Cumberland Motor Club brings high

Jun 06, 2023

Sports Reporter

BANGOR - Speed, adrenaline, all in a parking lot. Cumberland Motor Club is bringing some high octane autocross to Bangor's Bass Park this weekend, as they've done annually since 2018.

"The Cross Center doesn't really have much concerts going on, so we figured we could take advantage of some nice new pavement and have some fun," event chair Gary Bellefleur says.

"This is the most fun you could possibly have in a car safely," driver Teagan Prince says.

71 cars competed for the best time on Saturday, many of whom were inspired to join when they saw the circuit first come to Bangor.

"I was really wanting to get into it and wasn't aware of this club until they came to Bangor for their first event," Prince says.

"Some of our fastest drivers came in when we first came to Bangor," driver Michael Bickford points out. "They fell in love with it and they're going all over the state with us now."

But what is it about autocross that has people ranging from just getting their license to in their mid-70s coming back?

"It definitely can be an adrenaline rush," Bellefleur says. "There's a lot of corners, there's speed, you're sliding the back end of the car out. It's a lot of fun."

"You could be thinking about your problems, you could be thinking about work, but in the car you can't be thinking about any of that," Bickford says. "That's pretty cleansing."

Even if things do go south on one run, they've still got a bunch of other tries throughout the day, so the drivers are still all smiles.

"It's fun spinning," Bickford proclaims. "You would think, 'that's crazy,' but it does get your heart rate up a little bit."

But imagine an actual benefit to taking up autocross for everyday driving. Well, there just might be one.

"If an animal comes out, you know what to do, you know when to brake, you know when to turn," Bellefleur explains.

"I actually strongly recommend that, even if you're not into racing, you come out and see how your car handles so you know the limits and know what you can do to avoid a dangerous situation," Prince says.

While that could be a hard sell, Cumberland Motor Club hopes that as these events go on, more and more will see how fun the sport can be.

"Without new people, this would be a boring event," Bickford says. "If it was just me driving around in the parking lot, they'd arrest me."

"It's nice having some people come out and experience it for the first time," Bellefleur says. "Hopefully, we can get them hooked and actually out here driving."

Sports Reporter

Currently in Bangor