November Autocross Report #2

The Autocross Battle of Speed at Hickory Motor Speedway!

In the final autocross event of the year for the Porsche Club, we headed up to Hickory Motor Speedway for the first time, and had a blast running a course laid out on the short oval AND the paved infield area. This was the club's first event at this location, and since the Carolinas Region covers the central chunk of NC and northern SC, if I had to bet I'd say we'll be back here again in 2026. OK, well, if I really had to bet, I guess I'd go to Las Vegas and catch a show along the way, but that's not important right now. 

If you're not familiar with Hickory Motor Speedway, you can find a lot of old NASCAR videos on YouTube, because even though it's under a half mile, it used to host NASCAR races. I saw one clip from the 1960s back when this track was just dirt! Here's a quick history lesson on the "World's Most Famous Short Track." 

HICKORY MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Darren and I lined up next to an Aston Martin SUV!

This event was sponsored by Foreign Cars Europa, so thanks to them for their support, because we had our largest field of drivers of the season. Cars ranged from Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Porsche, Camaros, Mustangs, Miatas and etc. to pick-up trucks! Oh hey, there was even a mini-van, and a fast Jeep Cherokee that placed in the top 10! That's one big advantage of autocross events, pretty much any car can run, and you don't have to have much more safety gear than a helmet and a seat belt. Throw in the chance to drive on a historic NASCAR track, and away you go! When the dust settled on Saturday, 70 different drivers had competed!

Competitors parking and vehicles on display from Foreign Cars Europa.

For NMS, this event also brought out the most competitors in our class of the year, with a total of five drivers. That may not sound like much, but before this event the largest turnout had been only two. NMS managed to take the win and make it 6 wins in 6 events this year, so that was pretty fun to be honest. Surely some NASCAR/INDY/F1 team needs an old guy to drive one of their racecars next year for a gazillion dollars!  Heck, I'll drive for HALF a gazillion!

Also in my class, my fellow student from York Tech Darren Connell co-drove and took a great 3rd in class, and 44th out of 70 in his first autocross event. The NMS squad is happy to name Darren the NMS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR and we hope to see him doing some more driving soon. He dropped a lot of time during his four runs on track and finished ahead of a lot of people. 

Not my car, but another Ruby Red Metallic Porsche Cayman in my run group!

In the big picture, the official results also see the NMS #4 Cayman as the 2nd fastest Porsche out of 25 drivers on the day, and 8th fastest out of all 70 drivers. My goal is always to get in the top 10 of the Porsche cars, so 2nd was very nice to see, and my best place of 2025. 

Awards presentations

I think the local sponsors, the Porsche Club, and all the participants had a great time, and hope to return to Hickory Motor Speedway next year too. The challenge of driving around the cones on a BANKED oval, as well as the flat infield was a different challenge than the normal autocross on a big flat parking lot. It was also fun to be connected to a historic track and to see our largest turnout of the year. 

1st in class trophy! 

Here's my fastest run, a 44.904: Bob #4

Darren's fastest run, a 49.702:  Darren #47