It was my 3rd time racing an auto-x event, but it was the wife's first. Reluctant was the key word for Diana as she drove Miss Daisy around the course the first time out. I feared she would be caught by the car behind her and she nearly was. But, she improved as the day went on and began to get a tad more relaxed but agressive behind the wheel. For someone who has never been to an event it is simple: a specific route is laid out with orange cones on a closed course like a parking lot; you drive around the course without deviating from the course and without knocking down any cones; and you're timed. If you go off course or miss a gate, you get a DNF. If you knock down a cone or hit it hard enough to move it from its chalked spot, your time gets 2 seconds per cone added to your overall time. Simple, yes?
There are a multitude of cars, some are distant (very distant) relatives to "cars" and the goal is to do the best time you can in your class. There's no better way I know of aside from spending thousands of dollars to attend an accrediated, professional race driving school to gain experience driving at the limits of you and your vehicle. Since Diana wanted and got a Miata MazdaSpeed, I wanted her to either attend a school or race auto-x events. Yesterday was her first time pushing the limits, and I can't explain how happy it makes me to see she enjoyed herself immensely and is looking forward to the next event. The great thing was that several women were also there driving the same vehicle as their husbands, and actually beating them, so Diana was able to get to know them and get encouragement from them.
The only people in my class were Diana and BK. BK is one helluva driver and we also bike together. His Miata doesn't have a turbo like Diana's, but he more than makes up for it with skill. He did push a little too hard yesterday and came through the timing lights ass first, knocking a few cones into the air as well as the timing light reflector, on one pass but it made for a great battle between he and I the entire day. BK posted a faster time than me each time out and I had to push extremely hard to match or beat him by a hundreth of a second each time. I had to go all out and put down a good time or BK would win the day. It also took me the entire day to figure out the course so I could shift correctly for max speed. My final run of the day felt good and I took a second off my best time. BK pushed very hard trying to match my time but fell short by a few hundreths of a second. He was disappointed, but I would have enjoyed the day either way, win or lose, because we were there with friends enjoying the day. Yeah, we were competing, but we were also spending the day enjoying a common interest.
I consider myself to be blessed to have such a wonderful wife, companion, and dearest friend accompanying me through life. I've had many hobbies and took up many different sports in the last 16 years we've been together, and she has not only supported me throughout the years but also joined me by participating. At first I thought it was my passion for whatever I was doing that helped her jump in to join me, but it is much bigger than that. Along with whatever I got into, there has always been a group of people that made it fun to be part of and it makes life richer to pass time with them all. Diana and I enjoy our time spent on common interests, but it is the friends we make and have with us throughout our lives that make it worth doing.
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