Iowa Region Event Recaps are back! I’ve been slacking on keeping everyone updated on the results and shenanigans of Iowa Region AutoX as of late. My bad.
Today, July 30th we had 37 drivers sign up to drive 8 runs in the scorching Iowa sunlight and moderate 90 degree heat. The course was designed by Aaron B and team. The layout was phenomenal use of the Waterloo Iowa venue. It had a good mix of right and left turns which can be a struggle to design into our lot. It was fast yet technical, not a lot of high speed sections. The optional slalom was optional but there was a “right” way to take it. The sharp left hander after the slalom was open to interpretation (besides avoiding the corner workers) and if you went too hot into it you were punished trying to get back around the next element. Hawkeye Tech has a slight off camber side of the lot, this area has some reduced grip and can be challenging to navigate. Fight your instincts to fly in hot and hope it grips, slow in fast out really paid well here. Personally I never got it right. haha.
Looking at the battles today.
DSP, the battle of Aaron against his RX8. He managed a clean run on his 3rd run which was a flyer! unfortunately the rotary engine decided it didn’t like spark plugs, him and his son tore into it and got it back running for the drive home. His flyer was good enough for 4th in pax!
D Street, the battle of the Daves a Type R and a GR86. The Type R held the lead for the first 3 runs, but the GR86 found 3 tenths on their 4th run to take the lead going into the afternoon. The first 3 afternoon runs for the Type R were dirty, clipping a slalom cone right in front of the timing truck. The GR86 laid down their fastest lap of the day with a cold set of tires after the break dropping .3 seconds and securing a 5th place in PAX for the day. The Type R cleaned up their final 8th run and locked in 10th place in PAX.
There were multiple co-driver battles today. Roberto and Matthew in a 350z. They both laid down their fastest lap on their 8th run with Roberto taking the win and Matthew taking out 7 cones over the day. Chance and Gabe in a Corvette trading off the lead in the morning, but Chance found a groove in the afternoon laying down three sub 37.4 runs!! Gabe’s quickest was a 37.6. Chance secured a 9th place PAX finish.
I had the great pleasure of racing my new GR Corolla with a co-driver. Max did a great job in the GRC and he helped keep me on task during driver changes. I laid down a 38.274 on run 5, Max dropped a 38.255 on his 6th run!! but, it was dirty! NOOO!! Max had 3 39.0 today and his fastest lap was a 39.001. Held back from the 38s just barely! Max told me to go out and break into the 37s, but I missed it by a smidge. Laying down a 38.065, I knew there was more time out there and on my next run things felt faster and the time showed I did indeed drop time on my 8th and final run laying down a blistering 38.064…..hahaha yes. .001 faster than run 7. haha.
Emery and Jeremy were fighting back and forth for top PAX time all day. Emery secured the Pro Pax (only first 3 runs count for class) win with his 3rd run, Jeremy only .053 behind. Jeremy took back the PAX lead with his 4th and final run for the morning. Going into the afternoon heats Jeremy still held onto top PAX. Both Jeremy and Emery got faster in the afternoon despite the heat. Jeremy’s fastest run held onto 2nd place in PAX and only .158 seconds behind Emery’s last run which secured him 1st place in PAX for the day.
PAX results for the day were wild, between 5th place and 9th place was .202 seconds!!
If you’ve got any photos or video from the event don’t hesitate to share with us and I’ll add them to the post.
Can’t wait to see everyone at the next event at Hawkeye Downs! Convince your friends to come racing with you. If you’ve got questions or concerns don’t hesitate to reach out. We are happy to help.
Check out the results here
-Drew
RE Iowa Region SCCA