So the forecast for the last autocross of the year was heavy rain and cooler temps. With my primary autocross car being the fmod with open cockpit and open wheels that also doesn't really perform well in cooler temps, I decided that a backup ride was in order.
The mustang has kind of been camped on the lift for several months because I started some upgrades and life happened. So, naturally ,the logical choice was the car with side curtains, no wiper motor, no heat/defrost that I have never autocrossed or even driven in the rain.
Rolling onto the site I was met with a multitude of positive comments. People seemed to love the old British iron coming out to play. Someone even commented that it was the coolest car there (while it was parked about 20feet from a FSAE car). It was the oldest car there by a longshot. My 61, an 83 Camaro, then a 90 Miata... In theory, it's well set up. The engine is pretty much a stock 73 spridget 1275 with smog delete (something like 67hp), but I rebuilt the suspension with performance parts. Good springs, performance revalved lever shocks, sway bar, etc. Tires aren't really anything to write home about, federal 595 and not the good ones, the pretty much all season ones.
I really didn't know what to expect for my first run. Conditions were damp, but not wet. Lots of one wheel wheelspin off the line. I had to grab second before the start lights. Turn one, OMG, it drifts so easily at such low speeds! Very controllably, but a total riot. I got so distracted just sliding it around I went off course laughing my ass off! It's not ill-tempered, it's slow, but in a handy slide it around kind of way. I'm not sure what had a bigger grin, me or the grill. I cleaned up the driving on subsequent runs and the times were actually decent. I had expected to be very slow, but I was far from the slowest. It started dumping rain on our last runs, but it didn't pull the smile from my face.
At the end of the day, I was a solid mid pack in raw times and for PAX (performance adjusted for car class for non-autocrossers) I was 28th out of 84 entries. When you consider that it was the first time out for the car and I could legally have much better tires and 50 more hp in the class rules, I'll take it. Granted, my performance was helped by pouring rain for all of second heat, but still! Will hopefully have more pictures and video from others in time.