The other evening, I was driving along and had the urge to drive aggressively. If there are any officers of the law reading, I didn't follow through with that urge, but I did start to wonder if there was a way I could channel that urge into something else. In effect, I began to wonder why there isn't any autocross in Yorkton.
There is other car racing, and this isn't meant to diminish the fine work done by those groups. Autocross is distinctly different from both stock car and drag racing, and there's a place for all three. They require different skill sets and different cars, the nice thing about autocross being you can use the car you drive every day to compete.
If you're not familiar with the sport, it takes place in a parking lot, airfield or any other large, paved surface. A course is set up with cones, and the cars competing go one at a time, challenging for the best time, each cone hit adding a second to the total time. Cars are divided into classes depending on their performance, and whoever does the course in the fastest period of time wins. It's a form of motorsport loved by amateurs since little in the way of special equipment is required, and there's relatively little danger. It's about testing your own skill with a focus on car control and technical abilities.
The nicest thing about it is just how amateur friendly it is. There aren't other cars on the track, and it's all about running what you have with you. There are often people who specially prepare their vehicles and take it very seriously, that's a given, but there's room for those of us with sensible four-cylinder hatchbacks who just want to drive aggressively in a controlled situation.
It would also be great for people of all ages, and especially young people. Learning just what your car can do and the limits of your skills as a driver is best done on a controlled circuit, and frequently the younger set don't know their limits yet. Smashing a bunch of cones is a better idea than smashing into something more valuable, and without an outlet like autocross many people drive like idiots on regular streets. Some people might be inclined to drive far too aggressively on the road anyway, sure, but at least for an afternoon everyone would have a reprieve from their antics.
It's also not that common in the province. All of my searches have come up blank outside of Saskatoon and Regina. If we've got the only one in miles, it could become a bit of a draw.
I admit part of this is purely selfish. I know I'm a bit too nervous to drive a stock car and a bit too mechanically inept to properly prep one. Just going around some cones in my regular ride would let me fulfill that racing urge without much danger and even if I was terrible it would just be a short run. Since there's clearly a fairly large pocket of automotive enthusiasm in the town, I don't see why it wouldn't catch on.
I don't know if anyone has attempted to organize anything similar before, but I think that a sport like autocross is something that many people in the city would enjoy. Personally, I'm not a good choice to organize such an event, but I think that there must be some people out there with the enthusiasm and drive to do it.
