In message <200003181242_MC2-9DAC-CA31@compuserve.com>John Kelly writes
>Message text written by Alexander Komlik
>>If I may ask, what is Duel at DeAnza?
>>who holds this event?"
>
>It is an annual affair that has been going for over 20 years. It is
>operated in the style of 20+ years ago by the College auto shop/club.
I had a great time at last year's event. All sorts of people and
cars show up, and it is a real party atmosphere, with a huge (by
autox standards) crowd cheering everybody on. I actually felt a
little nervous running, as I was taking an automotive class at
DeAnza at the time, and a fair number of my classmates were there.
The classes were pretty close to SCCA classes (at least for BS and
CSP, the two I was interested in). The event cost a mere (IIRC)
$14, and happened practically in my backyard, so getting there at
7AM was no sweat. There was an enormous line of folks waiting to
get registered, so get there early, and be prepared to wait.
The tech is a little more gung-ho than what I'm used to; they even
jacked up my car! I guess that this was an opportunity for the
students to see all sorts of fun cars, so they really checked 'em
out. Besides, considering the variety of cars there (all sorts of
fairly old stuff, not necessarily in perfect condition), it was
probably good to check carefully. The tech line was huge, with
perhaps a hundred cars and an hour wait.
The grid was bad, but not awful. They lined us up in the parking
lot, and moved out folks row by row, so that you could leave your
car and spectate for most of the day, and move your car when it
was finally time to run. That still meant a fairly long line to
take your one run, with half hour of nudging your car 20 feet at
a time.
The actual course was pretty small, but having the large crowd and
enthusiastic announcer made it pretty fun after all. Since the
students are putting on the event, none of the drivers have to work
the course or do anything but run. How can you beat it? They handed
out trophies (well, nice wood plaques) after everybody had run.
It was definitely a strange experience, and nothing like any of
the other autoxes I've run (in my vast year of experience). It
was much more focused on fun than serious competition, so you'd
wanna come with the right attitude.
Kevin
kml@patheticgeek.net
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