Smooth and Fast

On Saturday, September 22, there were a lot of smiles.  Our autocross event ran flawlessly for 28 drivers, who enjoyed 8 runs each, thanks to some great volunteers.  The timing crew smoothed the process to allow so many runs.  The crew included Rosalie Sinden, Cindy Vodermayer, Leslie Shelby, and Angie Langston.  Pregrid was led by Jeanie Robb and Eva Staley.  The timing board handled by Jack Langston and Ted Taylor.  The stop box and all round workers were Barry Cook and Stewart Heyes, whose help was key to the event setup.  Claude Larabie handled spotting duties, coordinating the course workers, and was assisted in the starter job by Doug Mitten (David’s father).  They certainly made my job easy and enjoyable.

We used the Justice Institute Course at Pitt Meadows, and modified it to allow the use of some Corvette horsepower at the start of each run.  The sea of cones made a unique environment for drivers, and added to the skill challenge of the event.  Autocross requires you to hone your concentration skills and work on improvements through the event.  Our participants were up to the challenge and everyone’s times improved throughout the day, with most fast times being set on the 7^th and 8^th run.  Very few cones were hurt in the process.

For the drivers, I saw lots of smiles.  While we enjoyed the usual mix of Fiero’s, Subaru’s, Acura’s, there was even a Chrysler Sebring and an 85 Oldsmobile Delta 88.  But, of course, the fast time of the day was won by a Corvette.  A total of 14 Corvette drivers enjoyed their ride.  Gifford Robb blazed his slick shod C6 to a 56.370 second fast time, other C6 drivers were Lorne and David Staley, Peter Resch, Brian Kulyk, and myself, Vic Nightscales.    Marj Bowen was the fast lady in her C4, or should I say she was the quickest lady.  C4 drivers included Ken Butcher, Blair Degenstein and David Mitten, with David being the fastest.  C5 drivers included Brad Shelby and Walter Vodermayer, with Walter taking the honors.  Nigel Wheway was the fast C5 Z06.

-Vic