I went to my first autocross yesterday. Just so happens its raining a storm here. I just wanted to post my experience here in case anyone is considering it.

I heard you are in more danger driving to the autoX than the actual event itself. Couldn't have been more true, was driving at 70ish on the freeway, changed lanes and car started wobbling left and right. Backed off the accelerator and gained control, scary to say the least.

At the autoX, not many people showed up cos of the rain. And I got lost on the course the first couple times, had someone sitting the first 2 laps with me though. Loads of HP in car and wet road (i have the Z51 package too) = tons of sliding. I wiped out somewhere on my 4th time around, when i saw a straight away where I could go faster. Took out a couple cones and just had me really embarassed. My time dropped from 85+ seconds to a best of 70 seconds. Miatas were hitting 68 and under, subarus/evos were hitting ~60 seconds. Another corvette there hit 68 seconds (dont know if that was his fastest though). I'm assuming all that extra hp doesn't really help me in the wet since I can't plant it on the ground, but also, my driving lines were way off....i was in the center most of the time...

All in all, as my first timer, I was pretty satisfied but my times were definitely on the slower side of things. Traction control came on throughout most of the laps and driving the course was some of the most fun I've had in my car. (Not looking forward to buying tires though ) Standing in the rain with ALL my clothes/socks soaked was a differnet story, I wasn't prepared for the rain at all. I will be better prepared next time though.

I highly encourage anyone to go to these events. Its awesome to learn the limits of your car safely and nearly everyone there is super friendly. I will be definitely going to more of these practice events, will probably wait a year to compete in the champ events.

 

Good for YOU!!! Great to read a story like this. Far, far better than reading about the other kind ("I lost my car and crashed...").

Keep at it. There are some very competitive Vette drivers in SCCA. But it is pretty funny to watch the Miatas, Subarus and even old Sciroccos go so quickly.

 

If your Z51 package still has the F1 Supercar tires, that's normal. Those are high-temp Summer tires. Horses for courses...

 

Hey Sherwin

I was down there on Sat. running, was a lot of fun in the dry.
I thought you were going to be there on Sat. AutoXing the vette in the rain is no fun. Any way my club is running the next event on the
16th&17th Feb. my be I'l see you there.

 

Good post - interesting information.

There's also an autocross section of the forum - didn't know if you'd found it or not. Probably be a good place to pick up some tips.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

 

Won't be able to make that week. Will be in Vegas. I will be at the practice in March though, I think my roomates might come along with their cars too!

And thanks, Jim, already saw that section, but just wanted to post here to get more viewers. I never went to the autoX section before and if someone didnt post in general a while back, I would have never looked into it!

 

Has to be really hard to run your first autocross and it happens to be raining! Well, next time when it's dry you will do great. Reading a course (not getting lost) takes some practice. At first it looks like a sea of orange cones. Solo 2 is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

 

Auto-X is a lot of fun...
Highly recommend it to all who have not tried it.
You can do SCCA or look up one of the Clubs in your region that runs NCCC Corvette only auto-x