Topeka is at least 25-26 hours of driving, done in 3 days unless you are really
good at long-distance driving or split the driving chores with a codriver.
To do the Pro and Nationals, the plan is to get an early early start on
Wednesday morning and do at least 14-16 hours of driving (usually 4am to 10pm)
and that includes stopping only for gas and meals. Thursday you do 10-12 hours
of driving (8am-10pmish) with a little longer stops in between. Friday you
pull in early enough (mid-day) to get teched and do practice starts, register,
check into hotel, hover around the pool, etc. etc. And yes, I know those times
don't quite match up, but you get the idea.
Coming back you leave early Saturday morning (some leave immediately after the
Friday night banquet) and drive as much as you feel like. Normally that gets
you back mid-day to late Monday with enough time to recover before being back
to work on Tuesday.
For some reason you will always end up in Elko, Nevada at some point in your
trip (even if you take the Southern route). Other attractions along the way
include the Bonneville salt flats... Bendover, Utah... Salt Lake City... the
plains of Wyoming (aka nothing)... and eventually into the corn fields of the
mid-west unless you cut down into Denver (never done that). The southern route
gives you beautiful Buttonwillow... boiling hot Phoenix, Arizona... the long
climb out of Albuquerque, NM... a blip through Texas and you're practically
there.
For Nationals only, plan to arrive Mid-day Monday (so leave early early
Saturday morning) in order to register and walk the courses. If you run
Tues/Wed you can get home in time for the weekend but it's fun to stay for the
Thursday-night talent show (assuming they're still doing that). If you run
Thu/Fri you can arrive mid-day Wednesday and come to the awards banquet.
San Diego always seems longer than it is... and depending on your rungroup, you
might be leaving SD at 5:00pm Sunday night which doesn't get you home until
almost midnight depending on where you live up here. Trick is to avoid traffic
heading down (best trick is to leave after work Thursday night and stay
overnight somewhere on the way down).
Both events definitely worth doing! Qualcomm Stadium is certainly one of the
most unique autocross venues if only for it's elevation changes. And you can't
beat the weather. Nationals is something every serious autocrosser should do
at least once if only to meet all the names you keep hearing, or hang out with
your region buddies for a whole week. There are even tourist things to do in
Topeka if you want to make a vacation out of it (though most wives will be sick
of the whole autocross thing halfway through the week, especially if they're
not competing).
--Darren "Vaguely planning for Nationals this year, but we fly-in!"
jake@codeworm.com wrote ..
> So assume some idiot decided driving cross country for
> 10 minutes of Autocross would be a nice way to spend
> his tiny allotment of vacation time.
>
> How many days should that idiot leave on each end of
> the event for transit time? Keep in mind the idiot
> would be driving a tiny Toyota with no cruise control
> hauling a trailer covered with tires.
>
> What about San Diego? How long a drive is that?
>
> I happen to know of someone who is at risk of being
> such an idiot, but he'd have to talk to his boss real
> soon to get it all worked out..
>
> Jake
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