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Photos
| Autocrossers
Inc
| Results
| Ripken
Stadium
Autocrossers Inc. (Ripken Stadium April 10, 2005)
Article and Photos by: David Hess
What
the hell was I thinking?
Going to an autocross event without a helmet and no intention of driving? I must be "mad"! Yep I'm a nerd. I run this website and help run the SlideRule Cup. In order to bring "prosperity" and continue to gain more sponsors, I have to do something... right? Pictured to the right is the "money" shot. Note along with the other stickers, there's a 2005 SlideRule Cup Sticker. :)
As I mentioned, in my haste to cover this event, I neglected to bring a helmet. WTF? I must be on some sort of mind altering drug? Well yes and no. Aside from the allergy meds, I'm also trying my hand at Road Racing this year. This is mind altering. In retrospect, bringing a helmet and riding along with folks would have afforded me a better perspective to review the course and the event. This is what autocrossing is all about, the driver, and the one-time only course.
From my limited perspective:
The parking lot site was very clean, but not overly impressive. The lot wasn't huge, but big enough and the overall shape available was square. Lee Piccione had a nice, blank canvas with which to create a masterpiece course.
After the morning runs, I
walked the course with camera in hand and took some snap shots.
The course was easy to read and had a nice feel to it. The lot's
surface offered little bumps, elevation changes and camber
differences. Somehow one hundred and thirty-seven drivers were
comfortable with the paddock space and were afforded 5 runs each with
ease. Autocrossers Incorporated (AI) is a smooth running machine,
no "fat" or
gimmicks, well organized, but not uptight. Perhaps that is why
this event attracted so many pre-registered and prepaid drivers.
Don't be surprised if at the end of the event, a token-award is not
presented. Your trophy will be a "T" next to your name
on the posted, online results.
To paraphrase Alan Pozner, secretary of AI, and leader of the
SlideRule Cup, "... our trophy will be given at the 'Nationals'".
This is also one reason passengers were allowed when driving on course.
Because
there were a few other sporting events happening in both Ripken Stadium
and it's surrounding baseball fields, a few more (then normal) onlookers
were spotted. This is a benefit to our sport, especially when some
spectators had the benefit of conversing with competitors. I over
heard a few folks reactions... "Really?... You mean I can take my
car and do this too?"
During
the first heat in the morning session, Jeff Craven and Andre
Downey had a good ol' Subaru shootout in Street Touring X
(STX). Jeff is an old pro in this class however Andre is most
familiar with pure R compounds in D Stock (DS) and is learning how to
drive with a less grippy tire. Andre jumped out to an early
lead, however toward the end of the first heat, Jeff took the lead for
the morning. His status held true until Justin Bedard look
the lead in the afternoon in his BMW M3. It turns out Justin did
well enough to claim first in PAX besting some very competent drivers.
Along
with SlideRule Cup competitors Jeff and Andre, Mike Louie was competing
as well. Mike is the third place finisher in the 2004 SlideRule
Cup, and is driving an older Civic this year. The fourth
generation Civic, which is very similar to the second gen CRXes, is the
hot car to have in the Street Touring S (STS) Class. Mike finished
behind a couple of top-level National drivers in class, Chris
Shenefield, owner/operator of Red
Shift Motorsports, and Eric Simmons. Mike missed second
place by a narrow margin of .002 seconds and finished 9th in PAX.
Rob
and Lori Leone were on hand with their monster... no not their son,
he's a cutie pie, their Street Modified MR-2. I caught Rob tuning
the car with a computer in the paddock area in the morning. The
car is running much more smoothly since I drove it last year. The
1K - 2K stutter is gone, and the engine's management seems much more
smooth. In looking at the results, it looks like Lori did pretty
well driving, beating Rob. I can only say that it is difficult
wearing both the mechanic and the driver hat. I can also say that
it's difficult for us males to keep out foot "out of it",
especially when there's so much horsepower available.
I
saw and photographed my first bee this year, buzzing around the flowers
that surrounded the autocross lot. The flowers set a great
tone and offered a nice contrast to the event. A calm, natural, and sweet as
honey bee as a visual, with the rasp of 4 cylinders and the rumble of 8 cylinders
propelling drivers around a cone-marked course as an audiable.
Location Notes:
Ripken
Stadium is viewable from 95 and is on the right-hand side traveling
South. Two Rights after Rte. 95 and you're on the access Road to
the park. Simple enough, and a good note for those who haven't
been there before. The directions are a little vague on the
website as to the actual distance from 95. Suffice to say it's
very close.
On the other side of 95, the North bound side, there are plenty of fast food places, (Micky D's, Burger Queen, Taco Hell, etc.), to grab a bite to eat. Since the Autocrossers Inc. event was run in a split heat format, a driver had plenty of time to eat before or after his/her session.
Photographer Notes:
Not all the photos are posted yet and none of the photos have been cropped or adjusted. In fact I'm going to be experimenting with a new hosting site that will allow folks to purchase prints. I'm taking high resolution digital images, so the prints will not be pixilated (In laymen's terms, all boxy and stuff). I mostly took photos of the first three heats, missing entirely the fourth. My focus was more journalistic then capturing every car. Mike Louie was able to snap quite a few photos of the last two (afternoon) heats, so if I missed ya, he probably didn't.
Also I posted some series shots, from 2 - 5 shots of one car on course. If you don't see your car, it doesn't necessarily mean I didn't get an image of you.
email me with a description of your car and which heat you ran in (1st heat AM, 2nd heat AM, or 3rd heat PM). Donations can be sent via personal check to: David Hess, 296 Orchard Street West, Hammonton, NJ 08037
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Photos | Autocrossers Inc | Results | Ripken Stadium
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