Pleasanton AutoX Roll Call

[-The Stig-]

The course was a roughly 10 seconds longer. Average times for Del Mar and Costa Mesa were in the low 30's, Pleasanton was in the low 40's. The fasty types were doing the runs in the 36-38 second range.

My personal best was 40.1. But apparenlty I tagged a cone, so 41.1. :( My fastest legit pass was 40.8.

I was definitely faster in the early morning when the track was cool, once it heated up the G8 was all over the place. I had the front end washout on me several times where it had gripped before on previous runs. The unexpected understeer caught me off guard a few times. Then again, the ass end slipped a few times which I just used that to help rotate the car as much as possible. The crowd seemed to enjoy the big 4-door drifts... haha.

This course was a little scary with that tree at the entrance/chicane and the far end with the Tree/K-Rails that seem to jump out at you. They could of laid it out a bit better, maybe a bit wider in sections. When James and I walked the course we were a bit worried about how people would navigate the far end with the trees and concrete stoppers.

Still, overall was a good time. Especially when Mary took me for a ride in my own car... with a huge and unexpected loss of traction on the far end (read: big drift) she pulled down a 39.1. Was way fun.

Thanks Mary.

I saw the Good-guys photographers out there, maybe I'll make the magazine again. They had a picture of me at Costa Mesa in the May(?) issue of their magazine, page 66 I believe.

[class67]

Matt, I watched 3 of your runs and you were handling it man...On that 40 sec. run, I don't if you hit that cone or if it was jet wash...lol

[buickfunnycar.com]

Mary once again looked ultra-smooth behind the wheel of that straight-axle '73 Camaro besting some pretty darn impressive PT cars and prepped Z06's on a very tight and slippery course.
Here's a lousy shot of her on course:


One big bummer was when the Good Guys giveaway 427 SuperNova ran,it's engine lost fire just as it passed us in the grandstands and with hydroboost brakes,he was just hanging on for the ride:




Drove off under it's own power but clearly wounded...


Oh...and look what I picked up at the Hotchkis booth...Mary's a rockstar!


Seriously...how cool it that?

[MrQuick]

I didn't see you there John, sorry. I believe I managed to miss everyone.

Ty's Nova...OUCH...was he driving it?

Nice driving out there Stiggy. Mary had it crossed up and your car has a really nice profile! LOL
Cool ride though.

I was trying to talk Allen (Zbugger) into taking ride with her and scream all the way around the course. But the 4X4 lap was fun enough.

Here are some videos of a few of the races. Not going to embed them...Im lazy and tired.

Lark, I missed you again. Did you catch the Riv? I have more work to do so I'll meet up with you at the next show. Any luck with your's?

Vids...





Vince

[-The Stig-]

Matt, I watched 3 of your runs and you were handling it man...On that 40 sec. run, I don't if you hit that cone or if it was jet wash...lol

haha, well thanks. At the end of the day I called it quits early. I was getting frustrated at having an 'off' day. I just couldn't get it working for me as I would have liked hahaha.

Nice driving out there Stiggy. Mary had it crossed up and your car has a really nice profile! LOL
Cool ride though.

Thanks, Yeah... when she/we lost the rear on the far end I thought we were going to loop it. Mary even said something that can't be repeated on the internet when it slid out from under her... But the front end felt like it just glided in the correct direction and things turned out to be dynamic. I wish I could see how that looked from the outside. hahah.

The amount of fun had today is illegal in most countries. I'm glad this isn't one of them. lol


I'll see about swinging by the show and saying Hi to everybody before I head back down towards home. My grandpa insisted on filling me up on our way out of the show today, so maybe the car will handle better with a few more pounds out back....... or it'll just gain more inertia and slide more? hahaha

[79-TA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SMk8...e=channel_page

That 'vette is BAD! I'm going to throw out a guess and say it had tires with less than 180 UTQG treadwear. Great run nonetheless.

[mazspeed]

That 'vette is BAD! I'm going to throw out a guess and say it had tires with less than 180 UTQG treadwear. Great run nonetheless.

It had 30's UTQG's slicks. Most cars there were in the low 100's. Not many were running 180's and up. Maybe 30 percent including Mary. She rocks. I was happy that my car did a 38 and many 39's on 260's the entire day. Of course Tim got squirrely a few times and took out 7 cones on a run. That was a blast to watch as was all the cars.
I thought it was a great day, but they need to do away with the concrete barriers. Not needed, at this event. The Nova should have hit nothing at the far wall. DO AWAY WITH THOSE BARRIERS! They were not Needed!

[65MALI]

Right on for the vids, Vince(MRQUICK).Wish could have made it.Any takers on the Riv? I saw your snippet pretty sick.

[larknut]

Headin' out for another day of fun! Maybe see some of you there.


Also, could someone please embed those videos. for some reason I can't see them on Youtube itself but can when they are embeded. Thanks.

[DRJDVM's '69]

What a blast.... I spent the entire day at the Autox.....walked the show for about 45 minutes at the end of the day and headed home

Great to see some "PT cars" actually get beat on and put to the test rather than sit in the show and collect dust.

As for the course...... given the layout, the barriers were probably needed for safety and legal reasons. You never know what kind of drivers and cars may be out there...... I've seen plenty of people at Autox' get way way out of control and plow off the course pretty far. Now granted this course was small and tight so no one was getting up to real fast speeds etc but you never know what some idiot might do....

My only wish was that they had more space to make a bigger track

Fun fun....hopefully my '69 will make it next time. Best I could muster with the 98 Camaro SS on street tires was a 40.48x......

[zbugger]

That was a great time out there. Keith, thanks a ton for the ride. Your car felt great. And that carbon fiber looks awesome!! Mary, I think I should have gotten that shirt autographed. I just wish I had hopped in for a ride with you. And I was right. John got the picture up before I could. lol....

It was great seeing everyone out there. I had a lot of fun. Great finally meeting James and seeing the One Lap Camaro too. Mike, your car looked awesome collecting all those cones as well. Glad to see you got to keep it and are doing what it was built to do with it.

[Steve1968LS2]

Wish I could have made it.. I need to stop tearing my car apart.

Glad to hear the weather is good and everyone is having fun at the auto-x..

[MrQuick]

well....I guess its better than buying another one to build right?

You missed a good time...and this.

[MrQuick]

It had 30's UTQG's slicks. Most cars there were in the low 100's. Not many were running 180's and up. Maybe 30 percent including Mary. She rocks. I was happy that my car did a 38 and many 39's on 260's the entire day. Of course Tim got squirrely a few times and took out 7 cones on a run. That was a blast to watch as was all the cars.
I thought it was a great day, but they need to do away with the concrete barriers. Not needed, at this event. The Nova should have hit nothing at the far wall. DO AWAY WITH THOSE BARRIERS! They were not Needed!

I didn't forget about you...nice

[mazspeed]

I didn't forget about you...nice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbAaCEEeCs

That was the one I was in the passenger seat on. We took out quite a few pylons during the day. Thanks for the vid. I have some that my wife shot as well on youtube. Here is that link. http://www.youtube.com/user/no65mph

[buickfunnycar.com]

And I was right. John got the picture up before I could. lol....

Ha...and you thought I wouldn't?
Here's a couple of shots of the other auto-x participants:

[buickfunnycar.com]

Can't forget Keith and the carbon fiber Camaro,nice meeting you Keith...




One for the Olds fans:

[larknut]

Lark, I missed you again. Did you catch the Riv? I have more work to do so I'll meet up with you at the next show. Any luck with your's?
Vince

I did find the Riv. I love the years with the hide-a-way headlights and the fact it had the later big block in it. Any bites on it?
No luck with mine. I don't think many people are looking for trucks anyway. No bites on the rims I had for sale either. Bummer.

I will extend congratulations to Mary. Last I heard she was the winner of the autocross event. She even handed it to some late model cars.

All-in-all it was a great weekend

[class67]

CONGRATULATIONS MARY!!!

Mary took the whole event (and an award), 36.62...best of the weekend!

[TonyHuntimer]

I didn't forget about you...nice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbAaCEEeCs

That's a great video. I love the announcer..."You got one underneath the car!"

I'm so bummed I was stuck at home this weekend. It hurts my head knowing about all the fun I could have been having. I hope the event was a success so they bring the autocross back again.