From: Mike Bultemeier <hottvr@birch.net>
>It was probably cancelled because of snow!!!!
>"Linnhoff, Eric" wrote:
>> So, how'd the inaugural Canadian National Autoslalom Championship
go this
>> past weekend?
No snow, but high winds and horizontal rain on Sunday morning was a
bit rare for prairie weather. Well, it's a part of history now. The
first single site national championship in Canada has come and gone.
Thanks to all 38 competitors who came from both the local region and
as far as Thornleigh, Australia to compete. It was really nice to
finally meet face to face with other autocrossers and find out about
the various approaches to the sport that each region has. For me, it
was great to really talk to people from other regions and begin a
dialog that was never before possible with the multi-site format. You
get a really good grasp of the state of the sport in Canada. The west
seems to be a bit further along in developing the sports but Quebec is
home to some very fast drivers as well.
The Winnipeg Sports Car Club can be thought of as the "little club
that could'. For an organization with little experience in running a
big event and limited resources, they did a fantastic job and really
took ownership of the event. Looks like my job as National Director
is going to be easy (not!). This event was entirely conceived and
organized over the internet. Eight months of e-mails between the CNAC
organizing committee and including some between myself and Howard
Duncan ended up in a pretty well run event despite a few problems with
a wet timer.
The low turnout was in a way a blessing for them. Going to Gimli was
like going back in time to the very beginnings of autocrossing. The
local scene is made up of the usual stock category cars, a lot of
older ex-race cars, and creations from the home garage usually
sporting lots of primer. Most of the people were a bit taken aback
when two rigs from B.C. came on site with enclosed trailers. Heck most
of the road racers that were on the track portion of the site didn't
even have enclosed trailers. One thing that wasn't too overwhelming
was the Phantom. A lot of people in the Winnipeg area race
snowmobiles in the winter so the concept wasn't too unfamiliar to
them. After all, some of them put wheels in place of the skis, take
the sled to the local drag strip and run 11 sec. 1/4 mile times @ 119
mph.
Saturday's course was a reprise of the old CASC Nationals course from
1991. It was simply to give a bit of nostalgia to the event. Another
piece of nostalgia was Ken Frey from SCCA-NER who showed up wearing a
souvenir cap from the last 1991 Canadian Nationals. Sunday's course
was a bit more challenging and laid out in more of an SCCA style.
Saturday night festivities included a big pig roast at the track.
Though the SCCA's goal of 1000 in 2000 is admirable and shows just how
big autocrossing has become, this first CNAC is the starting point for
bigger things to come. Everyone who came to play took away very
positive impressions. In all, it was an enjoyable time. All that's
left to do is to tell everyone they missed a great party and to make
it a point to come next year.
I still have to get final results from the host club but as soon as
they are official, I'll post them to the website along with some pics.
Look for full coverage in an upcoming issue of NAP.
-c.
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Cliff Loh, Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
"I started out with nothing & still have most of it left."
cliff_loh@infoserve.net,
inbred_hick@yahoo.com (alternate)
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