Even as a Honda enthusiast I've never been much for the straight line racing even though it's more popular. I don't see the skill in driving in a straight line. I've always wanted to get into AutoX but I don't even know where to start.

Do they have instructors for hire? If i wanted to set up my own in a parking lot how do I make a challenging yet navigable course?

I'm just clueless to the whole thing and on Long Island, to my knowledge, there aren't any tracks.

Thanks to anyone who can help a newbie.

 

Someone will chime in about your local region's Solo-2 chapter and have more specifics, but in general there should be one or 2 clubs in your region that you can drive with.

a good place to start (if you haven't checked it out already) is the scca website. they should have a solo-2/ax FAQ page there.

setting up a course in a parking lot isn't a good idea, unless you own the parking lot, it's very big, and there's no lightpoles in the way, the concrete or asphalt is in good condition and you have good EMT's in your town. not to say that the sport is dangerous, but [insert standard motorsports disclaimer here.]

so, depending on your geographical location, there should be one or 2 or even 3 clubs putting on events every month. This place is a good resource, but a more specific source of information will be your local chapter's website/message board.

 

NY region SCCA: http://www.nyr-scca.com/

Locations for all sorts of AX.

http://www.autocrossnyc.com/locations.html

#1) Just show up and race some events, for like a year, in whatever you have
#2) Download the 2006 Rulebook as soon as its available, buy a hard copy. Read it, sleep with it under your pillow... LIVE it
#3) Oh, yeah, have fun.

 

http://www.autox4u.com

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mtbprelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Locations for all sorts of AX.

http://www.autocrossnyc.com/locations.html

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow! Didn't know my website still works! I started this website when I first got into autocross and then didn't have time to keep updating it. I haven't checked it in months!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eumoria &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Even as a Honda enthusiast I've never been much for the straight line racing even though it's more popular. I don't see the skill in driving in a straight line. I've always wanted to get into AutoX but I don't even know where to start.

Do they have instructors for hire? If i wanted to set up my own in a parking lot how do I make a challenging yet navigable course?

I'm just clueless to the whole thing and on Long Island, to my knowledge, there aren't any tracks.

Thanks to anyone who can help a newbie. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Drag Racing:
If you haven't been in a high horsepower car running 10 seconds then, yeah, it would be a little difficult understanding the talent in keeping something going straight for a 1/4 mile. It's not as easy as it looks. Though running my street car, a 1990 CRX (stock) was a pretty boring experience.

AutoX/Track Days:
Is a great way to learn car control and it is the best bang for the buck as far as racing is concerned. Not to mention it's a real blast! Most courses are set up in parking lots, however there are things called "track days" (aka PDE, PDX, HPDE) where you can take your car on a track. The closest tracks to you are probably Pocono (Long Pond, PA), Watkins Glen (NY) and LimeRock Park (CT).

Here's some of the clubs who host autocrosses in the Northeast:
http://www.nerdsracing.com/event_list_03_a.htm (shameless plug)

Most clubs have instructors at the events at no extra cost. However if you're interested in a school specific to autocross visit: http://autocross.com/evolution/

Be patient, the events for the winter are going to be sparse. Most clubs start their regular season sometime in March/April.

 

Here is the correct link for the Poughkeepsie Sports Car Club.

http://www.PSCCNY.com

It may be a little out of your way but a lot of the NYR guys from Long Island do attend our events. Oh, and it's not just a 30 second course all the time. The last event (me and STSRacer22 designed the course) had an FTD of just under 38 seconds and the quickest STS car ran just under 41.

Hope to see you next season.

 

NASA the M club and a porsche club do AutoX's on Sundays at the Giants Stadium parking lots.