On September 25, I participated in my first autocross experience.  It was hosted by PCA-SD at Qualcomm Stadium, north parking lot.  I got in around 7am with no clue what the process was to sign up.  First I went through tech inspection and then registration, was given #988 in class LS/S.  The rookie that I was, I decided it was an excellent idea to sign up for an instructor.  A new Honda S2000 pulled in and parked right next to us, it was Gary Barnhill's new toy.  They even took it around the track.  During the first practice runs I rode with my instructor in his 944.  My first impression was - "oh my god, I got to do this in my Boxster!"  

I was on the next running group so we rushed to my car, my instructor was riding along.  I was nervous but excited (with a huge grin) as we lined up.  When we were given the "go" I started off with full pedal to the metal.  On my first run, I felt like I was all over the place.  A couple of times I was sliding the car almost sideways.  Through the corner of my eye I could see my instructor holding on tight.  He must of thought I was some crazy rookie.  

After the first practice run I realized how much of a sensory overload it is.  You are constantly active in the cockpit during your run.  I was doing a bunch of things wrong; driving with one hand, pushing the clutch in when not needed, turning on my wipers by accident, not braking enough, and shifting too early. 

On the second practice runs I tried to focus more on what I was doing.  I only started to see my times during my last three laps.  My first time was 104.32, the second was a 100.45, and the third ended up being 99.23.  Cool, I was making progress.  When it came down to the final timed runs, I ended up pulling a 97.75 on the first lap.  I was happy with that and so I decided to drive more aggressively for my second and third lap.  Oh boy, was I wrong.  I ended up hitting 3 cones each time, sliding the car a bit, and downshifted to 4th instead of 2nd once (I forgot the actual times, they were like 100.xx and 101.xx plus the 3 cones).   

It was a complete blast.  I had tons of fun pushing the Boxster to it's limits.  I guess I finished like third in my class (LS/S) with Mark Christenson taking first and Andreas Dreher taking second.  Not too bad for a 23 year old rookie!  Can't wait until the next autocross...