This was the sophomore voyage of the "USS Brraaaapppp" (Neon) with unfortunately no changes from the maiden voyage. We took one look at the course and immediately knew we were in for a weekend of rooting for truffles (bad understeer for the uninitiated). The course had some fast sections with a long slalom, but it was the multiple 180 degree turns that we knew would be trouble. Come Saturday we weren't disappointed. The car pushed terribly and was generally unresponsive to shock and tire pressure changes. Craptastic.

Basically, I drove like *** on Saturday. In Shultz terms... "The first run was terrible, but it least it ended up being the fastest." I got frustrated with the car and managed to go progressively slower on each run. Now it'd be easy to step back and say "Hey, not my fault. The car really sucked and was unresponsive to changes." This would work except for the fact that my co-driver got progressively faster with each run and ended up 5th out of 16 cars at the end of the first day. I on the other hand sat back in spot number 12 licking my wounds.

Then came Sunday. About 20 degrees colder and raining. While others were busy softening up their set-ups for the wet surface, we decided to run with what we ended with on Saturday. Maybe it would actually free up the *** of the car on the wet surface? It was a good bet. The car was actually better on the wet surface than it was in the dry. Plus I decided that my performance on Saturday bordered on disgraceful and I would either do significantly better on Sunday or drop this **** and take up golf.

The condensed version is that I went from running 12th best on Saturday to 3rd best on Sunday. This froggied me up to 6th place combined and actually earned a trophy. Renee ran 4th fastest Sunday which froggied her up to 3rd place.

In the end I can't help but look back and say "Wow, Renee really is alot better than me at this stuff." I let an ill handling car take me out of contention Saturday while she adapted to it and kept herself up front. Good stuff.

We're looking forward to developing this car and having fun with it. Especially given that we now have an excellent benchmark (Ryan) right here in Atlanta. We know if we can beat him, we have a shot a 1st place trophies at the divisional level. It's always good to have a nice target in your home region.

And the pad at Laurens is really nice. Well worth the drive if you're a serious autocrosser in the area.

Scott, who's style does not mesh well with a car that understeers

 

Well i guess i wasn't the only one that couldn't get any faster after my first run. Both days my fastest run was my first one.

I'm sure you guys will get a lot faster once you get the car setup. I'm just glad its taking longer than expected so I don't have to go ahead and buy some better tires.

I didn't even know you got the 3rd best time of sunday. good job on that. and congratulations to renee for placing 3rd in STS and not STS. Its fun to see all the guys get beat by a lady. I'm just sitting here knowing that it might happen to me in the future though.

 

Chris Peterson - Third in CS
And our own Karen Krause (CamaroFS34) - 2nd in FS (amongst some serious competition).

I noticed quite a few of the top ladies were running in open classes this weekend. That's good to see. Guys had better start getting used to it.
I don't know about Karen, but I lost count of how many guys told Renee she "needed to be in STSL" this weekend. She really gets a kick out of that.

And about me running 3rd fastest on Sunday... Just solidifies that I drove like an idiot on Saturday. Hopefully that won't happen in Atlanta in June.

 

congrats to Karen, Renee and the other open class ladies.
to the silly ladies class

 

Exactly.

Separating the classes by gender is absolutely retarded.

 

Agreed. There is no place for it anymore.

 

I can see a place for it at the regional level, to try to get women into the sport. However, there is no need or place for it at the national level.

Karen
FS 4th -- 2002 Ft. Myers ProSolo
BSP 3rd -- 2002 Houston Tour (in an AS car)
FS 2nd -- 2002 Peru Tour
STX 1st -- 2002 Wendover ProSolo
FS 2nd -- 2003 SEDiv #1!

 

I don't understand the reasoning behind Ladies' class. Okay, in a sport like football, men have obvious physical advantages. I don't see why any woman should, at the national level, be slower than any man at autocross however. It's not a sport that places physical demands on one that highlight gender differences. If anything, a woman's lower center of gravity and typically lower body weight would be an advantage. Better car handling, and lighter weight Even if that is a negligible difference... At the risk of offending female drivers who do run at the top of the heap in ladies class... why continue that when you could beat up on Open class? I'd like to hear why I'm wrong.

 

I don't think the ladies classes hurt anything, so if it helps bring women into the sport, then why not keep them.

As far as STAYING in those classes, I'd say that's up to the individual and their goals. I know Renee was MUCH happier with the 3rd place trophy in STS than she would have been had she won STSL by 8 seconds (which is what the margin would have been). She's after competiton at this point, thats why she chose STS in the first place. Its the closest, largest, most competitive group in this area and that's where she wants to be. Apparently Karen feels the same way.
Other women may be good enough to do well in open classes, but choose to stay in ladies classes because the winning makes them feel good. It doesn't hurt anyone, so why not let them do it?

Just my opinion.

 

I don't agree with it, but the simple reason why there Ladies don't run open classes at the National level is that there is money to be won in the Ladies classes, and its easier to win them. If you're "garunteed" to bring home a $500 check from Nationals, that goes a long way into cutting costs of taking a week off of work.....etc.

This is from the mouth of a National level lady that said her "bit" at the Talladega PRO event. The next lady to speak basically told her off though, saying she WANTED to run against the men for the competition.....oh well.

 

Beat by a Girl! Beat by a Girl! Beat by a Girl!

Al, who knows full well Renne, Karen, and quite a few other women will never be slower than me.

 

I was able to improve on my times on Saturday, but Sunday threw a kink in my runs. I am relatively inexperienced with driving in wet conditions, and wasn't 100% sure on how to compensate with the car setup, i.e. shock settings, tire pressures, etc. I ended up dropping 2lb. in all 4 tires, but the car still pushed a bit in the successive 180 hairpins. That, and overcooking it on my last run going into the slalom finished my day. All in all though, I was very pleased with my results, 4th overall. No complaints from me. Renee drove very quick on Sunday to take 3rd by 2 tenths. Congrats!


[Modified by 89STS, 5:12 AM 4/1/2003]

 

results are up now.

http://www.sedivsolo2.com

 

Congrats on the top 10 PAX Ryan!

 

My hats off to those women who say "I'll take ANYONE on at autox" as opposed to those who say "I'm pretty good... for a woman".

 

EP pax sucks
here is the direct link to the results,
http://www.sedivsolo2.com/laurens/index.html