Bay Area locals will most likely recognize the "Duel at De Anza" as one of the more interesting autox-type events. What makes it so special? For one thing, the turn-out is really high for such a short course. In fact, people will usually show up around 4:00-4:30 am on the same morning of the event to make sure that they're first in line. By 5:30 am, you'll most likely be close to the cut-off since the organizers like to limit the number of entrants to 275 drivers, depending on the weather, of course. If you get there at 6:00 am, kiss your chances of actually driving goodbye. The trek to get to De Anza so early is a ritual in and of itself.
The Duel is run like an enduro event--you get 3 continuous laps. The first lap is a practice lap, then you get a flying start and complete 2 more laps. Once you hit a cone on your 1st official run, you've pretty much hosed the rest of your run.
Even the tech inspection is different. Most SCCA Solo 2 regulars are comfortable getting their cars teched and know what's involved. Getting teched at The Duel requires that you wait in line for an hour. Then, the entire tech process takes another hour or so. And this isn't your regular tech inpection, either! You're required to remove one lug nut each from 2 wheels (to check for fatigue at the wheel studs and nut seating surfaces on the wheels), not have any cracks in your windshield, rev up the motor to insure that the exhaust is adequately muffled, and jack up the car to check for loose wheel bearings. After that, you're told to briskly accelerate to the next tech station whereupon you're told to briskly get on the brakes.
Like I mentioned before, the turn-out is huge. A majority of the drivers are autox newbies and just wanna come out and play in their cars in whatever condition, with the caveat that it passes tech. Honestly, though, The Duel is a tough place for novices--there are no pointer cones, the cones themselves are a sporadic mixture of miniature- and normal-sized versions, it's such a tight course layout that if you aren't looking way ahead (one of the hardest things that I had to learn), the cones will come up out of nowhere and bite you in the ass. Otherwise, it's fun. =)
A great part of doing The Duel is that you have an audience that sees every mistake and close call that you make. The more you get the car loose, lock up the brakes, plow a wall of cones, get the car to lean at ridiculous angles, and spin the wheels because of your massive horsepower, the more applause you get. Cool, huh?
Did I mention that the auto tech students at De Anza run and manage the entire event? What does that mean? A driver can punt as many cones as they want and they won't have to ever shag their or anyone else's cones! Of course, I'm sure they'll want to throw the cones at you if they ever catch you, but that's beside the point. =)
On to the pics... I was planning on taking more shots, but since it was raining, well you know...
George (yellow Spyder) and I crashed at Peter's (teal MR2) place in Los Altos the night before. If it weren't for Peter, George
and I would have to wake up too friggin' early to get to De Anza in time. Luckily for us, Peter lives a scant 15 minutes away.
We stopped at a gas station right off the freeway exit before we headed to De Anza. This was around 4:50am or so. I thought this
was a cool pic cuz we all have different colored bodies, but all have white wheels...
Sean O'Boyle's S2000 patiently waiting on grid.
You can barely see, but Peter's giving the "thumbs up" sign. =) I love the Weds Sport and Volk TE-37 wheels. They compliment the
car nicely. Plus, the whole Hoosier-wheel combos weigh as much as your average fart. =) Peter had some old Hoosiers wrapped
around the wheels which turned out to be kinda scary later on. You'll see why...
My new 13"x7.5" Lenso "Tom Slick" VPDs wrapped with 235/45/13 Kumho ECSTA V700s. I just scrubbed them in a few days before the
event. I was hoping to try them out in the dry, but that didn't turn out how I wanted...
You lookin' at my butt? =) If you look in the pic above and look at this pic, you'll notice that I'm sandwiched between two cars
powered by insane amounts of horsepower. The yellow tube-framed Mustang behind me is a Maier race car. I was kinda bummed cuz my
times would look bad in between these two cars! Luckily for me, the weather turned to my favor...
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