Brentwood, TN - 21 June 03 - Tennessee Baptist Children's Home - Spokes RoadCross

Billed as a 'Mini-Road Course over Real Roads', this event was a blast. Heard about it from the TeamTAC bunch (Twickenham Auto Club, Huntsville). I'd never really had an interest in the asphalt SoloII/Autocross events, riding in a flat, barren parking lot around cones, but this one on 'Real Roads' sounded like fun. We had just watched the 'Targa Newfoundland' on TV the night before, where they raced thru the cities and countryside of Newfoundland Canada. 

Figured at least we'd see some nice cars, and after all it was a benefit for the Children's Home on whose campus the race was to be held.

We left out Friday after work, and put in at a motel in Athens AL, just across the road from the McDonalds where the TeamTAC bunch was to meet up the next morning for a convoy up to the site. At 6am Saturday, me and Kristian were having our breakfast there, then we headed on up towards Nashville.

TBCH provides a home for approximately 50 'students' who are either orphaned or come from broken homes. Children are separated according to age and sex and live in one of about 6 houses located around campus. There are administration buildings, a gym/assembly hall, basketball courts, swimming pool and other buildings spread throughout this beautiful campus. Narrow one-lane roads winding thru huge old trees (which ended up being surrounded by tires barriers). There was even a small park in the middle where the children played. We sat up our service area just off the parking lot that was being used as the grid.

Off to registration, a quick tech inspection, driver's meeting, a walk thru of the course and we were ready to go. The course started in the parking lot, then a couple quick turns and you ended up doing a 180 around a cone set in the middle of a basketball court. Then a couple more quick turns, including a 90 corner with a tree less than a foot off the road (in the apex luckily). Then blasting down a slightly crooked straightway with a quick bobble around another tree (you ran straight toward it at speed, then a quick left/right tug on the wheel before nailing the brakes to make another 90 turn. From there, a short straightway into another box (180 around a cone) which was made extra tight by a loading dock on one side and cones on the other two. It was hard to get around this 180, and it left you heading back the way you came. Retracing the course backwards (including another 180 around the basketball court), and you crossed the Start/Finish line.

Comments from the event:

"As you can see, we are using tire walls to contain spins.  It may leave a mark, but not as large as the tree itself would. "

"These roads are fairly narrow, so precision driving counts!  No curbs, but you know how a car acts when it goes onto grass!"

"What a great event!  I got the shakes after every run. The trees were only scary if you let them be."

"Great event.  Too dangerous to continue it in my opinion."

"Coming down the hill apexing on the tree and exiting at the telephone pole in a loose car is entertaining."

I thought we did pretty well, picking up almost 7 seconds from our first run to our best. Very tight course, and scary. Definitely would get your heart pounding as you swooshed past trees so close to the road. Lots of nice cars, a Lotus Super 7 replica, a Formula V, several Nissan 350Z, Porsches, Vettes (including a nice 63 Stingray), BMWs. The old RallyRanger was a little out of place, but I'm sure we had just as much fun as they did, probably more.

TCBH provided a lunch meal for a small donation. Sandwiches, drink, chips and a dessert were very welcome. All in all, and a extremely fun event. One of the TeamTAC guys (Aaron, who was the previous owner of our RallySaab) car never made it off the starting line, suffering from a dead coil. After the event we ended up hauling it back to Huntsville on our trailer while he drove the RallyRanger.

After dropping off him and his car, we loaded the RallyRanger back up and headed for home. Pulled in somewhere north of Birmingham for supper at a Outback Steak house. I was feeling terrible (so bad I didn't eat hardly any of my steak, so you know I wasn't feeling good). It was already almost 10pm and I figured we'd better put in for the night rather than push on further with me feeling this bad. Luckily there was a motel next door, and I didn't even bother to move the vehicles from the Outback parking lot. (A week and a half later I was diagnosed as having pneumonia).

More pictures from the event and another bit of another competitors story are located HERE.

If you'll check the Results chart below closely, you'll notice that we managed to get better times (aka 'beat') a AS-class Mustang Cobra and a SS-class 2002 Corvette.

Timing results for TSSCC's RoadCross Event - 21 June 2003
            Runs *FTD > 101.4
Class Car # Car Name Name 1 2 3 4 Best
AS 102 1996 Porsche 911 Cary Dunn 111.93 108.03 105.10 103.28 103.28
AS 63 Corvette Brian Deaton 117.47 112.00     112.00
AS 3 Mustang Cobra Art Giles 120.25 120.07 114.13   114.13
BS 46 1996 BMW M3 Brendan Thompson 105.25 DNF 103.32 102.69 102.69
BS 45 Porsche Boxster Rich Lavosky 107.47 106.15 106.25 104.12 104.12
BS 80 Porsche 911 Bob Clemons 105.22 106.69 104.56 106.22 104.56
BS 211 Nissan 350Z Andy Sexton 106.84 105.78 106.72 105.79 105.78
BSP 5 350Z Chris Vazquez DNF 105.93 103.94 104.78 103.94
BSP 33 Miata Face Petro 105.06 104.00     104.00
BSP 2 Nissan 350Z Doug Stewart 108.18 104.44 106.90   104.44
BSP 350 Nissan 350Z Adam Broslat 111.78 111.62 108.16 108.25 108.16
BSP 9 240Z Randy Shemin 110.75 111.19 110.38 110.03 110.03
BSP 13 Datsun 280Z Jim Leutgens 113.22 111.72 120.56 112.25 111.72
CSP 194 Mazda RX7 Alan Branch DNF 103.81 102.41   102.41
CSP 93 1991 Toyota MR2 Nick Thompson 110.31 105.97 102.88 104.44 102.88
CSP 48 Mazda Miata Craig Farr 104.85 111.13 105.66 103.09 103.09
CSP 94 Mazda RX7 Charles Wright 114.37 104.75 DNF 104.44 104.44
CSP/L 41 Mazda Miata Pat Owens 106.72 106.78 105.78 106.88 105.78
CSP 20 Mazda Miata Jeff Blondin 111.09 108.50     108.50
DSP 42 Neon ACR Tim Brewer 106.16 101.53 106.59 103.50 101.53
EP 86 VW Scirroco Aaron Mosher N/S  
AM 63 Lotus Super 7 James Burrus * DNF 101.75 101.40   101.40
FM 90 Caldwell d13 Mark Rothermel 107.47 104.25 103.09   103.09
SS 50 2002 Corvette Lynn Ryder 132.28 119.12     119.12
FSP 16 VW Jetta Sport Greg Marvin 112.03 108.84 109.53 108.16 108.16
HS 15 Chevy Caprice George Kimble 118.94 121.91 122.06 122.22 118.94
HS 1 Jeep Cherokee Mike Strawbidge 116.19 113.54     113.54
HS 61 Ford Ranger Maurice Tinkler 120.68 115.37 113.72 114.43 113.72
HS 11 Jeep Cherokee Scott Strawbridge 126.28 122.15     122.15
HS 4444 Chevy Impala Al Turner 132.12 127.38     127.38
GS 00 Plymouth Neon Andrew Duthie 113.56 109.56 109.16 108.56 108.56
SM 68 VW GTI John Barnett 104.25 104.50 DNF (trans.) 104.25
STX 61 Subaru WRX Micheal Fiyak 104.16 107.06 105.94 103.50 103.50