June 28th, 2015
Having driven the AZ1 for a little over a month now, it was time to learn more about what the car could really do.
I found an autocross event not too far from me here in Wellington, and decided to give it a go. It would be a good test to see how the car handles, and also what I should upgrade.
To learn the most about your car, you have to race it. The nearest track is 2 hours away, and I didn't really feel that such a small, under-powered car would be as fun there. It wasn't built for battling Skylines on the Wangan. I figured an autocross course was where it would really shine.
I drove out to Upper Hutt to meet up with 31 other racers around 7:30am. Once the cones were all laid out, we were allowed a practice lap, and then 3 timed runs to determine who qualified for the shoot-out. The variety of cars there was amazing. Skylines, drift cars, huge V8 muscle cars, raced-out Imprezas, an MR2 with a 400+hp supercharged V6. There were a handful of newcomers, but a lot of seasoned locals. As people started up their beastly racecars, I started to feel out of place.
The driver of the Subaru above offered to give me a ride so I could get more familiar with the course before driving it in my own car.
Cage, racing buckets, 5-point harness, the whole shebang. I stepped out with absolute certainty that there was no way the little AZ1 could do it. Would I even have the courage to attempt the course at that speed? Would I understeer right off the road? Surely I brought the wrong car.
Nope. This was the perfect car.
Ok, so during my practice run I almost spun the thing, but man what a rush! I'd driven it on some winding roads in the area and had the feeling that it understeered a bit too much. I started thinking, "maybe the tires are too skinny" and "maybe it's just too light up front." Those are both probably true, but understeer it did not. Turns out, I just hadn't been going fast enough!
It's 63hp of rage propelled the car into second gear, where I kept it pinned to 9000 rpms until the straightaway ended.
I nudged the wheel to the right to set up for the turn, and the rear end broke free. The car dove left and I cleared the first cone. Before gaining traction again, I flicked it between 2 more gates and stomped on the brakes. The back hairpin was brutal and narrow. Even in the AZ1 it felt like I was using the entire width of the road.
The whole way back, it was like playing a video game. Understeer and oversteer became a choice. My foot was planted, so all I had to do was aim.
So much fun. This car is a blast to drive. Sure, it could use 3x the power, stiffer suspension, better brakes, and wider tires... but holy cow what a fun car!
In the end, I placed around 18th out of 32. Not too shabby, but the most rewarding part of this event wasn't beating a few Skylines (ok that felt awesome). I think the highlight was feeling like I'd finally found a community of like-minded people on the other side of the world that loved cars and racing as much as I do.
That.. and telling someone that the car had a 657cc engine in it and him replying "oh, a big block!"
Here's a video of my best run (also the run where my camera rolled around under my feet):
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