Shenandoah Region’s 2016 “official” autocross season opened on May 14, following the autocross school on April 9. There was a huge turnout (47 drivers) at Verona for Rick Ebinger’s unusually long (the average time was about 80 seconds) course that had two distinctly different parts. The first half covered most of the asphalt pavement with long straights and fairly open turns favoring the high-power cars, but the second half included three slaloms, two U-turns, and a final Chicago box to favor smaller cars and bring the speeds down at the finish line. Gary Krichbaum had the 69.927 second FTD in his 2001 Corvette, and Jonathan Newhall was the fastest Porsche driver at 71.361 seconds in his “improved” 1973 914.
The first run session (Porsches and Ladies classes) ran under sunny skies, but a front moved in around noon, and the second session (Other cars) did more swimming than running. The pavement gradually dried out during the third run session (Porsches and Ladies again) and was nearly perfect in the final session of the day (Other cars). Eric Huggins had a good first day in his 2006 Carrera S, as did Erik Boody in his salvaged 2006 Cayman S. Ed Weidner is back after a long down time while his 2006 Carrera S was in the shop getting a new engine. Pete Zimmermann drove his sharp “new” black 1970 914 for the first time, and Randolph Kohr II brought his impressive 2016 Carrera GTS.