We took our '95 Impala SS and 98 Dakota R/T to the Lone Star Region of
the Porsche Club of America autocross at the Houston Police Academy
driving course today. It was a lot of fun. I think a lot of coupe
drivers were suprised at the heavy iron we brought.
The weather was GREAT. Kind of cold for this Houstonian in the morning
(in the 50s), but warmed up okay in the afternoon (after our runs were
over). I said WE. Barbara drove the Dakota for the first time. She did
great. I think I have developed a monster. She now wants driving shoes
and a helmet for Christmas :-)
It was a challenging course. The high HP cars didn't do much better than
the lower-HP well-handling cars. There were a bunch of them, including
several slick-shod Camaros, Porsches, a supercharged Lightning that had
more HP than the street tires could handle, and one killer-looking
slick-shod Viper GT hardtop. Man, could that car run! Sounded good,
too! A couple of nice black C5 Vettes showed up, BOTH with paper tags,
but didn't run that well at all. I think the drivers were just getting
started with autocrossing.
FTD was a 56-something second run by a late model RX7 on slicks. After
several runs in the 70-second range, I managed to eek out a 68-second run
in the Impala. Barbara was hot on my heels with the R/T, posting a best
of 69-seconds (I told her I couldn't let her outrun me).
The SS was still working great. Trailing brake understeer with throttle
oversteer at will. The old tires just didn't have the grip. Maybe Santa
will leave some R-1s under the tree.
With the help of the guy that drives the Lightning, we got the Dakota
dialed in (I was running WAY too much air in the rear tires). Like most
factory vehicles, it understeers a lot. A healthy dose of throttle,
however, and you can get the rear to get back in line. For anyone
considering a second vehicle, or in need of a truck, I can HIGHLY
recommend the Dakota R/T for driving thrills approaching those of the SS.
After the main event was over, they had time for some dollar (fun) runs.
Barbara said "why don't you take the Dakota out for a run so you know
what it will do." So I did, and clicked off a 66-second run. It
understeers a bit, but man, does that 5.9 have some torque :-) I told
Barbara I couldn't let her beat me!! (bg) Now, she has a target to hit
(and I am SURE she will surpass it!!)
For those of you in the Houston area who didn't make it, you REALLY
missed a fun event. The next autocross will be the SCCA autocross on
January 3 at the Hitchcock blimp base. Hope to see some more Dakotas
there!
Gene and Barbara Beaird
95 DGGM SSSS
98 Flame Red CC R/T
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