Autocross Runoff Results

On June 29 our chapter hosted the 12th Annual Rug Cunningham Memorial Autocross in the west lots at SDCCU Stadium. Our runoff format features early timed runs, from which we gather class winners to go head to head in a Mystery Car. The Mystery Car provides a level playing field to see who's fastest of the fast.

The weather was perfect, with a little bit of spitting rain in the early afternoon. The course for the event was a reprise of a very fast and flowing one previously used for the 2015 runoff. Satakal Khalsa has been hitting the ball out of the park for the Club's recent courses, the runoff was no exception.

Independent Motorcars provided the Mystery Car, a 1993 318is. More than one runoff competitor remarked that the car has great balance and handling, but can be challenging to drive fast if you're not careful with your momentum.

Runoff Autocross Recap - June 29, 2019

By Rob Walker

On June 29, our chapter hosted the 12th Annual Rug Cunningham Memorial Autocross in the west lot of SDCCU Stadium. Our runoff format features early timed runs, from which we gather class winners to go head to head in a Mystery Car. The Mystery Car provides a level playing field to see who's fastest of the fast.

The weather was perfect, with a little bit of spitting rain in the early afternoon. The course was a reprise of a very fast and flowing one previously used for the 2015 runoff.  Satakal Khalsa has been hitting the ball out of the park for the Club's recent courses— this year’s runoff being no exception.

Independent Motorcars provided the Mystery Car, a 1993 318is. More than one runoff competitor remarked that the car had great balance and handling, but could be challenging to drive fast if you're not careful to maintain your momentum.

Runoff competitor results:

• Grayson Marble         88.878

• Clint Boyd                 89.671

• Daniel Ralston             90.516

• Mikey Ross              90.665

• Tyler Johnson                90.746

• Kurt Mlillson 90.827

• Paul Hualde                92.130

• Peter Minero            94.560

• Ryan Moore               94.613

• Rishi Patel               97.316

• Charlie Engen          97.650

Congratulations to Grayson M. for winning this year's showdown and for showing us all what it means to “mind your momentum.”

Thank you to Independent Motorcars for their support!

Aquarian Autocross - February 9, 2019

By Mark Meyer

While there were some sprinkles here and there, this month’s autocross was the fastest one in quite a while. For those of you who read Satakal’s email “manifesto” i.e. plea for help setting up cones, you could tell that Satakal seemed to have a little more invested in this course than usual. Why? Because he took Andrew’s previous course, made some modifications and made it into his own design. How about a course that just begs for third gear? Check! A slalom that was pretty much a slalom in name only? Check! Big long sweepers? Check! A course map that looked just a bit inappropriate if you held it up the right way? Check! (Ask Kim to explain). There was no argument from any of the drivers this month. This was a freaking fun and fast course. Thanks, Satakal.

No doubt, this month’s course was fast. But who made the most of it? As usual, Julien Brandt drew lots of attention with his super cool orange Catfish before the track went hot. But this month, his flashy car was flashy fast and took first place in his class. Congrats Julien!

Lastly a few thoughts from us mere mortals. Having an instructor ride with me during my first set of practice laps is still really valuable. In some ways, the instructor feedback is even more valuable now compared to when I first started because I understand it in a very different way. This month, Sean Thomson was cool enough to ride along with me and share his experience. By the end of the day, my times weren’t as fast as Julien’s but they were certainly faster thanks to Sean’s coaching. I also learned what RE-71R’s feel like when they are heat cycled out (even with a fair bit of tread). They certainly didn’t help my times.

Time to switch to some new rubber before 330 Autocross coming up at the end of March. See you there…

Autocross: My Take - Dec 15, 2018

By Mark Meyer

The 2018 autocross season wrapped up with Ultimate Autocross at Qualcomm on December 15. In addition to the usual autocross format, the instructors competed against each other in the super-fast electric Smart car with William Wong pulling off the victory.

It was a little more than a year ago that I attended my first autocross weekend starting with the Car Control clinic. I was a bit apprehensive about the experience as I knew almost nothing about autocross. The instructors & volunteers were knowledgable, fun, and welcoming. They made my first experience a great one.

Fast forward 14 months and I’ve since attended 5 more BMW autocross days, one HPDE at Thermal with the SD BMW CCA and 10 track days, including a weekend at Laguna Seca. While I’ve clearly caught the racing bug, there is little doubt that my first experience set the tone for what I expect will be many years of being a racing enthusiast. As I drove onto the lot on Dec 15, I was struck at how comfortable I had become and how cool it was to see the folks I’ve gotten to know a bit better since I started. Even though I’ve learned a lot since last year, I still found there was plenty of instruction to be had and a lot more learning that I need to do. I also found that the BMW club still did a great job at welcoming and teaching those who were new to the game.

If you’ve ever considered trying out one of the autocross days, take it from someone who was a little nervous about giving it a go. That first weekend experience is the reason my annoying little Miata is always at autocross. Maybe every month now Rob?