Today I attended my first autocross. Car is stock 01 z06 with stock tires.

One of the best times of the day was a yellow z06 running on hoosiers. Seemed like the driver was pretty experienced, trailered the z06 to the track.

His best time in the morning was around 59 secs.

I ran in the afternoon, novice group. First run, lost the course somehow, dnf.

Second run finished but slow, since I was trying to spot the course 74 secs. Third run was better at 70 secs. I was really sliding the back end around corners. Fourth run was best at 69 secs, making progress but still alot of room to improve.

Anyone have any tips on driving the z06, and what tire pressure do you run, I ran 30/30. BTW also rode with a guy in a 95 z28 with race tires, and he ran a 63, so I feel like I can do a lot better! Any tips appreciated!

 

The single largest adjustment you can make is to the nutt behind the wheel. :p:

Seriously, the difference between your 1st autox and your 10th is night and day. Just drive and get experience. Alot of the local hotshoes wont mind if you ask advice and alot of them will ride along with you to give pointers and advice. Heck, who is gonna pass up a free ride in a ZO6, thats right, no one :D

As for tires and mods I would wait till you get a little more familiar with the car and autox in general. Race tires do help, alot, but not if you dont know how to drive on them. Your street tires will give good warning and predictability. I know my Hoosiers dont. One second your fine, next thing you know you're doing the worlds worst imitation of a helicopter rotor.

DONT FORGET TO HAVE FUN!!!


[Modified by red90sixspeed, 8:51 PM 6/9/2002]

 

Hey thanks for the tip, I know that the nut behind the wheel is 99.9 percent of the problem. I am going to run as many events as I can to get better on the stock tires. Just wondering if guys ran the stock tire pressure in the f1 sc's.

As far as tips am mainly looking for driving tips, like put on a lot of power and power around turns or be smooth. I will keep working on it

 

tips for beginner:

This will vary from course-to-course but in general the Z06 has so much power, get out of first gear asap and drive the course in second, its hard to drive smooth in first gear. Shifting will slow you down and unsettle the car.

Autox is not road racing. Don't try and late apex (take wide) all the corners to set up the next straight. Unless its an extremely long straight you will find shortening the distance will decrease your times more often than not.

Look ahead. There is nothing you can do about the cone you are currently going around or over.

seat time.

have fun.

don't worry when you get beat by someone's honda civic grocery getter, the girls will still want to ride in your car.

 

Thanks Red z. Do you run race tires? How do they compare to the f1 sc tires?

Do you run in competition mode or active handling turned off?

 

As far as tips am mainly looking for driving tips, like put on a lot of power and power around turns or be smooth. I will keep working on it

smooth, slow is fast

I'm taking some lessons to adjust the nut behind my wheel.

 

Ok,

How to go faster? Here are the basics I give to all my novice students at DE's...

1. Breath

Remain calm and relaxed, this is supposed to be fun. Don't let a mistake rattle you, they can snowball very quickly. If you miss a corner or aren't quite right, shrug it off an keep going, you have more runs.

2. Seat position and hand position:

Close enough that you can bend your wrists down over the top of the steering wheel while sitting back in the seat (with helmet on). A slight bend in your knee with the clutch fully pushed in. Butt planted on the seat. Always maintain a 3 and 9 or 2 and 10 with your hands on the wheel, don't hold the shifter while driving, shift and put your hand back on the wheel!

3. Look ahead

This is the hardest thing for students to do right. And is the biggest improvement in speed. Look far ahead, look into turns before you are finished braking. Put a piece of tape at about 2/3rds the way up the windshield, never look below the tape.

4. Smooth inputs.

Smooth throttle inputs, smooth brake input, smooth steering input! Especially the throttle in a C5! This keeps the car from jerking around and getting unsettled. Put a piece of neon tape on the top center of the steering wheel. If you see it fluttering or jerking about, you aren't being smooth. Imagine a string tied from your hand to your right foot as you unroll the steering wheel you add throttle, or you come off the brakes...

5. For AX'ing walk the course! Get a ride with someone!

Good luck and enjoy, when you start out you can only get faster!

Mike

 

Excellent tips.

:cheers:

 

Thanks Red z. Do you run race tires? How do they compare to the f1 sc tires?

yes. they don't compare, the race tires give you huge amounts of grip in the dry.

Me and most never use traction control. I only use active handling when lapping on a road course. Once you have learned car control these driving aids will slow you down.




[Modified by RedZ, 3:46 PM 6/10/2002]

 

As someone told me years ago,

"Boy, ... if you'd slow down a little, you'd be a lot faster. Your the only guy I've ever seen smoke the tires through an entire sweeper."

I did slow down, and I was faster.

GENERALLY, (there's always a rare exception to anything) if the car is sliding on an autocross course, you are losing time. As everyone else said, think smooth.


[Modified by AutoXr, 7:24 PM 6/10/2002]


[Modified by AutoXr, 7:25 PM 6/10/2002]

 

I autocrossed for the first time about a month ago in the NSS class with the SCCA. Total fun! Anyhow, my first time of the day was somewhat lousy, but by the last run (6 total) I had the best time among the novices by several seconds, and I was only 4 seconds away from the best time of the day.

Tips:

- Run in Competition Mode until you get a feel for the car, then when you get comfortable you can turn everything off. The Z06 is VERY predictable and forgiving when pushed to the limit. If the rear swings around too much, let off the gas and it immediately comes back in line. To avoid the rear going too wild, be very careful WHEN you can back into the gas. Timing is everything. Many novices hammer the loud pedal too early coming out of the turn and the rear breaks lose instantly and sends 'em into a spin or takes out some cones. The cornering power of the Z is phenomenal UNTIL you step on the accelerator too hard in a turn, then it loses everything. So use the gas wisely - wait until you're almost out of the turn and pointed where you want to go next before you give it some go power.

- Use the brakes to their full potential! The Z's brakes are incredibly powerful, which is a great asset on a autoX course. You can brake later than most cars, so you can continue going faster longer. It took me a while to get used to the fact that I could go so fast, yet still slow in time for the next elbow. You should be hearing the front F1s screaching a little bit when you're braking down from a somewhat fast straight. If not, you're not using the brakes enough.

- Try to smooth out the course as much as you can by taking turns in a way that avoids harsh corners. Sometimes its best to take a turn wide so that you can keep the speed up and set you up faster for the next turn. Smooth is the operative word. The Z is very forgiving if you're not smooth, but still, smooth will always get you the best times.

Good luck! I'm going to autoX again at the next event in my area on 7/7. Can't wait!

Oh, and I ran 30 psi on the F1s all around. The local experts said with the F1s and their very low profiles that is the best pressure to run. No need to inflate more. :cheers:

 

It's tough to give meaningful driving tips. Some things lend themselves to book learning, autocrossing is not one of these things. The only driving tip I can offer is to get as much seat time as possible. Speed will come as you learn to match your driving style with the car's sweet spot.

That said, you can take steps to improve your performance before you begin your next run. First, know the day's track layout. If your region publishes their maps before the event, memorize the map. If your region does not post the track map, try to figure out a system that will allow you to memorize the track during your walkthrough.

Personally, I try to remember rally style pace notes. I keep at it until I can do the entire run with my eyes closed. This makes an enormous difference when you get on track. Instead of spending the first 3 runs figuring out where the track goes, you spend your early runs trying to pick up time. This method lets me drive at 10/10ths on the first lap without fear of dnf-ing or otherwise screwing up.

For example, last month's track used this layout: http://www.houscca.com/solo2/courses/jun02.gif My memorized notes went something like this:

Right long

Left long tightens

Left kink, stay in
Into right long, stay in
Into Lane change right (I only remember the initial direction of the lane change. The rest is obvious because it's a lane change.)
Into Left opens

Left kink
Into Slalom four left (Four gate slalom. Enter on the left of the first gate.)
Into long left, stay in
Into Right long
Into long left tightens to finish

It seems like a lot to remember, but after you've run it through your head 10-20 times, it becomes second nature. From the word go, I get closer to my personal limits because I know what is going to happen. (Before this, it was easy for me to leave time on the table. I would either go too slowly on a fast section, or be surprised because I had not known the proper line through a linked set of corners.)

When I didn't know the tracks, it felt like I would get 80% of the car's potential on the first run, then 85%, 90%, and 92%. Knowing the track, I'm more like 90% (the first run is always a little sloppy), 95%, 97%, and 97.5%. The trick now is finding the last few percent.

Lastly, I ran 35 psi front/33 psi rear (both cold). Next event, I will drop the pressures to 33 psi front/31.5 psi rear because the F1's don't seem to need as much pressure as I expected. Traction and active handling completely off.

Hope this helps.


[Modified by Racer281, 7:41 PM 6/10/2002]

 

"Go really fast, er, that way... If somthing get's in your way (a cone) turn..." LOL :D

Ok, seriously.... What everyone else said sounds good too!

 

:D The Z06 is currently a lot FASTER than you are!!!

;) Seat time... Seat time... Seat time. The stock tires are fine for your first year or so. You will be playing "catch up" to the car's performance for a while. 34/32 cold should be a good start on tire pressure. Set traction control in competition mode, and leave it there for your next few events. You will not exceed the car's reaction time for a while.... therefore use the electronics.

:cool: Your in Atlanta, hook up with the local NCCC corvette club, Corvette Atlanta, they auto-cross all year and the courses are set up for Corvettes.

:D I prefere high speed....but... I started in auto-cross and thats the place to learn. Good luck & have fun.

 

thanks for the tips guys, that's just what I needed. Gonna go to the next event and try to improve!