Having had to miss the last round of the Malaysian Rally Championship due to a lack of budget, I decided to do the Grass Roots Autocross championship for a bit of fun and to learn what it was all about. It is basically an autokhana, where you drive on a course set by cones, which includes things like 180 degree and 360 degree turns. It surprised me how difficult it actually was, and the level of competition that they have. There were more than ten top cars with really good drivers in them fighting for the win, and even more big battles going on in the lesser classes.

I shared a Subaru Impreza Group N car prepared by SR Motorsport with Anand Krishnan who had been helping the team in rallies prior to this and it was his first time in competition. We both struggled to get to grips with the whole proceeding, but in the end got the hang of it and set some half decent times. Unfortunately the handbrake was not functioning well and we lost time around the tight 180 degree turns and especially the 360 degree ones. It helped me to learn about the technical aspects of driving, and in a way probably improved my driving for rallies as well. Although neither of us did very well on our first time out, we will try and do more and do better next time round with a better car set-up and possibly some improved driving skills.