Addicted Autocrosser - Part 2
2006 STi...Bring it On!

August 11, 2006

The weather was perfect again for autocrossing. Sun shining and partly cloudy and in the 80s, it was a great day. Again we arrived early, this weekend our group was I, my girlfriend, along with my buddy in his Mazda, and my cousin. We all where ready for a good time, in the parking lot of a strip mall that is only used for the health department and space for rent signs.

This weekend’s Solo II A-Stock class only consisted of the Camaro which was mentioned at the end in my last article and still running race tires, and I. So it came down to just the two of us, one on one, and both of us where ready to race. We were to run the first heat, with five runs to duke it out.

The course was set up very tight, yet with some good spots to get some speed. Times ranged in 40-55 second area for most cars, so it was not a short track. The Camaro got to start just before me, and during his first run (53.126 +1) he had spun out, which I enjoyed seeing, yet I knew that this seasoned veteran of Autocross was not to be ignored or underestimated. My first run was clean (46.448), and with his spin out, gave me the best time to start.

My second run was clean as well, with a slight decrease in my time (47.095), I knew I had to push my car hard to try and get a win with the Camaro’s second run being clean and quicker than mine (44.303).

During my third run, I managed to take out two cones in one of the corners as I tried to keep up speed and the STi wanted to push on me, I was not satisfied with this run (50.594 +2) and had to get my act together to try and take it the edge to gain time. The Camaro had another good run (44.814), but not better than the second.

It was nice to see that runs four and five did not go any better for the Camaro (48.745 +2 / 45.774 +1), yet my last two runs where not enough to take the win (46.217 / 49.443 +2), but my fourth run being my best. I am having a rough time with the Camaro with the race rubber, and that is the big difference between his car and mine.

Well when the heat ended, it came down to his best run being the second at 44.303 and my fourth run at 46.217, a difference of 1.914. Still just under two second, almost the same difference that I managed to be behind the last time I ran against the Camaro (1.938).

The next race will be at the end of August, so we will see how things go then, I may run A-stock again, but I am thinking of dropping a few more buck in it by getting some more parts from Scoobytuner.com and moving into the STU class where my buddy is racing his Mazda Speed6, so the real fun can begin.