Just had my first autocross

[Zhan]

I just got back from my first autocross. MAN that was fun... and a very humbling experience.

It was at IRCC and the course was very similar to the layout here, except that the top right straightaway and the twisty part right after/beneath it were both slaloms. The fastest times were in the low 40 sec. I got a 67 my first run but I managed to bring that down to a 52.8! (thumb)

Oh yeah, and my friend told me that there was a black 3rd-gen Protege in its stock class that got into the low 40s. That was like Miata/S2000-quick.

I have a few questions though:

1) Any general tips or specific ones for the MSP? Perhaps some things to think about as I wait for the next autox.
2) I ordered Ground Controls last weekend, but after today I wonder if I should put them on, or leave them in the garage until I get a better for my car's stock suspension?
3) What tire pressures should I use? Halfway through the day an instructor noticed that my tires were mushy and decided to take a peek at my tire pressures... It turned out that they were in the 20s (Yes, I know, very dangerous)! I filled them up to about 42 front and 32 rear, which definitely seemed to help the rest of my runs.

Thanks for reading!

 

[apexlater]

Well, your mods put you into STX, so your Springs would only help, or did you get coilovers?

Anyways:

1) break in a straigh line, if the car starts pushing straighten the wheel out, you've exceeded the tires grip.
1) Look ahead, look ahead, look ahead.
1) People tend to apex too soon, so work on seeing where the apex point is and don't get there too soon.
1) Smooth is fast, I've seen people drop massive amounts of time when they just slow down and smooth everything out instead of man-handling the car like an ape.

(I'm not saying you did any of these things, just some general pointer I give to novices)

2) I personally would try and learn the car as it is for at least one more event. The more things you change the longer it will take for you to figure out what mod does what to the handling of the car. But then again, you could always slap them on and just start from scratch.

3) 20psi is a bit low. On street tires I would probably go to the high 30's low 40's cold. Take some chalk or shoe polish and mark part of the shoulder of the tire to the sidewall and see how far they are rolling over.

Ah yes, remember my screen name...I usually find myself telling students this often on the track.

 

[AZDriftR]

wayne is the man!!!! cant wait to see you out there next sunday!!!

 

[dolphin]

In addition to what Wayne said, if you do a search, there is a ton of threads talking about autocrossing. Here is what I have put up before.


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%"><TBODY><TR bgColor=#dedfdf><TD vAlign=top align=left width="18%">[font=Verdana, Arial]

[/font]</TD><TD align=left> [font=Verdana, Arial]posted<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.3 type=text/javascript>document.writeln(timestamp(new Date(2001,0,31,21,48,0), dfrm, tfrm, 0, 0, 0, 0));</SCRIPT> 31 January, 2001 21:48 [/font]<HR style="COLOR: #dedfdf" SIZE=1>[font=Verdana, Arial]My daughter just ran her first autocross. We walk the course and talk about where to be looking and where to position the car.
My advice is:
1. If you aren't working on the car, registering or otherwise occupied, go walk the course. She walked the course about 7 times that I know of and 5 of those were by herself and at least once to show other people the course.
2. Just drive the course! Concentrate on smoothly putting the car where you want it to be on the course.
3. Don't worry about how fast anyone else is just try to go a little faster everywhere on each run, just beat yourself every run.
4. Eventually, you'll come to a place that you can't go faster. Keep that part the same and keep going faster everywhere else. I know that sounds simple, and it is, but it hard to execute. After you get to the point that you can get through the course smoothly and consistantly, then you can worry about the refinement. There are somethings that you can do in normal everday driving to try to develop good habits and improve your autocross driving.
1. Always pick your line through a turn and put the car on that line. Later, you can try to make sure you pick good lines.
2. Look waaaaay ahead. Look around the corner, look past the car in front of you and keep your eyes moving.
3. Try to make only one turn into the corner and one turn out.
4. Practice adjusting your line with the throttle.
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this is from the Miata net thread below:

http://www.miataforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000745

At one time there were 6 or 8 hardcore autocrossers on here. There used to be an autocross results page that we used to post our results on.

It sounds like you have started to do part of what I would suggest, find someone to help you at the event, kepp the car reasonably close to the same until you get half way consistant.

Michael

 

[apexlater]

Also, get as many ride-alongs as you can (ie: ride with other people). It gives you a chance to see the course at speed and not worry about driving, but seeing the course, and hopefully someone better than you.

Get more experienced drivers to ride with you. Ask them where they think you can improve. But, you have to figure out if they are telling you accurate info. And sometimes what works for others won't necessarily work for you or your car.

Don't try and master a bunch of things at once, work on one or two things till they become second nature and then move on to other techniques. And unless your last name is Daddio then there is always room for improvement.

And of course make sure you have fun, if you just keep beating yourself up with unreasonable expectations then you will just get frustrated. Everyone's learning curve is different, so you should respect yours.

 

[dolphin]

I forgot, at the first chance take the Evolution phase 1 course. It will give you months of seat time with a present or past National Champion to help you. It is not cheap but worth the cost. Here is their url.
http://autocross.com/evolution/

Michael

 

[Zhan]

Yay, thanks for the tips.

Let's see, the Ground Controls are the sleeve-type "coilovers." So basically just springs with adjustable ride height. I think I'll run a few more autoxes before installing them, as you guys suggested.

My main problem I think is getting used to the course. So I have trouble looking ahead and a lot of the time I'm overly cautious so I brake too much in certain areas. I can tell that when the course is clear in my head, I drive a lot better, because in the 7 runs I got today (was a practice day today) I had 4 runs in the 60s and then suddenly the last 3 runs I was in the low 50s. I read one of your posts before with that quote in it, Michael, and I think I'll definitely try walking the course multiple times, as that seems to be my weakness.

I think I'll go to the Evolution phase 1 at (coincidentally) IRCC on April 29th. I wish there were a closer site... and closer date, too.

 

[dolphin]

Zhan,
Here is the web site for our club and results.

http://www.sierrasportscars.net/default_003.htm

I have been running in the Street tire class for the last few years. In Nov 05 I changed from the OEM Bridgestone 040 tiress to Kumho MX.

Michael