Thread: NYC Area auto-x
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:19 AM   #13
equ
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: 981S, 340i
Posts: 9,580
The drive time to total time ratio is one thing, but that wasn't even the worst of it for me. The driving itself felt contrived to me. If cones were on both sides of the course, it might have helped. But without that to work with, there's a different skill to be developed to visualize a "course", then a driving line through that course and then finally control the car. Without the first, you don't even get to second and third. You could argue that my split between steps 1-2 are arbitrary, and perhaps it is. Either way, I wasn't particularly motivated by this step.

It didn't help that while I stood for four hours in the cold wind my long dormant lumbar ache kicked in. It didn't help that I didn't have lunch packed (thinking it would end early). It didn't help that I sucked at it, though that's normal for anything that you're new to. A few folks were like, 'Don't leave, runs 6-10 will be much better'. That I actually left early (at half-day) to spend the rest of the afternoon with my girlfriend's family should say something.

There were several (rare) moments of joy in there, reeling back the cayman when it wanted to spin. FWIW, the lot was freshly paved, no gravel, just nice asphalt. The SCCA auto-x I did six years ago in the zhp coupe was in Englishtown, tons of gravel, leaving some sort of my imprint on my tires. I did have more fun back then. Went with a friend (who got leave from wife/baby on account of his birthday). We were both noobs who got competitive with each other and fought it out through the day.
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