Signed my 17 yr old up for the Golden Gate's first AutoX of the season held at Marina Airport near Monterey, CA. A few weeks ago I had him in the car control clinic at Candlestick Park so he was excited to try his hand at AutoX. He has a 1994 325i "M3 poser", looks like an E36 M3 with the body kit, mirrors, and 17" DSII wheels but doesn't have the power. The car also has a Dinan Chip, a cold-air intake, and equal length exhaust headers so it runs strong and an H&R Street Performance spring and shock set up. Running in "C" class. The track was set up on a huge concrete slab so the surface was smooth and grippy. He continually improved his time each successive run with his best time coming on his second to last run. His last run he got a bit aggressive and lost some of time but still managed to finish the day without killing a cone. Judging by the ear-to-ear grin I think he's hooked. Since we live in the Mts above the Monterey Bay, twisty mt. roads are an everyday experience and he grew up in the back seat of my E34 M5. I believe the club driving events are a great way for him to learn car control in a relatively safe environment. These events give him the chance to experience his and his car's limits and provide a safe outlet for "the need for speed" which I know he's inherited from me. Thanks to all the dedication club members that organize and staff these events, it was a great time.
Sounds like he's potentially on his way to a safe and exciting hobby! Best of all, it will probably make a safer driver out of him! This is awesome! Nice looking car too! Thanks for sharing!
Man, I'm jealous: had to miss the first AX and now just broke my wrist so may have to miss the next couple (... and Evo School and the May Test & Tune day, and, and...). Glad father and son had fun: the GGC crowd is a friendly bunch. Now you have attended a GGC AX you now know you can share a car; don't let him get too much better than you! You might rerun the car through the on-line car classification system. It sounds like you have more mods than our 1991 318i and we have to run a couple of classifications above you. You may as well collect points in the correct classification in case you accumulate eoungh to win something at the end of the year.
Welcome to the funhouse! Heh. Those GGC weenies have SOOOO many rules! Here in SoSoCal, we figured out long ago that the big advantage (one a one-mile-plus autocross course!) is tires. . . so R-compound tires put you in the Modified class. HA! So we stockers with our Dunlop Drizzlers are legal in non-modified classes. . . Thanks for reminding me: Autocross this Saturday!
They're not rules; they're algorithms. It's a consequence of having half the club members working in the Silicon Valley and being too close to the computers at the Laurence Livermore National Laboratory. I swear the house lights dim every year when da boys are tweaking the classification system formulae.
You're just now learning about the Dunlops?! The real trick Satch is to beat the modified guys outright with just shocks and tires.
