Went to yet another SSCC Autocross event. It’s a really great group, and seeing as how the course was faster and had more switchbacks than last time, I wasn’t able to run the Tiguan. I did some research, and it appears that unless I can manage to hack 6 inches off the roofline, I won’t be able to run it again as it’s a very grey-area vehicle. I’d imagine I could run on the parking lot courses, but due to the massive weight disadvantage, even with a set of race springs I’d still get crushed. Simply put, I can’t go any faster in the Tiggy and be safe, so I’m going to have to find another vehicle if I want to do the Autocross thing again in the future. For now, I still show up and take pictures. This event had a big ‘merry-g0-round’ in the middle of the course, which was a great location to shoot some of the cars on their way into and out of both a left and right hand turn. The circle was run counterclockwise on the way out, and then clockwise on the way back, with other gates relatively near so as to effect a good set of transitions for photos.
I titled this post 3-wheel motion because A: pulling the left rear wheel off the ground at the last event I attended is what got me shut down with the Tiguan (understandably so), and B: While it can get dangerous if done repeatedly in a higher CG vehicle like the big VW, in smaller vehicles it’s almost mandatory once you reach a certain level of suspension setup. I managed to catch no less than 4 different vehicles pulling some sort of tripod action as they navigated the roundabout.
First, we have a Miata pulling the front inside wheel up while accelerating around the corner:
This wasn’t his highest wheel pull of the day, it’s just the best one I managed to get on digits.
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Next, another front inside wheel being pulled, only this time it’s in a shifter kart and is also while he’s got a little bit of opposite lock going on:
Having the massive width advantage allowing him to chose much straighter lines than everybody else (that and being light and fitted with slicks), this thing was brutally fast. I’ve driven plenty of regular go-karts, and the shifter karts are definitely next-level insanity.
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From there, we go to rear-inside wheel lifting, starting with a very quick Celica:
As I understand it, this car has a stock motor. The driver is very, very smooth, and his times showed it.
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Finally, we have what I consider to be my best picture of the day. A Mini Cooper that “has had some work done to it”. Many thanks to Jana for letting me ride along for her fun runs, as she’s a great driver, and the most seat time I’d ever had in a Mini was the Cooper-S I test drove while I was stationed in DC. GREAT little cars:
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