Autox round 16
 

No chatter about today's autox event at Lovelock - maybe no internet access at the motel, or, the chili feed took 'em out. :lol:

Long course today, 3 runs in the 'morning' cycle, which finished at 2pm; and 2 runs in the afternoon, which were still running when I left the site at 5:50pm.

The runways were recently resealed and repainted, making some surface areas slippery. I saw more spins and offs today than I've ever seen at Lovelock (including my own, where I must've added an extra 10 lbs of dirt to the car through the open windows :unamused: ). And I never felt like I could drive it 10/10ths. But some of our drivers looked like they did really well - MikeK, Matt & Dean were flying. AWD was awesome today. Fun times!

The thing that'll always remind me of this event though: The blue tape statement "I CUSSED I'M SORRY". :lol: :lol:

We had so much fun Saturday...Dean was insanely fast, I could only come within .4 of Dean but added a cone to that run and Mike's car was in teleport mode with it's explosion off the corner. I believe Dean ended up 6th in Pax, Mike and I were 10th and 11th, and Cody and Nick were hovering around the top 15 as well.

I can't believe how much they put into the facility out there, the runway sealing and painting must have cost $$$ . Anyway, the first runs of the day were downright scary...I bet Sunday's runs will be way faster.

Any chance that Dean was taking video of the day?

Some Pics...Note, the dirty front end of the silver STI with weeds falling out is not me this time. Dean had two off course excursions.

No, no body records at auto-x anymore.

Saturday was great fun. Sunday was good too. A lot faster, and a few more offs but fortunately nothing worse than just a little dust. Quite a bit of fun out there.

Today was a ton of fun, I only managed 1 clean run but I learned a lot. The chili worked well too. cellphone pic of my trip there below..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...onedump125.jpg

and one of me following Kevin home
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...onedump128.jpg

Yah, I had a hard time gauging grip this weekend. It seemed like I either stuck like glue or was sliding out of control.

Ugh, my off on Sunday really sucked. As Debbie said, the combination of pounds of airborne dirt and open windows really sucked. I'm so glad I meticulously washed my car inside and out last weekend. :roll:

I spent a lot of time digging rocks out of between the bead of the tire and the rim during the last session on Sunday. Thanks to everyone that helped. I don't think I could have gotten the bead to reseal if it weren't for Rusty's help and Nick's dent puller tool. I got the car back to 4 tires that hold air just in time to cover the course with rocks and dirt before the carts went out for their last run of the weekend. :oops:

I'll try to get some pics up of Mike's car post-off later today.

I really enjoyed driving this weekend, but I think working really kinda sucked on Saturday, just because the sun was so intense and the sessions were super looooooooooong. But man, there's some super nice people that work hard to make these weekend happen and my hat's off to them.

I'm glad you got everything back together. Will you have to get the rubber re-mounted, or is it all OK now?

I have about eleventeen kg of dirt in my car now too, so does Dean probably, since we went off at the same spot. I think Debbie's car wins the prize though, I think it was in the dirt 3 or 4 times over the weekend :eek:

Rusty is going to clean rocks out of at least the one that I couldn't get to seal (I replaced it with a full size spare I brought). The one that we cleaned out at the event and the two on the passenger side seem okay though. Rusty wants to check my alignment too. I wonder if he prefers Budweiser in bottles or cans?

Poor burning-man-red RX8 went 2 or more wheels into the dirt 5 times over the weekend, with windows down every time. So yeah, I have some terrain inside the car.

Someone wrote in the dust on the side of the car, 'I Love Dirt', followed by other artwork and tallies. :lol: I should have remembered to take pictures of the carnage, which included the front air dam hanging off the driver's side, the separated fender liner and other bits of plastic. Too late now, Rusty patched her back up, just in time for my 1900 mile trip this week to Topeka.

Sunday was a dirty day. :eek:

I was tempted to take a pics of your air damn dragging and ghost numbers on the side of your car on the way back sunday:)

Damn guys...hahaha. Anyway, I think Rusty like Miller products. Don't ask me why I know that.