Congratulations Lawrence! 1,000 points is quite an accomplishment! I think many of us knew you would get it sooner or later. I bet you're pretty happy this week, eh?

Many thanks. "sooner or later" I think you were more optimistic than I. To be honest when I was driving the S2K I had put a target on BK as a goal and would call it a great day to beat him. Did not happen often. Moving to X, I still used him as a gauge and Barry Ott (Barry because of similar cars.) I thought any day to beat either of these guys would be a super day. It was always a great day when I was on top of a certain Cobra Vert!

I never really expected a 1000 pt day, just way too many top drivers here. It feels great. This was the first time where I did not have to go home and wait for the results to be posted to see where I ended up!

A lot of folks found the course to be fun and varied ... having both open sweeper style turns and some tighter slaloms. Did you attack any part of the course in a particularly tricky manner?

I think it is fair to say I enjoyed the course. Easy to follow, easy to screw up. Attack? Nothing unusual that I am aware of. Just my usual - right or wrong. On my last run I did my usual - cooked both slow corners and was really irritated. I think the only thing that saved the last run was trying to keep full juice on through the offsets coming back to the last slalom (which I did not, but could have). With the mistakes I made I expected a slower run than my second.

In general, did you take wide entries and late apex most corners, or did you try to save distance and take tighter lines?

There were a number of corners that (in my opinion) were necessary to late apex to be fast - for instance the three cones after the hard left near the start. Another that I really late apexed was the left going up the hill (going south) that set you up for the 180.

Tell us a little bit about the 'car' you drove.

The car, well, a Formula 500, F Modified in solo. A very regulated class.There are four engines allowed. One 440cc and three different 500cc units. Ours is a Rotax, model 494 – 500cc. I believe all engines come out of snow machines. The primary drive is also extracted from a snow machine. For those who do not know, the primary drive is consists of two clutches joined by a belt. I am learning a lot about clutching - with the help of our own Matt Leicester. The secondary drive was a belt drive that I converted to chain in order to play with ratios. The car is relatively light - min 800lbs with driver and the 494 Rotax. (750lbs with the 440 and 850 with the Rotax 493) The rear axle is solid - no diff. There is suspension that consists of things that look like shocks but have a rubber puck inside - not adjustable to my knowledge. The ride is actually pretty good. These cars are pretty quick off the line, at DIA my 0 to 40mph was just under two seconds. The B Mod cars are probably faster. Nothing but fun.

This was only the 3rd time you've autocrossed it, right? Do you think you've got it all sorted out already? I know many competitors don't want you to get too much faster!

Third time lucky! Sorted? Not really, but it gets better every event. My clutching is not yet perfect and I can gear it down some more for better acceleration. Ride height can probably come down a little and corner weights need to be checked. There is a new pipe out there that provides 7+ hp and a flatter torque curve. I think it is close - someone who really knows these cars may say I'm out to lunch. The car is just soooooo fun to drive. The feeling of speed and driving position reminds me of my brothers STV boat at 100mph. Compared to the S2K this thing just seems easy to drive. The hard part is going to be finding the limits without making it too eventful! Did I say the car was fun to drive? Faster? I think I will have to get faster to compete in X class. There are many very fast people in our region. Right now, I think this was a day where the course was good for me and our car. The challenge is to repeat.

Your wife Ann drives this car as well. I saw that she was getting faster and faster with every lap. Are you guys going to start wearing *blue* shirts now?

I am happy with Ann’s progress – she is not. The feeling of speed in this car is huge. 60 mph feels like 100+ in the Honda. I’m naturally stupid so the feeling of speed is fun, not so for Ann. More seat time will be good.
Blue shirts! NO! We are going to paint the car yellow!