video of auto-x run in my integra now up
 

thanks to scott for agreeing to host a non-tt video.<ul><li><a href="http://photos.scvtt.com/Philbert/default.cfm">auto-x video</a></li></ul>

I wish we had big, wide open courses like that here.
 

The place that I autocrossed at this past Sunday was a little scary. A few people ended up out in the grass, and there was always the ominous concrete wall right after the downhill slalom, but luckily nobody hit it. That place you raced at looks like a dream come true after the place I was at.

it was at route 66 raceway in joliet, il... (more)
 

it's a huge parking lot and all the light posts are on the outer perimeter. most of the chicago region scca events are held there. this past weekend there was a junior dragster event inside of route 66, and they were using the area where we usually paddock our cars to park all their trailers. so they had us park way off on an access road and in the grass. so they figured since we were already out there, they would just move grid over to the side as well, and use as much of the concrete for the course as possible... cars are typically gridded in the area that was replaced by the last big turn around before the slalom.

one problem with this type of course though, is it favors high power cars... the Z-06s pretty much cleaned up, whereas the best drivers in the region seem to like the s2000 and they generally beat the vettes on the tigher courses.

there was this one guy in a e46 m3 that was amazing... i'm not sure the car was ever going straight, and he was able to perfectly drift around every corner... he just pointed the car where he wanted to go, and the tail happily followed along. still giving up too much torque to the Z-06 though.

How many runs do you typically get out there?
 

The next SBR event is way down south, and there will be a lot of cars, so we'll only get 4 runs. Because of all this, I've bene thinking about going to a different event like a BMWCCA event or one in a different region...Joliet is probably my best bet, and it looks like that course would be fun.

SBR = south bend?
 

this event was shared between chicago scca and tsscc (tri state sports car council). i think it ended up being 196 cars, which was more than they ever expected (original cap was 170, and they had more than that pre-registered two weeks in advance). as it was, all 196 were pre-reg.

we got 5 runs and it went pretty smooth, though not exactly super-quick. at the previous tsscc event up at mga in Burlington, WI, we got 6 runs.

are you in the chicago area? something you might be interested in, and i am seriously considering, is the test and tune put on by tsscc on saturday july 26th. it is in Peru, IN, which isn't real close, but it seems like a great opportunity to get a lot of seat time and some ride-alongs with good drivers. you have to join tri-state i believe to go, but it's capped at 40 cars. from what i remember reading, they have a course, a seperate slalom and a skidpad. not sure what else. and there is an event that sunday at the same venue, so i figure i'll just drive out friday night and stay over both nights. i can't imagine a hotel around there could be that expensive.<ul><li><a href="http://www.tsscc.org">TSSCC</a></li></ul>

Up in the Northeast we primarily run on airfields ... lots of space

Yeah...SBR is South Bend...About 2 hours from Chicago.
 

We have a few events down in Peru scheduled for this year, but that's where we'll probably only get 4 runs at...But they're expecting over 100 cars for each event (which is a lot for that place.) I wouldn't mind going down there if I'll get a lot of seat time, but 4 60 second runs over the course of an entire day isn't much. If I don't actually have to join the TSSCC for that event, I would probably be interested in going. Thanks for the heads up...Of course, I'll probably forget about it before it comes up. :)

i'm not sure about having to join...
 

you can set up a log on for the tri-state site without joining. i think if the test and tune gets filled, they may give preference to members. but you can register online for events as a non-member.

is the grissom aeroplex a good site (smooth surface, few hazzards)?

It's pretty wide open out there.
 

The pavement isn't the smoothest, but it's a fairly fun place. It's at what appears to have been a parking area for airplanes, so there's weird little things on the ground in several places. I didn't notice them coming into play at the event I went to, but there were a few uneven spots in the pavement that were able to get my car bouncing a litle bit and made it a little more difficult to control, but nothing too bad.