NERDS RACING - North East Recreational Driving Schedule

Went to the SportsFest Event in Allentown Sunday, think I was the only NERD there. Interesting lot . . . hilly, bumpy, gravelly and falling apart in some spots. In other words a very challenging course, so much so that nobody ever owned up to actually being the creator of the autox course that was set up. A lot of good-natured finger pointing and "he's to blame" on that one. Given the condition of the Lot I think it was laid out pretty well, certainly offered plenty of challenge. I found it a little frustrating because in some spots it was VERY tight and at one spot was tight AND uphill. I was cursing turbo-lag quite a few times, not to mention my driving skills. I think it would have been more enjoyable for me if it was a tiny bit more open. But overall I actually enjoyed myself more here than on the last Boeing Event.

Grid and paddock area were also VERY tight making for a bumper to bumper traffic jam coming off the course. As usual the Event coordinators had everything under control and things ran pretty smooth, didn't hear too may Reruns called and there were very few delays despite the cramped quarters. Even had time for "fun runs" after the awards were announced.

The launch was into a long straight-a-way where I just got into second gear before entering a pretty fast 4 cone slalom ending into a left hand turn up the hill. Then slow it down to enter an open 90' right hander which led immediately to a left hand Box. I was very slow here because my steering technique was not up to the what seemed like a lock to lock change required. Even though I think I had the car pointed well coming out of the Box the revs were down and I was slow. By the time the revs picked up it was time to slow again for another left hand Box, this one exiting up the hill and immediately into a right hand turn. I think my initial plan was good I just executed it poorly. I planned to brake very early so as to be into the box pointed in the right direction with the throttle well down and not have to worry about the WRX understeer but . . . Same as the other Box for me, between poor steering technique and two turns up a hill I was slower than I should have been. (lesson 1 - learn how to steer better/faster). I'm sitting here thinking now that maybe I shouldn't have worried about the understeer so much since it was probably much reduced by the slow speed going up hill. Should have braked later / lighter and threw the WRX into the turn with some speed to counteract the hill. I was trying for Slow In Fast Out but ended up with Slow In Slow Out. From here the course swept back to the left into a three cone slalom, a hard left, a hard right into a short straight and then a slight right into a very sharp left and you were tripping the lights.

I looked at the results and I'm just in the upper 50% overall but 5 out of 9 in Class. I didn't feel too bad when I saw that only .500 second separated 2nd place from 5th in DS Things I did right: I finally seem to have improved my launch, no bogs at all and I think I actually picked up some speed that I usually lose at this point. Slaloms went pretty well and the first and last half of the course I think went according to plan for me but once into the rapid turns in the middle I couldn't keep up and slowed down in self-defense.

Looking forward to Boeing on the 27th and meeting up with some other NERDs during the Event.

Tony Emrich

'02 WRX # 45ds

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