It's just about that time to pull those cars out of storage and get them ready to race! In a few short months we'll be back on the pavement and warming up the tires! I, for one, am really very excited as this year looks to be one of the best ones in a long time. I'm working on filling out the regional events schedule, and already we have more events planned for '07 then we had in '06. And that's from only two regions! If anyone out there has any events you want posted, please send that info over to me so I can get it posted.

We would like to welcome the Eastern Buckeye region back into competition this year! It's nice to have you all back!

The tentative schedule for this year has been posted here, and the minutes for Annual Board meeting can be downloaded here (.doc). Please, remember to sign up for the Mailing List. Results will no longer be mailed out via snail mail.

This weekend the Allegheny Region will be hosting IRAC III at BeaveRun! Come join us Sunday, August 20th at one of the coolest venues of the year. The best part is that us Porsches will be going up against some other car clubs. Let's see who's the fastest out there!

Schedule for the day is:
7 AM - Track opens
8:30 AM - Registration is open
9 AM - Tech and course is open for walking.
10:30 AM - Drivers meeting.
11 AM - Autocross.

"There will also be a team challenge after the regular IRAC runs have been completed. Each marque will have the opportunity to form a 5 car team for a one-run shootout. Times will totaled and the team will the lowest total score will be declared the winner. Details will be spelled out at the drivers meeting." - Thanks Andy for the info.

Well, I hope I'm not the only one looking forward to IRAC II this weekend, June 12th, hosted by NOR. I'm so excited that I even updated the schedule (gasp!). If anyone is interested in saving some time at registration, you can print off the registration form ahead of time. For anyone that hasn't been to an autocross at Lakeland, it's a smooth piece of pavement--that combined with John Hulick's course design should make for a fun day of driving.

If anyone is coming early from out of town, Les Checel has scheduled a pre-race diner gathering at the Pearl of the Orient restaurant in Shaker Heights the night before (Saturday June 17th). Anyone up for some high class chinese food should come up, it'll save you that early morning drive everyone hates so much.

IRAC 1 turned out to be a great event. Congratulations Mid-Ohio Region for an interesting course layout and a well run event. The weather turned sunny and warm for the 41 drivers who got 7 official runs each for the record books and a ton of fun runs afterwards.

It seemed to be a 911 day with 23 drivers in 911s, including 1 turbo. Other cars included 3 drivers in 928s, 3 in 944s, 3 in Boxsters, 1 in a 914, 1 in a 356A, 1 in a 912. That is a good representation of the Porsche models. The rest of the field was filled out with X-cars so even if you don’t come to race, it is a great time to see some gorgeous vehicles There was even a gentleman there in a GT3, but he did not come to race which was a shame. We would have liked to see how the GT3 would handle the course, which included both very fast sections and slower more technical sections that tested the drivers’ skills.

The course started with a fast run to a three cone slalom that exited into a broad sweeping left turn of 270 degrees that emptied on to the longest straight of the course. This was the fast part of the course and if you did the slalom and the 270 just right you could really fly through the straight and get ahead of the clock. At the end of the straight was an easy right turn with a short straight leading to a very tight 180 to the left. This was the start of the slow portion of the course. It was too easy to come into the 180 way too fast. The trick was to get on the brakes at the end of the short straight and come out of the 180 with the power on. But not too much power because you were then entering a series of offset gates that required car control. The last set of offsets led to a sharp right turn and then in and out of a garage to the left. You came almost straight out the second door of the garage through a short straight and into another 3 cone slalom. At the end of the slalom was a hard left followed by a tight sweeper to the right of about 190 degrees with a slight break back to the left to get out of the sweeper and across the finish line. Sounds very technical when you read this, but it had rhythm and smooth transition from section to section and flowed right along. The catch was knowing just when to hit the brakes and when to get on the gas. The results of IRAC 1 have been tabulated and can be viewed under the Results section of this website.

IRAC 1 was a great start to the 2006 autocross season. As usual there was a good deal of laughter and comradery as we have come to expect at IRAC events. After a cold hard winter, seeing old friends, and welcoming new faces into the autocross fold brightens the day and makes the trip to Columbus worthwhile. We are really looking forward to IRAC 2 on June 18th