Went to the afternoon session of SCDA's Car Control Clinic at Lime Rock last Tuesday. This is a new format that SCDA is trying, using Lime Rock's wet skid pad and dedicated infield autocross course. It rained all day Tuesday, so we didn't need to use the sprinklers on the skid pad.
I've run on the autocross course at Lime Rock in the dry with Skip Barber, and it's a blast. You'd never guess you could have so much fun at less than 65mph! That was three or four years ago with Skip Barber's M3s, Lexus IS-Fs, and Lotus Exige Ss.
This was an opportunity for me to do it again with a lot more track experience under my belt, and in my own car. I was looking forward to doing the autocross in the dry, but the rain probably met the purposes of the day better. It was a fantastic opportunity to slide the car on purpose and practice recovery. And it was a blast!
I've attached a short video clip of the autocross course. We had the instructors ride shotgun first to give tips, and then we circulated around on our own. Some of you will probably think, "You can do the same thing in a rainy parking lot much cheaper." Point taken, but by doing it this way, you have pro instruction, in a controlled environment, with no fear of hitting kids, shopping carts, other cars, curbings, lamp posts, etc. Not to mention this avoids unwanted police attention. Although near the end of the day I did a 270° and slid into the grass--shortly thereafter my low pressure warning for my right front tire alarmed. I checked the tire and realized that I had a leak from the bead at the sidewall/wheel junction. I filled the tire back up and limped home. It consistently lost 8psi every 12hrs or so for the next couple of days until I could get to the dealer. They unmounted the tire, cleaned out some trapped dirt, and remounted it. Problem solved.
Anyway, it was both fun and great practice. They're likely to do more of these events in the future, and I highly recommend them.