mental prep for autocross
I did my first full AutoX season this year.
Night Before: Pack Car, air compressor, tire gauge, tire chalk and what not
Day of: Walk track 3-4 times, plan how I'm am gonna drive every corner, pump up the tires. Get to the line, nothing goes as planned, track looks completely different, over drive the car. Get beat my some sort of Mazda. Still Fun
Night Before: Pack Car, air compressor, tire gauge, tire chalk and what not
Day of: Walk track 3-4 times, plan how I'm am gonna drive every corner, pump up the tires. Get to the line, nothing goes as planned, track looks completely different, over drive the car. Get beat my some sort of Mazda. Still Fun
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,733
Likes: 154
From: Why do they always call the Evo the Dark Side?
At away events, add: drink with friends. Occasional karaoke.
At Nationals, add: charge big laptop for viewing GoPro between runs. Watch Evo school video repeatedly.
Oh, and I'm sure this is in my head but whenever I watch Best Motoring / Hot Version videos I definitely FEEL faster the next day
Gan-San in the prototype S2000 at the 'ring stands out, plus the Touge challenges. 
night before a race - hang out with the wife so shes not made im gone all weekend long racing my silly car
off season - fall mtb ride and rally the rzr. winter - snowmobile. spring - pick your poist, depending on snow conditions/weather.
off season - fall mtb ride and rally the rzr. winter - snowmobile. spring - pick your poist, depending on snow conditions/weather.
As others have mentioned...
Night before: ensure all is packed, ready to go, double check it, I tend to wash/detail before most events, as it is a good time to take it all in... relaxing/meditation as I go over the whole car. rarely will I watch videos or read, as this sport is just a bit different than 90% of what gets covered in magazines, and even the top drivers have posted videos with an 'opps' in there, I rather not clutter my mind, as I have had a 'flashback' to something I watched the night before during a run... talk about lack of focus!
Day of event: All events are between 1:15-3hrs away for me, so I always leave very early 4-5:30a.m. usually, that allows for a quiet drive down to the event to think about what is going on for the day, and leave myself plenty of time God-forbid a mechancial issue on the drive there. I have a ritual once at the events, unpacking, where things go, how things are set up, how the car gets 'prepped' on site for the day. Once that is done, usually 5+ course walks, this is a social yet competitive sport... so what I tend to do is take the first 2-3 walks usually interrupted or walking with friends and catching up, noting the 'Big 3' as I call them... I always find the THREE most important spots on course for a quick time. there may be 8 there may be 2.. but I find the top 3 regardless.. I will decide on those first 2-3 walks... I then will usually put on headphones, sunglasses, etc. and walk ALONE for 2 walks, driving the line, talking myself through brake points, lifts, left foot brake points, steering inputs... every step or two all of this is re-evaluated, Also during these course walks I look FAR ahead, so to put that in my mind while i'm driving, where I should be looking at x point in the course. I ignore folks during these 2 walks, they are my time.
Offseason: I have found that I spend time prepping the car between seasons... starting with a list of the good & bad from the season, and addressing what of that is DRIVER and what of that is CAR... car will be put on jackstands, inspected and torn apart (now that it isn't a daily driver), and the car issues will be researched and remedied the best the class limitations allow. The Driver then undergoes a great deal of race-sim fun... find the most realistic sims, with good physics, rather than good graphics, and have at it. I race using SimRaceway, and rFactor, both racing against others all across the globe. Find a car similar to what you race if able, SimRaceway is a free game, (and the EVO X is free, the EVO VIII costs 0.30 cents). I then spend time with different lines, driving styles, and really letting the clock be the JUDGE... To Mike's point... I find myself working to lower heartrate, breathe deep, relax arms and neck and body, and focus on looking ahead, and fast hands. This makes for GOOD habits that echo through into the race season. I even know some who will wear their helmet in the spring just to get used to the weight and looking through it...
Night before: ensure all is packed, ready to go, double check it, I tend to wash/detail before most events, as it is a good time to take it all in... relaxing/meditation as I go over the whole car. rarely will I watch videos or read, as this sport is just a bit different than 90% of what gets covered in magazines, and even the top drivers have posted videos with an 'opps' in there, I rather not clutter my mind, as I have had a 'flashback' to something I watched the night before during a run... talk about lack of focus!
Day of event: All events are between 1:15-3hrs away for me, so I always leave very early 4-5:30a.m. usually, that allows for a quiet drive down to the event to think about what is going on for the day, and leave myself plenty of time God-forbid a mechancial issue on the drive there. I have a ritual once at the events, unpacking, where things go, how things are set up, how the car gets 'prepped' on site for the day. Once that is done, usually 5+ course walks, this is a social yet competitive sport... so what I tend to do is take the first 2-3 walks usually interrupted or walking with friends and catching up, noting the 'Big 3' as I call them... I always find the THREE most important spots on course for a quick time. there may be 8 there may be 2.. but I find the top 3 regardless.. I will decide on those first 2-3 walks... I then will usually put on headphones, sunglasses, etc. and walk ALONE for 2 walks, driving the line, talking myself through brake points, lifts, left foot brake points, steering inputs... every step or two all of this is re-evaluated, Also during these course walks I look FAR ahead, so to put that in my mind while i'm driving, where I should be looking at x point in the course. I ignore folks during these 2 walks, they are my time.
Offseason: I have found that I spend time prepping the car between seasons... starting with a list of the good & bad from the season, and addressing what of that is DRIVER and what of that is CAR... car will be put on jackstands, inspected and torn apart (now that it isn't a daily driver), and the car issues will be researched and remedied the best the class limitations allow. The Driver then undergoes a great deal of race-sim fun... find the most realistic sims, with good physics, rather than good graphics, and have at it. I race using SimRaceway, and rFactor, both racing against others all across the globe. Find a car similar to what you race if able, SimRaceway is a free game, (and the EVO X is free, the EVO VIII costs 0.30 cents). I then spend time with different lines, driving styles, and really letting the clock be the JUDGE... To Mike's point... I find myself working to lower heartrate, breathe deep, relax arms and neck and body, and focus on looking ahead, and fast hands. This makes for GOOD habits that echo through into the race season. I even know some who will wear their helmet in the spring just to get used to the weight and looking through it...
2 days before event - Pack and load car the same way I've done it a million times.. Takes 30min anymore.
Day before event - Drink, hang out with friends, get gf excited to go race... Normal friday usually.
Day of event - Unload car, Fix course (course master here), Walk course at least once by myself. Then drive it. I dont waste any runs and drive 11/10s from the get-go. Find out where to slow down instead of trying to creep up on the limit.
Night after/Day before 2nd event (Most of our events are Sat/Sun) - Go out and drink with all my race buddies and make fun of their (or my) crappy times
2nd Day - Same as first. After, pack up and go home.
AutoX is suppose to be fun and done with friends. I dont even plan on running r-comps at local events next year cause I can with on street tires. All about having fun and driving my car now (this after 10 years of racing), then going out and having a good time with friends hoping not to be too hungover for sunday.
Day before event - Drink, hang out with friends, get gf excited to go race... Normal friday usually.
Day of event - Unload car, Fix course (course master here), Walk course at least once by myself. Then drive it. I dont waste any runs and drive 11/10s from the get-go. Find out where to slow down instead of trying to creep up on the limit.
Night after/Day before 2nd event (Most of our events are Sat/Sun) - Go out and drink with all my race buddies and make fun of their (or my) crappy times
2nd Day - Same as first. After, pack up and go home.
AutoX is suppose to be fun and done with friends. I dont even plan on running r-comps at local events next year cause I can with on street tires. All about having fun and driving my car now (this after 10 years of racing), then going out and having a good time with friends hoping not to be too hungover for sunday.
After our season is over " wife co-drives with me", we park the car and don't even touch it or order parts until after the new year. Really is no reason to, the scca rules don't get finalized until then anyways. About this time of year start playing Forza, order parts, researching the rules, etc.
Then when the season starts hit as many events as possible, it takes awhile to build up seat time with only 4 minutes a day. We will be running with 4 different local clubs this year and doing some traveling as well to get out of our fish bowl, meet some new friends and competition.
The other thing you can do is practice correct autocross techniques while driver to work, ie. looking through the corner, trail braking etc.
Then when the season starts hit as many events as possible, it takes awhile to build up seat time with only 4 minutes a day. We will be running with 4 different local clubs this year and doing some traveling as well to get out of our fish bowl, meet some new friends and competition.
The other thing you can do is practice correct autocross techniques while driver to work, ie. looking through the corner, trail braking etc.
My background: auto-xed for over 15 years and been in top 3 at regional events.
I'm surprised only two people here stated to walk the course!!! This is the single most important thing you can do!!!! Best return on your $ for dropping times. Walk the course with a group of people 1-2 times and listen to their strategies, hopefully with the people that are faster than you. You want to listen to their ideas, but not necessarily use them. Use their ideas as a thinking tool. Don't walk with people that talk about the party last night, try to find people who are discussing how they'd drive the course.
Different cars behave differently. So now walk the course alone but now don't just walk the course!!!! Walk the line your car would take. You have to imagine that. Many times people would ask, why you walking way out there? It's because that is where the car would be. It lets you figure how to setup for the next set of obstacles and adjust the corner you are at. Many times I'd walk back 2 turns and walk it differently to see where I'd end up.
Once you figure out the lines, walk the whole course, alone, the way you'd drive it. Walk at a brisk pace. If people want to join me and socialize, I'd politely ask them to leave me alone and till I finish my walk, then join them and answer any questions.
After the last walk, close your eyes. Visualize the entire course, driving it. If you can't, you have not walked the course enough. Go walk it and try it again.
Just knowing where to go, and not having to figure it out when driving will add literally seconds to your run. More seconds than tires and suspension put together.
If you want to consider being competitive, this is the secret. Walk, walk, memorize, walk and walk the course again, visualize it your head with eyes closed.
You only get 4-5 runs. So each time out, make a slight experiment/adjustment in an area of the course you think you can do better at or where your prediction was not spot on.
Usually my second run is pushing the car knocking down some cones, this is to see where I can get a hair more speed at, where the car will hold more. Then the next run is to put it all together. To give you an example, the difference between my first and last runs were about 1sec if I didn't screw up somewhere.... unlike most people that drop 5 secs between first and last runs. Make the first runs count! Don't waste them on learning where to go. Use the walk for that.
I'm surprised only two people here stated to walk the course!!! This is the single most important thing you can do!!!! Best return on your $ for dropping times. Walk the course with a group of people 1-2 times and listen to their strategies, hopefully with the people that are faster than you. You want to listen to their ideas, but not necessarily use them. Use their ideas as a thinking tool. Don't walk with people that talk about the party last night, try to find people who are discussing how they'd drive the course.
Different cars behave differently. So now walk the course alone but now don't just walk the course!!!! Walk the line your car would take. You have to imagine that. Many times people would ask, why you walking way out there? It's because that is where the car would be. It lets you figure how to setup for the next set of obstacles and adjust the corner you are at. Many times I'd walk back 2 turns and walk it differently to see where I'd end up.
Once you figure out the lines, walk the whole course, alone, the way you'd drive it. Walk at a brisk pace. If people want to join me and socialize, I'd politely ask them to leave me alone and till I finish my walk, then join them and answer any questions.
After the last walk, close your eyes. Visualize the entire course, driving it. If you can't, you have not walked the course enough. Go walk it and try it again.
Just knowing where to go, and not having to figure it out when driving will add literally seconds to your run. More seconds than tires and suspension put together.
If you want to consider being competitive, this is the secret. Walk, walk, memorize, walk and walk the course again, visualize it your head with eyes closed.
You only get 4-5 runs. So each time out, make a slight experiment/adjustment in an area of the course you think you can do better at or where your prediction was not spot on.
Usually my second run is pushing the car knocking down some cones, this is to see where I can get a hair more speed at, where the car will hold more. Then the next run is to put it all together. To give you an example, the difference between my first and last runs were about 1sec if I didn't screw up somewhere.... unlike most people that drop 5 secs between first and last runs. Make the first runs count! Don't waste them on learning where to go. Use the walk for that.
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,733
Likes: 154
From: Why do they always call the Evo the Dark Side?
I just matched up your screen name... hey, I gridded next to you at Nats. Hi!
The OP talked about before the event... I consider the coursewalk to be part of the event. But that was a very good explanation of how to walk the course well
The OP talked about before the event... I consider the coursewalk to be part of the event. But that was a very good explanation of how to walk the course well
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McKenny14
Evo Tires / Wheels / Brakes / Suspension
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Jul 18, 2015 11:26 AM
