We started the day by meeting at Sunoco in Cattonsville for GT100 at 6 am. We arrived to event site still a little later than expected at 7:30 am. It took us 45 mins to setup our canopy and prepare the cars for tech inspection; unfortunately, we came to find out that we would not need the canopy since everyone was going to the grid and staying there all day LOL; well at least some of our items stayed dryer.
We were quite worried because of the rain, since the superchallenge would be based on PAX and in the rain we cannot use all that the cars have to offer to the drivers
. We needed to put 3 seconds to the STX group to win, and with Tom Hoppe in the mix, just getting ahead of him is any issue. Thankfully, Brian Garfield and Mike Cole at the helm of the blue STi, they were able to put 0.1 to Tom; then we dropped the tire pressures by *5 psi* for Brian's final run and he pulled an amazing 39.8, putting 1.4 seconds to Tom and his national championship winning WRX.Serkan Karamete did an amazing job of smooth driving under dismally rainy conditions to take the AS win with Burak Tuglu, who took 2nd place. This is the second time in a row Serkan beat Burak, and this is his rookie season of autocrossing
In the afternoon, things were looking great with rain over and track drying rapidly. After lunch we decide to switch to our Hoosiers, and it certainly paid off. Times dropped significantly and the fun factor increased equally.
I think at the end of the day, everyone - rain or shine - had a wonderful time. The competition factor, course and weather challenges, and low-cost of entry make autocrosses an tremendously attractive alternative to street racing
We certainly cannot complain about our results, all of our drivers and cars did better than my personal expectations. We brought two of our SELGP STis and lined up 8 drivers
, and...A Stock: 1st and 2nd places
E Street Prepared: 1st and 2nd places
Street Modified: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places (may be even fourth place, not sure)
Overall Event 1st and 2nd
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our drivers, who put their best efforts, professionalism and attitude: Mike Cole, Brian Garfield, Serkan Karamete, Greg Obadia, Eric Kreimelmeyer, Ron Shurie and of course Burak Tuglu.
Also, there is no question that we cannot accomplish any of our testing and development without the financial and technical support of our closest sponsors:
1- Cobb Tuning (http://www.cobbtuning.com)
2- Hillmuth Certified Automotive (http://www.hillmuth.com/wrx)
3- Radial Tire Co. (http://www.radialtire.com)
3- Subaru of Gaithersburg, Fitzgerald Automall (http://www.fitzmall.com/automalls/gaith.asp), and
4- Porterfield Racing Brakes (http://www.porterfieldbrakes.com)
Also, thank you to all the participants in very difficult conditions; we sincerely hope we will see all of you more frequently in our region's SCCA autocrosses
