This is the most affordable way to get behind the wheel on the road course at Sandia Motorsports Park.

We divide the 1.3 mile road course in half to allow drifting and a road course portion simultaneously.

Road Course:
To keep everyone safe we add a few cones on the road course portion.

Drifting:
Being able to drift on a road course for the price we offer is out of this world!!  The entertainment offered for spectators is also amazing.  Spectators can ride along with drifters and experience the fun of sliding sideways at up to 50mph.  Drifting at these events are by far the best bang for the buck offered in central New Mexico.  You can literally drift as much as you want until you have no tires left.  Come out and join in the action with your own car or have an awesome time watching and getting rides with drivers.

2010 Event Schedule
April 10 9am – 3pm
June 12 9am – 3pm
August 14 9am – 3pm
October 24 9am – 3pm

Talk about this event in the forums:
http://racingsouthwest.com/forums/index.php?/forum/93-rsw-drift-cross/

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Racing Southwest forum topic: http://racingsouthwest.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72194

The first step is to clean out your car.  The junk cluttering up the back seat becomes a flying mass of projectiles during a race.  The first time I autocrossed my Focus, I was oblivious to the fact that  CDs become flying saucers of doom when g-forces are in play.  I had a set of ten CDs in a visor mounted case.  By turn three, they became a driving hazard by flying right onto my dash, passenger seat, and floor.

The second important race preparation is checking your tire pressure.  Under normal driving conditions, passenger car tires need about 36 pounds per square inch (PSI) of air pressure.  In a road race, drift, or autocross setting, tires should be inflated above the car manufacturer’s specifications.  This is because when your car takes corners, the weight is shifted to the outermost tire.  This shift in weight can compress the sidewall on your tire.  By filling it up with more air, you are protecting your sidewall from the added stress.  This will make your tires last a lot longer, plus you avoid rubbing your wheels on the pavement.

There are many theories about how much air to put into your tires.  If this is your first time out, look at the sidewall of your tire.  There is small lettering indicating the maximum pressure that the tire will hold.  It can be anywhere between 44 and 55 PSI.  After you have determined the max pressure, fill all four tires up 5 PSI less than the max.  If you cannot locate the max pressure, inflate them to 42 PSI.  This is enough pressure to keep most sidewalls from caving in too much, and a good starting point.  After you get a little bit more comfortable with your car, you can start messing with your tire pressures.

So, you’ve checked your tire pressure, it’s now time to check the tread.  Tread wear is measured in 32nds of an inch (1/32”).  This is because 1/32nd of an inch is the smallest size the human eye can see.  On most tires, there are tread wear indicators built into the tread.  As soon as the tire wears down to 2/32nds (1/16”) of an inch, the tread wear indicators become visible.  They are small strips of hard rubber that run perpendicular to the face of the tire.  If you can see several of the indicators, it’s time for new tires.

You can also purchase a tool called a tread wear indicator.  It looks like a vaccine, but instead of injecting fluid, you push a tiny ruler into the deepest Tire tread indicatorgroove in the tire tread.  When the ruler bottoms out, remove the tool and record the measurement.  Take measurements in a few spots on the tire to determine how worn it is.  There will be a safety inspection before the race, and if your tires are too worn out, you may not get to race.

The safety inspection is very important. The race techs usually inspect wheels, tires, steering, throttle linkage, and battery tie down.  It is a good idea to inspect these items yourself a few days before the race.  Make sure all of your lug nuts are torqued down in the proper order.  Visually inspect your throttle linkage while someone presses the accelerator pedal.  Make sure the spring-loaded lever moves back and forth smoothly.  If your throttle sticks open on the track it can be devastating.  Other major components to check include brakes and suspension, including shocks and struts.

Lastly, check all of your fluids.  It’s difficult to get motivated to change your oil in the cold winter, but now that it’s warming up, get out there and change it.  You will be saving your engine and your wallet.  Also check your brake fluid, coolant, power steering fluid, and transmission fluid if possible.  Most cars don’t have a tranny dipstick, but they do have fill and drain plugs.  It may be time to change that as well.

The last helpful tip I have involves removing your horn, turn signal, and windshield wiper fuses.  This will save you from the embarrassing occurrence of honking or cleaning your windshield mid-turn.

Now you’re ready to race.  Not sure where the next race is?  Check the forums.  The RSW Drift Cross is one of the best venues to start racing.  It gives participants a chance to try out road racing, drifting, and autocross.

Autocross is essentially racing around a course that’s marked off with road construction cones.  Participants race in their own vehicles against the clock.  Any skill level of competitor is urged to join.  At each event there are novices and experts alike.  Autocrosses are hosted by racing clubs, such as the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).

The first auto cross of 2009 in the Albuquerque area was put on by the Roadrunner Region Porsche Club of America (RRR PCA).  The course was set up in the parking lot of a church in Belen.  Race cars and daily drivers were both ready to rip around the cones.

The field was mainly comprised of Porsches, but the club allows anyone with a car and a valid driver’s license to participate.  They provide loaner helmets and helpful instructors.  The first few times out, “newbies” should invite an instructor along as a guide.  The sea of seemingly arbitrary orange cones becomes a confusing mess at times.  An instructor with years of experience is a valuable resource.

Before participants race, their cars must pass a safety inspection.  They must also attend a drivers’ meeting and pay the entrance fee.  The entrance fee for the PCA event was $30. Spectators watched for free.  After the business was taken care of, the morning race crew got into their cars.

A set of five cars pulled up to the staging area where a worker was positioned.  When the folks in charge of timing cued the worker, he waved a green flag.  As soon as the first driver saw the shimmering green flag, he punched it.  His car passed through a laser beam that started the clock.  His car rocketed from the start gate.  He then performed a series of well orchestrated shifting and steering maneuvers, his appendages moving as if he were in a rough, yet precise ballet.  Stomp the clutch, shove the stick into gear, and grip the steering wheel— as soon as that gas pedal drops, you’re in for a ride of your life.

The key is seat time.  Autocross can be the first step to higher levels of racing, but the most important aspect is experience.  It doesn’t even matter if your car is fast or slow.  Racing theory is best understood by simply racing.  You will start to feel out the physical boundaries of your car in relation to cones by having to dodge them so often.  You’ll start to understand how certain components in your car come into play in race conditions.  You’ll know how it feels under the various stresses gravity throws at you.  And in the end, you’ll be a better driver.

As the day progressed, the parking lot saw more and more sets of tires ran across it.  Young and old, man and woman, every driver was enthusiastic.  Some were annoyed at their own performance, vowing to do better on the next run.  Others were just happy to be racing instead of being at work.  The autocross community has a common passion and thus a common bond.  They all enjoy racing and find time in their budget and schedule to make racing a reality.

Autocross is a great outlet for your need for speed— plus it is way more fun than the video game.

When Will (“Fox”) asked me to start writing a monthly column on racing, I was really not sure what to write about and how to make it worth reading.  Lets face it, I don’t have any serious experience – I’m an amateur autocrosser and run time trials when I can. If you subscribe to Doug Hayashi’s “Pyramid of Speed”, I’m not even at the top:

The above image is courtesy of NSXfiles.com

I’m just an “Average Joe” trying to race out of the same budget I feed myself, my family, and pets, and in the same car I drive to work in.  However, the reality is that if you are reading this, you probably have a lot in common with that sentence.

If you have ever tried to stuff eight tires into something not classed as a wagon, truck, or minivan, you might understand my sense of humor.  If your garage smells like tires and you have more sets of wheels for your car then you do pairs of shoes for yourself, you will appreciate where I am going with this.  If you have driven 5 hours to drive for less than 5 minutes of racing, you might have the same sickness I do.  If you are still reading this, you obviously don’t mind my grammar style starting that many sentences in a row with the word if.  With that in mind, I’ll start at the beginning like any good story should.

In 2000, I was pretty new to Albuquerque, NM and really was interested in racing my car. It was a fairly modified DSM and, when it ran, was somewhat quick and seemed to handle well enough.  Or so I thought.  From friends back East, I knew about the SCCA, PCA, MCA, and BMWCCA holding events but holy crap they were impossible to find in New Mexico.  I would search Alta Vista (yes pre-Google domination back then) and what little I did find was that default webpage you can spit out of FrontPage98 with the basic PC skill set of a 5th grader.  So I verbally started asking around and finally I found someone who heard a rumor – that the SCCA does events at the Tailgater #2 Lot at UNM.  I guess they didn’t nick name the “Secret Car Club of America” for nothing!  Luckily it was that same weekend and I was able to go and check it out.

What I witnessed was amazing! “Stock” Toyota MR2 Turbo’s and Mazda Miatas dominating some pretty modified Chevrolet Corvettes, Ford Mustangs, and the like.  I thought, “Surely they are not ready for my DSM and my skills that had been perfected on back roads of North Carolina!”(Think “Tail of the Dragon” and more recently the off ramp from I-25 south to Gibson east)

With that in mind, I made plans to show up to the next event.

Three weeks flew by fast – and I was present at my first event.  Car was clean; there was air in the tires (probably at 35 psi because that made sense with my vast knowledge on the topic at the time).  The Electronic Boost Controller was set to 20 psi because I figured I really needed that extra grunt out of the corners.  I was excited – and surprisingly not nervous – because I knew I was just going to shock all of these people and introduce them to a good old fashioned DSM beat down – at least if the car didn’t break between the paddock and the grid, or from the grid to the starting line.

The planets aligned and the car held together as I made it to the starting line. Thanks to my recent practice at the drag strip, when the starter said go I launched like I was trying to run a 1.8 60’ in my GS-T on street tires. Needless to say, it was probably one of my best launches of my lifetime!  And I know this because I managed to shoot 50’ beyond the first cone which  represented a sharp turn to the left!  “It’s OK,” I thought, “I can make it up. I just won’t lift.”  I probably imagined the beauty of the Quaiffe front torsen doing its job and the money well spent on that mod, never mind it classed me in “E / Street Prepared”.  I remember hearing the tires begging for mercy as I floored the gas, pushing wider and wider around the turn.  “It didn’t matter,” I thought, “it will hook up and shoot me to the next corner,” which I could now see.

I set my sights directly on the cone that marked inside of the turn and turned 20 psi loose.  I imagined by now I was way ahead of anyone else at this point in the course as I reached the cone and applied the brakes.  “Uh oh, this corner is tighter than I thought.  I’d better put some extra steering input.”  And then it happened – so quickly and without warning – a tire blew out which caused me to spin in my FWD!  So, I stalled the car, which saved time as I suddenly couldn’t remember where the parking brake was.  I get out of the car and walk over to the right rear of the car.  “That’s odd, that tire isn’t flat.  What is that noise?”  Oh, that’s my novice instructor having a verbal seizure, who I guess had been too scared to talk until now.  I think he’s wondering why I got out of the car and screaming something about a red flag to the corner workers nearby.  Back I go to looking at the tires – WTF (sic) – none of them are flat or even low on air!  We, yes WE, as the instructor is a slow learner I guess and wants more, get back into the car and I’m pushing harder since I have to make up time for my stop to check the tires.

I know the stop is going to cost me.  I’ll probably be a few seconds slower than the top guys now.  With my other two runs that day, each I believe more or less was a repeat of the first run, minus the spin and pit stop.  When the results were published, I’m pretty sure there was an error in calculations because I don’t understand how I was last place in my class! Some guy with a stock Foxbody (Mustang) with a set of sway bars just beat me by 8 seconds; the Miata guys were 15 seconds faster, but I don’t recall seeing any turbos or blue bottles in their cars.  Weird!

I get to look at the weird overall ranking they call “PAX results”. Since I had no idea what “PAX” was, I decided to ask various people what it is and how it is calculated.  After the fourth person in a row begins to describe it like posi-traction (they don’t know how it works, it just does), I decide to just read the listing.  It takes me a while to find my name on that list as well, until I learn a useful trick: start reading from the bottom up.  Sure enough, I’m dead last.

Despite the results, I’m hooked and smiling (stupid is as stupid does).  I’m already plotting what I need to fix on the car to ensure better results the next time.  At least, I was hoping you didn’t have to time my runs against rings in the trunk of a tree for reference.

The rest of the 2000-2001 season saw me modify that car (and repair it) more than I ever had in my life before or since (mostly repair).  I never finished outside of the bottom third in PAX and never won my class, unless no one else showed up to compete in it.

This is why my passion for autocross continues eight years later: I can get my butt kicked and still have fun.  I ran my first open track event November of 2000 with Wallace Bow.  This is a problem because I now realize: I like the track as well!  Unfortunately, I like the track so much so, I go back for more events.  True to form, the DSM breaks every track event.  I prove I’m a slow learner and keep fixing the car.  Then, during the winter of 2001 and confident in masculinity, along with being sick of attempting to swap transmissions in my apartment complex parking while telling them I lost a contact under my car and that’s what I’m looking for, I bought a Mazda Miata.

But that’s another story …