MY FIRST GYMKHANA

Grass Racing Autosports All Star Gymkhana 2009 @ Sunway Carnival, Seberang Jaya, Penang

It’s no secret that I love all things “motorsport” and I’ve been fanatical about cars since I was a little boy.

I love to drive fast and push my car to the limit (sometimes over it) whenever I can. I used to do a lot of karting when I was younger and when they had a go-kart tracks in Penang you could find me at one of them almost every weekend. Whenever one of the tracks organized a competition I would enter but ultimately I hung up my gloves when all the local kart tracks closed down.

Since buying my Impreza, I have always been looking for an opportunity to track my car since that was one of the reasons why I bought it in the first place. I really don’t think there is a point of buying a performance car if you are not going to drive it like how it was meant to be driven.

Last week, Ed told me about an upcoming autocross/gymkhana competition that was going to be held in Penang so this Sunday, 13th December 2009, I will be entering my first ever gymkhana competition – the Grass Racing Autosports All Star Gymkhana 2009 @ Sunway Carnival in Seberang Jaya, Penang.

Grass Racing Autosports All Star Gymkhana 2009 @ Sunway Carnival, Seberang Jaya, Penang

Grass Racing Autosports (GRA) are a well-respected local organizer of autocross/gymkhana events and they hold various meets/races around Malaysia every year. I’ve been following their events for some time and since they are holding one in Penang I decided to enter it.

As stated by GRA on their website, autocross is:

“a popular form of motorsports competition. Rather than racing wheel-to-wheel, as in road racing, drag racing, or oval racing, an autocross is a timed handling competition similar to rally racing, although on smaller facilities.

Autocrosses are usually held on parking lots or similar large paved areas (such as airfields) with the temporary course marked by traffic cones. Typically, new courses are created for each event so drivers must learn a new course each time they compete. Prior to driving the course, a competitor will walk the course, taking mental notes, and develop a strategy that will be refined on each subsequent attempt at driving it. Speeds generally are slower in absolute terms when compared to other forms of motorsport, rarely exceeding highway speeds, but the activity level (in driver inputs per second) can actually be higher than even Formula One due to the large number elements packed into such small courses.

Autocrosses typically have many classes which allow almost any vehicle prepared to almost any prep level to have a realistic expectation of doing well, subject to driver skill and experience level. Autocross places more emphasis on the skill of the driver than on the attributes of the car being driven.”

Autoccross Autocross (also known as Solo2 by the Sports Car Club of America and AutoSolo in the UK [1]) is a popular form of motorsports competition. Rather than racing wheel-to-wheel, as in road racing, drag racing, or oval racing, an autocross is a timed handling competition similar to rally racing, although on smaller facilities. National organizations such as the Sports Car Club of America (“SCCA”) and National Autosports Association sponsor autocross events throughout the United States, and many areas have independent autocross clubs. Similar autocross and sports car clubs and events can be found worldwide. Automobile manufacturers and their associated clubs (e.g. the BMW Car Club of America) sometimes hold marque autocross events.
Autocrosses are usually held on parking lots or similar large paved areas (such as airfields) with the temporary course marked by traffic cones. Typically, new courses are created for each event so drivers must learn a new course each time they compete. Prior to driving the course, a competitor will walk the course, taking mental notes, and develop a strategy that will be refined on each subsequent attempt at driving it. Speeds generally are slower in absolute terms when compared to other forms of motorsport, rarely exceeding highway speeds, but the activity level (in driver inputs per second) can actually be higher than even Formula One due to the large number elements packed into such small courses.
In ProSolo, an SCCA-sanctioned variant of autocross, two cars run side-by side on mirror-image courses after starting at a “christmas tree” starting system similar to that used in drag racing.
Autocrosses typically have many classes which allow almost any vehicle prepared to almost any prep level to have a realistic expectation of doing well, subject to driver skill and experience level. Autocross places more emphasis on the skill of the driver than on the attributes of the car being driven. Autocrossing is a good way to get started in sports car road racing, as witnessed by the many SCCA national racing champions who started their careers in autocrossing, as well as being a top-level sport in its own r

Grass Racing Autosports All Star Gymkhana 2009 @ Sunway Carnival, Seberang Jaya, Penang

I have no expectations for the race on Sunday as I know competition is going to be fucking tough and I’ve never done this before but what the hell, you’ve got to start somewhere, right? I’m just happy that I have a chance to drive as fast as I can around a track and there will be other petrolheads like me in the same vicinity.

So if you are in Penang this Sunday and have nothing better to do, pop down to Sunway Carnival on the mainland and check out the Grass Racing Autosports All Star Gymkhana 2009. The event starts from 8.30 in the morning and will go on all day. There will be drivers from all over Malaysia competing so it should be fun to watch.

Wish me luck!

Posted on December 10th, 2009 by BadBoyBen
Filed under: Bad News, Cars, Events

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