Caprice PPV Is at Home on Snow-covered Autocross at Road America
While you’d normally find a Caprice PPV content to be in a highway median, they are just as happy in Wisconsin snow.
Donuts in an empty parking lot are a lot of fun, especially if it is snowing. But what if there was a place you could go where fun in the powdery stuff was encouraged? Well, for those in the northern part of the US, look no farther than winter autocross. Is it fun? Well, as you peek through these images of a Caprice PPV, we can confirm the fun factor with absolute certainty.
Road America was the host for this winter weather enjoyment. Driver Brandon Krauska was happy to give it a go. The layout of the event was traditional for an autocross. Line up at the timing light, get waved to go, make your pass and trip lights at the other end. Simple, right? Well, starting on dry pavement then transitioning to snow made things very tricky, especially for rear drive cars.
Rear drive cars were put in their own class to keep things fair. This way cars with AWD or FWD could play in their respective classes as well. But a Caprice might not be the ideal autocross car when compared to cars like MX5s, Porsche 911s and even a Lotus Evora (yes, really). But that’s not the point. The main objective here is to have a little fun, with the spirit of competition thrown in.
In motorsports, rain is known as the great equalizer. We’re not sure what snow is called, but it certainly makes a Caprice competitive. But snow must be handled carefully. In traditional autocross, if you knock over a cone, you’ll get a one second penalty. For snow autocross, the takes are much higher. Hit a cone and your time won’t count at all. So your driving must be precise and delicate.
Krauska had his best result with the traditional style auto cross held on Road America’s go-kart track. With clearing snow, times were getting progressively faster. Ultimately, a 5th place finish in class was secured. Among about 15 other rear drive cars, it wasn’t that bad.
Photos for LS1Tech by Patrick Morgan
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