last autocross of the season?
 

so i am over here in colombus oh and tonight my son in law and i are going over to dayton for a night autocross. it is supposed to be dry but only about 40 degrees!

i will be campaigning the trusty 84 500sec since my 280e is still not ready (although i am supposed to pick it up on monday). he has a 95 beemer with lowered suspension and big sway bars. so probably it will be the last for the year, but who knows, once i get the 280e sorted i may drive down to ky for one in lex that may be happening soon.

i will only be able something to win if someone with a more suitable machine doesnt show up to contest h stock.

you know, like a mini or really most anything.

the old sec does rather well for a 3700 # car, but you know it is kindof like saying that a bear riding a bicycle is remarkable....not because he can ride one well but because he can ride one at all!

tom w

well, were back. this night autocross wasnt what i pictured at all. i pictured a well it lot. but you had to run mostly on your headlights. which dont do a darn thing on a sharp turn where the lights light just where you arent going. so i had some pretty good runs but in the end i only had one in which i didnt dnf for completely missing the second gate. unfortunately i didnt realize it until they posted the results at the end. six runs all dnf except the first. but since i didnt know it i still had a lot of fun up til i found out. i finished second in hs out of three.

ha!

wait til next time!

tom w oh yeah, i cant go to sleep because of three extra cups of coffee to get back to coumbus from dayton at 130am.

Sounds incredibly fun. Do you have summer tires on that SEC? How's the grip when it gets 40 degrees out? Stock rims (they're 15 inches right?)? I'd like to autocross the W123 if it werent for the fear of some suspension component letting go. Or just getting severely weakened. Don't have enough money to rebuild a suspension :eek:

You do any mods to the suspension or anything? Lower it any? Bushings?

And what are you doing with your 280E?

Haha, I bet that autocross club knows you as that crazy old guy with the huge Mercedes.

it is fun. hoosier slicks. stock stock stock. 134k mile 2 owner car. tonite was absolutely the craziest thing i have done in 30 years. it was dangerous. lucky nobody got hurt. several old farts out there. most had more appropriate cars than i. one spun his vette across the last gate!

i plan to bolt the hoosiers onto the 280 and go. it will be h stock too , i think, and be 700# lighter. i will try to find a heavier sway bar too.

tom w

Heavier sway bar im assuming on the rear. The W123 front sway bars are pretty freakin thick and heavy. That damn rear bar is a coathanger in comparison.

Next time, bring a Euro-spec Citroen SM, the one with the headlights linked to the steering linkage. Or rig up a pair of fog lights canted outboard.

well, even though it is thick, it is way too thin! the lean angles would make the queen mary jealous!

tom w

that would have been the perfect car last night.

tom w

on the way home at a stop at an antique mall, while mrs. w was inside feeling all the merchandise i looked over the hoosier slicks on the mighty benz.

wow! they are really toasted. i bet part of the reason i was sliding around so much is that the rubber has gone hard. the abrasions from sliding tires under braking were numerous and coming in at all different angles. lots of flat spots too. and evidence of running about half way up the side wall on the rf. i started with only about 20# in them and i doubt that they ever came up much. in the dark i didnt check pressure at all. toward the end i was shivering inside the sec with the heat on full blast and the heated seats toasing my buns!

the front drive cars and two driver cars had a big advantage since their tires got double the work out and double the heat.

in our first group of runs i made four. the grip got better and better as the tires got warmer, it seemed.

so i will be looking around for a thicker anti sway bar for the front of my 123. and an anti slip differential for it as well.

tom w