alrite, i've just ran my worst ever autocross event this weekend.

my old driving style: (seems to be pretty consistent time)
tend to enter hot
tend to follow a more drifty line (early apex?) but really driving without caring for line much.
tend to make the tire scream (without loosing it) all the way through the corner
tend to throttle steer.

this sat i attended a practice session, with slaloms, kidney shaped skid pad, and a "mini track"
changed to heavy breaking before corner, then gas out
late apex (gas out)
still aware of weight shifting
smoother steering wheel input
trying to turn early and clear the slalom with rear tire.
wider entry into corner.

on sunday, grr
time was.
74ish (too hot 1st corner, had to almost stop)
70 (no screw up)
81+999cones (was doing real good, then took a slalom too fast, wiped and total cone ownag)
69

tire pressure is 35-36 all around.
stock suspension, stock setting. full tank of gas(due to bad fuel pump...)

for comparison, friends in similar car and condition was able to get 65 i believe (hes got a year or 2 under his belt).


i'll post some video tommorow, was playing music cause i was just trying to have fun and not drive too aggressive (which i still end up driving too aggressive)


QUESTIONS:
1) should i go back to old style, or just have to keep practicing the new style of driving.
2) we had a new guy that came out with some better street tire than us(we are running oem style summer tires) and a base model, and was able to beat my friend with the GT model by about 2-3 seconds.. is tat skill or just car? o.O

 

You need to slow down to go fast.

 

slow in fast out.. that is like 30 years old, and still true..

as to tire pressue. give 34 in front an 30 in the rear a shot..

i did me good..

beers

 

i guess new style then.. just more practice @.@... i'll give that pressure a try swoope, another event this weekend... i am sun burnt to **** -.- i am asian and my friends are saying i look like an native indian -.-

 

not sure of your mods, but i had a very talented guy drive my car during a track weekend. he gave me two rounds out of the rear shocks, and 2lbs out of the rear tires.

changed my world..

beers

 

Slow in Fast out
Be smoother. Slow down the inputs. Event before last an instructor you had told me you were too jerky with your inputs. Especially with the oem shocks. Drifting=slow.
Slow down the corner entry. Slows the weight transfer. Smooth.

 

If the first time you autocrossed was in March, you just need seat time. I wouldn't even recommend Evolution school yet. Just go drive in as many events as you can-this is my 3rd season driving, and I still feel pretty green behind the wheel at times.

 

alrite, thanks

 

i guess one more quick question.

right now i believe i am running 225 kumhoa ecsta SPT, whenever i get my next street tire.. (i'll probably be autoxing on the street tire untill i graduate) should i up it to 245 BFGoodrich g-Froce?

 

Naw, the G-Force tires are discussed in another thread. Basically they were awesome in the 90's, but now there is better.

I believe there is a thread or 2 already discussing the better street tires.

The Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec seems to be popular due to the fact that it heats up quickly. Its become more popular so the price is going up.

I would suggest not to replace your tires until you actually need to. Also if you have plenty of tread left go for a set of Koni's first. Shocks last forever, tires are a wear item.

 

I STRONGLY disagree. If you are starting out, getting excellent advice is well worth the investment. Just getting "seattime" without proper guidance leaves you HOPING you get it right.

If someone was just starting to golf, I'd advise they take lessons first. This is not different. And the advice of well-intentioned people at a local event is wrong too many times.

Evolution has exercises to teach you what it means to do the things right. Not just tell you to do them.

Is that good for most street tires?

 

bleh, discount tire don't carry Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec

 

Tire rack is selling 225-40-18 for $700.08 to your door.

It would still cost $100 to get them mounted at discount though.

There is another website that is about $50 cheaper but I forgot what it was.

They are still pretty new on the market. The 2 favorites are the Potenza RE-01R and the ADVAN Neova AD07. Those are the best street tires, but they are not cheap. Some of the guys running on the RE-01R's said they were better than used R-compounds.

Your current tires didn't seem bad at all on the track. Is your tread getting low?

 

Let me STRONGLY disagree right back. Evolution School assumes that you already have some basic skills, skills that take a year or so behind the wheel to acquire. No offense to the OP, but after reading his post, it appears to me that he is lacking some of these.

When I took Phase one last year, there was somebody who came who had never autocrossed before. It was a SERIOUS waste of his time and money-not to mention that he actually scared one of the instructors out of his car.

 

+1

And by the way... 0.16 seconds !!!


ps. please forgive my vague references...

 

it will die by the end of this year for sure, if not during the fall.

 

Is that what Baruth beat you by at the Atlanta NT?

 

0.16 seconds? I didn't think it was even that much! I was just happy to have won the battle of overweight, underprepared cars

 

We both (xsnipersgox) autocross in the Houston SCCA and started about the same time. The instructors out there are more than willing to help out and provide instruction. In all honestly we will both be ready for the Evo school when it swings back around somewhere in Texas.

As for driving style, talk to the instructors. Your old "style" was off course drifting. In my opinion you already improved alot, you just consistantly brake way too late. Most of this will go away with more seat time.

For the experts to chime in, heres his video from mineral wells.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wrujD066j9Y

 

Heh, my co-driver made it about halfway between, so he's closer. Funny thing, both of us took different sides of the final slalom on Sunday's course, and ended up with roughly the same times.

 

I'm not the three-time national champion around here, but since the fast guys are probably too busy to help, I have a few comments for you.

First-wow, what an amazing lot! That's a HUGE course!

Okay, now, the driving. You were consistently reacting to the course rather than driving proactively. Before the event starts, you need to have such a good picture of the course in your mind that you would be able to draw a perfect picture of the line you plan to take. You seemed entirely surprised by every element of the course.

Secondly, you are plowing into nearly every single corner. It's always better to brake too early than brake too late.

Lastly, slow your hands down. I cant see your hands in the video, but I'm guessing you're sawing pretty good at the wheel based on the jerky motion of the front end of the car. Plan ahead, pre-position your hands on the wheel for each turn, and turn slowly but precisely.

There's a lot more, but you can only focus on so many things at a time.

 

hehe, i arrived late that day and only had 1 hurried course walk before i had to work 1 heat on a 100 second course @.@... but ya, i think i've improved a bit since then too, looking back at the video, it's surprising that even i can see alot of mistakes @.@...


thanks for the adivces.

 

I agree with most of what you have said here. However, I do not agree with the idea of being able to put the course to memory, half the time I think that is most of the problems people have. Just look ahead and you don't have to remember the course.

 

hmmm. i went back and looked at the most recent time (finally posted) i think i did better than i thought...

friends with similar cars got about high 68 and high 66(1 year under belt) i got 74,70,DNF,69... hmmm must drive more =D

however a newcommer that drove 1st time base model with a bit better tire beat us by a bunch 66. =/

 

I have a tendency to memorize the course which has bit me once before. One event, I kept aiming the car in the wrong direction virtually every run thinking that after cone X I was to steer the car to Y even when I knew it was wrong.