NERDS RACING - North East Recreational Driving Schedule

Special thanks to Mike Louie for compiling the data for the PAX Results. Even though BMC does not officially use PAX figures, we figured we would post them for fun.

Sunday, June 8th was a cloudy day. On the way I had a couple sprinkles liven my windshield. Luckily the rain held off, but the sun never showed its self.

Once finished preparing the CRX, I noticed quite a few folks sweeping the course. Quite a bit of sand was left-over from the snowy winter and all the rain made the sand wet and hard to move. This Subaru did a good job sweeping up. ;)

Autocross co-chairmen, Doug Odell and Marshal Mercado (pictured) picked up some extra duties this event. Usually they have a steady EMT guy and one other person who helps with registration and timing & scoring. As assumption left them without their steady help. Because they concentrated on running the event, Doug and Marshal were not able to walk the course and as a result showed noticeable difficulty navigating the course. I saw Doug go off course twice, and both Marshal and Doug elected not to take all their runs. What dedication! We really appreciate your effort guys!

I was able to lend a hand by tending to some sweeping duties and by acting as newly knighted novice instructor. I noticed a potential student who was having problems staying on course. Later I learned that he had only been autocrossing occasionally for the past two years. I rode along with Ramiro (pictured to the right and below) for one run, then he rode with me, then finally we switched back. Obviously we'd work on getting faster, and decided after the first run that looking ahead was the best advice I could give him. The best way to learn is to ride-a-long with an instructor. After Ramiro rode along in the CRX, he said with excitement in his voice, "you got real close to the cones". The last time I rode with him I noticed he was faster [evident from the lifted rear inside wheel above], tighter on the cones and looking ahead. When he over cooked a braking area thusly missing a turn, I explained why he couldn't turn and brake. Can you say under-steer? I also noticed he had a habit of grabbing the steering wheel palm-up. I explained the shuffle-steering method and preparing both hands for sharp turns.

With the support of his wife and new baby girl, Mike Louie won STS and had the fastest PAX time. He exhibits the true character of a winner expressing to me his dissatisfaction with his performance. He was gunning for fastest time of the day (FTD). Mike was topped with a 45.301 by Larry Strahorn in his yellow Porsche Boxster. Larry took FTD, and placed second in PAX trailing Mike by .3 seconds. Larry shares his car with his father, Frank who placed second in class (BS) running about a second and a half behind. Another usual FTD driver, Eric Huishart, told me about his problems getting used to the "back-up car". The Corvette was boasting (boosting) twin turbos which proved difficult to drive once the turbos spooled up. Too much power eh?... I'll take some of that thank you. 8) Eric's normal car is in the shop. I was psyching myself up for FTD as well. I wound up (if my calculations are correct) 4th fastest of the day being edged out by a SM prepared Neon for 3rd by .1 of a second.

Pictured (left) Larry Strahorn with his father Frank during a BMC event last year. Pictured (right) Eric Huishart in his twin-turbo 1987 Corvette; "the back-up" car.

After having spent the previous two weekends at rainy events, it was extremely pleasing to have a dry event, even if the sun stayed behind the clouds, and remnants of wet sand littered the course. The next event is uncertain because BMC is being troubled by one local resident. The next event is scheduled for July 20th, but it is uncertain whether the event will be run at Glasgow HS. Stay tuned to nerdsracing for updates on this situation.

Brandywine Motorsport Club is based out of Delaware and is running their events at Glasgow High School located on Hwy 896 off of Rte. 95. See the BMC Schedule for more information.

__________________________________________________________________

If you have any questions feel free to email me, or post your question on the NERDS_racing yahoo group.