bowmanized

Had a chance to attend and autocross event this past weekend and had a great time. Seems like a lot of the skills you learn can translate to the big tracks, just at higher speeds. Did you guys start out autocrossing or think it helped you?

RAFTRACER

The roadracers would say that autocross doesn't help, but I am a firm believer that it does help. You learn alot about car placement and car control that you just wont get on a roadcourse. You also learn alot about course analysis and what works best given certain situations since the course is always different. Forces you to think about what line is best. Autocross competition can be quite fierce.

RX7 KLR

Randy Pobst, Jeff Altenburg and Jason Saini, the 2007 SCCA World Challenge GT, TC and SCCA MX-5 Cup champions are all past autocross champions.

gkmccready

I have to agree with RAFTRACER. The car control learned at autocross is a huge help when you push the speeds up. That and driving through the winter on snow and ice, and not parking in the paddock during a rainy session are definitely keys to being a better driver.

rasrboy

My many years of autocrossing helped me a ton when I started Road Racing.

Aaron

RX7 KLR

OT Man you made it home quick.... I take it you did not have to drive the rig back from LB.

mikahb

Anyone who claims it doesn't help probably either never did it, or never picked up the skills they needed to go fast in autoX. You obviously have to learn more stuff to be successful roadracing, but the car control, looking ahead, and track memorization skills you pick up make the transition into W2W a whole lot easier!

rfn026

It sure can't hurt. I've found the biggest difference is that you can generally be much more aggressive in an autocross. When I went from autocross to road racing I had to learn to back down a little. In autocross you tend to attack the corners. It's nothing you can't lean though.

Most autocross folks can easily make the transition to road courses. The interesting thing is that not all road racers can do well at autocross events.

One other big difference is that in autocross you're on the course for around a minute. In road racing, or track days, you're on the track for at least 30 minutes. I love the seat time you get on a road course.

Richard Newton

Autocross Performance Handbook

Corvette C5 Performance Projects: 1997-2004

John Shiels

I only did it once but it cannot be anything but an aid in learning car control.

TedDBere

If you want to learn to RR but don't have the time or the comfort level yet I'd suggest three things:

1) Autox to learn looking ahead, car control, and learning to read the fastest line around a course.

2) DE's to get comfortable with the car at speed, how to shift correctly, and to learn the tracks.

3) Join a Karting league with good karts to learn race strategy...passing and patience, how to get a run on someone and how to drive in traffic.

IMHO, have fun.

BrianCunningham

Some people say it's apples and oranges, yeah but they're still fruit

There's a lot of skills that translate over, some don't.

Over all I say it's helped me out a lot.

folsomlarry

Back when I was with the SCCA, it seemed that all of the top Corvette drivers here in the SF Region all had an autocross backround. They just seemed more comfortable with the cars. The only other ones who seemed to do good were the drivers moving up from smaller car classes who had learned to push their cars through the corners.

Larry

RogueVette

Great Autocrossers make the best Road Racers. I Firmly believe that. Maybe that's my problem. I'm just an average AutoXer.

Bill Hetzel

Me too, I only did one autocross many years ago.
Seat time, seat time, anytime you can practice car control, it will help. This could include not only autocross but karts and even dirt bikes.

96CollectorSport

When a new customer comes into the shop and wants to track there Vette I always recommend doing an autocross first. Since Road America is typically the track that they want to run, it's a good idea to get to an autocross to learn a little bit about car control and how you and your car react to certian situations (like braking and turning ) I also recommend going to a shorter slower track like Blackhawk or Autobahn before getting on track at Road America.

Personally I did 2 years of Autocrossing in my 96 before I tried my hand at RA, and I think if I hadn't autocrossed before I would have totaled my car my first time at RA. I came into T12 on a bad line and tried to brake before the car was perfectly strait and the back end slid out from under me (I was looking at the outside wall through the windshield ) I lifted off the brakes caught the slide, straitened the car and made it through the corner.
I am so glad that I did all of the autocrossing first, I remember all the dumb mistakes that I made when I was first learning how to drive harder/faster and it was good that I made those mistakes in a big parking lot rather than at a race track surrounded by concrete.

I have seen that once people do track events they are much less likely to try autocross, hang around all day for 6 laps!
Too bad because it can help you more than you think.
Even though I perfer DE's I still do at least 1 autocross a year to keep those skills sharp.

VetteDrmr

The way you worded the question is vague to me.

Road Racing is a wheel-to-wheel, competitive event. You usually need some sort of recognized racing license before you're allowed to play.

High Performance Driver's Education (HPDE for short, DE for shorter) events are *not* competitive, have limits on where and how you can pass, etc. No timing/scoring, multiple cars on track, but again, restrictions on how you play together.

Autocross is a solo, timed/scored event.

With that out of the way, I *think* you're wanting to compare autox and DEs. If that's the case, autox is HUGELY valuable to going into a DE. Speeds are slower, but much more intense from a mental standpoint. It also satisfies that competitive itch that I have that DEs don't provide. I therefore just run my DEs more relaxed, since I'm not trying to prove how well I can get around a course to anyone else.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

Lawdogg

A former TransAm racer told me that autox requires much more patience than most road racers possess. That statement is true on many levels.

Jason

After autocrossing for a couple of years, my first time on a road course I couldn't believe how much time you had between corners to get the car in the correct position. Everything felt like slow motion. Or maybe I was just slow.

BuckeyeZ06

I am absolutely convinced that autoX helps you in road racing. I almost started out in AutoX, but decided to jump right in to racing. While things have worked out OK, I think I would have benefited from exposure to the cones.

L98Terror

IMO It helps with car control, but you can pick up a lot of bad habits autocrossing. I would recommend auto X first.