After 3 years in service, the GGLC Truck that carries all our autocross equpment was beginning to look a little worse for wear. It was decided that we would paint it in the classic Lotus colours of British racing green with a yellow stripe. We wanted something big and bold, it needed the GGLC logo and we wanted something that showed the cars. This was our final result:
We went through a bunch of different designs, with horizontal stripes, car cut-aways, big flash photos of cars, Union Jack flags and other elements. The final design is bold – big vertical yellow stripe; messages – GGLC logo and GGLC branding; statement – says what the GGLC is about; cars – shadowed/ghosted car images down the length of the truck.
Text by Kiyoshi Hamai, Photos by David K Ellis, Video by Rahul Nair
The 2010 GGLC Autocross Series came to a close on October 16th at the expansion parking lot of Great America in Santa Clara.
The event closed what was another banner year of GGLC autocrossing that featured 6 points events, a practice event and two 2-day autocross schools. In all there were nearly 500 drivers who took over 5,000 runs and spent over 4,000 minutes on track (nearly 3 days of driving)!
We thank the 2010 GGLC Autocross Series sponsor Boardwalk Lotus, Redwood City, CA for supporting the entire series and providing our trophies and season ending BBQ celebration.
Final Round – October 16th
70 drivers arrived and were confronted with a challenging course that twisted through the lot. Weather was “perfect” fall Bay Area, a bit cool in the morning with a very light breeze mid-day with a few clouds around to temper the sun.
Of the entrants 37 Lotus comprised of 21 Elise and 6 Exige, plus it was designated as “Classic Lotus” day. The classic Lotus were represented by 3 Seven/Seven clones, 3 early Elans, an Esprit and 3 Europas, or maybe we should say 2 Europas and a “Europa” in BIG quotes!
Course set-up took a bit longer than usual since we aren’t as familiar with the site and unlike the Marina site there aren’t any 20’ x 20’ squares in the concrete. But, we were up and ready to run by 8:30 and the first car hit the track right at 9 am.
This was a longish course, with a crossover. Coming from the start box was a very quick left-90 and then a slight right bend and a crest that made a blind entry into a sweeping and dipping right-hander. You then sweeped to the left under power into a sweeping 180 right that was followed by a 4 cone slalom. The trick was to stay well to the inside exiting the 180 to set up for the slalom.
It was back through the crossover and bend to the right with a tight exit as there was a bulge on the left. This was followed by a double right hand corners where you took the first as an early apex, then took an early turn in for the second as the tarmac fell away toward a drain in the lot and the car wanted to drift wide of the apex.
A fairly quick left sweep that led up to the far end of the lot and a 90-left followed by a straight and a box slalom. The final leg was another 4 cone slalom where the 3rd cone was off-set causing you to have to slow.
Raw TTOD went to our own Barry S. in the peusdo Europa with a 42.811. Barry just finished re-assembling and installing his engine the evening before after getting some machining done to cure an oil leak that cropped up 2 weekends earlier.
Barry’s “Europa” may looks sort of like a Europa… the only part that’s still pure Europa are the door skins, roof panel and bit of the rear quarters and engine cover. Underneath is a modified Esprit chassis, custom suspension and a turbocharged 3 rotor Mazda 20B engine with Porsche gearbox.
John Z in the Flamer Europa got down to a 52.2 before running into a driveline problem and Tom C got his Toyota powered S2 Europa to a 56.499.
The Elan drivers were showing their stuff with Royce H in his S3 Elan down to a 53.767 followed by Mel B at a 54.694 (when he could find his way around the course) and Dan W at a 56.083.
The Seven-clones were speedy and competitive with the quickest being Jim R in his WCM Ultralite getting down to a 47.489, Rahul N also in a WCM Ultralite at 47.511 and then Dave H in a Caterham Superlight at 47.840. Great driving from all three to be within 4 tenths of one another!
Andy C took the his Esprit to best 54.796.
And then came the gaggle of Elise and Exige drivers.
Fast time for this group went to Shelly M at a blazing 45.328, showing everyone why Shelly is the reigning 2010 SCCA SoloII Champion.
For stock Elise came Cappy P with a 48.975 and stock with R tires was Alfonso C at 47.634. The quickest Exige was driven by Pascal V with a 47.165 just besting Hiroshi K at 47.913.
The Open Class was topped by Barry’s Europa and 2nd went to Issac A in a EvoX at 46.103.
BBQ and Year-end Awards
As has become the tradition at the final event, we arranged for a catered BBQ lunch complete with tables, chairs and tablecloths! BBQ beef and chicken with potato salad and dessert was prepared on site and year end trophies awarded.
This year the Open Class winner was a repeat champion, Joshua S in his 2006 Evo-IX. 2nd in class was Issac A in his 2008 Evo-X.
In what can only be called an upset the Lotus class Champion went to Shelly M who’s consistent finishes put her a top last year’s champ, Jason S.
We also had a chance to take this fantastic photograph of all the Lotus lined up during the lunch break. Click on the image to see the full resolution version but be warned that it is a very large file (10 MB)
GGLC Autocross 2011
We now get a bit of a breather over the winter. And, within the next couple months the 2011 GGLC Autocross calendar will be announced. It’s likely there will 6 points events with one or two practice events, a autocross school and LOG 31 (Lotus Owners Gathering) in Las Vegas where the GGLC has been asked to host the LOG Autocross. So 2011 will be fun and busy!
Photo Gallery
A huge thanks to Dave Ellis for taking these wonderful pictures and making them available to the club.
As the GGLC has done in past years, we celebrate the closing of the AutoX season at the final event (October 16th ) by presenting the class awards for the series and offering a catered BBQ luncheon at Great America supported by our AutoX series sponsor, Boardwalk Lotus, Redwood City. The club would like to see more non-Elise/Exige drivers bring their Lotus cars out to AutoX events to dodge some cones. As an inducement, we will have special competition classes for pre-Elise/Exige Lotus cars at this event. So, no more excuses, we want to see Europas, Elans, Sevens and Esprits out there on the 16th!
Registration is now open to club members at MotorsportsReg. This will be the last event of the year and the final points event for club members. The event will open up to non-club members next week.
Registration is now open on Motorsportreg for club members for the September 19th GGLC autocross in Marina. This will be the fifth points event of the season for club members. The event will open up to non-club members next week.
Entry Fee (includes sandwich and drink for lunch):
GGLC Members: $60
Non-Members: $70 Click here to register:
By the way, this is our last event of the season at Marina. Our next event will be the season finale in October at Great America.
Registration is open on motorsportreg.com for club members for the August 8th GGLC autocross in Marina. This will be the fourth points event of the season for club members. The event will open up to non-club members next week.
Entry Fee (includes sandwich and drink for lunch):
GGLC Members: $60
Non-Members: $70
Click here to register. This event is only one week after our July 31st event, so don’t get confused 🙂
Registration for the second GGLC Points Event Autocross of the 2010 season is now open.
This season the Golden Gate Lotus Club is creating a new trophy and classing system for our autocrosses. There will now be just one single consolidated trophy for all Federal Elise/Exige variants that replaces all older classes for street and race tires. The new trophy uses a PAX Index based classing system which is a commonly used handicapping system for comparing times of cars which are not in the same class. The index is composed of data from across the country, and tries to take the driver out of the equation and compare only the cars. Each class in the new Elise/Exige trophy has an associated PAX index which is multiplied against your raw run time to provide single comparable time that shows the driver performance within the car. You can determine your class using the GGLC Autocross Classification tool and entering your cars specifications and modifications. Once you have found your applicable class please enter that during the registration process. The points and overall winners for the 2010 GGLC Elise/Exige trophy will be based on the class-based, PAX-indexed times only. Additionally the Open Group trophy will now mirror the SCCA classification with no special dispensations for tire compound.
Registration for the first GGLC Points Event Autocross of the 2010 season is now open.
This season the Golden Gate Lotus Club is creating a new trophy and classing system for our autocrosses. There will now be just one single consolidated trophy for all Federal Elise/Exige variants that replaces all older classes for street and race tires. The new trophy uses a PAX Index based classing system which is a commonly used handicapping system for comparing times of cars which are not in the same class. The index is composed of data from across the country, and tries to take the driver out of the equation and compare only the cars. Each class in the new Elise/Exige trophy has an associated PAX index which is multiplied against your raw run time to provide single comparable time that shows the driver performance within the car. You can determine your class using the GGLC Autocross Classification tool and entering your cars specifications and modifications. Once you have found your applicable class please enter that during the registration process. The points and overall winners for the 2010 GGLC Elise/Exige trophy will be based on the class-based, PAX-indexed times only. Additionally the Open Group trophy will now mirror the SCCA classification with no special dispensations for tire compound.
Registration for the Saturday April 10th GGLC autocross event is now open. It is a practice event with no points and will be held at the Centennial Lot of Great America in Santa Clara. As you can see in the video we had a great time the last event there and we look forward to starting the 2010 season with another fantastic event.
Registration for the GGLC/BMWCCA joint EVO school on May 1 and 2 is now open. As someone who has taken the class before, I highly recommend them as one of the best ways to improve your skills and get better at autocrossing. The classes will be conducted in the Great America parking lot in Santa Clara and official class descriptions are below:
Phase I School
The “original” Evolution program as developed by the McKamey Autocross School. This first step in the Evolution is where all students start,regardless of experience. Daylong course builds upon students existing skills, while introducing new ideas to improve one’s times. Students both ride and drive with Evolution trained national caliber drivers to learn where they are fast and where they need to improve. Small student teacher ratio of 6:1 insures quality instruction time.
Combined with race proven skills, concepts, and techniques this course will improve the performance of all drivers on both road and track.Even experienced driver’s benefit from the Phase 1 course as a refresher for those things they’ve forgotten over the years or perhaps never learned.No matter what type of car you drive the Phase 1 skills will improve your overall driving abilities.
Note: All students must provide their own two-seat vehicle for the day. Two driver cars are welcome.
Phase II School
Building upon the skills learned in Phase 1, Phase 2 takes the driver into new areas of mental race preparation, allowing the Phase 1 skills to be applied as second nature. Various driving exercises are conducted throughout the day to improve the driver’s visual and mental imaging of the course, resulting in quicker lap times.
This course has worked “magic” in reinforcing the importance of Phase 1 skills and transferring those skills to every autocross course you may encounter. The Phase 2 track design is not the same as used in Phase 1 and generally has higher speed sections.Note: Phase 2 students must first have completed the Phase 1 Program. As in Phase 1, students must provide a two-seat vehicle for the day.
Its time to start thinking about the 2010 autocross season! The Golden Gate Lotus Club will be hosting 7 events this year along with 2 schools. The dates are as follows (October TBD):
Saturday, April 10
Saturday, May 1 (Evo AutoX School)
Sunday, May 2 (Evo AutoX School)
Saturday, May 15
Saturday, June 5
Saturday, June 26 (Evo AutoX School)
Sunday, June 27 (Evo AutoX School)
Saturday, July 31
Sunday, Aug 8
Sunday, Sept 19
At least 5 of these dates will be points events for club members, April 10th will be a practice event. Note, a couple of these dates are Sundays.
We are going to change the classing and points system this year to give more drivers an opportunity to win. The idea is to have all drivers compete in one competition with 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes, and to use a pax-style system to account for car differences and modifications. More info will follow when the details have been decided.
The Evolution autox schools will be held jointly with the BMWCCA club. Phase 1 will be on the first day of the weekend and phase 2 will be on the second day. You must have completed phase 1 before you can take phase 2, so for most drivers (unless you have done phase 1 sometime previously) the option will be to sign up for either the first day or both days. The price will be $275 for a single day or $500 for both days. Registration is due to open on the evo site on Feb 1st. See the Evo School web site for more info. Note, sign-up for these schools will be restricted to just members of either the GGLC or the BMWCCA clubs.
