Last week was the 53rd Bay Bottom Crawl Autocross in Florida Keys, the longest running autocross event in America. The track is about 3 miles long and I was hitting about 100mph. There was no room for error as there was not run off, which made for an amazing and exhilarating autocross event.

Hope you like the video it is a bit shaky but the passenger was holding the camera.

My fastest raw time was quick enough to get the all time STX record but it was dirty :-( overall a great weekend and an amazing event. Hopefully some of of you Floridians will make it down next year.

 

Looks like a blast!!

 

link seems broken to me ....
But I'm seeing weird youtube stuff today...

 

doesnt that course violate pretty much all of the guidelines for autocross course setup?

 

The BBC is an exercise in insanity that would make Hemingway proud. It is so fitting it is held so close to Key West.

I ran it one time only, back in 2004 and I have toyed with running it again but I am afraid I will stuff my car. There is no room for mistakes. I remember looking down at the finish line and seeing over 120 MPH on my speedo as I was winding out 4th gear.

I ran a 2:32.xxx IIRC and was really trying for mid to high 20's, it was there, it was very possible, it you watch my video, I ruin one of the stations by overshooting the gate and having to waste so much time slowing and catching it.

I have a friend that ran a FFR Cobra there and was in the high teens, he is insane though, I do not have attachments like he does.

I sometimes wish I never had my FC painted, after I had that done it really made me hesitate to run this venue again.

Here is my crappy quality run on Saturday back in 2004 when there were no gopro's and Chase Cams were too expensive.

http://www.streetfire.net/video/400rwhp-rx7-running-bay-bottom-crawl-in-key-west_19668.htm

 

It is certainly not for the faint of heart. This year 2 cars ended up in the water both were dragged back to dry land and continued to run which is great. Thankfully no-one wrecked this year which seems to be quite a rare occurrence.

I went with the intention of not going 100% and mostly kept with that, it is so important to make sure you don't push the car to it's limits. I managed a 2:35.xxx raw but I had cones on every run. My best run was on Saturday which was a 2:38.xxx
I place 9th out of about 40 drivers. Not bad considering I raced on the same tires I drove there on (The only other car to do that was a rental lol).

 

Check your hand position. 9.15, not 10.10 like they teach you during driving classes! At least you don't move your hands during slaloms, most noobs do it, like myself in the first place.

Anyway I don't find that course scary.Imho Rally is not for the faint of heart, the Nordschleife isn't but a bunch of cones on a road really don't qualify imho. The worst you can do is totalling the car if you really screw up. In rallying and on the nordschleife the risk is to total yourself and it may only require a minor mistake at times.
I find this course interesting anyway, at least it isn't as short as most autoX courses and you hit decent speeds.

 

How awesome that course looked aside, holy hell, fire that camera man and get a GoPro. That was nauseating.

 

This event has been run for the last 53 years and IIRC the last 30+ years the course layout has been the exact one that you see in the video's.

You cannot push 100% unless you have a death wish at the BBC. The road is closed to cars the rest of the year (It is only open to bicycles and walkers it is a park) so the surface is iffy at best, the left hand turn you see, has a rather unsettling dip in it, most tip toe around, the brave try to go full out, the not so lucky end up in the water. (there is a trophy you get for furthest into the water)

Here is some of the carnage from the last time I was there:

This M3 was grabbed by the mangroves, the hood was done and they were trying to bend the fender back so it could be driven.


This Miata ran out of luck too:


Some of the faster cars:


Video of the car below:



The loop road from above:

 

Woah I want to do this... Preferably after I have some actual auto crossing experience though lol.

 

Pretty cool.

But to be a bit accurate, that is far far closer to rally racing than autocross.

Not knocking it, but not a good example of autocross at all

I don't think I'd have the ***** for that in a car a cared about.

 

It is a really amazing track and basically 9 different ways to do a slalom but the track is so narrow there is no room to do anything else. My car is my daily driver so I was a bit nervous but you just have to drive within your limits.

@bse50 I usually stick with the 9-15 but the staggered slalom (which was my favorite element) was very difficult with the 9-15 so I brought my hands in a bit to so I could keep hold of the wheel without shuffling. Thanks for the advise though, I am always trying to listen and improve.

 

Here is the GoPro version
http://youtu.be/jy2-Qp33hmY

 

Great Video, I hope to have the ***** to run this again one day again.

How many cars were there this year, last time I went the economy was good and there were well over 100 cars running, I suspect by the looks of the $40 off specials for bringing friends the enrollment is down.

If I go next year and you are going, you can put me down as a friend and get $40 off.

 

I am currently planning on going next year. They are struggling for numbers I think only 37 drivers entered. definitely up for getting us a discount next year if we are both going. We had a group of about 10 people so we had a great time on and off the track. Where do you live there are lots of other less dangerous Autocross events in south Florida.

 

That's funny about the hands position, i can't drive with my hands at 10.10

I didn't mean to sound rude when discussing how i don't find this event "dangerous". This is what we find to be dangerous here anyway:

 

All hand position get thrown out the window with my RX7, 8° of caster, 10" wide Hoosier slicks and manual steering. Yeah, good luck holding that wheel perfect at a 10-2 or 9-3. I shuffle steer that car because you need everything you got to turn the wheel. The RX8 is such a delight with its power steering it is very easy to keep a 9-3 on the wheel and never move your hands.

wright- I am in Stuart Florida, the nearest SCCA AX event is Homestead (110 miles) tied with the CFR event at the Orlando Convention Center, then Geneva has events as well (137 Miles).

The Goldcoast PCA puts on events at the Bankatlantic Center but the parking lot is undulated, my RX7 launches into the air then hits it fenders upon landing there. I stopped running it there and only run the RX8.

 

That is a Hill climb event or a Solo 1 event that you need a license for, this is considered a SoloII event and should not be.

I have a friend that runs SoloI events up in North Carolina and yes they are very dangerous and fun.

You can take away from this event all you want, call it timid, until you are doing 100+ on a 20' wide road that is barely ever straight, the surface has sand on it, and beyond the Mangroves that will tear your car to pieces, there is salt water that will ruin your car.... then you might think this is a little insane, especially since you can enter without a SoloI license.

 

Have you ever been to the gulf coast autocrossers near Ft Myers. They have the best track I visit, it is a huge concrete airfield which is extremely flat and very fast with loads of run off. I think it is in the 130mile range for you though so a bit of a drive. I also go to the SCCA events in Orlando which is about 2 hours for me.

 

technically it's a time trial, not an autox