From: Jonathan Dove <JDOVE@gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu>
>Ha! My parents still call autocrosses gymkhanas too.
I'm still tempted to do so. Some of the great event names sprang from this
term. The run through Wakanda Park in Menomonie Wisconsin was called,
naturally enough, the Wakandakhana.
>
>I have a video tape of transferred 8mm films that were captured from
>a friend of my parents back in 1965-67. There are some shots of a
>gymkhana/autocross at a shopping center on a Sunday. Even then seat
>belts and helmets were not required. There is also a shot of the timing
>system that was activated by running over a hose.
I started in the Twin Cities in 1968. Helmet and seat belt were required.
Timing was by lights. Some of the events were still stop-watch, but most
clubs had lights. The 3M Sports Car Club timer used binary-light readouts!
The BMC club timer used a digital readout that froze every time the
start-finish beam was broken, but the timer kept running. The operator had
to write down the start and end times on a card. A second person would
subtract the start time from the end time to get the car's score.
>A segment of the video has some hill climb activity. There lap belts and
>helmets were the only required safety equipment. And people competed in
>their street cars also.
I went to the last Mondovi hillclimb in those days. Same deal.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
Lotus Europa, VW Quantum Syncro, Chev Suburban
LOON, TCVWC, MAC
pethier@isd.net http://www.visi.com/mac/
|