by Joe Kraetsch, NCR Autocross Chair

The weather was cool and cloudy with temperature maybe in the sixties. This was NCR’s first autocross at a new site, the M-lot at NHIS in Loudon, NH. For many, this was their first autocross experience on a parking lot and as such was quite a change from the wide open space at Devens.

Mark Schnoerr generously helped me set a course Saturday night after the Car Control Clinic and also helped with changes Sunday morning to make the course flow better, easier to follow and safer. It turned out to be a great course—easy to follow but difficult to master. The course featured several linked elements which required patience on the first element in order to set up for the elements that followed. Too much aggression in the wrong places would slow you down and hurt your final time.

We had a delayed start because we were not allowed to enter the site until 9:00 a.m. due to traffic entering for the motorcycle races on the track. We had a couple first event jitters and a few minor timing glitches but overall the event ran smoothly. We got ten runs in with a lunch break and were finished, packed up, trophies awarded and headed home by 4:00.

We were hoping for a larger turnout after the number of responses from our member survey last year in favor of an event closer to home. Perhaps the less than ideal weather forecast or the early season date kept some folks from joining us.

I was happy to see many of Saturday’s Car Control Clinic students return Sunday to practice their newly acquired skills. I was even more pleased to present trophies to several of them at the end of the day showing just how much they had learned. We saw several new faces and some faces that had been absent for a couple years. We also saw three generations of one family participating. Pete Petersen, our club treasurer, brought his granddaughter, Alex Snowe and her father, Tom Snowe out to play with us. Tom won the Novice class with Alex finishing second. Look out Jamie and Christine Z.!, Alex may be vying for the “Cone Queen” title. The NCR Novice class is open to anyone who has been autocrossing less than one year and who has never won the Novice (or any other) class. (Sorry Tom, you are no longer eligible!)

There weren’t any tight races for first place and the morning leaders all held on or extended their leads with their afternoon time. There were close races for second place in several classes. Dave Porter needed to get faster somehow after losing to me at the Zone 1 Autocross last fall so he showed up in a Dodge Viper. Unfortunately, he is no longer in my class (but I still beat him). In fairness to Dave, he was running on 8 year old street tires so he couldn’t do much with all that horsepower , but he sure had fun trying! Mark Schnoerr took FTD as well as top PAX. I would like to thank all who helped the event run so smoothly. I would especially like to thank the morning workers who also worked regular assignments: Judy Hendrickson and Lisa Roche handled registration, Ivy Leonard and John Lussier covered the insurance waivers at the gate, Kevin Bobbitt set up Timing and Scoring, Georges Rouhart and Matt Romanowski did tech inspection, Mark Schnoerr helped me with course design/setup and Barb Jacques who helped out even though she wasn’t driving.

by Joe Kraetsch, NCR Autocross Chair

The 2006 NCR autocross series ended on September 16th with a grand finale of two events in one day. Earlier this season we had to cancel Autocross #2 due to heavy rains and flooding. No makeup dates were available so rather than just drop one autocross, we decided to run two autocrosses in one day—all for the price of a single autocross.

Midweek prior to the event, the forecast looked like heavy rain, but by Friday the weather people changed their minds and promised us a dry day. Not only was it dry, but turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. We had a good turnout with 55 registered drivers.

We ran Autocross #5 in the morning as scheduled. Guest course designer, Paul Zahornasky (aka PZ) set a wonderful course for us. PZ is the chief course design for SCCA’s Northeast Region and has designed courses for SCCA National Events. I learned most of what I know about course design from PZ. Everyone had four runs on the morning course. Class 1 was a close race between Mark Schnoerr and Chris Darminio but Mark edged Chris by 0.397 seconds on their final runs. Class 2 was also a tight race until Dave Porter’s final run. Not only did he take my lead away but he smoked me by over two seconds. Guest instructor, Russ Siggelkoe took FTD by 0.035 seconds and top PAX by 0.029 seconds over Paul Kozlak who had the fastest Porsche time.

We shut down briefly while PZ quickly changed the course. He moved a fraction of the cones and created a new course that looked like the first course but was significantly different. We allowed folks to walk the course once to see the changes while I set up the timing for the afternoon Autocross #6. Those who chose not to walk the new course paid for it with off course runs and slower times.

Close races in this session included Class 4 where Dave Beningson bested Neil Halbert by 0.122 seconds. I might have repaid Dave Porter’s morning thrashing but my best time included a two second cone penalty and fell 0.65 seconds short. (I’ll get him at the Zone 1 Autocross in October.) Steve Hazard took FTD and top PAX while Charles Stromeyer had fastest Porsche time.

The autocross double header was a fun way to end the season. I heard a lot of positive feedback about the events and the courses. Thank you, Paul Zahornasky for two excellent courses in one day. Thank you, Porsche of Nashua for your sponsorship. I would also like to thank the autocross staff for all their hard work throughout the season, and everyone who came out and participated in our autocross events.

We are already planning our 2007 autocross season. We have a much better schedule next year. I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions to make next year even better. I am also looking for a couple volunteers to add to the autocross staff. If you would like to help out, please contact me at autocross@ncr-pca.org.