AeroSpud ACR from ACCO Appears At Autocross in Salem

I spent a few hours on Saturday waxing the little black Neon and putting on the Azenis for the short trip from Corvallis up to the Les Schwab parking lot in Salem on Sunday the 16^th. I spent most of the morning watching all the big boys in their $pendy iron burning up the very tight course that Willamette Motor Club had set up. It was a Neon course, to be sure.

About the time the morning run group had finished their fourth run, it began to rain, and I do mean RAIN! I went back to the Neon to catch a quick 40 winks during the morning fun runs in the rain. The weather decided to give us a break, however, and so I went to the nearby Jack-in-the-Box for lunch and returned to walk the course 7 times as I finished my Coke. I was glad to see the blacktop drying out rapidly. We Central Oregonians are fortunate to live where rain is not an everyday thing.

The course was arranged around a grassy island with trees and picnic tables, and went under the canopy of the Les Schwab truck shop on the long sweeper at the far end of the first lap. It was an interesting transition from sunny hot blacktop to shady cold concrete in the middle of a fairly fast turn, not to mention the chassis-unloading gradient change and the nearby brick columns holding up the canopy. It was very challenging, and fortunately, there were no fatalities.

The stock classes were to run in the afternoon session, and I was in the second afternoon run group. During the first run group, I was the radioman at station 3, working with Mike Knight, a friendly fellow who was also a G-Stocker, with a VW GTI 1.8T. We had a nice visit between resetting cones. I guess that motorheads everywhere are pretty much the same; friendly but competitive.

I was a little disappointed that my numbers (GS-1) were already taken (by Mike Knight) so I had to settle for GS-405, and so I didn’t get to use my pretty little magnetic numbers. I guess that’s how it is when you’re the new kid in town. However, based on the results, I get to be GS-1 at the next WMC event.

Marc Johnson was there, with that dog-gone pesky little Rabbit. He had fast time of day; he’s the only one that broke 40 seconds. As for me, I sure didn’t break 40 seconds, but I didn’t embarrass myself or our club, either. If anyone cares to check out the results, there is a link to Willamette Motor Club on our web site. The results for the third event are posted there.

It was lots of fun, and I got to meet some new hotshoes and leave some rubber in a new town. If any of you get a chance to attend one of Willamette Motor Club’s events, I highly recommend it. One other thing: you’ll find that your car has a lot more “guts” at the low elevation over here, so hang on! (Unless you’re driving a wimpy little aerospud, that is).

Cliff

GS-1