I came away with a very positive experience and now will HAVE to compete again next year to try for a trophy spot again. However, this time, I will be armed with the knowledge and experienced I've gained from attending my first Nationals.

Here are my lessons learned:

• It rains and can be cold in Kansas in September. Bring another set of full treaded rain tires!
• If I run in the morning the surface is quite cold still and I won't be able to keep the heat in my tires. Making those tire insulators would help to keep any heat in place, especially if I can get a co-driver.
• Get a co-driver to help with changing tires, adjusting the setup, and putting on the tire insulators. Ideally, I would get a co-driver who has a very similar driving style to myself so that we can make adjustments that would benefit the both of us.
• Bring a much larger air tank with a higher capacity. Hoosier pressures are in the 44-38 psi range and I didn't have enough in my air tank. A huge thanks to Gregg Lee (car #83) for letting me use his air tank.
• The surface at Nationals can be very bumpy in some areas. The rear OEM stock shocks were hopping over some of the bumps and causing my car to skip a couple of times. A set of inexpensive adjustable shocks will hopefully help to reduce this compared to the stock shocks I have.
• The front sway bar was moving around on me a little bit. I felt this through a slight hesitation on turn-in. I will have to fix the collars to prevent the bar from shifting side to side.
• Kansas has mostly 91 octane gas. My car has always had 93 octane gas from Texas, so I would like to bring up a jug of the higher octane fuel with me up to Kansas for the event.
• Bring a bicycle. Forbes Field is huge and the walk between the pit area and the North course is very long.
• Practice, practice, practice. Get as much seat time as possible leading up to Nationals.

I can't wait to see how the 2004 S2000 will do on the autocross course with its 2.2 liter engine. It'll be interesting to see how the car performs next year when people start competing with it.