New Season
I've been studying videos from my last four autocross competitions this past week in preparation for our first championship of the new season, which starts this Sunday. Although the name given to championships has been changed to 'Autocross Sunday' to avoid scaring off potential newbies, it's still a competition with trophies and free entries to be handed out.
We had our awards banquet last Saturday, signifying the official close to the 2011 season. There, I collected my third-place class trophy. In my five seasons of local competition in the same class, I have placed 4th three times, 2nd once, and now 3rd, earning a trophy all five years. With last year's class winner having moved on to a more difficult class, that puts me in an unfamiliar position: a contender to win the class for the entire year.
While I placed 2nd overall in 2009, the outcome was never in doubt. For the first eight events, I was no closer than half-a-second off the lead, held by a friend in a MINI. Part of that gap was due to my 2nd-gen Miata's handicap, which is based on a much faster car in the class. So, I'm not just trying to beat the other driver, but my own handicap as well. Although being within a second of the lead is good, losing by that much each event over the course of a season is pretty dominating. My final two events that year included a victory and a 3rd place finish by less than .3ths of a second, which is an excellent way to close out a season.
2010 just plain sucked. My lone trophy that year was a victory in class — in the same MINI that beat me in 2009. Other than that, my Miata was riddled with problems for the first 2/3rds of the season. At that point, I realized I had to do something different to make sure the car was competitive for 2011 and I had the car's alignment settings re-tuned to take better advantage of its size and drivetrain.
I started off 2011 surprisingly well, almost winning the first two events at AAA Speedway in Fontana, losing by less than .5ths on both occasions. However, my inexperience with the new settings combined with having the least horsepower in the class proved to be no match for the top two drivers when we moved to the faster courses at El Toro in Irvine.
By June, it was obvious I would place no higher than second for the year to an RX-8. By the time October rolled around and we were back at the smaller, slower lot at AAA Speedway, I had to dominate the eventual second-place finisher driving a MINI (different driver and car from 2009) by over a second each event to take second. I beat him by .9ths and .2ths, respectively, laying claim to two 2nd-place trophies in the process, but it wasn't enough and I ended up in third.
For 2012, a few things have happened to our class:
First, as I've already mentioned, last year's class winner in the RX-8 has moved on to a faster, better-prepared car and even faster class (the top class in our region).
Second, a second-year driver in a 1st-gen Miata who refused to participate in novice class last season out of his own stubbornness has lobbied behind-the-scenes to pull away drivers from our class into a different class. The reason? He doesn't like finishing mid-pack in our class and wants a trophy. He feels his car and handicap are uncompetitive in our class, which is ironic because it's an argument my friends have been making to me about my own car for four years now.
In other words, he would rather play politics to his advantage to make sure he has a shot at winning a trophy rather than staying in our class and elevating his game. While I won't berate him for wanting a trophy, I am ticked off at his politicking drivers away from our class to do it. Mind you, none of the drivers he's pulling away are contenders for the top spots, but he is taking away someone else's shot at a hard-earned trophy. I find his reasoning cowardly and have no respect for him.
Finally, my car's handicap didn't change. I STILL have one of the least powerful cars against my car's handicap and have to drive to perfection to have a shot at winning. On the other hand, the MINI that took 2nd place last year got hit with a tougher handicap. Combine that with me beating him the final two events and I actually have a chance at winning this Sunday. That is, unless someone faster than both of us decides to show. Regardless of the actual outcome, it stands to be a fun season.
We had our awards banquet last Saturday, signifying the official close to the 2011 season. There, I collected my third-place class trophy. In my five seasons of local competition in the same class, I have placed 4th three times, 2nd once, and now 3rd, earning a trophy all five years. With last year's class winner having moved on to a more difficult class, that puts me in an unfamiliar position: a contender to win the class for the entire year.
While I placed 2nd overall in 2009, the outcome was never in doubt. For the first eight events, I was no closer than half-a-second off the lead, held by a friend in a MINI. Part of that gap was due to my 2nd-gen Miata's handicap, which is based on a much faster car in the class. So, I'm not just trying to beat the other driver, but my own handicap as well. Although being within a second of the lead is good, losing by that much each event over the course of a season is pretty dominating. My final two events that year included a victory and a 3rd place finish by less than .3ths of a second, which is an excellent way to close out a season.
2010 just plain sucked. My lone trophy that year was a victory in class — in the same MINI that beat me in 2009. Other than that, my Miata was riddled with problems for the first 2/3rds of the season. At that point, I realized I had to do something different to make sure the car was competitive for 2011 and I had the car's alignment settings re-tuned to take better advantage of its size and drivetrain.
I started off 2011 surprisingly well, almost winning the first two events at AAA Speedway in Fontana, losing by less than .5ths on both occasions. However, my inexperience with the new settings combined with having the least horsepower in the class proved to be no match for the top two drivers when we moved to the faster courses at El Toro in Irvine.
By June, it was obvious I would place no higher than second for the year to an RX-8. By the time October rolled around and we were back at the smaller, slower lot at AAA Speedway, I had to dominate the eventual second-place finisher driving a MINI (different driver and car from 2009) by over a second each event to take second. I beat him by .9ths and .2ths, respectively, laying claim to two 2nd-place trophies in the process, but it wasn't enough and I ended up in third.
For 2012, a few things have happened to our class:
First, as I've already mentioned, last year's class winner in the RX-8 has moved on to a faster, better-prepared car and even faster class (the top class in our region).
Second, a second-year driver in a 1st-gen Miata who refused to participate in novice class last season out of his own stubbornness has lobbied behind-the-scenes to pull away drivers from our class into a different class. The reason? He doesn't like finishing mid-pack in our class and wants a trophy. He feels his car and handicap are uncompetitive in our class, which is ironic because it's an argument my friends have been making to me about my own car for four years now.
In other words, he would rather play politics to his advantage to make sure he has a shot at winning a trophy rather than staying in our class and elevating his game. While I won't berate him for wanting a trophy, I am ticked off at his politicking drivers away from our class to do it. Mind you, none of the drivers he's pulling away are contenders for the top spots, but he is taking away someone else's shot at a hard-earned trophy. I find his reasoning cowardly and have no respect for him.
Finally, my car's handicap didn't change. I STILL have one of the least powerful cars against my car's handicap and have to drive to perfection to have a shot at winning. On the other hand, the MINI that took 2nd place last year got hit with a tougher handicap. Combine that with me beating him the final two events and I actually have a chance at winning this Sunday. That is, unless someone faster than both of us decides to show. Regardless of the actual outcome, it stands to be a fun season.
Labels: autocrossing, sports
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