Autocross race gets adrenaline flowing

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2003 (8142 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OK, sign me up. I’m hooked.

I had my first experience at a real Autocross race last week. Keystone Ford wanted to show off the five-door Focus SVT and since Matt Kozminski was busy driving his own Mustang GT, he called Free Press freelancer Haney Louka and myself.

We were met by Winnipeg Sports Car Club Autocross director Corey Dyck, who gave us a tour of the course set up on the tarmac at the Red River Ex grounds and gave us an introductory lap in his Mazda Miata.

A few minutes later, helmet in place, I was in line in the SVT, which was shod with Continental ContiSports. Good tires, but hardly the Yokohama A008s on Kozminski’s car.

The first lap was my best time, but I blew a gate, so my 62 seconds didn’t count. The next two tries, I didn’t press quite as hard but finished both times around 69 seconds. Kozminski’s times were 72 and 66, so I didn’t feel too bad.

But it was quite the adrenaline rush. Later that night, while I was enthusiastically explaining some ideas for kitchen renovations, my wife Sandy asked “Are you on drugs?”

“Yeah, adrenaline,” I replied.

It took a while to come down.

Anyway, Autocross is great fun. The course is on flat pavement, marked out with pylons, and each car goes around the course by itself so the risk to man and machine is minimal.

It’s all about driving skill, so you don’t need a powerful car. In fact, on many courses, a high-powered car can be a handicap. This particular course was not suited to the powerful Camaro or even the 911 Targa that were competing. At some Solo II events I watched in the late ’80s, a Dodge Omni, of all cars, was the champ, beating even the then-brand new Corvette handily.

At last week’s event, an aging Triumph posted some of the best times.

A helmet is mandatory, but if you don’t own one, they’ll loan you one of the handful of rentals they keep on hand. It’s largely a precaution, as it will take an unmitigated act of stupidity to get so out of shape on a tight course like this to do more than scrape off more tire than usual.

Not only is Autocross fun, it teaches quite a bit about driving that applies to daily commutes. In any form of racing, thinking ahead, and looking ahead, is paramount. As Dyck said: “If you’re surprised by something, you screwed up.”

That kind of thinking applied on the road would prevent many accidents.

What you’ll need to Autocross are a car — smaller and lighter is generally better — some decent tires and wheels (you may not want to sacrifice your daily driving tires to racing), a willingness to put ego aside and learn and a passion for driving.

To show that you don’t need to buy a race car, I’m tempted to put some good tires and wheels on our 1996 Honda Civic Si and play with that. It’s the car I’m most capable of heel-and-toe shifting and it’s not a bad handler, to boot.

Racing at an Autocross event costs $25 and requires volunteering during off-times as a course marshall, replacing knocked pylons and reporting drivers who fail to navigate the course.

If you are a member of the Winnipeg Sports Car Club, they knock $10 off the Autocross fee. Race five times a year and your $50 WSCC membership pays for itself.

Even if you don’t want to race, there’s lots of eye candy: race vehicles included a first-generation Mazda RX-7, a 2003 Porsche 911 Targa, a 1980 Datsun 280 ZX and the most expensive car there, a 2002 BMW Z8.

Autocross is great fun and educational, too. Can you beat that?