WINTER AUTOCROSS

It is Silly Saturday and one of the silliest things we do in Wisconsin is deliberately drive our cars around in the snow and ice.  But we're not stupid....just silly.
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It's hard enough driving in deep snow and ice without winding up in a ditch or plowing into another driver's car on the roadway. So we head to Road America and a closed course for Winter Autocross.
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Three courses are set up at the track and drivers compete for time around each course. There are three divisions depending on the type of drive train your vehicle has.....RWD, FWD or AWD/4WD.  Each car starts through a photogate which starts the time clock running and then he/she drives through another photogate to stop the clock and record his/her time after having run the course.
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Yes...there are trophies and they're pretty cool. There are course marshalls everywhere to watch for some who might want to take shortcuts...and they are DNF'd for that run if observed taking liberties with the course boundaries.
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One week ago there was deep snow everywhere....but mid-week we had very warm temperatures (40°+F. ·  4.5°+C.) and 24 hours of rain...which compacted the snow and made much of it flow toward Lake Michigan. But we made do with what we had and everyone had a great time, no one had to be extracted from a snow bank and, most importantly, no one was injured and no cars were wrecked.  Always a good thing.
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EXTRAS: The main photo is on the track's Motorplex which is where the snow was deepest...it's where they run the Gokarts and Moto Cross events; the 1st extra is on the main paddock where a slalom course with traffic cones had to be negotiated at speed and the last photo is at Turn 14 on the track proper where some real speed can be generated.  I included this specific car, a newer model Lotus, just for the Blip Motorheads Petrolheads who love the Lotus cars.  Were it mine, I don't think I'd be out there racing in the snow and ice and slush. Mine would be up on blocks awaiting warmer weather.
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I just added another EXTRA......
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