8/14 BMWCCA Autocross

This past Sunday I went out in the blistering heat and raced in another autocross with the National Capital Chapter of the BMWCCA. It was my first (and probably only) autocross this year though, so it was certainly fun to get out and drive.

My first couple runs on track were pretty slow as I was trying to figure out the layout. I was also overly cautious I think about overcooking it and plowing into a bunch of cones through some of the really tight corners. But, I did manage to improve each run, from 55.388s on my first lap all the way down to 49.672s on my fourth and final run of the day. It was exciting to come across the line at the end and see the I had broken below 50 seconds.

This was only my second time using the GoPro for autocross, so I tried a new mounting location just behind the b-pillar at the top of the window. I also tried mounting the external mic to the rear bumper to maximize the exhaust note. I'm pretty happy with the overall result. The camera angle shows a lot of the track ahead while still catching my hands at work on the steering wheel. The audio definitely got some awesome exhaust sound but was surprisingly quiet when I wasn't at full throttle. This made for a little bit of a weird on/off effect on the audio but still worked out okay.

The worst thing about the day by far was the heat. Even though I was in the AM session, the sun and heat in that wide open parking lot was just brutal. I drove the course with the windows down and air conditioner off, but between runs I put the windows back up and blasted the a/c to try and keep cool. When I was working the flag station after driving, the cars through the slalom kept knocking over cones that I had to sprint over and replace. About halfway through that session I finally had to stop and find some shade and a Gatorade to recover.

I finished up 74th out of 93 racers on the day (30 of 93 with the PAX time adjustments). In retrospect, I wish I had pushed a lot harder in my first couple runs and I think I could have found a better time out there. It's been a while since I've had so few runs in an event, and I think I just wasn't used to how quickly you need to find pace when you only have four attempts to work with.

Despite the heat and wishing I had driven faster, it was still a fun day. They did a great job of getting people through quickly and I was out of there by 11:30. Up next is my first High Performance Driving Event where I'll get to drive my own car on an actual road course! Stay tuned!