ive never been to an autoX. been to 2-3 races tho. i really want to start auto Xing. just curious on how some of you guys did your first times. i know people will spin out and mess up, practice makes perfect. ive been trying to read up on some other threads on different things to practice. which is more fun, autoX or road race? personal preference perhaps. i just cant wait to get started. i can drive fairly well, never really tested myself tho.

 

I prefer road course, besides the fact that it's a real course with elevation changes and such, there is more track time and you don't have work assignments like in auto-x. Of course all that is what you pay extra for.

I did alright my first time I guess. Just killed my tires because I didn't feel like them screaming at me was enough warning that I was probably reaching the limits of traction and scraping the rubber off of them.

 

Your first time.

Walk the course....lots.

Try to figure out the line before you run..it seems to fall into place better when I was actually driving, and see how your car behaves.

My first time I did fairly well..I was about 3 seconds behind the veteran drivers.

However 3 seconds is alot in autox.

It wasn't a points event. but I never hit any cones...the vets did, go figure. W/that in mind I think I did fairly well for my first time.

 

Everyone thinks they're a hot-**** driver until after their first on-track event...!

Be patient and stow any ego you might have. It will be a steep leaning curve!

Greg ~ who has spun more than Charlotte

 

My first time was memorable, it was a pratice event and i cooked the **** out of the tires...

instructor - Your driving way too fast!
me - this is a race isn't it?
instructor - yes, but to be fast, you must slow down....
me - huh?????
instructor - here, watch me
me - ohhhhhh, ok i get it...hehehehe

that was about a year and a half ago and i was about 3-5 secs off the leaders. Now i am between .5 and 1 sec behind. (keep in mind, STS in SoCal is extremely competitive)

Most of all, have fun!

 

My first autocross was 1981 and I was 17. I spun my nasty Corvair twice in the first run. By the end of the day I was running better and not spinning so I made prgress and wanted to come back for more. On your first day I think you shouldn't be concerned really at all about where your speeds compare to other, just navigating the course safely with a control and as much speed as comes easy. It can be sensory overload at first so stay under control.

To me, autocross when compared to road racing is like playing "Chopsticks" on the piano. It is good skills practice, is fun and sounds okay but it sure isn't real music. On the other hand, road racing is the is the full bore needle in the vein while also smoking a crack pipe. This is my personal opinion, I know some very serious and accomplished autocrossers for whom it flips their switch much more than I. It will take every penny and money you let it and more. It is a serious commitment of effort and resources and if not watched carefully can take over your life and finances.

Whichever you do, the learning curve is very steep and getting the driver up to speed is the biggest part. Watch and learn as much as you can and take any opportunity for instruction available. Eyes open wide and a little ego will get you farther faster than the alternative.


[Modified by CRX Lee, 5:26 PM 3/15/2003]

 

I'll agree with the walk the course part. Walk it alot. When you think you've walked it enough walk it two more times. Try to find a veteran driver and ask him to help you out as you walk the course. I met this old bad ace veteran driver that kinda took my under his wing and showed me alot at my first event. I made him proud when I bagged 2nd place in STX. Then he told me to jump in his stock miata for a run. I will never call them girl cars again.

 

Another tip... when you're walking the course, if there's not at least two parts that you think will be tricky, you're not looking hard enough. When you do find a tricky spot, walk it and then once your past it look backwards from where you want to be after the section, and then figure out where you need to enter. And then after that, walk the course two more times

Another thing I do is make notes on the course map, especially after your first run, on where you need to improve.

Good luck and have fun!

 

I am going to start AutoX this season. As far as road racing I spun out the first time but I love doing it.

 

I sucked fairly badly. The good news is not only do people at autocrosses not care if you're slow, they're usually falling all over themselves to help you get better.

 

I was practically in last place of the Novice class for the first autox and I kept going back for more.

Finally got within 3-4 seconds of the SM guys that were on R-compounds.

Maybe next year, just maybe, I'll be competitive.

I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can get 2-3 autocrosses in every month, if all the clubs are running an event that month. Seat time is key.

 

1st autocross: My first run sucked ***, but I took 4 seconds off my time by the second run. I ended up winning the novice class that day, and was 3rd overall in G stock.

1st track day: Dropped my lap times at Lime Rock from 1:23 to 1:12 in a bone stock Prelude on street tires. That was fast enough to be running mid-pack in the second fastest run group. (with experience and mods, I dropped that time to 1:05 within a year)

1st race: VIR North. Only three cars in my class, I qualified second. The top qualifier went out with a mechanical DNF, and the other guy and I went at it like crazy. He was right on me, but couldn't get by. With two laps to go, he spun off the track in the hog pen, and I took the win.

Matt

 

1st autocross, August '96: Finished 3rd out of 12 novices and took home a trophy. The next event, they kicked me out of novice (because I trophied) and into street-tire class where I had my *** RESOUNDLY kicked. O-man (Oscar) was running that class in his old Probe GT. You know Oscar, the guy who makes Porsches feel inferior with a 108hp CRX.

Within 2 years, I finish 1st for the season in street-tire class.

1st track: Roebling Road, June 1999. Stock Eclipse on street tires. Duane Taylor was my instructor. I learned how to be smooth from Duane. Unnoficially turned a 1:40 by someones stopwatch. Remember: 1st ever track event, street tires, stock and SLOW car. I still don't think that's shabby.

 

trackschools are the most fun, you spend so much time behind the wheel and so much time with an instructor giving you pointers every minute that you just cant learn faster! still, I wouldnt rush into a trackschool WITHOUT doing a few autocrosses first to get a little precision-car-control into your brainpatterns.

autocross is so fun and yes I was horrid onmy first day, well, first season! but its all in good fun learning to get your brain to tell your body... to do what you think you need to do... then you learn thru talking with instructors and "old timers" what to do in the first place! it really pays off to talk to the guys with years of experience even if some of their knowledge is petpeeves most of it is good info you can trust. and yes walk the course at least six times and as many times as possible, like 10 is cool. the first events are where people always make the mistake of thinking they'll remember the course layout easily.




[Modified by owen_the_soyboy, 12:28 AM 3/16/2003]

 

lol. for some reason i get this picture of people walking the course exactly how they would drive it.. like on the edge and taking it on the inside. lol. is that how people walk the course, exactly how they are planning to drive. or do they walk it normally and just look at everything.

 

yes, some people (myself included) actually walk the course in relation to the line that is intended to be taken when driven. though, it is still quite different to me when i actually start to drive the course.

my first time at a road course/track was a little over a year ago and i have a handful of autox events under my belt, but i always see room for improvement after every event. i think that's what drives me to drive, so to speak...

 

First track event:

May (?) 2000, I was convinced to try out this whole OT thing with my new (around 1k miles) CL-S. Sunday - Wednesday before event, conceptualizing how they would tell me how great I was, would they pull me out and bump me a group? Would they hold me up on their shoulders? Would they have an award for the best newbie ever? ... LOL Thursday night, hrmm, what if I completely suck ***? Friday, calling friend Stephen w/ thoughts I might not go (too worried about being horrifyingly bad and hurting the car). Stephen tells me we all suck at first, no worries, just don't put myself into a bad place trying to expect too much (HAHAHA been there done that). Show up, scared shitless, drive pretty safely but way too fast into turns and it didn't help too much that it was a POC event w/ 911 racers for instructrors and none of them even knew what kind of car I had (my instructor didn't figure out I had a FWD til Sunday when he opted to find me someone else - who thought he could help if I'd let him drive it ... he was extremely confused by the .... TCS - ok turned that one off and the last session in the rain was prolly the most successful but still not worth writing home about). So the weekend was horrible, I drove horribly but at least I destroyed the pads and rotors Things got significantly better for me 2 events later when I had Catch as my instructor and he was the first to explain that the car was just not made for this (despite Acura's claims) and on a track like CMP it just wasn't gonna get good until the car was changed so much that its life as cush land boat was no more.

I still think there were a lot of lessons to be learned from trying to finesse a 3500+ (sans driver) FWD car around a race track without nuking the brakes - I only learned a few of them but my checkbook dictated a change anyway.

As for auto-x, having already had this experience, I went there with no expectations and had a good time (prolly cause I just went to have fun and find out what the new car could do).

 

I just completed my first autox at Camden. And all I can say it that it was a pure rush of fun. I came in 8 out of of 9 cars but I was in S Mod class because of my swap, which kind of sucked considering I was on 13" vx rims with stock tires and no suspension mods. All I mostly did was roast the tires around the whole course, can you say understeer. I probably could of corrected this a little bite if I wasn't mashing the gas so much and transferring more weight to the front tires.But it doesn't matter because I had mad fun and I will be doing this for a long time. Oh yeah and by the way its 100% better then drag racing. Can you say

 

First time on a track,

Well, the first time i drove a street car in a SOLO 2 event was when i was 15, me and my dad were driving a 86 Camry with very worn' out shocks and crappy tires, this was more of just a fun event, i actually don't remember where i was by results.
However my first real SOLO 2 event was when i was 17, i ended up winning the class buy a little over a secound on a 50 secound course. I think we had 15 people in the class that day. I really didn't expect it but the veterns were even more suprised cause i only started driving my own street car a few weeks before that.


My first expirence on a race track with a street oriented car, Well i just bought the 87 CRX from my Brother so it was already setup for SOLO 1. I picked the car up from him a few days before the 1st event and was just learning how to drive it. Anyway, the weekend went really well and i ended up setting a new track record for that class, about .3 quicker then the previous one and my tires were old and hard so i was really happy. That year i ended up going on to set a track records at every track we ran on and won my class, ended up 3rd in the overall points since my consistency wasn't quite there yet.

See, you can just get into a car and go

But really, expirence is EVERYTHING. You can be a pretty fast driver even if you don't have that extra bit of natural talent(some people refer to it as being a ALIEN). Just get as much seat time as you can, whenever you have the chance get more expirenced people in the car with you to give you pointers. Use all of your resorces and you can go quicker up the learning curve.


PS, just for note, i started racing karts when i was 11, did that for 4 years and then drove a bunch of events in a FF16000 race car when i was 16. I've been running the CRX for the past 3 years since its all i can afford to do. monies oWn ME $$$$ or the lack of. My dad has been racing for over 30 years so i guess you can say its "in the blood"

 

1st Solo2 event: I spent 1/2 day running as a passenger in as many cars as I could. I spent the other half having experienced people run as passengers in my car. Seat time and an open mind is key. I managed to take the OVR rookie of the year title way back in 97 with that philosophy... One thing about Solo2 folks is that they are always willing to help you learn. Take your time and don't worry about being slow. It's always better to be slow and controlled then to go out half cocked mowing cones...

1st Track event: I attended an HPDE at Putnam Park. I used a lot of my Solo2 skills, rode with as many instructors as I could, and listened to what everyone had to say. The ol' saying "slow down to go fast" works for both Solo and Track events. Being smooth is even more important at the track where the speeds are significantly increased.

I got hooked on the track stuff... can't imagine going back to cone dodging. But both are fun in there own way.

Good luck and have fun...

 

i guess this is where i should've posted my question about how people react to the newbies at events. it's nice to see that everyone seems to have a good attitude towards the novices. my main fear is screwing up in front of everyone, not because i'm over-eager, or over-zealous, but because i honest to god just wouldn't know what i'm doing. i know everyone feels like this at first, but you always tend to be your own worst critic.

 

ggood deal. i just signed up for the mazda6 autoX event in charlotte. hopefully this will be a start.

 

i was wanting to get in to racing too but I don't know where any tracks are.
does anyone know where i can find a website that has track listings?


[Modified by sethm, 7:44 PM 3/18/2003]

 

scca.com i beleive it should have some listings..

 

First time ever on the track were two solo I events. I was new to driving (of any kind) period and I can only describe it as a VERY enjoyable sensory overload. Oh yeah, got my butt kicked, too while at it. Soon after, went to my first solo II events and got my butt kicked again. The first road race came after at least a couple dozen autox events later, so I did have at least a tiny idea of how to turn the wheel back and forth. Managed to qualify ahead of seven or eight other cars in class, but got my butt kicked hard again by the pole sitter mr.Fowler. The race itself didn't last long, as an IT7 assisted the T6 wall in kicking my butt on the second lap. And that concludes "my first time at the track" stories.