<VV> Last autocross of the season

[AeroNed at aol.com]

Today was our last autocross for the 2005 season here in Wichita. It was a  
beautiful November day, low 60s, very little wind, and plenty of sun. The event 
 was held at a Raytheon Aircraft parking lot. We call it the Beech (beach) 
site  for a couple of reasons, Raytheon used to be Beech Aircraft and this 
parking lot  seems to make sand. As a result of the second fact, the course is 
always  slippery. Jim Dallas usually comes out to lend me support but he had to 
work  today. Jim's a test pilot at Raytheon and he did show up, at 200 feet and 
180  knots. Later he was able to come over to watch a couple of runs.
 
My car is running great. Why is it that the car runs its best at the last  
event of the season? I treated today as a fun day, since I clinched the Wichita  
E/SP championship at the last event. The course was fairly open and short. 
Based  on the first few runs, I wanted to have a run under 50 seconds. I take it 
easy  on my first run to become familiar with the course. My first run was a  
surprising 47 flat. There were a few places where the car was pushing bad,  
mostly because of the sand. Jim Dallas rode with me for the second run. The  
areas where the car pushed was worse on this run. I'd guess it was because I was 
 going faster. Still my time improved by almost a second. I did the third run 
 solo again and turned in my best time of 45.1 seconds. The last run I did 
with  the guy I spoke to earlier and ran a bit slower with a 45.3. My mystery 
guest  was thrilled.
 
Now it's the improvement season. I have a few projects planned for my car.  
Some of them involve going faster or getting more control of the car. Most of  
the work will involve completing the AC removal. After today's event I'm 
really  looking forward to next year.
 
Ned