Tell us about your autocrossing experiences. I don't care if you have a Cooper, an S' or a 1977 classic! If you're stock, great! If you have mods, tell us about them. What cars have you gone up against? Where have you been? And what was the overall experience?

 

ive been meaning to go auto crossing for some time now!
all i have are our autocross like roads that go on and on and twist for days.
after winter ill be up at english town
stock 02 coop

 

Gather round children and I'll tell you about a thing called Gymkana, when the MG's and Minis, VW's and Volvos, Porsches and Peugeots, Fords and Fiats gathered to meet in the early morning hours at the local mall parking lot to duke it out amongst the cones......didn't matter if there were curbs, didn't matter if there were light poles set in large concrete bollards, those brave (and ignorant) drivers ran anyway!

Many a VW Beetle found itself on it's roof when it went around the cone at just slightly over 8 mph! Many a Triumph Spitfire found itself spinning in circles when it went around a cone at 10 mph and the rear end jacked up due to the swing axle rear suspension! Many a Corvette sent up plumes of tire smoke as it lost the rearend going around a cone at 11mph and the driver said to himself "ah f** it" and just stomped the throttle and did circles!

Required equipment was a seatbelt and a helmet, and yes - more than one person showed up with their high school football helmet.....

The scene above did actually happen. My buddy had a '69 Fiat 124 coupe and I had my '62 Cooper S, another friend brought his Fiat 850 coupe too and another had his Mustang - the course was set up in a local mall parking lot - there were light standards everywhere, one of the course requirements was to drive down between two curbs immediately after a corner! Some of the cars were pretty fast too, there were Cobras and Vettes and 911s and more than one bent something before the day was out!

One of the VW Beetles did turn turtle at about 8 mph, about 6 corner workers ran over and turned it over and he went on thru the course.
The Vettes were a hoot to watch as they understeered terribly, but with a little too much throttle they just made smoky circles around the cones.

 

I did nothing to my car except install 16" Dunlop Star Specs. I was two seconds faster than anyone else who turned up. Next year I'm running in the street tire class to have some direct competition instead of comparing my times to cars in faster classes.

The car is a joy to drive. With the sport suspension it is perfectly balanced by running 3 pounds less pressure in the rear tires.

 

Some say that to unlock him, you have to run your finger down his face, and that if he was getting divorced from Paul McCartney, he'd keep his stupid whiny mouth shut! All we know is, he's called The Stig!