Summer Autocross Smiles

– Saturday, June 26, 2010

Twenty three Corvette drivers went home happy and smiling from the BC Driving Centre at Pitt Meadows.  While initially a little cool in the morning, the weather warmed up as did the tires, and most of the fastest times occurred on the last run of the day.  Our intrepid starter Stewart Heyes, and our precise timing crew of Jim Waugh, Gillian Heyes, and Rosalie Sinden worked hard to keep the cars moving and everyone enjoyed eight runs.  Jim did wear a path in the asphalt between the start and the finish box in order to keep the timing box calibrated, but managed to keep smiling.

Click on the photo to go to the BCCC photo gallery.

Our entries included five guests from Vancouver Island, one of which, Jim Sandwith, made fastest time of the day with his propane powered C4 (possibly due to the fact that it was tuned by Brad Shelby).  I rode with Jim on one of his runs, and his wide Hoosier slicks seemed to glue into the track and defy the laws of physics.  Second fastest time was performed by our own Paul McAlduff in his C5 Z06, no doubt inspired by the threat of being beaten in his own car by his wife Terry and his daughter Krista.

Club members also dominated the other car models, as C3 corvettes were represented by “jaws” driven by Dan Maxwell and Doreen MacMillan.  C4’s included Blair Degenstein, David Mitten, Brad Shelby, Patrick Tran, Ken Butcher and Marj Bowen.  C5’s and C6’s were represented by Ed Painter, Jim Howell, Nigel Wheway and myself, along with the McAlduff’s who all showed how fast  the C5’s and C6’s were.

The club contingent was bolstered by Dan Ward, Terry Paauw, Leslie Shelby, Marie Wheway, Lew Berry and Gail Berry, who attended to take pictures and cheer us on.  All in all it was a fun day, and we hope that we can entice all members to plan to attend our September 25 date to learn how to really smile.  Put it on your calendar.

Vic