A nice day for an autocross – a bit brisk in the morning but the sun was shining and it warmed up a bit in the afternoon.
The veteran Mercedes-Benz group included the O'Malleys' 1972 300SEL 4.5, which was ably driven by both Greta and Hans. We'd still like to see a few more of the older Mercedes-Benz cars out to give Debbie Hirtes and the O'Malleys something more to run against.
As usual Denise Dersin showed the guys how it's done with a run of 42.990 seconds. Yet another Ladies Fastest Time of Day and first place for Denise. Bill Stewart put down a run of 43.376 seconds to take Mercedes-Benz Gentlemens' Fastest Time of Day and edge Ted Joseph into third place by a bit less than two-tenths of a second. Paul T. Vandenberg and Paul D. Vandenberg were fourth and fifth respectively.
Ben Weber had a run of 45.262 seconds to edge out Jim Smith, who was driving spouse Joan's 1995 E320 while his 190E 2.6 is under repair for some damage suffered at our recent NJMP event. GWS President Bill Hopper slaughtered a few cones on one of his runs, but still managed a respectable time to finish third.
The V8 class was back to normal, with GWS VP John Heflin putting on an entertaining (but fast) run of 44.682 seconds to edge out Henry Harrell. Laurie Harrell rounded out the field and finished third. Steve Spector was back and was once again running solo in the SLK group. Richie Crim and Jim Glenn were out to represent the AMG group. Even on street tires, Richie was able to move his 2006 C55 around the course fast enough to edge out Jim Glenn, who was so smooth his E55 AMG seemed to be running in slow motion.
In “Other Marques” the ladies were back out, with Sarah Lewis driving her JCW Mini Cooper S to a first place finish. Newcomer, and complete autocross tyro Cheryl Schwarz cut her times by roughly 20 seconds as she got more experience - not bad for a stock 2004 Oldsmobile Alero! Pete Gochman drove Mike Wirt's 2007 Porsche Cayman to a Fastest Time of Day (and first place finish) with a 40.890 second raw time. Mike finished second with a 42.490 and Brad Blase was third in his Porsche Boxster S with a very smooth run of 42.771 seconds. Brett Hack consistently surprises everyone by driving his underpowered, virtally stock 1990 Miata to top finishes – this time fourth place with a very nice 44.318 second run. Howard Leiken was out again in his Corvette to take fifth. With the exception of a couple cones in his first two runs, Howard would have finished much higher. New MBCA member Juan Guzman continues to do well and finished sixth in his 2002 Honda S2000 with a nicely done 42.727. Wesley Wilk was out with a 2001 Acura Integra R and took seventh place with a solid 44.490. Newcomer Cary Caivolella was back and got another top-ten finish in his very clean 2008 Scion tC; Mike Kallam Jr. ('98 Dodge Neon) and Patrick Pereira (2003 Acura NSX) rounded out the top ten.
Be sure to join us on November 1 for the last autocross of the season. If your name is Brett Hack, the next autocross is your last chance to qualify for a trophy.