This weekend was the first autocross of the year here in the Twin Cities.
It was also my great honor to have Barney come from Illinois to be my
personal autocross instructor! His advice was a great help. It was also a
lot of fun to watch a 40 year old British car with 60 year old technology
show tail to most of the modern iron including a few Japanese and German
supercars.
Barney got in late Friday after an eventful trip that I am sure he will /
has described. Saturday was an instructional day where Barney first showed
me what to do out of the car, then had me ride with him to feel the lines,
then ride with me to provide input. One obvious observation was the
difference between my car (no front AR bar, tired engine, 165-15 mud and
snow rated tires) and Barney's. Mine slid and leaned in classic fashion
while Barney's just plain flew. I had quite a few comment about how much
fun it was to watch my car go around the cones. One person said that, if I
had a leather helmet, goggles, and a scarf, the image would be complete.
The car is very forgiving as set up and easy to control at large slip
angles. It is very easy to scrub speed if you enter a turn too hot by
letting the rear end hang out. This was the most fun that I have ever had
on the autocross. The Spit**re was too squirrely with the swing arm rear
end. The Corv**te was big, wide and numb and when it let loose, it was all
over.
The next day was the competition. A lot of people wondered how Barney
could be so fast in an MGA. I got more comments on how fun it was to watch
me swerve though with my elbows out, wrenching on that huge steering wheel.
Fun to do, fun to watch, but bog slow. Not the slowest, however. I was
in the hunt with the other street tired cars in my class so I felt pretty
good. Barney's advice helped a lot.
After the competition there were "buck runs"- you pay a dollar and you can
run the course. Barney let me drive his car and I abused it terribly. At
first, I was going faster and faster, waiting for the signals that my car
gave near the limit- body roll and tire slippage. Barney's car doesn't
roll and the race tires don't slip a lot so I lost it a couple of times-
the rear end collecting a few cones. On the last run, I kept within the
limits of the car but it turned in so much faster than mine that I
collected a slalom cone. My first run in Barney's car was the fastest and,
even with a spin, it was faster than 2 out of 3 runs with my car. Barney
took my car out once and beat my fastest time no problem. Well, I still
have a lot to learn.
The two red MGA's were the talk of the weekend. Many people said how much
fun it was to watch them run the course and how nice it was to see a couple
"old timers" used in battle instead of parades. I let a couple of other
people take my car out and, when they came back, they were grinning from
ear to ear!
Finally, a bonus trivia question. I chose 961 for my car number. These
are the last three digits the A's model year but it has another, much more
archane attachement to LBC's. Two hints: Having and agricultural
background would help and the connection is closer to Tri***hs than MG's.
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA "battle tested"
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