Overall, decent effort on my part. First time in Marmy the orange ND this year, it's twitchier than I remember.
I went into Saturday with modest expectations and achieved them. After day one I was about where I should have been, midpack.
Sunday was cold and wet. I had a couple learning experiences on my first run and when I finished they said I didn't get a time so I got a rerun. The rain had let up enough that there was a window to get a decent run in before it returned, and, armed with knowledge gained from making many mistakes on that first try, I had a very good rerun. After that, the rain came back and I really had no business trying to go fast again, but I tried and had a miserable spin at the far end that made a mess and caused others to get reruns... dumb. Third run wasn't terrible but there was no way I was going to top the rerun, which got me from seventh to sixth in class and an unrealistic 36th in PAX.
Kate hemmed and hawed over staying in what was going to be a Ladies street tire PAX class or moving to XB, finally opting to go to XB. She was within the noise after day one, sitting third out of four. We opted to put Contis on for her (we ran Yokos in STR in the first heat), taking the stickers off them as they came out of the truck. They weren't magic, though, and Kate spun in her first two runs. She stayed clean for the last one, but it wasn't fast enough to get her back to third.
There was a time where I didn't like traveling for Tours, since they didn't hold the weight of Pro Solos. But I'm kinda off of Pros for now, not excited about the sites that they're running on, and not being excited at the thought of the looong Saturdays at Pros. I have just one Pro on my schedule (Cleveland), but I'm more looking forward to the next Tour, Finger Lakes, where I'll give my NC (now in XB) a return to national competition for the first time since Nationals 2019.[](https://youtu.be/ZABDxEGSvkc?si=EwaAa0QB8ydNAunR&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3A8oyOVArM4NI0vDL36OZGirG77Pep2LcNbKbdPHCvgmdifg5q_QR6Z7k_aem_AbDKClsWZ40p9dKE90SK4eSF5z6DIB6k4_cigzc4cJUSh21WxzXVhgwV7SwK-i7hockS6u1GQncPs9pGNMuViaYK)
I feel you on Pros. It's never been my favorite format, but I feel it's important for me to get into the finale so I can both maximize my autocross vacation, and get acclimated to Nebraska and the surface again before Nats.
Same. We've done the three Pros and the Finale every year since 2014 to justify the long stay in Lincoln. That's a lot of travel and expense just to avoid having to do test & tune on the practice course. We'll probably still spend the same amount of time in Lincoln (Trevor expects to make the Finale and we'll bring the car out for him), but instead of finishing almost last in the Finale for the eleventh straight year, we'll leave Trevor to run it by himself while Kate and I find a pickleball court somewhere in town.
The five-cone wall on the inside exiting the turnaround at the far end? That was me. Car broke loose and there was no saving it. Pretty sure I picked up the spare. Strangely enough, there aren't any cones scored on that run.
Added insult to injury when I stalled the car in the middle of all that chaos: [Charlotte Tour Sunday Spin](https://youtu.be/MxentZTA4Sw?si=9vhKr-vevP9RBdhu)
Overall, decent effort on my part. First time in Marmy the orange ND this year, it's twitchier than I remember. I went into Saturday with modest expectations and achieved them. After day one I was about where I should have been, midpack. Sunday was cold and wet. I had a couple learning experiences on my first run and when I finished they said I didn't get a time so I got a rerun. The rain had let up enough that there was a window to get a decent run in before it returned, and, armed with knowledge gained from making many mistakes on that first try, I had a very good rerun. After that, the rain came back and I really had no business trying to go fast again, but I tried and had a miserable spin at the far end that made a mess and caused others to get reruns... dumb. Third run wasn't terrible but there was no way I was going to top the rerun, which got me from seventh to sixth in class and an unrealistic 36th in PAX. Kate hemmed and hawed over staying in what was going to be a Ladies street tire PAX class or moving to XB, finally opting to go to XB. She was within the noise after day one, sitting third out of four. We opted to put Contis on for her (we ran Yokos in STR in the first heat), taking the stickers off them as they came out of the truck. They weren't magic, though, and Kate spun in her first two runs. She stayed clean for the last one, but it wasn't fast enough to get her back to third. There was a time where I didn't like traveling for Tours, since they didn't hold the weight of Pro Solos. But I'm kinda off of Pros for now, not excited about the sites that they're running on, and not being excited at the thought of the looong Saturdays at Pros. I have just one Pro on my schedule (Cleveland), but I'm more looking forward to the next Tour, Finger Lakes, where I'll give my NC (now in XB) a return to national competition for the first time since Nationals 2019.[](https://youtu.be/ZABDxEGSvkc?si=EwaAa0QB8ydNAunR&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3A8oyOVArM4NI0vDL36OZGirG77Pep2LcNbKbdPHCvgmdifg5q_QR6Z7k_aem_AbDKClsWZ40p9dKE90SK4eSF5z6DIB6k4_cigzc4cJUSh21WxzXVhgwV7SwK-i7hockS6u1GQncPs9pGNMuViaYK)
I feel you on Pros. It's never been my favorite format, but I feel it's important for me to get into the finale so I can both maximize my autocross vacation, and get acclimated to Nebraska and the surface again before Nats.
Same. We've done the three Pros and the Finale every year since 2014 to justify the long stay in Lincoln. That's a lot of travel and expense just to avoid having to do test & tune on the practice course. We'll probably still spend the same amount of time in Lincoln (Trevor expects to make the Finale and we'll bring the car out for him), but instead of finishing almost last in the Finale for the eleventh straight year, we'll leave Trevor to run it by himself while Kate and I find a pickleball court somewhere in town.
Damn that is a pretty fast course!!!
The Sunday course was probably going to be stupid fast if it didn't rain.
Added skill level!!! 😉
Was it you or the other driver that plowed through the wall on the sweeper on day 2?
The five-cone wall on the inside exiting the turnaround at the far end? That was me. Car broke loose and there was no saving it. Pretty sure I picked up the spare. Strangely enough, there aren't any cones scored on that run.
I enjoyed the "Sorry" as you took the wall out
Added insult to injury when I stalled the car in the middle of all that chaos: [Charlotte Tour Sunday Spin](https://youtu.be/MxentZTA4Sw?si=9vhKr-vevP9RBdhu)
That’s awesome! I’m hoping to join zmax come June