With five autocross events completed, the season is in full swing. Most of our events are scheduled at Salinas Airport where the climate is as moderate as it gets. This new site is affording cool comfortable temperatures even in the middle of the Summer.
Autocross #5:
Our fifth autocross event took place at Salinas Airport, with sixty-two drivers taking part in the Teddy Framhein designed course. Drivers collectively accomplished an average lap time of 37.039 seconds with ten runs each in cool and breezy 70-degree temperatures.
Top time of the day was achieved by Monty Pack with his fastest lap time of 30.842 seconds, followed closely by Teddy Framhein with his fastest lap time of 30.989 seconds. Teddy took the Top PAX time honor with his PAX time of 30.049 over Monty Pack’s PAX time of 30.472. This battle continues to be entertaining to watch.
One gauge of a person’s driving ability is the consistency at achieving his or her fastest lap times. Here is a list of the top five drivers that were more consistent with their top two fastest lap times than the other fifty-seven drivers. Congratulations!
| Consistency leaders | ||||
| Rank | Driver | Fastest | 2nd Fastest | Delta |
| 1 | Ryan Young | 37.965 | 37.975 | 0.010 |
| 2 | Sharon Hendee | 35.991 | 36.006 | 0.015 |
| 3 | Kip Wanaselja | 35.490 | 35.507 | 0.017 |
| 4 | Sid Huey | 34.134 | 34.173 | 0.039 |
| 5 | Chris Rife | 35.185 | 35.234 | 0.049 |
Another gauge of driving ability is aversion to cones. All drivers in the list below proved themselves to be the nemesis of cone killer and swept entire event without touching a single cone. Kudos to the fabulous Seven!
| Clean Sweepers | ||
| Rank | Driver | Clean Laps |
| 1 | Dale Tonogai | 10 |
| 1 | James Biesemeyer | 10 |
| 1 | Dan Vargas | 10 |
| 1 | Angelo Sui | 10 |
| 1 | Kirt Williams | 10 |
| 1 | Bob Braid | 10 |
| 1 | Jerin Kingston | 10 |
We had a record ten first time drivers receiving personalized coaching from our autocross coaches and our Chief instructor – Monty Pack. It was nice, as always, to see new drivers joining our events and continue to stay engaged with the program.
Autocross #6:
The sixth autocross event took place at Salinas Airport, with forty-six drivers taking part in the Mike Koozmin designed course. This course featured four crossover points and one turnaround at the far end. Drivers collectively accomplished an average lap time of 33.173 seconds with ten runs each in cool and breezy 65-degree temperatures.
Top time of the day was achieved by Drew Powers with his fastest lap time of 28.448 seconds, followed closely by Teddy Framhein with his fastest lap time of 28.479 seconds. Drew also took the Top PAX time honor with his PAX time of 27.595 seconds. Close battle at the top of the food chain has become a constant fixture at our events. It keeps us all participants entertained and excited.
Some event statistics follow for the data hungry and number crunchers amongst us.
Upcoming event:
Our next autocross event (#7) is scheduled for August 26 at Salinas Airport Registration will open two weeks prior to the event. Registration site is – http://msreg.com/2023ggrax7.
Autocross schedule is posted at https://www.pca-ggr.org/autocross/autocross-calendar/.
Look forward to seeing all you Autocross Enthusiasts at our upcoming events.
Himanshu Patel
GGR Autocross Chair