LAS VEGAS REGION SCCA PRESENTS MINI MADNESS

By Rick Kostelaz

On March 27th Las Vegas Region held Round 3 of our 2010 autocross competition series. Once again Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted us on their Bullring paddock. The Bullring paddock and parking area consists of some very nice asphalt measuring approximately 300 ft by 1600 ft with additional areas available for pit and paddock use.

Our course designer, Dave Hironaka, put this nearly half million square foot facility to good use designing an unusual course specifically contrived for the Mini Cooper. When actually driven the course had some fast sections punctuated by a very tight middle section which featured three 180 degree turn-arounds, then finished up with some fast but technical long sweepers and gates. The times ranged from a 42.776 for Paul Durr in his Kart to a 78.648 for Mindy Morrissey in her Mini Cooper S.

This year Las Vegas Region invited the Mini Cooper club to join the autocross fun as they held their annual “A Mini Vacation In Las Vegas” event here in Las Vegas. Each year, in the recent past, the Mini Club has invited Mini owners from across the nation to a Mini vacation here in Las Vegas. The event draws hundreds of Mini owners and for the past two years Las Vegas Region SCCA and the Mini Club have made our autocross part of the festivities. This year we had thirteen mini’s join us in our autocross and as word gets out we hope to have many more mini’s in the coming years. Go to www.amviv.com for more information.

As might be expected for Las Vegas in March, we had a little wind during the morning which diminished as the day wore on. Temperatures ranged in the low seventies and the sky’s were clear and bright blue. An altogether perfect day for our third SOLO of the year.

Bart Freevol was our event chairman for the day and he managed to get all ninety drivers four runs in the morning sessions and five runs in the afternoon for a total of nine exhilarating runs. Bart ran a smooth event managing to get all eight-hundred runs completed before our five o’clock cut off time. Our events are limited to eight hours of run time because our paramedic/ambulance team is there for only eight hours.

Competition:

F-125 As always our fastest times were put down by the Karts, Paul Durr ran the fastest time of day with a 42.776 in his 2002 CRG Heron while second fastest time went to Paul Cottrell in has 2005 shifter kart with a 45.017.

BSP & SM Aaron Godwin drove his Mitsubishi Evo to an impressive 47.031. Aaron also took top PAX time with an adjusted 40.681. He was followed by Brandon Chappell in his Mitsubishi Evo with a 47.672.

D Modified & E Modified The Mitsubishi’s were followed by Eric Waugh driving the D Modified 1987 Honda CRX to a very nice 49.675. Rick Kostelaz brought out his EM Fiero Tomcat for the second time this year and managed a 49.991.

Las Vegas Region SCCA Supports Super Chevy Show

by Rick Kostelaz

The Las Vegas Region was approached by the organizers of the Super Chevy Show to host the first autocross in the Chevy Shows thirty year history. Traditionally, the Super Chevy Show featured drag racing and a car shows but this year it was decided to include a competitive autocross into the mix.

The Las Vegas Region membership jumped at the opportunity to be the driving force behind this inaugural autocross. Super Chevy approached Mary Pozzi a multi time SCCA national champion from San Francisco Region as their technical consultant. Rick Kostelaz, Las Vegas Regions SOLO Chairman worked closely with Mary during the planning stages for the event and the two of them put together a fun, safe yet technical course for what was expected to be an event heavy with first time drivers.

The weekend of March 19-20-21 was blessed with some great southern Nevada weather, blue sky’s and temperatures in the low 70’s greeted the twenty-five Las Vegas Region members who skillfully worked this event. LVR was charged with providing a turn-key autocross operation for the organizers of the first in a series of ten Super Chevy shows to be held throughout the nation in 2010. If you ask the competitors, sponsors or officials of Super Chevy, they will tell you that the inaugural autocross was executed professionally and flawlessly.

Being the first autocross ever at a Super Chevy Show, people were rightfully apprehensive about the success of such a venture. About midway through the first day their initial concern turned into the realization that they had a real winner on their hands. The autocross was accepted by the participants and drew more drivers than anyone had expected. As for the drivers, they had fun, learned a lot about driving their cars on a closed course and will probably be back next year for more.

The sponsors were also very pleased with the success of the event and especially with the professionalism of the Las Vegas Region team. Total Cost Involved Engineering, a manufacturer of custom frames, chassis and suspensions provided their TCI ‘68 Camero for numerous runs on the autocross course. As you might expect the Top Time of the event was driven by Mary Pozzi in the TCI Camero. Wilwood Disc Brakes builders of top-notch brake kits, calipers, pads and rotors, Currie Enterprises producer of custom rearends, axles and drive line products, and TCI co-sponsored this first Super Chevy Show of the year.

Rick