6 reasons why Winter Park is the coolest Autocross of the year

Making lists seems to be all the rage for those trendy online sites like buzzfeed that try to monetize on your every mouse click.  So, here is my contribution to being trendy in autocross form... at least my attempt at trendiness...

Winter Park Colorado is about 45 minutes north of Idaho Springs on state route 40 just a few miles after crossing the continental divide at Berthoud Pass.  The Vintage hotel has been kind enough to let us use their large overflow lot to stage our mountain event.

1. The best mountian road, IN THE WORLD.

OK, so it might not be on the same level as the Stevlio Pass & worth of a Top Gear special, but this is a proper mountain road.  Crank up the mountain (at prescribed speeds of course) on the way in, or check the size of your plumbs by dropping the car in neutral and carve down the other side of the continental divide.

2. Altitude

9,205ft is the elevation my phone stated our grid area was, nearly 2 miles up!  If these lofty altitudes don't affect your body, it surely changes your cars power!  I nicknamed my car wheezy after this event...

3. Lots o' runs

Louis Rodriguez put on a show in his 1981 320i, the undisputed "king of lean!"  With 12-14 runs this event, he was able to wow the crowd far more frequently than at normal events.

4. Ride a gondola into town for lunch.  A gondola!

No need to brown bag it at this event- a short and scenic gondola ride into town gave us access to a variety of local cuisine. Quick too, the restaurant staff that waited on our group of 12 had us seated, fed and on our way in less than an hour!

5. Undeniably beautiful scenery.

With the continental divide looming in the background, this is one of the nicest looking venues available.  Winter Park is the postcard image tourist imagine when they ponder what Colorado is like. 

6. Course elevation changes.

The lot is far from flat, and Chris Mayfield the course designer made sure to incorporate the elevation changes to challenge drivers.  With nearly 25ft height difference between the beginning and the end of the slalom, finding a good rhythm without overcooking the accelerator pedal was a major challenge throughout the day.

Finally, a special thank you to Geoff.

Geoff was kind enough to offer his very expensive, VERY nice lens for the day to capture these photo's. Pro photographers always mention how the lens is the most important piece of equipment, far more important than the camera itself.  I learned first hand what the pro's are talking about after one look through Geoff's awesome equipment!

To view the complete photo set, click HERE!

To sign up for Autocross #4, click HERE!

autocross two: a photostory

Rocky Mountain BMW CCA summer auto-x #2 was great fun with an exhilarating course setup and beautiful clear skies made for an exceptional day out at Front Range Airport.  Instead of the normal post event recap, I thought a little photo story would be a nice change!  

One small disclaimer:  I am a very amateur photographer, and the harsh daylight with no clouds made taking photo's very difficult, only about 10% of the 1,800 photos taken turned out O.K.  So if you don't see your car here or in the link to the flickr album (Karen & Keith) it's because your car looked like dark blurry blobs, I'm sorry!

Michael Feldpusch gives the morning brief.

Meanwhile, Mark Bear does his pre-race flexy check while Kim Kliewer contemplates who would win in a yoga stretch-off.

Cory Rowan shows off his guns during the morning course walk.

Fox Chung does his best Maverick impression before strapping into his cockpit.

Eric Yeh drives his Toybaru through a fast slalom.

Austin Maguire uses the AWD grip of his STi to power out of the first sweeper.

Tad Kaminski is smooth and precise in his 325, earning the top spot in BDS class.

The EF Civic has been wining auto-x's for decades and Kinch Reindl clenched 3nd place in the very competitive X-class.

Arnie Coleman gets one last check from grid control before leaving the pits.

Brad Kettler faced stiff competition in X class but still put in a good fight.

Tom Pora's DSP prepared 325is is great fun to watch on course.

The beast is alive!
Andy Peavy secured 2nd place in BMW C Street tire (BCS) category with the mighty V8 M5.

Andy Hecox was the BCS class winner in his lovely 1994 325is.

Geoff Kampe was both first and last place in BES in his E30 Cabrio.  I imagined the Miami Vice theme song was playing every run.

Arnie Coleman's F500 was just 3/10's of a second from the TTOD!

Paul Lutze blasts through the back slalom.

David Jobusch secured TTOD and a 1000 point PAX score towards his season standings!

Jeffery Mahoan's WRX is just right with the gold wheels.

 Stephen Murphy only needed 3 wheels to finish 2nd place in the non BMW class.

Mike Faucett has sorted out the suspension over the last 2 years on his 328i and is now only 1/2 second off the top time of the day!

The new Ford Focus is a fantastic car, and Ken Ekiao's ST is the top model of that chassis.

Jeff Humphrey maneuvers through the fast sweeper in his 2013 5.0 Mustang GT.

Eric Long brushes a cone to take the win in BAS by 6 hundredths of a second! 

Brad Kettler and Doug Young discuss corner strategy before the afternoon competition runs.

Co Van Herwaarden had a drifty good time piloting his M3 race car on 5 year old hoosiers.

An S54 powered Estoril Blue Mcoupe has to be one of the coolest cars BMW ever built.  Cameron Lynch's is an extremely nice example.

Alan Van Der Heide beat son Eric by just 3 thousandths of a second!

Shelton Sanders's looks through the long sweeper for the corner exit in his M3 sedan.

Bruce Drachmeister is making great progress in his first year of autocrossing.

Scott Ryplewski can really make his 335i dance.

Eric and Raquel Anderson shared driving duties in their M3 sedan in BBS class. 

Ryan Murphy punishes a set of Michelin PSS's in his E46 M3.

Elek Cseh was just 2/10ths from a class win in BDS in his '96 328is!

James Dawkin's safety cone (valencia) orange finished 3rd in BBS class in the middle of a pack of MINI's.

Eugene Yen powers through the back slalom to finish 3rd in BAS.

Kris Lee blazes past his competition to win BBS.  Kris finished 2 seconds ahead of his closest rival!

John Coleman has been breaking in his new MINI Cooper S JCW GP (whew!).  This little car is the M3 CSL of the mini world!

Sponsor SCR Performance is always courteous and willing to lend a hand, even if it's just a backdrop for my new E30.

Fox Chung's 535is soaks up corners and wafts over bumps, but he pushes the sedan hard!

Bryce Kliewer held onto 1st in BAS until a final run banzai driver topped his time by 6 hundredths!

Cory Rowan is the Chief of Schwag, and made these Rocky Mountain Chapter appropriate trophies!

Kris Lee receives some Bimmer Bucks for his BBS class win.

Schwag for trophy winners

All smiles at BMW club events, come join us at our next event June 21st in gorgeous Winter Park!

As mentioned above, our next event in the series is Saturday June 21st up in Winter Park.  Because of the Oktoberfest festivities the week prior, registration closes a little bit earlier for this event (Monday the 16th 1800L).  So hop onto motorsportreg and sign up now, don't wait!