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So... I just had one of the best motoring weekends of my life.
I'm still picking the grit out of my hair, and my eyelids hurt everytime I blink. How dusty was it? Compare the first picture and this un-edited version:
Last weekend, Tuason Racing School held a test-drive and time trial competition to show off their new cup car. Bragging rights and a new set of tires were up for grabs as nearly a dozen car clubs descended upon a dusty lot in the heart of the city to show off their driving chops. It was kind of bizarre holding a dirt-cross event for a tarmac racer, on a huge, empty lot surrounded by fast food joints and high-rise condos, but it was sweet.
Sunday morning was chaos... our car club had filed an official running list the week before, but that all went out the window as we had to re-register on the spot. From fifteen runners, we were down to six. And none of those six was me!
Luckily (for me), as the day wore on, it became apparent that some of the runners weren't going to make their slots. Citing previous engagements, sunburn and general dehydration, our clubmates disappeared, one after the other. One guy who'd inherited a running slot had a previous engagement out in the boondocks and had to run (literally)... since I was standing beside him at the time, I took his running card... clutching at it much like a Hobbit with a gold ring...
...one hour later, I was strapped into a stripped down, AC-less, and very very dusty car. It was over a hundred in the shade, and there was none out on the track.
Now, the Tuason Cup Ford Focus isn't exactly a rally special... hell, it isn't even as quick as my daily driver. It's basically a 1.6 repmobile stripped of all amenities, with no carpet, back-seat, airconditioning or muffler. But it sounds the business, and since when have you needed power to go sideways in the dirt?
After just two practice runs, I was ready. Hell, dirt is easy in a small car. Brake early, turn in under the brakes to get it rotating, and hit the gas to make the car go the rest of the way... how hard could it be?
On my eliminations, I set a 42.96... nowhere near the fastest time (40.98), but surprisingly, there were only four or five people faster than me, as everyone else was doing 45's and 47's. I had dust flying in my face through the open window (it was only afterwards that I learned why the Racing School hadn't uninstalled the power window switches) and gravel pounding the underside of the car so hard that the exhaust fell out of its hanger after my run...
I had the car oversteering very slightly around corners, after getting the rears unstuck with a judicious dab on the brakes... I didn't topple a single cone all day... and I was tucked in very tightly through the double figure eight on the course (though they wouldn't let us use the handbrake)... everything was just peachy, and I was having a blast. .
In fact, everything was so peachy, that in my confidence at finally breaking into the 41's in the finals, I DNF'd because I'd forgotten all about the chicane.
Oh well... the next day, I won a Playstation 2 from a local magazine on a write-in... who cares if I didn't win the tires?
Why wouldn't they let you guys use the handbrake? Afraid of spins or over-zealous drifting?
Nice pics, btw. Is that you in the third photo?
👍 But Karting and track experience help even more. 
Actually, it's a good demonstration of how techniques work in real life. You'd be surprised at how much quicker you get when you drive smoother. Just because a Kart can stick through almost any corner at full throttle, it's not the fastest way through.
