The Elise BEGS to be driven and driven hard. So, it came to be that the Club111 joined with the Golden Gate Lotus Club to present an Autocross School.

Club111 and GGLC member, Larry Bisares approached me about autocrossing. It was a simple question, “I want to learn how to drive my Elise better. Are there any autocross schools?” “Well, not really…”, I said. Larry then queried, “Can the club do an autocross? How hard is it?” I said, “Sure, it’s not that hard… We just need someone to chair the event.” “Well, how about me?” said Larry. And with that the Club111 had an Autocross!

Club111/GGLC Autocross School - June 18, 2005

Larry contact and secured the Marina Airport for an Autocross School on June 18, 2005.

We then contacted the Lockheed-Martin Sports Car Club to make the date a joint event. The GGLC and Club111 would secure and rent the site and LMSCC would contribute the use of their autocross equipment, an equitable arrangement that worked perfectly for the three clubs.

The Autocross School had 39 drivers, 12 from LMSCC and the remainder from the GGLC and Club111. These drivers were instructed by 13 experienced autocrossers, Michael Sands, Jim McClure and myself from the GGLC, Randy Chase and Robert Puertas from Club111, 4 from LMSCC and the remainder from the SCCA.

GGLC and Club111 Drivers

Dominic Angelini	San Jose	2005 Elise
David Berthelot	Santa Clara	2005 Elise
Larry Bisares	Sunnyvale	2005 Elise
Patrick Boylan	Oakland	1997 Toyota Twin-Turbo Supra
Abe Chen	San Jose	2005 Elise
Adrian Cockcroft	Los Gatos	2001 Elise S1
Laurel Cockcroft	Los Gatos	2001 Elise S1
Paul David	Tracy	2005 Elise
Joe Finegold	Santa Barbara	2005 Elise
Eric Fournier	Alameda	1993 Esprit SE
Colm Gavin	Mt View	2005 Elise
Matt Gawlowski	Sunnyvale	2005 Elise
Kate Hanni	Napa	2005 Elise
Tim Hanni	Napa	2005 Elise
Sanjay Kapoor	San Jose	2002 Esprit V8
Brian McSweeney	Foster City	2005 Elise
Phil Mitchell	San Jose	1969 Elan S4
Michael Prentice	San Francisco	2005 Elise
Bob Schultz	Redwood City	2005 Elise
Bonnie Spindler	San Francisco	1989 Esprit Turbo
Jacob Tom	Marina del Rey	2005 Elise
Bill Wester	San Jose	2005 Elise
Bill Young	Oakland	1999 Esprit V8

Drills & Skills
The morning sessions focused on building skills at a few basic autocross course elements. Two courses were set up, Course #1 focused upon slaloms and Course #2 on various types of corner elements and situations. Half of the drivers and instructors took to each course. Then as small groups the instructors led their drivers on a walk-through of the course pointing out the driving line and talking about what to expect on course.

The groups then broke into three, with one group of drivers driving with their instructors, another working the course and the third observing. As the drivers progressed through their runs you could see their confidence and speed growing. Each successive run was faster, cleaner, smoother and more precise.

Merge and Practice
During the lunch break the two smaller courses were merged together into a full course that provided a great opportunity for the drivers to try out their newly learned lessons on a full course that had all the elements learned in the morning sessions.

Again each driver had his or her instructor available to ride or drive on each run. The course was challenging with an opening slalom followed by a short straight and then a right-hander that needed to be taken with a late apex. A 3-cone slalom followed then a left and a longish straight into a nice 180. Using a nice wide entry into the 180 helped you finish off the turn with a late apex, followed by a shortish straight. Next was a technical bit, the next right-hander was take wide in order to get a nice wide sweeping arc leading onto the longest straight. By staying wide on the right-hander you were able to get on the throttle early and blast down the straight.

Coming off the straight was another right, a short straight, a quick left-right leading into another right that put you into the final slalom.

After the drivers had their runs on the full course the instructors got to play. Giving rides to their drivers the instructors put on a show! Lots of smooth fast lines, wonderful to watch drifts and times that illustrated what lots of practice and experience does.

What Driver’s Had to Say…
“Thanks everyone, that was my first event and I enjoyed it a lot. I pretty much said it all already on EliseTalk, felt very safe, was suprised by my car capacities, drove way faster than I ever did before, my instructor was an amazing help. The social aspect of the event was also very enjoyable since I met a lot of nice people.” – David B.

“I had a great time and learned a lot from my instructor and from the driving time. It was great to get together with other Elise owners again. A big thanks to the instructors who volunteered their time.” – Joe

“Kate and I want to say we had a complete blast. It was well worth the drive down from Napa. The event coordination was great. Everyone we met, especially Jim, our instructor, was really warm and welcoming. The course was really great, much longer than I had anticipated.” – Tim

“I would like to thank the instructors and all the volunteers who helped make this a real fun event.

• Thanks to all the instructors for helping specially newbies like me to understand the basics of autox'ing, better appreciate the potential of my car and providing an opportunity to meet other like-minded folks. Kudos to my instructor for making my lesson very informative and fun!!
• Track runs with instructors (in their cars and mine). Simply put - WOW!!

“The AutoX was a stupendous success! Being able to run two simultaneous autocrosses in that huge parking lot was great. Also, I can't say enough about the great instruction. Having Mike walk us through the track and showing us the best line was invaluable and made the event so much more educational and enjoyable for newbies like me.” - Bill