Pics from my last autocross

[Aurumen]

here are some photos from my autocross this past sunday in Euclid, Ohio.







There are more pics on my webpage, but these are a sample. Go to http://homepage.mac.com/aurumen/PhotoAlbum19.html for more pics.

I ended up finishing 3rd out of 3 but had I not picked off a cone on my last run, I woulda gotten 2nd. This is my third run in the car, and the first run since getting it aligned. It handles much better now and is a whole lot more fun to drive.

Nick

[Rob]

Nick, that is pretty sweet !

Are you using spacers, or do the rims have that much offset ?

Rob.

[Sandeep]

I hope you took a video of that run !

That course looks really wide open .. did you have a chance to use all of the gearing ?

Nice to see another bug on the track !

Sandeep

[Aurumen]

The rims just have that much offset. They have the same standard backspacing as my other wheels (empi 8's). So all the increased width goes out the fender It sucks, kinda, and had i known when I ordered the wheel, i would've ordered them with slightly more backspacing. The front wheels are so wide that if i lower the front too much they hit the fender during turns. I'm gonna clearance the fenders a little over winter and hopefully get some stiffer torsion bars so I can lower the back end some more without bottoming out the fenders on the tires.

No video this month...but there will be, hopefully, next month.

The course was very wide open...which was my disadvantage with such a low RPM limit and small tires. The course started out in a straight away and i was pegged out in second gear 2/3 of the way down the straight and held it pegged through the first half of the course (a few jogs and sweepers). I eventually tried shifting to third, which helped some, but I screwed up while downshifting and hit a cone twice. The course was the longest distance-wise course I had ever run, but also the shortest time-wise at about 40 seconds.

It would've been good to have had taller tires and a little higher of an RPM limit so that I wouldn't have had to upshift to 3rd.

Nick

[DaveM]

Hey Nick:

Good for You!

Autocross is great fun, my daughter is really into it but I have to be very quiet when I tell you she uses a Neon... shhhh, someone may hear and remove my access to the forum!

There's a guy out here (Phoenix, Arizona) Autocrossing a VW, I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, but I think he has some serious horsepower. The car just shudders when he drops the clutch and he gets off the line pretty quick. Lots of Euro's do Autocross events in beetles so the potential is there.

I'm re-considering my 1973 Super Beetle's future, maybe it would be a fun auto-X car! I haven't done one since 1980, but the need is still there to go fast!

Have fun

DaveM