Stranded, caught in the Crosstrek

Well I didn't get the Lightning brake line fixed in time (just finished before starting this post so good to go for the autocross this ... I mean ... next weekend).  I signed up for the Chesapeake Region of the Porsche Club of America autocross at Bowie Baysox Stadium in our 2019 Subaru Crosstrek.  It's bone stock right down to the original (just turned 55,000 miles) tires of some flavor.  But it's a six-speed manual, and the brakes are really good, so it shouldn't be too hateful.

It was not hateful.

Karen says we need new street tires after
just two events.

I toyed with the idea of actually driving the Camaro down, roughly 20 miles.  I actually drove it to the Baysox Stadium in 2010 (I think) to autocross with the same Porsche club.  In the rain.  On Hoosiers.  And took FTD beating every Porsche there.  But given all the little bugs and gremlins that may be gone but I don't know if they are still there, I opted for the dependable Crosstrek.  I had no delusions of grandeur of repeating the FTD feat, but seat time is seat time.

I think the lot has been slightly expanded since 2010, but for a "good" course, it still has to go through islands.  No big deal to me, but there have been some incidents there in the past.

With the Crosstrek, I was in the non-Porsche SCCA PAX class in the slowest class since G Prepared has been retired, H Stock Street!  I don't think I've ever run in HS before.  No idea about the competition.  Jerry Byrd was there in his STU Subaru STi -- he's usually "in the mix" locally in STU, at least back when I autocrossed regularly.  Yaroslav and Meilyng Buraka have apparently defected to P-cars and are part of the PCA crew.

This picture was taken on Sunday, so in the
Saturday autocross, the Crosstrek was Just shy of
55,000 miles and still on the original tires.

Funny story, I had taken the Crosstrek to Summit Point the week before and since I had intended to drive it before T.s. Garp offered the Mustang, the car had numbers and class letters on it but sat dormant while I thrashed the Mustang.  

Flash forward to this Saturday morning, did the same thing applying magnetics to the Crosstrek and unloaded the car.  Some guy came up pointing at the car and said, "Hey were you at Summit Point last weekend?"  I told him yes I was but I drove a Mustang in C Prepared.  The results weren't fixed to show me driving the Mustang, so it still shows me winning CP, fourth-fastest time overall and tenth in PAX ... in a Crosstrek.  This guy actually thought I drove the Crosstrek!

We got six runs, and I started off with a 49.4 and got down to a 48.5 by my fifth run.  Really thought I could get in the 47s but slowed down on my final run.

Ended up 13th out of 34 in the guest PAX class, 24th overall in PAX out of 61, and 41st in raw time.  Still beat some Porsches.  See final results.  I've only driven a 944 while instructing a long time ago, so I'm waiting for that offer to drive a real P-car!

After this weekend, I kind of wonder what would be faster around an autocross course -- the tow vehicle or the Crosstrek.

Bonus video, exactly 10 years ago to the day from Saturday, autocrossing the Camaro at FedEx Field: