PCA autocross

[Lee M. Levitt]

I did my first autocross yesterday, with a local chapter of the Porsche
club. A friend is setting me up as his affiliate member, so I'll get to
play with them again.

I caught a bit of grief for showing up in a *wagon*. Yikes, what was I
thinking!!!!

But the club was friendly and open to both a newcomer, a non-Porsche
owner and a newbie. During tech inspection, they had a couple of
questions about the car, including "where's the battery???" :)
Fortunately I brought a breaker bar and my 17mm socket, as the guys
doing lugnut checks only had an 18mm (for the Porsches)

Most of the cars there were pretty heavily modified Porsches, and some
were awfully quick. But there was a bonestock (and tired) old 4000Q, a
couple of Camaros, BMWs, a Toyota Solara! and some others.

The course was pretty tight, with what should have been a couple of
first gear turns...most of it was second gear work with two tough
slaloms and two big sweeping hairpins.

What a blast. I did a total of six runs, and had pretty consistent
times, in the 1.26 -1.32 range. As a point of comparison, the top times
for the day were in the 1.10 range, and most (experienced) people were
running in the 1.15-1.20 range. I was pretty happy with the results. I
killed a couple of cones in the afternoon...but my first three runs were
cone-free!

The S6 had a *lot* of body sway, particularly in the tight slalom
sections. Makes me reconsider my thoughts about lowering springs...
<grin>

But mostly my newbie status kept me slow...on one run I felt pretty
smooth...but on the others I was working too hard to get through the
gates cleanly. I think my car could probably have run a 1.20 with an
experienced driver at the wheel.

I ran 42/40 pounds front/rear for tire pressure, and got a bit of
scuffing on the upper side wall. Next time I'll raise that by a couple
of pounds.

I really learned a lot about car control, and how far I can push my car
in cornering and braking. I'm hooked. :)

In addition to the 4000Q that competed, Brett Dikeman showed up in his
200Q. His dad was competing at the event, and it was great to meet him
F2F.

Lee
'95.5 S6 avant
'96 A6 quattro avant