NMS Wraps up B Street Class title at Rockingham

How about 3 Mini Coopers, all with GoPro cameras mounted on the roof!

The Triad Sports Car Club (TSCC) was back in autocross action at Rockingham Speedway, which is where we started our season driving with the club way back in March. The NMS Cayman  entered this competition holding down 1st place in the B Street class, and with this being the next to last event of the TSCC season, this event means that we've met the minimum five events per year to be eligible for the full season competition. 

Lexus V8, with hilarious "CAMRY V8" license plate!

Up to this point there have been 17 drivers in BS, although most of them have only done one event. Also, only club members can compete for the class title, so that draws down the BS drivers to only seven this year, so don't get the idea that we're out here out driving the entire autocrossing universe of planet Earth! Like many things in life, if you want to win, you can probably get pretty far by just showing up and following the rules! That's my theory anyway!

Bob and Darren take the top 2 places in B Street!

So, after today with another BS class win, the NMS Cayman takes the 2026 B Street title with the Triad Sports Car Club. There were only three of us driving in the class, and I'm happy to add that 2nd place in B Street was my friend Darren Connell co-driving the Cayman! Darren was also up against all the Novice drivers of all classes, and took 5th out of 10 Novices. He drove an inspired last three of five runs to keep dropping time, and although there were a few cones damaged along the way that hurt his final times, he was very quick in only his 2nd autocross event. 

Pontiac Solstice, modified for fast driving! Big wing in the back!

For the NMS squad, out of a field of 53 total drivers we ended in 21st overall, 16th overall on adjusted PAX time, so I'm happy to meet my lowly goal of finishing in the top half of each of those categories. The fastest time of the day was a 1991 GMC Syclone truck, and I've mentioned before you need to check that out if you've never heard of one of those!

Darren with the NMS #177 in B Street Novice

Course map for Rockingham's "Little Rock. " All the curvy parts of the oval are banked, and even the straights have a little banking. Not Daytona or Charlotte level, but it sure made this course interesting. 

There were a ton of fast cars, Subarus, Miatas, Mini Coopers, Mustangs, one other Cayman, and a unique race prepped Pontiac Solstice with a HUGE wing on the back! I'm pretty sure all the drivers enjoyed the cool (60s-70 temps) day with no rain, despite an early prediction of rain all day. The unique banking on the Little Rock at Rockingham was a challenge, and I enjoyed several challenging parts of the course. 

Novice driver meeting to go over the basics, and then walk the course for lots of good tips and suggestions. 

One highlight was an optional 180 very slow pivot around two cones, that was on a banked section of track. This made it hard to figure out the fastest way around taking into account your speed going into it, whether you wanted to be going up or down hill while getting around it, and by going either right or left would change the distance (slightly) of your entry and exit to the next cone. Whew. There were a good number of drivers trying it each way, and maybe it was just personal preference. 

The track doesn't get used a lot, so here's my arty shot of a bit of grass growing on track, cones and course workers in the background. 

Right after that challenge, there was only more cone to drive around before the finish, with the added difficulty that it was in the middle of a right hand banked corner that led to the finish. I don't know about the other drivers, but to go through that as fast as possible with the steering wheel turned and trying to accelerate forced the tires to the edge of grip as they were trying to turn, speed up, and drive on a banking in a general downhill direction all at the same time. From what I read, tires like to one thing at a time, like STOP. Speed up. Or turn. So when we ask them to do two of those at the same time, it gets you to the limit of grip pretty quickly. 

Nice little magnet for taking 1st or 2nd in each class. 

Billy Joel Motorcycle Collection Auction!

Once upon a time we visited Billy Joel's 20th Century Cycles

There's a CHANCE that you've heard of Billy Joel, the "Piano Man" and his many hit tunes, albums, concert tours, etc. If you've read the NMS blog here, you might have caught one or two of our visits to his motorcycle collection in Oyster Bay NY. He had so many motorcycles that he opened a shop in the town there just to house them and have them worked on. It wasn't a business, and you could stop by at 20th Century Cycles and just take a look at all the cool bikes! 

Just a few of Billy Joel's motorcycles!

Well, time moves on, and Billy closed the shop, and the motorcycles will hit the auction block in NYC this November. Here's one article that describes the story much better than I can: 

    THE AUTOPIAN ARTICLE LINK

Danger sign in the Billy Joel shop!

There will be viewing available in October at Christie's in Rockefeller Center, and then the auction held by Gooding Christie's, the official auction house of Retromobile in New York at the Javits Center in November.  

Two Ducati motorcycles.

September Autocross Report from Michelin Proving Grounds

This modified Porsche Boxster (did you notice it's missing a roof, windows, original body, etc?) had the Fastest Time of the Day (FTD.) The 2,000 pound weight, big wing, and huge 14 inch wide Hoosier race tires are nice!

On a beautiful day for autocross out at the Michelin Laurens Proving Grounds in SC, the NMS Cayman set out to maintain first place in class, and to just see how fast they could make the car drive around some cones on 14 acres of pavement.  

Here's my dash view, checking on tire pressures mostly. The orange little car symbol reminds me that the traction control is off. 

While I didn't win my class, I'm still in first, now with one more event for 2026. Worst case scenario I've clinched a tie for 1st in class, so let's look at how the rest of the driving ended up. The course was big, lots of slalom sections, and during the lunch break it was tweaked in two spots to make it a touch easier, and a few seconds shorter. That meant that the morning times weren't going to be competitive, so it was a good reason to go out and drive faster in the afternoon. 

Here's a YouTube link to my fastest run during the afternoon: 

Michelin Proving Grounds September 2026

Driver meeting. 

In a field of only 30 drivers, NMS finished as 10th fastest, and with about  15 Porsches, we took the 3rd fastest Porsche on the day. The fastest car of the day was a highly modified Boxster, running on gigantic 14 inch wide Hoosier racing slick tires, and that driver was fast! Not far behind him was SCCA multi national autocross champion Randall Wilcox, driving a Golf R. It was fun to watch those drivers really wheel around the course, much faster than me!

Here's my view waiting to drive. I have a GoPro camera mounted on the dasy, and a dash mount for my phone to also record video with an app that shows speed and other info. The FTD Boxster is waiting to drive, keeping the seat cool with an umbrella over the open cockpit. That car is followed by the awesome red Cayman GT4 RS. 

All the drivers got five chances on course in the morning, and five more in the afternoon. With 10 runs on the day, there was plenty of time to try some different driving in spots, and see how much you could improve. I tried doing less braking in a few spots, but that didn't turn out so well, and on one run I nearly spun all the way around. That run was off course for me, so the time didn't count. On other runs I managed to wipe out five other cones, so I was definitely finding out how to go too fast in places. 

More of the driver meeting. 

What I really enjoyed was just talking to other drivers, meeting some new folks, and talking about car stuff all day! I guess some folks like to join a golf club, or a quilting bee, and some just want to be car people!

Miata