It was pretty sad. Lots of very nice cars are now gone. I feel bad for the owners of the cars lost. Definitely was not something I would ever expect to see out in SoCal.

 

thats really sad. any pics?

 

There was a Track Sprint event 20mins from the 2day weekend autox and several autocrossers did that event too. I guess my new friend with the Supra got classed with people who actually live near the track



With great and easier power comes a steeper learning curve I'm sure he'll get it together.

 

I dont. They said the flood happened at like 10pm Saturday. I was already home and in bed. However, I did see some pictures and it was ugly. Water was over the hood on some cars and I think they said there were others completely under water. When I got to the track on Sunday, most of the flood vehicles were already gone. Some of the not so bad ones (water up to the middle of the wheels) stayed and raced on wet seats!

 

We dont really have auto X events here, You get grasskhana things sometimes and small grass time trial events but they are very low level and its not often you see highly modified cars or anything there. usually people having fun in cheap paddock bashers. We dont really have much space or carparks big enough etc for us to do events like that.

Its not really something that overly interests me but i havnt tried it either. I think id be too unfit to turn left and right all the time.

We do some cool things here with car clubs called bent sprints which are fun. Basically you would run through say 1/3 of a circuit. go around a cone on the back straight and come back thru again the way u came back to the start line. It is either a timed thing or you may race vs 1 other car. Its quite neat being able to do these cause it gives you a different perspective running backwards thru a circuit

 

But they often complain about seat time. 80 mins on a track > 5 mins in a parking lot.

 

not sure if thats accurate my friend. maybe newbies do that. I dont even take the "fun runs" unless I want to show my competitors my approach/racing line (assuming I beat them). i know guys who did 1 run, set FTD and packed up while we're going for several more runs. It's not how many bullets you fire... you have to study it then execute your plan as efficiently as possible, then enjoy the rest of the weekend ... thats the only time you'll see that course, you cant "revisit" it. its like a one-night-stand.
you can watch others and do better, or set an example for everyone... they can see the whole run.
No one likes watching F1 drivers change gears and just get around the track. It has to be almost out of control/chaotic to be entertaining

 

I suppose.

 

autox drivers aren't better than track drivers and track drivers aren't better than autox drivers, its just a different set of skills. I've seen track drivers struggle at autox and I've passed a nationals champ driving his Evo at the track in my 150hp miata, and proceeded to pull away... It was his first ever track day, skills take time to develop... (edit: I've autox'd with this same guy, he absolutely destroys me at autox. and at the time I was in an EvoX and he was in a late 90's 2.5 RS)

and that pikes peak comment... literally all types of drives do pikes peak. fastest guy up the mountain is Romain Dumas, endurance racing, GT and sport-prototype, aka track. by your logic that means track drivers are better than autox drivers.

they kicked you out cause they don't like how you drive, not cause you're "too fast". lapping day organizations don't like drivers that take risks like that cause it increases accidents which increases their insurance cost.

this is another case of different strokes for different folks. if doing 1 run and setting and FTD and standing around doing nothing floats your boat, more power to you. personally if I plan a weekend of driving, I wanna be driving. for me the 80 mins on a track > 5 mins in a parking lot (but still killing a whole day) absolutely rings true. This is really the only reason I don't autox anymore. I don't wanna kill a whole day for only 5 (usually less) minutes of driving. I also don't really understand the "don't show the competition my racing line" thing. I mean its just for fun... there's no prize money in it, there aren't pro drivers (as in getting paid to autox as a career) in autox. its literally just for fun and maybe a trophy and bragging rights. sometimes a young kid will get recruited to a pro drive outside of autox, but if thats your goal you wanna be doing as much driving as possible.

The actual driving portion of autox is a lot of fun to me. maybe I should start an autox organization that costs as much as a track day, but then I'd have enough money to hire course workers so the drivers can actually get a bunch of seat time.

ps. autox class rules are stupid

 

Too much of this hits home for me.

 

now that you've had your Catalyst for a while, review? the biggest thing pushing me away is basically this post, I don't have have 17 different things to setup for a track session. what does the Catalyst do that a simple lap timer that shows how you're doing against an optimal lap doesn't? worth the cost? worth the extra setup, extra thing to worry about?

 

Yeaaa... This is one of the 5,000 reasons I did some autox, then did a track event, and never went back to autox for over twenty years still.

That doesn't sound fun in any shape or form. I get it, some people like it. I've tuned hundreds of autox evos. Just not my thang.


Personally, if I wanted a lap timer that learns and tells me how to do better, without having to download or sync anything or figure out how to plug things into a car, I would buy it again. You can do a session and literally review the session, with video and tips of how you can go faster before you even take your helmet off.

I'm a data geek and always want more, so the lack of OBD2/CAN integration made me look elsewhere.

 

I don't know who this guy is and why hes lecturing. Obviously got triggered, and completely missing the part "hey look at this track guy with a modified supra, struggling because of too much power, on a power-autox course"...blah blah "autox < track".

So @warmmilk just so you know I do track and autox. more autox because obviously its more convenient, bit less serious (attitude) and everyone technically has a chance to prove themselves whatever they drive. it's motorsports for folks who live closer to the cities.. autox preps your car for track but most importantly (to me) I can finish off my 'used autox tires'. I'm not the "track guy"-track guy tho, I have rejected all sorts of drives in lemons events or any FWD. I did TT but now I'm only interested in TA & TS ... to me its just autox in higher gears (with possible traffic). I dont need any more "seat time". I dont have issues with people who do. I dont have issue with people with money and a fast car. The point of my post was (the guy was not exactly stupid) there's just too much torque from that 'easily achievable supra upgrade' that one might struggle autocrossing it. I watched him struggle, its like 'initiating a drift' every time he presses the gas pedal. That maybe yeah AWD is great.
We have slightly modified miatas that dominates (raw time!) in autox too. if there are several turns and low speed straights then the ND miata can hold it down with some skilled driver. we are in the south so theres plenty of them here.
Regarding the Pikes Peak "logic" (lol), responding to someone from Panama (which is outside the USA) and probably heard of a famous event in the USA, I was telling him we other-americans can race anywhere we want. I dont even know what they have in "Latin America" but I know we have better options, humungous paved lots and government facilities, "mountains" we can race on. Simpleton autocrossers can get up to the clouds with Loeb IF they want.

Regarding getting "kicked out" (lol) ... see i misused "banned" my bad. I should have said the events have "sessions open to all <1:45 only" (for example). I can bring a slower car or be on 93, but why tho if i need to get some practice for the next TA. I got towed and left debris many times but I still get the invite. It's not the Audi club ya know
Blah blah, i understand you want more time driving, good for you. I mean golfers get the best tools but the idea is to use it less and "humbly" accept the applause etc. Very hard concept for people who like whacking ***** all day I guess. I still respect that.

where'd you get "don't show the competition my racing line" thing? I was talking about ride-alongs or fun runs... just sharing the thrill or giving them a view of the track. whatever.

I believe Jeremy Foley won a corvette and the Optima autox series (CB Ramey)has a $20k prize (not sure). I mean people can and have gone after big prizes. How much prizes are you winning?

Our Porsche club, have paid workers and you can pay the higher rate if you dont want to work. You can also instruct ya know. I do sometimes but I now prefer to work/watch our best drivers up close

Ah class rules, yeah it could suck... if you dont have the advantage.

 

I hear ya man. It's not for boss types.
There are many ways to measure a car (specs) or driver skill. Some sound like BS like 60ft, 1/8mi, 0-100-0, "easy to drift(maybe)" or "on 50 sec course". But you know IMO the reason GT3's or corvette's are awesome is because it can do great in all of it Same for the "awesome driver" in it. But the best thing about autox is the results is clear and on the interwebs, forever ... thats NOT good if you didnt do well because "its not-for-you"

FYI I like that youre at 1:00 at LRP. Car's werent that fast when I was there lol. I hope you reach your goal. Be safe

 

BTW the guys who do 1 or just a few autox runs we're just giving their cars a shake down and/or scrubbing their new tires before trying to set a new lap record in some track somewhere. They dont 'avoid' autox, they take advantage of it.
they also instruct while theyre there.