While I have seen my fair share of autocross action over the years it pales in comparison to some people. Even in my limited capacity I can tell you that it is not too hard to spot the different driving styles out there. Some guys are smooth as glass and some guys are about as aggressive as a sledgehammer. Brian Finch falls under that sledgehammer category. Before you think I’m insulting the guy, I am not. If you are a fan or an announcer you want a guy like Finch out there because the revs will be up, the car will spend some time sideways, and you know it is going to be a bad fast time showing up on the board. Now, if you think it is highly entertaining to watch that style of driving from outside the car, image what it is like inside, right?! Our pa Cheryl who is an autocrosser and racer in her own right got into the Brian Finch Camaro for a run at the Cruisin’ the Smokies event a short while back and from that adventure we got this video.
I know the expression on her face. That’s joy. I’ve been there. When strapped into the likes of Ken Block’s rally car last year, I was making the same faces, guffawing in the same manner, and generally loving every sideways, screaming, edge of control second of the ride. You’ll have to watch this video a couple of times. Why? You need to watch it and pay attention to Cheryl to see the time she’s having and then you have to go back and watch it to see Finch working the wheel like a mad man around a course that was both fast in parts and technical as well. The best part of the whole thing is the noise being made by the Kurt Urban built LS engine under the hood of the Camaro.
The car is great and so isn’t the level of fun shown in this video!
As a SCCA Solo Safety Stewart I would not allow driving on an AutoX course without a helmet and worse with roll cage…we have rules for the worse that could happen…not 99.9% of the time when nothing happens. Bouncing your head against an unpadded bar would be like cracking an egg.