Ramon,
Lou was very talented and did well in autocrossing. I also
autocrossed for many years before I started SCCA racing. Generally in
autocrossing there were some turns that a short wheelbase helped because you
wanted the tail to flip around quickly but that was at some fairly low
speeds. There was nothing in the autocrosses at least in my experiece in the
60s that compared to for example cresting the hill before the blind right
hander before the start/finish line at Atlanta doing around 130. There you
want a car that is predictable.
Dave
At 09:02 AM 4/3/97 PST, Spontelli, Ramon wrote:
>
>> The problem of predictability became worse when we
>> all went to slicks in the late sixties. It is very difficult to drive
>> competitively if you do not have a "feel" for when the car is going to
>swap
>> ends on you.
>
>Long-time Tiger pilot Lou Anderson autocrossed a modified-class Griffith
>here in Southern California during the late '80s/early'90s. Even though "a
>twitchy handful to handle and keep pointed in the direction" puts it very
>mildly, Lou and his daughter Donna were successful with the car at the
>national level for a number of years. Towards the end though, he started
>having trouble keeping the wheels on the car. He was running these real fat
>racing slicks that were about half-a-yard wide and would break an axle or a
>spindle at two out of three events. I remember always tossing some extra
>two-by-fours in the back of the Cherokee to help prop Lou's car up on the
>trailer after we dragged him off course.
>
>I've never considered autocrossing to be a spectator sport, but whenever Lou
>or Donna came to the line with that machine, EVERYBODY stopped and watched!
>
>Ramon
>
>
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