Autocross

This is the first of an owner's autocross photograph sets from a national marque meet, and it is really a record of first attempts. The captions follow drivers through their opening runs of the day: a man on the start line convinced he is about to be quick, the same man a run later working out that he needs a front anti-roll bar, stiffer springs, better shock absorbers and stickier tyres, and then wondering whether the cones he has to pass are on his left or his right.

That sequence is what every first autocross day looks like, and the last part of it is the important one. Course memory beats equipment. A driver who walks the course twice, counts the gates and knows where the finish is will beat a better-prepared car driven blind, which is why a first-timer here placed well in class without changing anything on the car. The other photographs make the same point from a different angle: the same corner taken on a good line and on a bad one, with the difference plainly visible.

There is also a passenger-seat observation about nerves — a driver drying her nails before her run, and then going out and doing well. The page is kept as it was published on this domain, with its links to the other sets in the series.