First Time High Speed Autocross
(at Blackhawk Farms Raceway, 9/16/2006)

I've always want to drive my own car on a real race track.  After driving the same car for 15 years, I bought a new 2006 MINI Copper S.  After about 3 months of owning the MINI, the thought came up again "hey, I wonder if I could drive this car on a racetrack".  So as I investigated how to do that and as things fell into place (almost with me trying), that is what I did ... I finally got to drive my own car on a race track.

turn 3

The event was a High Speed Autocross School held by the Midwest Council of Sports Car Clubs at Blackhawk Farms Raceway.  Autocross events are usually held in parking lots where drivers are timed going through a challenging course laid out by orange cones.  Each driver runs the course and is timed.  The winner is the one with the lowest time in their car class.  It is not side by side racing.  The High Speed Autocross concept is the same but instead of a course laid out with cones, the course is a race track.

How fast did you go?  That's what most people will want to know.  The answer is that my best lap time of the 2 timed laps was 1:38.831 (the other was 1:39.171).  That probably isn't the answer you were looking for as many people are interested in top speed.  Well, ok.  You don't have much time to look at the speedometer as your highest speed during practice comes as you are going to enter turn one and at that point you are braking as hard as you can and setting up for the turn and there's no time to look.  I did look at my speedometer one time well before the start finish line and I did see it on 95MPH and I was still accelerating, so maybe I hit 100MPH by turn one.

The real excitement doesn't come at top speed, but at the extreme braking and extreme cornering.  Every time you brake, you are doing it as hard as you can and as late as you can without locking the wheels or losing control of your car.  Every single time!  When going around corners you are doing so with as much speed as you can, using all the track, not going off the track, not spinning the car and often steering the car with the throttle.  Now that's the stuff!

The day wasn't without some ... um ... incidents.  I wasn't scared at the time (because there was no time to be scared), but reflecting after the fact made me realize that there was an element of this whole adventure that was just a little bit insane.  So there I was.  I blasted through 6A and was heading for turn 7 way too fast.  I told the brakes to slow us down faster, they said "no".  I turned in and asked the steering to turn in more and it said "no".  So off we went (flying, or so it seamed) off the track and into the gravel missing turn 7.  So I kept the wheels straight, got the car back under control, pulled out onto the track after checking it was clear and got back to business foot to the floor heading down the front straight to turn one.

The second incident was in turn 4.  I went in either too fast or incorrectly or both and dropped 2 wheels off the track.  fortunately I kept the car in control and got back onto the track.  Later, after the session was completed, the instructor (who just happened to be riding with me for both incidents) said he was sure we were going to spin (in the turn 4 incident), and complimented me on how I handled the situations.

Needless to say, I had the time of my life.  I learned a bunch, met great people, had fun and experienced things I've only read about.  I have a much better understanding of my car and of me as a driver.  I hate to say "I should have done this a long time ago", so I:ll just say "better late than never".

If you want to get an idea of what it is like going around the track, use Google Videos and search for "Blackhawk Farms".  There you will find a good number of in car videos.  You can also find some searching on YouTube.

So I hear there is another event at a different track 2 weeks from now ... so what am I doing writing this web page?  I gotta go sign up.  Enjoy the pictures.  Oh, if you'd like to see some great pictures of all the cars that participated, follow this link http://mcscc.org/Gallery/album08  There are more pictures of my car starting on page 3.

Tech Inspection
Tech. inspection on Friday night.  The general condition of the car is checked for safety.  This includes helmet check and that you have your assigned number to display on the car.   Wheel cover centers had to be remove because they may fall off ... you wouldn't want to hit one at speed.  Everything in the car not boldted down had to be removed including floor mats.  After driving the track, I now understand why this is so important.  The foces you experience during braking and cornering are quite extrem.
Looking into tech. inspect area
Looking into the tech inspection area.
track map
Track layout (from the Blackhawk Farms site with some additions)

car prep
At the track preparing the car Saturday morning ... putting on the numbers, removing luggage and supplies, and letting our breakfast sit in the car cooling off  (we were running a bit late).
Car all set
The unsuspecting MINI relaxes under the shade of a tree thinking that this will just be another day ... but we know better ...
Drivers Meeting
 Drivers meeting at 8:00 Saturday morning at the start/finish line..   There were classes for other driver training that day.  Not  all of  theses people were in the autoX training.
Helmet
Getting ready to go.  The gloves aren't regulation, but I use them with my simulator and like the familiarity.  The yellow band doesn't mean I support lemon growers or lemonade (although it is very good), it just means I've past security and can enter the grounds.
leaving to line up
Getting ready to go line up.  Thumbs up.  My instructor had me and another student.  This worked out well as we got to go out with the instructor and alone during different practice runs.  There were 5 practice runs of about 5 laps each (I was too busy to count) and then 2 timed runs of one lap each (the way they are done in competition.)
False Grid front
Here we are lined up to turn onto pit lane (no special order, I'm the 5th car back on the right side).  Note the silo (hint Blackhawk "Farms").  I don't know how many silos are on the grounds, but they make for a very distinct looking environment.
Lined up rear view.
The back of the line.  You've gotta love it, a Vette, and old VW bug and  a Jeep.  Room for everyone.  During real competition, each car is in a class with similar cars, so those 3 (in stock form) would not be competing against each other.
On Pit Lane
On pit lane lined up single file.  You wait at the end of pit lane, and when you get the green light, you go.  Cars are let out of the pitsone at a time so there is space between them.  All cars wind up on the track at the same time during practice.  If you catch up to a slower car in practice you can pass them on the front straight only if they wave you by.
cross start finish line 1
Here I am crossing the start finish line (marked by the orange cones.)  Hmm, faster that a speeding photographer I guess.  Let's try that again ...
on front straight
Now that the photographer is up to speed, the camera isn't ... oh well ... Vroom vroom ...
back from a run
Back from a practice run.  At this point the air is filled with the smell coming off the brakes.  They got quite a workout (don't put the handbrake on, you may warp the rotors).  I let the car run for a while to keep the fans spinning to cool off the engine.  What a workout we had.


Here are some other track shots.  It's a challenge getting pictures, but I really appreciate my wife taking them ... thanks dear :)
hidding
Can you spot the MINI?  Hint, a tree's a good place to hide.  Zoom zoom
on track
on track
This is a corner worker stand.  There are many of these around the track.  These are staffed by volunteers and keep the drivers safe.  They display flags when needed and have radios to communicate with race control.  These events wouldn't be possible without these folks.
on track
Braking  into turn one.  Screeetch
on track
Hello silo.  The road in the foreground is an access road and not part of the racetrack in the background. Varoooom
leaving track
This is the road leading out of the infield.  The race track goes left to right. Obviously you can't leave when cars are on the track.  What a fantastic day!  So long ...

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