Went to my first autocross yesterday. OMG, I'm hooked! I had way too much fun with that. Improved my time by almost 20 seconds over the course of the day, got several clean runs and only had one DNF, the first run over 8 runs through the day. My husband came over and hooked up a GoPro to my windshield and shot four of the runs. Here's a video of the last and best run of the day. Final run, 61.569 clean run. Best run of the day was 50 and change, so plenty more for me to learn, guess I'll just have to keep doing it now so I can get my times up

Here's the video if anyone wants to peak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9QBHu2OTZw

 

Looks like a blast! This is on my list for this year as well.

I stopped by Big Bear airport a few weeks back to watch a bit of the Bash autocross with my kids (we were there on just a family trip and had an hour to kill). I was encouraged by my kids....3 runs and my sons we're like "Dad, you can drive faster than that!". I'm starting to think "Hmmm...I could do this!"....then this Z06 starts his run like a bat outta heck. My oldest son turns to me and cynically chimes in: "Dad, you can't drive faster than that!" And unfortunately, I'd have to agree with him!

Either way, I'm thinking it would be fun!

 

Good on you...get out and have fun with your car! Parking lot autocrossing will help you become a better driver. It takes skill to do well. If you enjoy the parking lot autocross event you might enjoy driving on a road course. I find running a road course much less 'violent' than autocrossing. There are HPDE courses and organizations such as NASA and SCCA that offer great programs for novice drivers. Whatever your preference keep enjoying your car's performance in a safe, legal environment; improve your driving skills; and, most importantly have a blast in the process!

 

I think anyone can do it, and enjoy it. It's about precision and keeping your mind on the task, not about raw speed really. It's also IMO the safest way to play with your car and find out what it can really do since you're driving at low speeds in places where there's few things to hit. I show my car too, so I just used some collision wrap on the fenders to make myself feel better about the possibility of scratching it with cones. My club was the group that ran the one I did yesterday and I attended their primer class the day before. That was a HUGE help. There's also a section here on the forum that had a TON of pointers so that I didn't feel quite so overwhelmed when I got there. The club even had helmets to rent, one of the members was kind enough to loan me his personal one since he couldn't drive his car yesterday. I bought my own last night since I KNOW I'll be doing more of them. Give it a try, you'll be hooked instantly!

 

As much fun as the road courses sound, I'm pretty sure I'm required to have a roll bar or maybe even a safety cage for my convertible, so most likely I'll end up keeping it in the parking lot. I did however, learn a LOT about my car and what I can do with it yesterday. I drove in track mode with traction control off and really started getting the hang of powering out of turns to scoot the car's rear around and such. Still have a lot of work to do on acceleration and braking. There were two corners in yesterday's course that I never really got the hang of also, so I know I'll need lots of seat time - what a shame (not really LOL).

 

I posted awesome!!! " Bluesman455"

 

How hard is that on tires and brakes. I want to try autocrossing too, but with a daily driver, I dpn't want to tear it up and don't have the funds to toast my tires.

 

I did my third one yesterday and also enjoy it. Ours is on an old taxi way on an airport and yesterday was a pretty fast course, much faster than what yours looks. I've now learned that if you are not hitting a cone now and then you are not being aggressive enough! Sure is a hoot thou!

 

not bad on brakes at all, slightly more than daily driving

a douchebag that races stop lights will burn up his tires a lot quicker, at least the back ones

it is much less hard on the car than a road course or drag strip, and a lot cheaper too, also more safe

 

I think a lot of it is how you drive it during the course. Mine is NOT a daily driver, and I'm the type that would consider driving it every day as something that would do a whole lot more damage, personally. I actually show mine, so trust me when I tell you, I have no desire to do anything that will even put a scratch on my car. I've got the interior and engine bay really dressed up for car shows and my paint is flawless. I was quite comfortable running it through the course without worry. I did put collision wrap on the fenders just to make myself feel better, but it was probably way overkill. There was a bit of tire squealing as I got faster through the day, but if you are doing it right and put enough air in your tires, you aren't going to do damage to them. They may wear out a little sooner, but the mileage you are putting on your car will wear them out a lot faster than a weekend autocross for sure. Same with brakes, you'll burn them up a lot faster in stop and go traffic than on an autocross course. Honestly, until you get really great at it (which I'm not even close), there's no chance you're going to wear anything out. I know for my first time the focus was getting the course right and trying different things to see what my car would do. Even the fastest guy never smoked his tires, just a bit of squealing. These cars are engineered to handle a lot more than what an autocross course is going to throw at them.

 

That looks like a lot of fun....I actually got lost a couple of times watching your video on where to go next as you drove....lol

 

I have been there twice. Was not at Lincoln Tech Sunday because we were at an awesome autocross event in Cumberland. Two days. .6 mile long course and my best time was 55.085.

 

Awesome! As you've found out, your Corvette is a blast for AX. Mash the gas and have some fun!

 

It's all over!!!

 

I've autocrossed my Miata which is a perfect set-up for AC.

As someone noted, it is more "violent" than tracking in some ways, and it challenges the brakes and tires (we usually add more air to beef up the sidewalls in the hard turns).

AC is a blast.

Have fun!

 

Are these really off-limits to Convertibles without roll bars/cages? A helmet isn't good enough? Seems they're slow speed enough......what are the rules on this?

 

 

I think the OP's comment about roll bars was in reference to running on a road course, as opposed to low speed autocross. I think you can run autocross with a vert.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...cross-car.html

 

no you can run a vert without a rollbar...just bring a helmet.

 

Mine is a GS Vert, and all I needed was a SA2005 or better helmet. You only need a roll cage for track events, even if it's just a driving school.