1st autocross experience

[cjstringer]

Having just bought the car in December of 2001 and living in the midwest, the autocross season is still in the pre-season stages.
A local club had a fun event, not for points, this past weekend. I will say, the MP3 was well represented by a guy strangely resembling me. 80 cars showed up to race.
I showed up early, and got questions all day. It was awesome. A lot of the other drivers were actually glad they weren't in my class. I guess that's a compliment. They had all heard of the car, and everyone wanted to know if it was hype or truth. Truth seemed to be the winner. I had multiple ride alongs by other jealous drivers. :D
I had never autocrossed before, and just wanted to get a feel for what it is. Now, I'm hooked! If you have an MP3 and don't autocross, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. Through either luck or skill, (I'll go with luck) at the end of the day, I had won the GS class.
Hope others have the same experince this season! I know I'll be going every month, if not more!
Just thought you'd all like to here a victory story from a fellow driver.

PS - the only competitionI had was a trailered Camaro with FAT Hoosier race slicks and a Contour SVT. Maybe not the best handling cars out there, but I'd never done this before. Seeing the trailer with the Camaro in my class coming in was a little intimidating, but that quickly passed. I'll give you a link to the times when the club posts them.
:cool:

[BigBlue]

That's awesome dude! Congratulations...if we had autocross racing in my area I think I'd try it too!

[Newf]

Congrats! I wish I was there to see you beat that camaro. I love seeing camaro's and mustangs getting their asses handed to them.

I wish we had autocross here as well. Sounds like a laugh.

[deepcover6]

Great kills dude, wish I had been there to see the faces on those guys when a four banger beat their high powered muscle machines. I am sure it is a great feeling. Actually I have had some of that feeling myself, on the roads here. Often find people trying to test me while I am just chillen in my ride. My last challenge was WS6 on my tail right before an exit....well I took the unorthodox approach to a turn by going in fast and stuck like glue to the ramp all the way through. Meanwhile behind me I heard the WS6 screeching and loosing control almost ending up in the ditch. I waited for him in the emergency lane to see if he is ok. As he sheepishly rolled down the ramp, he didn't bother to say hi!Just roared of looking real pissed :mad:. 'I wonder why?' Heh, heh a lot of these guys just can't (handle) :Dthe loss.

[ 02-26-2002: Message edited by: deepcover6 ]

[Newf]

Deepcover6

I done the exact same thing with a new Mustang GT. Oh what a laugh. Funny thing is, he actually lost the tail end of his car and ended up stopping. OH did I laugh. He never even bothered to catch up to me again afterwards.

LOL

[cjstringer]

Here are the results. Just thought everyone would like to see what happened. :) My favorite is the Z06 everyone was galking over all day. :)

Autox PAX Results (http://personals.custom.net/rotary/2002_Jan_Pax.pdf)
:cool:

[BigBlue]

Going out right now, but I had to post quickly. Great time congrats! Could you explain what all the different classes are tho? I just noticed that your time is only about 2 seconds off the best time on the track and was wondering what they did to their cars to put them in different classes etc.

[MP3chick665]

Glad to hear things went well for you. I am looking forward to this spring/summer and getting into it as well. I just hope I'll be able to find this in my area.
Again, congrats and let me know how others go!

[cjstringer]

I'm not 100% sure of what the other classes get. I know the GS, HS, FS, etc classes are stock classes. I run GS with my car directly off of the showroom. It has to do with the cars size and power capabilities I believe.
The STS are modded cars with intakes, stabilizer bars, and other mods. The difference between the classes is that each class runs and the best run time is used. We got 5 runs that day.
From your best time, they use a multiplier, which is different for each class, times your best time. This is used to judge how each car would run if it had equal mods to the top cars.
I'm not explaining this very well, but here is a site (http://www.azsolo2.com/reference/usingpax.htm) that may explain it a little better.
As the link shows, you could race a formula one car and a yugo on the same track. The yugo would be slower, but the multiplier against it's time may make it equal to the F1 car in the final results.

MP3chick, As for autocrossing in MI, I know there are some schweet tracks up there. Check SCCA.ORG (http://www.scca.org) for a local region. You'd be surprised. I'm considering an event or two up there myself this year. I would like to see what other regions have to offer competition wise.
I think SanFran also does this. (If I'm not mistaken) I haven't got my SCCA membership stuff yet, so I can get more info in the future if you guys are interested.
Hope to see some other MP3s this year. I'm considering taking the trip to Kansas in September for the Nationals, even if I don't qualify, just to see them.
Laterz..
:cool:

[BigBlue]

Ah okay your explanation and website helps a lot thanks! So have you been doing the autocross thing for awhile, or were you just a damn good driver....a top 10 finish still seems quite impressive to me.

[freekwonder]

damn good finish man.

im getting ready to do my first event on march 24. on the 23rd they are having a driving course to teach you how to drive. then im doing the autox on the 24th. lets see how a novice does. i have only been driving stick for a year and have never autox before.

[cjstringer]

That was my first AutoX ever. I loved it and can't wait for the next one.
I used to race go carts, and no, not the putt-putt style. Top end for that was about 105Mph though. It was sweet. Racing at 90+mph with your butt 1 inch off the ground and no roll cage is a great way to learn how NOT to f**k up! It really teaches you what driving is all about.
BUT, the last time I raced those was in college, about 6 years ago. Haven't raced ANYTHING since then, until now. :)
I attatched a pic of the camaro that came in on the trailer. It was intimidating seeing it was in my class, but finally I figured out how the course was and I wasn't as nervous. :)
Also,
here is the link to the times by run (http://personals.galaxyinternet.net/rotary/2002_Jan_Class.pdf) for the day. I started out slow, but moved up pretty well over the 5 runs.
Thanks for the congrats all. Please post your results if any of you give it a shot this summer. I'll keep you all updated every chance I get. I love this stuff. :) :D
:cool:

[dolphin]

cjstringer
I know what you mean. We have been autocrossing our MP3 since not long after we got it in Aug. Do you know what the tire handicap is? I have never seen that before. We have a stret tire class or a daily driver class for cars running non-'R' tires Here are the links to the two sites that have results from the events we have run.

http://www.azbrscca.org/Results/2002/feb02.html
This site also has a some pictures including a couple with Dolphin.

http://www.sierrasportscars.net/results.htm
This is our home club's site.

[AZxMP3]

Dolphin ... let me know when / if you are up here at Firebird for the SCCA solo... It would be cool to hook up and kill everyone in our class.... C-Ya... Ryan

[cjstringer]

The tire handicap is for anyone running street tires. The camaro I was against was using Hoosier racing slicks. A little bit of an advantage for them I would say. Running street tires in the STOCK classes only, gets you a 1 second handicap. I think STS is required street tires, so I don't think they get the handicap.
:cool:

[cjstringer]

Nice kills! Couple M3s, camaro, mustang, lotus, that's sweet. :)
Should have checked the sites before the last post.
Anyway, nice runs. Keep us updated! Love seeing the MP3 kills!
:D :cool:

[dolphin]

cjstringer,
Thanks I was not understanding the tire handicap on for results. Street tire/Daily driver could be any of the open classes but is restricted to street tires with a UTOQ treadwear rating of 140 or greater. All the cars in this class then compete based on their PAX times. We chose this way because it is difficult to tell what the off-set for "R" tire is going to be from event to event.

[AZxMP3]

DOLPHIN............ you read my post??

[dolphin]

AZxMP3,
We seldom get to Phoenix but we might arrange to meet in Tucson at one of the ABR events. It would be cool to have more than one MP3 running an autocross.

[AZxMP3]

Sounds good to me... I will keep you posted or vise versa on when a possible date could be... Was also looking at that night run in Flag... that sounds sweet running at night.. Will talk to ya soon.

[dolphin]

AZxMP3,
One nice thing about our events is that we are 4700-4800 feet elevation so the temperature is not as bad as Tucson or Phoenix. It still get hot but not as bad. I am almost always at our events. So let me know if you come this way. I am not sure when I'll be in in Tucson next but I'll let you know before hand. If you decide to go to Tucson, let me know and I'll see if I can arrange to be there.

Take care and CUL.

[Kooldino]

Hey man, good going! Represent that MP3, baby!

[dolphin]

Well we have an autocross Sunday the 17th so I will be there. Hopefully, I'll do as well as the last time.

[AZxMP3]

Dolphin man I was so pissed off Sunday... The wife wanted to go home shopping so I opted to not go to Firebird... We drove by there on the way to look at some houses.... DAMN they were running SCCA on the Bondurant track,,, NO CONES,,, The Bondurant track GRRRRR Im so mad I have always wanted to run that track instead of the cones..... Well anyway I will be checking into the Tucson SCCA and definetly want to go to the one in Flag that runs during the night... C-Ya

[dolphin]

Well we have an autocross Sunday the 17th so I will be there. Hopefully, I'll do as well as the last time.

[AZxMP3]

Oh yea am going to a D-Backs spring game in Tucson on the 18th so the ball and chain wont let me drive there two days in a row.... so sorry the 17th is a bomb...

[dolphin]

AZxMP3,
I understand. We are also another hour southwest of Tucson.
Here is the URL for our clubs page:
http://www.sierrasportscars.net/welcome.htm

Our events are almost always the third Sunday of the month, if you get a chance stop by.

Enjoy,

[cfbjr]

Interesting how different groups have different calsses and rules in the classes and handicaps like the tire handicap.
In GS out here in CA you don't get any penalty for running the DOT approved R tires. But that might just be the indexed class thing only. The "Daily Driver" class that Az runs in is very interesting. How do they know you drive it daily? You guys must just do just rankings by PAX? I like the electrc car class too. There's a guy out here in the Bay Area that whips up on the competition in HS in his Honda Insight. I'm glad he's not in my class. It would be embarrasing to get beat by an electric car.

I do have to say that there are a lot of Vettes up in my area and some of those guys are incredible drivers. With the right driver, a Vette is an unbeatable autocross car. With the wrong driver in the Vette, MP3's can make them look like fools!
CJ, looks like that Contour was having some serious issues!

[cfbjr]

Hey guys,
I put together an "autocross record sheet" to use when you autocross to record some stats about your car, conditions and times when you autocross. This will make it easier for us to compare notes about what works best for our cars. Take a look and let me know if it should be changed somehow.

The sheet is in TXT format, I can send to you in regular word or PDF format by email, just let me know.

I was thinking I'd put up a web page with a database for us to enter this info into so we could have a central place to look it up. If that's something you guys are interested in, just let me know and I'll get started on it.

The record sheet is attached.

[dolphin]

cfbjr,
That was why the Sierra Vista club changed the name to Street Tire class instead of Daily Driver. In either case the tires UTOQ treadwear rating must be equal to or greater than 140. The raw time times the PAX factor for your class gives you your PAX time. The class is scored based on the PAX times.

I used to autocross a Corvette before I switched to the Miata. It was nice but the tires and maintence as frequent and expensive.

On your autocross form. Depending on how you implement it, you might want to include a URL with the entire results if available. You might also want to include the altitude. For example our site is about 4800 ft here while Tucson is about 1500 - 2000 ft lower. Yes, it makes a big difference. My 140 HP engine at sea-level is only 117 HP up here. The notes should also include changes from stock, such as a different suspension alignment, shocks etc.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head.

CUL

[cjstringer]

A website to compare times and such? That sound pretty cool. You might also want to add a field to enter the best PAX time of the day for the course. This may not be from one of us, but it will guage how close to the top we come!

Just a thought. Sounds like a good idea though!
:cool:

[cfbjr]

Here's a revised form, using some of your suggestions. The idea here is to help give me a guide as to what should be on the web site. You could print out this form and take it with you just so you remember the stuff for when you enter it on the site.