Not a bad showing at my first event of the season, the Brandywine Motorsports Club's1 autocross season opener. The event took place on July 18, at Leidos Field, in Aberdeen, MD (home of the Iron Birds baseball team). The day was a scorcher, with highs in the 90s (tarmac temps were at 119ºF before 9 AM). Mercifully, my work assignment was in the control tent, doing electronic timing.
Due to COVID-19 precautions the event was planned as a six-run heat for each group, instead of the regular two three-run heats that are usually the norm.
The course was an easy left followed by a tight righhander, followed by a left and right set, a short straight leading to a sweeping lefthander, terminating on a slalom sequence. The slalom dropped you on a longer straight, righthander, left hairpin, and a tightening righthander leading to the finish line. Or you could just see it all in the video below.
I ran on this event twice last year, fully stock at the time–other than a Flyin' Miata Hush-O-Matic exhaust. In both runs I was firmly mid-pack on PAX, with a 5th out of 8 [edit: 7th out of 9, after checking the official event results] in class if memory serves on my first event, and a 2nd out of 3 in class on the second. On both events the cars ahead of me in my class were all MX-5s, and without exception running Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R tires. It became clear to me that matching their times on the stock all-seasons was a pretty tall order.
This time I did a much better 18th of 74 PAX, and first out of 2 in class2. The main difference? Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R tires. I'm still getting used to the extra grip, and I feel there's a good few spots within my reach as I learn to extract more performance out of these tires.
1 Disclaimer: I'm the membership chair at the Brandywine Motorsports Club.
