The SCCA NJ Championship Tour came and went. While day 1 turned out to be a wash out that frankly took a lot of excitement away, day 2 turned out to be one of the best autocrosses I've had in recent memory frankly because it was such a fun course and the weather really cooperated.
 |
| Driving in a downpour - Day 1 - 5/8/2021 Photo by: Jacob Ronald |
Day 1 was particularly stressful. Although there was rain in the forecast, I don't think most of us expected it to truly pour...which it did! We started our runs on steady but light rain. There was just enough water on the ground to lift up some of the surface oils make it extremely slick. I got in a decent time but coned away my first run. In run 2, I was expecting the same so I backed off a little to get a clean run which I did but it was significantly slower. However, I did feel there was more grip since the stronger rain had washed off a lot of the surface crud. For my final, I pushed as hard as I could but by that point, it was raining so hard there was standing water and little rivers everywhere and I ended the day a whopping 6 seconds out of the lead with really no hope for much improvement on day 2. At best day 1 was a great way to practice car control in slick conditions.
 |
| Day 1 slick conditions |
Day 2 on the other hand was bone dry. Temps were in the mid-50s and climbing quickly. This was particularly great because the course was awesome, starting off with a really nice fast section and just tightened up a little towards the finish. It tested everyone's ability to really be brave, stay in it and carry as much speed as possible. Despite coning away every single run, I found myself ending the event quite satisfied. We tried running even pressures all around this time when we typically run 1 psi lower in the rear and that really helped the car's balance. It was dancing much better now while still be very predictable and controllable at the limit.
 |
| Day 2 was so much better - 5/9/2021 Photo by: Jacob Ronald |
I really enjoyed this event despite the crazy day 1 situation. It was the most relaxed I've been to any national level event I've entered in a decade because I had no expectations going in. I had a ton of fun hooning it out there and seeing some folks I hadn't seen in over a year. For a brief moment, things felt...well, normal, and that was cool. Big thanks again to Rad for the codrive. I've really been enjoying driving the twin a recently and I totally understand why STX is such a popular class.
