Scirocco's Vroom Vroom Journal

I'm participating again in a charity race in a few weeks, an event called the Race Against Leukemia (RAL). Sponsored by the New England Region (NER) of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the RAL weekend seeks to generate funds for the UMass Medical Center Hospital Leukemia Foundation. This is an event with a more than 20-year history, illustrating how dedicated NER is to giving something back to the community.

So how does it work, and what can you do? Drivers (that's me) collect donations or pledges, and for every $10 of donations I gather, I get one free lap of the course we set up to run on (One "Run"). I can also spend my "Runs" on giving free rides to other drivers.

There are no prizes for winning. This is just a fun event solely for generating donations for the UMass Medical Center. We're racing for fun, and for the RAL itself!

Here's the webpage of what the weekend is about. http://www.ner.org/region/racing-against-leukemia

As this is a charity, this is a tax deductible donation, and I can send you a receipt (via signed PDF)

While $10 buys me a run at the course, feel free to donate less than that. I can add up donations as necessary.

This year, we are utilizing "firstgiving.com" charity donation system. I encourage you to donate through my website there for this event, "http://www.firstgiving.com/wileycoxNER". However, you may also reply here if you wish, or at VolkScirocco@gmail.com if you prefer more anonymous donations. All donations must be pledged at 8/24. Checks are OK, paypal is OK, and if you live local, cash, coins, doubloons and gold bars are acceptable currency. If you make a check out to me, I will make out one single check to RAL for the weekend to cover all the differing ways of payment. :)

Thanks in advance, friends!

Myself and a friend from the autoX group I drive with went to a new(ish) Go-Kart place called racing America (www.racingamerica.com) last night. I hadn't driven Karts in a few years, and this guy is pretty good, so my main goal was not to get lapped. :)

I actually did pretty well. The track was awesome, laps were between 45-50 seconds (fastest folks to slowest folks), with a lot of corners and a couple of straights. The karts were nice, although the second one I had was most assuredly more slippery (in terms of cornering ability) than the first one. I got my best time for a lap down to 47.43, which is pretty good, as my buddy expected I'd turn a 49 or so since it was my first time out. More importantly, I didn't get passed (virtually on time, or really on track), and I managed to pass a couple of the slower cars that ended up in front of me. I concentrated pretty hard on taking a good line through the corners, and it really brought my times down pretty good at some points. :)

By the end of the two sessions, my hands were killing me. Those little Karts generate some good G-force! Gotta go back there soon. Anyone else wanna come? :)

Oh, and my fastest time? 9th fastest for the week. Whee!!!