PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Push It To The Limit Autoslalom series: http://www.wiredmotorsports.com/pitl/

Last Saturday was originally supposed to be the 91 Civic Wagon's autocross debut. It had just gotten aligned and the suspension and summer rubber was on (whorage coming soon). Lo and behold, the day before, it decides to get stage fright. The 21 year old 'main relay' (fuel injection relay) refused to do its thing, and the car wouldn't start in hot weather. So, the GXP was put to the test

Clearly I am rusty after 2 years of not running, and back when I did, I was focusing more on learning the car than doing smooth driving. Needless to say, the GXP finished mid-pack out of almost 100 cars that ran that day - not too shabby at all. I was about 3 seconds off the pace of my brother in his 2004 Lexus IS300, a considerably faster car for these events. He's stock but has 2 seasons of autocross experience and stupidly sticky tires, Dunlop Star Specs. I'm happy with what I was able to do.

Also that day, Scion/Toyota Canada brought out a bunch of Scion FR-S (Subraru BRZ) for everyone to try. FANTASTIC driving car, the light weight, RWD, and balanced chassis made for an extremely fun drive through the cones. Its 2.0L flat-four makes 197hp/151lb-ft, and it meant that low end torque was a little lacking, but honestly if you drive the car the way it was meant to be driven, it is SO much fun. With a good set of sticky tires (the testers all had Michelin all-seasons) and a seasoned driver, the FR-S/BRZ has what it takes to be the fastest car of the day. It was only 3 seconds off the very top of the chart - and that's also with stability/traction control switched on!

Videos Links below. Be sure to listen to some of the commentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqq7wP7V74A&hd=1 - run #1, completely lost
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4V68GH6Ikw&hd=1 - run #2 launch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJCYnZ7ar30&hd=1 - second fastest run of the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGkKT3PjUTM&hd=1 - Scion FR-S run

Fastest run of the day wasn't on video unfortunately, I got it by being super aggressive and pretty much one-wheel peeling around the course

Looks like fun Jerry! I have every intention of taking both of my cars auto x-ing this year.

Yeah looks like fun!

Id really wanna take a lap around an actually course in a GXP though. Really let er open up.

Granted its $225 per day but would be a blast and a half IMO.
http://www.blackhawkfarms.com/?page_id=30

My brother wants to take to the track with his IS300, but I'm not sure if it's something I want to subject my daily driver to it at this moment in time. Autocross requires you to drive your car hard for less than 10 minutes per event (figure 40 to 60 seconds per run, times 5 to 7 runs). Tracking means hooning for hours on end.

Some nice runs Jerry!

I wanna take the Passat out at some point this summer. I'm just worried about completely missing where to go, and getting a bunch of DNF's...

Looks like fun and looks like you turned some pretty good times in the GXP! I'm sure you were one of the largest cars there!!

I have a feeling all my runs would look like your first...being lost! haha

This was really cool to watch as I'll be taking the 94 auto-xing in a few weeks!

*Edit: The boat jokes get old quick...

Second biggest I'm pretty sure. The biggest were a pair of Toyota XRunners.

Ed: Run! Everybody gets lost when they start off. It's just a matter of building confidence and getting used to the courses. This particular club in my area also does much more confusing layouts. Many others are more wide open.