Members of Audi Club Lone Star Chapter and Porsche Club of America Lone Star Region met at GrandSport Speedway in Hitchcock, Texas on a cloudy but mild Saturday morning, October 29, 2016. The Trick or Treat Autocross is PCA’s largest autocross of the year in the Houston area. More than 60 cars of all marques participated in this professionally-staged and instructed drivers’ event. Skill levels varied from rookie to instructor level, and safe introductions to the sport were made available to our members who had not experienced the thrill of autocrossing their own cars before.
Autocross (AX) is an entry level competitive driving event around a course defined by traffic cones. Each lap is individually timed for each driver. There is no “wheel-to-wheel” competition, and speeds seldom exceed 70 mph; speeds through the turns will be between 45 and 55 mph. A typical lap at GrandSport is about a minute and a half.
GrandSport Speedway is a race track built on the former site of the Goodyear blimp base near Galveston. You can still see the giant moorings for the airship in the distance. The 1.5 mile road course track itself has a 14 acre concrete paddock, and a covered viewing stand for spectators. Lunch was provided by Berryhill Baja Tacos, and plenty of non-alcoholic drinks were available to everyone.
The activities began early in the morning as cars assembled and began the check-in and preparation process with their own rides. It was clear that some participants were serious racers, judging by their trailered cars, tents, and other race track amenities. One tent even had a couch for everyone’s viewing comfort!
Our group consisted of two R8s, an S4, a TT, and an S5, brought by two new faces to our club. We were allowed to run in the same group for classification purposes. We studied the course by means of a track walk, planned our strategy, and the drivers meeting began.
As the cars began to line up for the first run group, our instructor and ACLS member, Tom Eng, gave rides on the course to those interested in a hot lap. We love the smell of hot brakes in the morning!
Each driver got six laps in his own car during the event, and we were pleased to see lap times steadily dropping on all our entrants’ time sheets. Just a few spinouts to test the limits gave the spectators a thrill and the drivers lessons learned. If you’re not pushing the limit, you’re going too slow!
We learned that autocross on a professional course with experienced instructors in a safe environment is a fun way to test yourself with your own vehicle at its limit. Everyone completed the event with no incidents and no damage to any of the cars. Judging from our young friend’s reaction, perhaps we inspired a young ACLS member-to-be to strive for excellence. We had the honor of winning a class trophy, awarded to Tom Eng’s R8, “Gitta”!
More pictures and a video on our Facebook page “Audi Club Lone Star Chapter” here: