right with a few cones set up in an exaggerated slalom, then entered into a narrow section that required a little weaving but was fast if you could stay steady through it. A sweeping 180 degree turn brought you back around and through a relative long slalom followed by a turn to the left, then a hairpin turn followed by a turn to the right before a hairpin exit from the course.
I didn’t expect to be able to perform as well in the Trans Am as in my ’68 Camaro mostly because I knew the suspension was a lot softer and I had no experience racing the Trans Am. Since this was only my 4th SCCA race and my autocrossing skills were still infantile, I didn’t figure I was going to be able to switch between the two cars without missing a beat on the track. My first autocross day in December of 2007 with the ’68 and ’98 Camaros taught me that. I was, however, very interested to see how well the 315s in the rear and 275s up front would grab the blacktop in an autocross event. I was racing in the afternoon heat so watched some of the morning racing and hung out in Rick’s American Muscle tent the rest of the time.