KewlFunGuy

I am going to autocross for the first time toward the end of the week. Any tips for a safe and fun time. I am out just to have some fun... and be safe doing it. I am always reading and learning from post on the forum. Any help and info would be a great!

Thanks!

talon90

The best thread for your review.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...k-in-here.html

carboman

Don't run over the cones.

jschindler

My best advice - be smooth and if your car is a manual, get into second gear and leave it there. The car has so much power that downshifting to first will likely cause you to spin.

People worry too much about how the car is set up the first few times out. Worry about learning to control the car - not the other way around. When you feel like you made a few runs where you really understood what was happening in every turn and you could feel what effects every throttle and braking input made - then start playing with how the car is set up (meaning tire pressures if you are running stock).

When I started road racing motorcycles, the first couple of races I couldn't tell you what I had done in each corner - I was doing everything by reaction and gut instinct.

After a few races, things slowed down enough in my brain that I began processing information much slower and more methodically - and I was beginning to be aware of everything I was doing at every instant. When I say processing information slower - I really guess I mean faster. By slower, I mean that things start happening in slow motion - allowing your inputs to happen in finer increments.

jccarr

I second the once in second gear leave it in second.

danl72

Be careful and stay safe.

stic5

Sorry to be a party pooper, but my advice is don't waste your time. Your car is too good for a parking lot filled with cones. That stuff is for Miatas. Find a real road race track and let your Vette stretch its legs.

TMyers

Get there early and walk the course with someone experienced. Get the course firmly in you mind. Probably the best thing you can do and most people are willing to help out new drivers.

Shark Racer

I totally agree dude. He should blindly ignore one facet in which he can enjoy his car at its limits,

Especially the safest way to stretch a car to the end of its handling limit. Total waste of time.

To the OP, my advice is to take your time. I learned in a 78 Corvette then ran a C5 and C6Z for 4 years. I run without the various handling nannies, but you probably wanna try your first few events with them on. I find them to hurt more than they help.

aseipos

Sounds like somebody got bested by a Miata at an autocross! And reminds me of the saying "If autocross was any easier they'd call it road racing!"

stic5

Hey... no reason to get all snippy guys. If you enjoy wearing your tires out taking sharp turns at 35mph, then knock yourselves out.

Spinner_89

Autocross is ALL ABOUT SEAT TIME!!! Walk the course, ALONE. Walking with friends and chatting will only distract you. Walk the course on the left, as if you were in the drivers seat, so leave appropriate room when you're cornering to the right. Once you've walked it once, close your eyes and walk it in your mind 4 or 5 times, then walk the course again if you have time. then when you're in the car. Keep the radio off. While parked in the lineup drive the course again, and again, and again, and again. If it's an auto - put it in park. If your car is a stick - be sure to set the brake! Actually press the gas and brake and turn the wheel - you don't have to mash the pedals or grind your front wheels, just get the motions and your body used to doing everything at once. IT'S ALL ABOUT SEAT TIME!!!! so if you don't have much actual seat time, then get yourself more seat time, in your mind.
80% of this game is mental - Your car, in stock form, can give you more than you can handle for now. On your first runs out there, don't worry about being fast, just start at consistant and reasonable speed and concentrate on completing the course correctly without hitting cones. Once you've done a clean consistant run, then speed up gradually.
SEAT TIME! SEAT TIME! SEAT TIME! oh- P.S. get your seatbelt nice and tight, "cinch" or pull it all the way out so that it clicks on the way in and holds you in the seat.
Have Fun!!!!!

jschindler

I've roadraced extensively (motorcycles) and I've autocrossed. I certainly agree that roadracing is a lot more fun and rewarding. But it is also MUCH more of a commitment and risk.

For people who don't want to spend several hundred dollars in entry fees, and several thousand in tires and other equipment, plus a much higher risk of damaging their car, autocrossing is still a very good way to enjoy the car for what it was made for and learn to handle the car better.

No need to belittle the sport. People are getting snippy because your comments are very condecending of the sport.

AverageVetteNut

yes... but the quote "whatever you do, don't hit the timer" is even more important

VetteDrmr

Hey, if you come in and slap down the sport the OP was asking about you should expect a slap back, esp. when your post was as much a "snip" as you complain about.

To the OP, the only thing I'd add is to get someone at the event to ride with you to give pointers; that was one of the things that helped me up the learning curve as fast as I could go.

AND, read that sticky at the top! Lots of good info in there.

Have fun, and LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES! Here's a couple of vids to get the juices flowing:

A smaller course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCOEvHTM9mA

A bigger course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UDjIkWRZas

Mike

SSSUPRA

wow that big course was crazy, looked like you could go well over 100 there.

stic5

I suppose you're right. I was being condecending. However, I'm really just trying to give to OP some advice. I have autocrossed before (in a Cobalt SS, not my Vette). I won my class (there were only 4 of us) but at the end I felt like I had put undue stress on my car and my tires for what little fun I had. Roadcourse racing is worth the couple hundred in entry fees because you get to enjoy your car at speed, which is what a Vette was made for, and the OP should look into that. GM never considered how the Vette would take sharp 30mph turn after sharp 30 mph turn. That's all I'm trying to say.

VetteDrmr

You can, but that course I only got into the rev limiter in 2nd gear, around 77 mph, IIRC.

I've clipped 100 a couple of times, but the groups like to keep the speeds down into the 80s with occasional forays into the 90s. Still a bunch of fun.

To stic5, I do agree with you that autocross courses are much slower than road courses, BUT DEs are not competitive events, and honestly I get bored with it because:

1.) I'm not willing to risk my car at 10/10ths at a DE,
2.) running the course becomes so repetitive, and
3.) since there's no competition the only fun is passing other cars, which really doesn't happen that often during a session if you're running with similar speed cars.

I would recommend you look around at other groups to try an autocross again. The local SCCA group runs small, slow, tight courses. Therefore I don't run with them. The BMW and PCA groups run much more open, faster, but still technically challenging courses. So, shop around.

Have a good one,
Mike

jschindler

waktasz

HPDE != Road Racing.





Anyway, as for advice for the OP. I'd say try to get a ride with another experienced person before your heat starts, even if that means running in a goofy class so that you don't have to run first heat.

Your car can run in SS, ASP, SM2, XP and probably another class I'm forgetting about.

Also, if there are instructors there willing, and you are comfortable with it, let them take you for a ride in your own car. Even with an instructor driving at 80% you will have a hard time processing what is going on all at once at your first time out.

Seeing the course being driven by someone else (as long as they know what they are doing) is a great way to learn. I still ride with my co-driver on his first and second runs at local events to get another view of the course. We have both improved a ton after a season of doing this, watching videos, and comparing data logs.