I went out this past Saturday with the North TX S2000 club to their autocross in Mineral Wells. I wasn't planning on competing since i could only stay for the morning runs, but the peer pressure got to me.

oddly, i'm surprised there were no Z's out there. i spoke with one of the club officers (i think?), and she said they tried a couple years ago to get the local Z clubs to organize and come out with them, but they never did it.

anyway, it was a blast in the roadster. i figured i wouldn't do that great since i've only autocrossed twice. it's been 5 years and it was in a 97 prelude, so i'm sure i'm not the best driver. it was a pretty tight course, so i knew the s2k's and miatas would have the edge anyway, especially over my stock, heavy ZR.

the best time i saw was 70 seconds, by a guy in an Elise. i was told he's a really good driver. most of the experienced guys were running mid 70's in lightly modded cars. a few were turbo'd and S/C and a couple had R compound tires. i think they were in the mid, maybe low seventies. on my 4 runs (last two with a passenger), i ranged from 83-85, so i wasn't terribly disappointed. i think i did alright my first time out...especially having never pushed it's limits and never before having a torquey RWD car.

i had a heck of a time keeping the rears under me, especially in the off-camber left in the back corner. although, i was very happy to not ever spin. i got almost sideways a couple times, but always somehow recovered it.

i'll post a link to the results when they post them.

 

We have been trying to get a day at the motorsports ranch. It just has not come together. We should all talk about it on the meet on the 18th. This thread might be moved down to the texas thread.

 

yeah, i bounced between putting this here or in the TX forum. i figured any autocrossers would likely be here as well. for as many TX Z owners as there are, those forums aren't too busy.

a day at MSR would be great. i've been wanting to get some instruction out there at some point or another. i stopped by one day and rode one session with a woman named Renee in her yellow 05 anniv edition...her first day on nismo racing wheels and R compound tires i believe. now that was fun.

 

It seems like there ought to be an SCCA chapter in the DFW area that would be holding regular autocrosses.

http://www.texasscca.org/

From the SCCA site:
Texas Region (41)
Regional Executive Robert Vick (817)483-9933 fpx92@aol.com
Assistant RE Daniel J Cashman (972)579-7440 DCRacing1@hotmail.com
Membership Robey Clark (214)415-1909 robeyclark@mindspring.com


A side note - one of the guys from New Orleans who used to autocross with us recently moved to Dallas. He posted a message this morning about this very event. He was driving a silver S2K with LA plates. He was probably very fast .

 

Here's what you guys are looking for. I've raced with some of their members and they're good people.

http://autocross.com/tr/index.shtml

Let us know how it turns out. Looks like their next event is this coming weekend.

 

i know there's plenty of autocross events around here. besides the SCCA events, the local BMW and S2000 clubs each have a saturday event most months.

i just find it odd that there's such a large number of Z owners around here, and neither of the local Z clubs organize anything like this.

 

I'm in the Houston Region which is one of the largest in the country (140-180 entries per month) and me and one Z are the only G/Z's out there consistently. I can't believe there aren't more Z's out there.

 

there are autocrosses just about every weekend all summer/spring/fall. between equipe rapid, SCCA, s2k, BMW, and PCA you are certain to find something to go to. although, i got kinda bored with the autocrossing. i don't like wasting an entire day for 3 minutes of driving fast. thats why i devote all my time to the track. MSR is where it's at.

anyone wanna organize a MSR day?

 

exactly my point for DFW as well.

 

I was at MSR for an HPDE event with Apex Academy a few weeks ago and I'm looking to get back. I live in SA. I think they have another one scheduled in a couple of weeks. MSR is a nice track and I really enjoyed it. I had the only Z amongst a bunch of Vettes, BMWs & Porsches. It felt good passing a few of them on the track!

Let me know when you guys organize a Z day @ MSR and I'll get the word out in South Texas!

 

I'd consider driving the 400 miles just to spend the day at MSR. Very nice facility.

 

Heck, I did it a few weeks ago, left SA @ 4am, spent the entire day @ MSR and drove back to SA, arriving around 9pm. Now, that was over 500 mile round-trip but well-worth it!

There's an event on Thursday, December 7th for $155 for Apex Driving Academy grads only. Eight 20-minute sessions!!!

 

You guys keep saying MSR like there's only one. Houston or Fort Worth?

 

Check the topic . . .

 

There's no autocrossing going on at either MSR.

Besides, from San Antonio, it's about the same distance to either.

 

hmmm i got that e-mail too anyone going? i would love to lap a few Z's over and over again

good thing i ordered new brake pads again. now i just need to find tires that don't fall apart...

 

You know, I'd like to check that track in Houston. Is that the new one on the east side towards Galveston? Do you have a website for them? How is that track anyway? I'm also looking at The Driver's Edge event at the Texas World Speedway on December 11/12. Are you going?

 

The email noted there are only 12 slots left (out of 32?). Man, I wished it was scheduled on a weekend. Even a Friday would have been good. Just call in sick . . . cough, cough . . .

 

I hear it's great. I'm waiting to upgrade my brakes before I do another DE. I've fried many pads and rotors at TWS.

Driver's Edge does events at MSR Houston as well. Next one I go to will be one of those. The MSR Houston site is here:

http://www.msrhouston.com/msrhouston/homepage.asp

 

Hey, thanks for the info. Are there a lot of Zs/Gs that go to TWS or MSR-Houston? Maybe I can get a few of us from SA to drive out there one of these days.