Most liked posts in thread: CCMC - Santa Maria Auto-X on 03/25/12

84 cars are registered, of course mostly Porsches.
Looks like I am the only Mini Cooper registered to run.
Pro racer Townsend Bell is registered to run a BMW M3.

 

I had a great time at the PCA Auto-X. I did end up being the only Mini. There sure where some nice Porsches at the event.

It rained the night before the event so the track was damp for the first couple run groups. I was in the second of four run groups so a little slick my first three runs.

Pro Racer Townsend Bell gave a little talk during the lunch break and answered questions. Townsend was in my run group driving a BMW M3.

The track was fast! Third gear all the way around for the Mini. The organizers said the track was 0.7 miles and my best time was 37.9 sec which is an average of 66.5 MPH. Pretty fast considering you start from a dead stop and had sharp slowdown turns at the finish. We had seven runs and I still had more improving to do because of the steep learning curve (needed more guts each lap to drive faster).

Results have not been posted yet.

 

Auto-X results were just published.
I got 21st out of 61 entries. I was a little disappointed until I looked closer at what cars beat me, many with racing tires. I was beat by cars such as Porsche GT3s, Porsche Cayman S, Corvette Z06, Subaru WRX STI, and BMW M3. It was a fast course that gave the advantage to higher horsepower cars. I beat normal competition such as VW GTI.

 

Yes Townsend was driving the white M3. He kicked my butt by 2+ seconds. I am not sure what tires they were running on the M3. It is amazing how a pro can jump into a car and go so fast/smooth even though he admitted that Auto-X was not his thing. Townsend did say that his first race, when 12, was at the Santa Maria Go-Kart track adjacent to where we Auto-X'd.

 

Hi Jon,

The Corvette club is going to run part of the same track on April 7th.
Here is a link to their website.
Vapor Trail Vettes Home Page
The course will be much slower (1st & 2nd gear) and shorter. (i.e. not as much fun).
The Corvette Auto-Xs usually have around 40 cars and we usually get 10 runs.

Mike

 

Thanks for the update on the tires.