By Collin Fat

The recent heat- wave this past week really put a damper on attendance this month at the SVR autocross event on August 23^rd. Twenty-seven courageous drivers tested their skills at the large skid pad at Thunderhill Raceway against another wonderful course design by Kent Trieber. There were high speed straightaways, large sweepers, and several high-speed entries to some of the sweepers that required precision braking.

The autocross team takes safety very seriously and that also relates to the dangerous conditions that are related to heat and heat stroke. Course workers can be out on the hot tarmac for up to 60 minutes at a time and when the ambient air temperature reaches 100 degrees, the pavement can be more than 15 degrees hotter. To avoid any heat related complications, the program practices what we call an AVOID THE HEAT, schedule where we try to get the runs starts no later than 8:30 am and finish before the hotter afternoon temperatures. For this event, the first car got out of the gate when the temperatures were still in the 70’s and we got our last run in around 1:00PM as the temperatures just hit the century mark.

Most autocross drivers average something over 55 years in age. Most of us are not in the best of shape or have the conditioning of a marathon runner. You can disagree with me on this assessment. As such, I observed many of the drivers sitting in their cars while waiting for their next runs with the air conditioning on! We might not all be young and fit, but we do know how to stay comfortable! I forgot to turn off my AC on one of my runs! Though I did not get my best time of day, I certainly remained cool. I actually encourage my students to run with their AC on! With newer Porsches having somewhere north of 250 horsepower, most drivers are not going to feel a significant loss of horsepower or torque! The benefit is that you will remain fresher to complete your day of autocrossing.

For the past 10 years, our autocross participation has been growing, and we currently average more than 40 drivers per event. Most encouraging, we are seeing a trend with younger drivers participating in a growing number of ladies as well participating. At this month’s event, we even had 5 drivers under the age of 30 participating. Though none of these youngsters were driving a Porsche, I believe having been around so many Porsches at this event I can certainly attest that they are now aspirational Porsche owners. This bodes well for the future of our club and the Porsche brand.

Top time of day on Saturday went to SVR club president, John Leet with a time of 43.487, followed closely by Grady Carter, 43.606, Collin Fat with a 44.421, Greg Zajic with a 44.419, Andrew Howell, 44.502, Lanny Bowden, 44.543, Michael Klein, 44.950, Dana Carlson, 45.191, Steve Nieslony, 45.489, and Matt Deter with a time of 45.534 rounded out the top ten finishers. This was our 6^th event of the series which concludes with season finale on November 8^th at the Toyota Amphitheatre in Wheatland. With a series competition on the line, many of the class winners have still not locked in a championship and with 3 events remaining in the series, many of these drivers are racing to pickup points or to maintain their leads.  The full results can be viewed at: https://svr-pcaor.org/wp/results/

Our next autocross event is scheduled for September 20^th, and I am hopeful that the temperatures will be more in line with fall weather. If you are new to the club and have been sitting on the sidelines thinking about participating, now is your chance to register. The AX team will provide personalized instruction as well as a free loaner helmet. It is lots of fun but you won’t know how much fun you will have unless you register now: https://msreg.com/SVR2025AX7