Autocross'd

Riding shotgun has never been this much fun.  Went to my first Autocross event this weekend and BOY oh boy did I get whipped around the track!  Not in my car, of course... but there were several great drivers who let me ride along as they took a shot at the track the Nebraska Region SCCA folks had laid out.  I got quite an introduction to AutoX and rode along in a Miata, Focus ST, Mustang, and a couple of Subarus, so there was a mix of FWD, RWD, and AWD in there to feel out how each car did on the course.

The most surprising thing to me was seeing so many FRS and BRZ owners there.  The Toyobaru has certainly been well received by the racing community and these new owners are already having a lot of fun with these Miata-killers.  I was impressed seeing how well even the stock ones were doing around the track.  With control they had in the turns and slalom portions, t was clear that this car was born for these kinds of events.

While I'll likely not run my Impreza around the track (at least not anytime soon), I definitely want to make it to more of these events.  Seat time was quite the learning experience, figuring out how to approach turns, how to read the cones, and general feel for the control you can have if you're doing things right.  The Impreza L, WRX, and WRX STi I rode along in were especially helpful with their AWD giving me insight on how to make the most of the grip you get on all four wheels.

There's a Rallycross event coming up soon, too.  Regardless of whether I ever run my car competitively, the stuff I'm learning from these drivers and their cars is just fun to take in!