2010 Carlisle Autocross

[Grayson]

I'm going to throw down the gauntlet once again, this time 12 months in advance. If there is a 2010 Carlisle autocross, I'm going to win. Clang!

Ok, on to a more serious note. Brad - do you happen to have contact information for the person/people that green lighted the 2009 Carlisle autocross? I'd like to thank them and encourage them to host an autocross for 2010. Also, if the CVCC abides, I'd like to offer up the passenger seat to interested Merkur owners and provide some demonstration runs.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Ok, on to a more serious note. Brad - do you happen to have contact information for the person/people that green lighted the 2009 Carlisle autocross?

I'll drop you a note with the contacts Dr. Gauntlet. There were some interesting politics that needed to get played after initially getting a couple "no, not this year" answers.

[Grayson]

I appreciate the hookup Brad. I BCC'd you on my propaganda.

[Ed Lijewski]

I'm going to throw down the gauntlet once again, this time 12 months in advance. If there is a 2010 Carlisle autocross, I'm going to win. Clang!

Hmmm. Methinks we need a handicapping system for Carlisle 2010 AutoX.

YMMV

[anglin]

Clang!

Hmmm. Methinks we need a handicapping system for Carlisle 2010 AutoX.

In the past, we've had a classing system in place. However, smaller turnout makes it more difficult to have separate classes. I'm hoping that renewed interest in the autocross next year leads to the ability to put a classing structure back in place.

If there isn't enough turnout, then you've got 11 months to build a car that's faster than Grayson's. That's PLENTY of time considering the stuff is now available off-the-shelf which simply wasn't true before.

[ex_are_four_tea_eye]

How many cars were in the auto-x this year?

I would've done it this year, but the need to drive my XR 400+ miles to get home made me change my mind. I wouldn't have been able to afford the towing bill if something would have broke...

[anglin]

How many cars were in the auto-x this year?

Looks like there were ten from the results I'm seeing.

I would've done it this year, but the need to drive my XR 400+ miles to get home made me change my mind. I wouldn't have been able to afford the towing bill if something would have broke...

When you look over the history of Merkurs autocrossing at Carlisle, there haven't been any failures that prevented someone from driving their Merkur home. That's out of nearly 600 autocross runs done by Merkur owners at Carlisle autocross events.

[Grayson]

There were 20 entrants, 10 of which were Merkurs. Note that Jim Gosses is a Merkur owner that was racing his Mustang.

Code: Select all

209 Chris Beyem          41.290  8X NASA AIX Ford Mustang Silver
310 Christopher Grayson  41.731  88 Merkur XR4Ti Blue
203 Rob Senft            45.199  04 Ford Mustang Cobra White
104 Matt McHenry         46.437  XX Ford Thunderbird Supercoupe Blue
410 Terry Watson         47.485  88 Merkur XR4Ti Blue
101 Brian Demnicki       48.116  99 Ford Mustang Cobra Red
107 Andrew West          49.027  89 Merkur XR4Ti Red
204 Samuel Daugherty     49.203  9X Ford Taurus SHO Green
302 Andrew West          49.895  89 Merkur XR4Ti Red
106 Rex Turner           49.904  72 Mustang Mach I Yellow
202 Jim Gosses           49.991  99 Ford Mustang GT Black
206 Nicolas Brizat       50.279  XX Ford Escort ZX2 White
301 Nick Saron           50.402  8X Merkur XR4Ti Black
103 George Schultz       51.238  85 Merkur XR4Ti Yellow
108 Jeff Labonte         51.635  86 Merkur XR4Ti Blue
201 Jonathan Saffian     51.672  88 Merkur XR4Ti Dark Green
205 Michael Stewart      52.027  XX Ford Focus Yellow
303 Erik Cotos           52.919  8X Merkur XR4Ti Blue
102 Robert Saffian       53.361  88 Merkur XR4Ti Dark Green
105 John Lattanzio       55.147  66 Ford Mustang Red

Merkurs only:

Code: Select all

310 Christopher Grayson  41.731  88 Merkur XR4Ti Blue
410 Terry Watson         47.485  88 Merkur XR4Ti Blue
107 Andrew West          49.027  89 Merkur XR4Ti Red
302 Andrew West          49.895  89 Merkur XR4Ti Red
301 Nick Saron           50.402  8X Merkur XR4Ti Black
103 George Schultz       51.238  85 Merkur XR4Ti Yellow
108 Jeff Labonte         51.635  86 Merkur XR4Ti Blue
201 Jonathan Saffian     51.672  88 Merkur XR4Ti Dark Green
303 Erik Cotos           52.919  8X Merkur XR4Ti Blue
102 Robert Saffian       53.361  88 Merkur XR4Ti Dark Green

As for autocross leading to car failures, I don't believe I've ever had an autocross-related failure. My cars have over 700 runs on them too. I had a failure recently at an autocross where my car overheated and blew a coolant hose, but that was because my 4-year-old was pushing switches in the car during the off-season and turned off my cooling fans. Had I not towed the car to the event my car wouldn't have even made it to the autocross in the first place.

Other than a cone mark I don't anticipate any Merkur owner ever having issues from the Carlisle autocross. If your car can't hack autocrossing don't ever take a cloverleaf at high speed or make any emergency lane change maneuvers to avoid someone cutting you off!

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Stating the same thing a little differently, if your car can't hack autoX, it probably shouldn't be on the road driving to Carlisle in the first place.

[ex_are_four_tea_eye]

Oh I'll definitely do it next year. I really haven't been driving the XR much before this trip, mainly just working on it, only owned it a year so far...

After going 955 miles for this years Carlisle I have more faith in the car... It didn't break down at all. And the few issues that came up are getting fixed now.

I really should have done it this year though, considering the previous owner used to autocross this car.

[Ed Lijewski]

There were 20 entrants, 10 of which were Merkurs. Note that Jim Gosses is a Merkur owner that was racing his Mustang.

Jim Gosses' son was driving his own car--the Mustang.

YMMV

[Ed Lijewski]

As for autocross leading to car failures, I don't believe I've ever had an autocross-related failure. My cars have over 700 runs on them too. I had a failure recently at an autocross where my car overheated and blew a coolant hose, but that was because my 4-year-old was pushing switches in the car during the off-season and turned off my cooling fans. Had I not towed the car to the event my car wouldn't have even made it to the autocross in the first place.

Other than a cone mark I don't anticipate any Merkur owner ever having issues from the Carlisle autocross. If your car can't hack autocrossing don't ever take a cloverleaf at high speed or make any emergency lane change maneuvers to avoid someone cutting you off!

Probably accurate, but those who watched Nick Sarin's 4th or 5th run when his XR let out a massive, steamboat sized belch of white smoke for a couple of seconds worried at least until the smoke dissipated that something could be amiss.

YMMV

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Probably accurate, but those who watched Nick Sarin's 4th or 5th run when his XR let out a massive, steamboat sized belch of white smoke for a couple of seconds worried at least until the smoke dissipated that something could be amiss.

Nick's car arrived with that issue. The autoX just helped to demonstrate it a little better.

[DSPXR4ti]

I'm going to throw down the gauntlet once again, this time 12 months in advance. If there is a 2010 Carlisle autocross, I'm going to win. Clang!

Ok I'll take that bet but I'll put this out there I can only do one, so... if I win the solo 2 national's will I be able to make the 2010 Carlisle, if I don't win then I'm going back to the National's in 2010.

Ben

[Grayson]

It sucks that my attendance at Nationals will prevent Ben from coming to Carlisle next year.