I'm looking for a good school to learn some good autoX techniques. I went to www.autocross.com and frankly the SoloII site is REALLY confusion for me. so could anyone tell me straight up of a good place to learn or even ONLY JUST to practice, cause I don't want to practice on any actual roads around where I live. Thanx.

 

The best way is probably the easiest.....

Just go to a local autox event. As many events as you can. There is no replacement for seat time.


But if you're actually looking for a school, with instructors and such, I hear the Evolution driving school is the one to go to.

 

Also, some regions actually hold an "autocross school" once or twice per year. Check with your local chapter.

 

as stated above..Evolution is probably by far the best out there...while seat time is definitely needed it helps to know what you're trying to accomplish and not everyone catches on by watching...i actually rode with some members of my family and friends that are big into it and learned basics from them...then SCCA holds events at Turner field in ATL on and off throughout the year...an easy thing to do is find an OLD unused parking lot...i used to use the old Lowe's building parking lot to setup and do practice runs...once you get on a real track you can just buy some cones and create segments in a parking lot and do some runs...just make sure it's not one that is used by families or other people cause you don't want to run over anyone...

 

Evo schools are great, but I don't think that they are the best place for an absolute beginner. It's not that they would be bad, but they're a lot more usefull (and cost effecitve)if you already have some familiarity and experience with the concepts. For a total newbie, the (novice) schools that many clubs hold are probably a better place to start.

Ultimately, though, you learn by doing. The more you do it, the more you learn and the more often you do it, the faster you learn. When starting, don't worry about going as fast as you can. If you try to drive as fast as you can, you'll probably come back here complaining about how bad the car the understeers and how difficult it is to stay on course. Take it kind of slow and easy at first, and speed will come with time.

 

You can practice on the street without driving like an idiot too. Don't practice driving fast -- practice driving right. Look way ahead on corners. Try to drive the proper line in turns (within your lane, of course). See how close you can get to Bott's Dots (recommended) or curbs (less so) without touching them. Practice committing to an amount of steering input at the entry to a corner and then gradually unwinding rather than sawing at the wheel. I find stuff like that helps my autocrossing without requiring that I endanger others on my commute -- I think it makes me a safer driver on the street, actually.

Steve

 

I've heard it's good to hold off on any school until you've had some events under you're belt. Not that you won't learn anything as a total novice, but you will learn MUCH more with some experience. You'll have a better understanding of what the instructors are talking about. I was too late to sign up for our local school and the Evo school, so I was forced to take the above advice. Plan on monitoring your local region's web site next jan-feb for the posting. IIRC my region holds the local school in mid April and the Evo school is in May.

 

I don't know if your region does this but in our region we encourage novices to take one of our experienced drivers as a passenger for the fist couple of runs to help them learn the course and give them some advice. Also, before the runs start and you are doing your course walk, ask one of the experienced drivers to walk it with you and let you know how he would drive the course. Just don't forget it is all about having fun.