Today was my first day ever at an autoX... very fun might i add... the turns the rush the everything... but the thing that wasn't so fun is that i feel that i am not up to par with the rest of my friends... my one buddy has a wrx with a few mods... and he was doing 53.53... and meanwhile i was doing 58.... i mean i will admit i was driving kinda *****... for the sake of my tires... BUT... i am wondering if anyoen can give really good advice/tips/pointers on how to really unleash the true meaning of the Evo on a autoX?? if anyone could help me that would be great...

 

practice, instead of going to a autox to try to find the limits of your car, take it somewhere remote on a decent day, set different situations up, and push your evo to the limits, you will feel much more in control once you know what the limit of your car is and how to control it.

 

u need to be comfortable with pushing ur car to its limits or atleast push it hard to what u tihnk is its limits.... The evo is a very powerful car when it comes to turns... even in the most uncontrollable drifts you are in total control (or atleast you should be) I've drifted some nasty turns in my town where there is no room for error. Being familiar with the turns and the car is the est advise one can give. You will learn how, when, where and why to turn after a few autoX meets... Just get out there and practice, if you knock cones over so what work on missing them the next time.. Its like anything you have to get back up and try again, you will get the hang of it.

Some drivers being better then others simplely means one thing... some people can react and interprite some situations faster then others, If I feel a slight understeer I know how to correct for it and still make it through the turn...


Just don't let it get you down you will become better as you autoX more and more

 

Seat time. Loads of it, every weekend, every event you can get an entry to.
Find a mentor, be a car ****, sit in with every quick driver you can find, have them sit in with you; leave your ego at home and listen hard to what the quick guys have to say.

Ego is the biggest drawback with most of the people I sit in with - they want to hear what's wrong with the car, not what's wrong with the driver.

Charles

 

The easy answer is to say "practice, practice, practice." And that's mostly correct.

Without riding along with you, I can't guess what you would need to work on... Some beginners are not aggressive enough -- others are too aggressive. Are you "seeing the course" well? By that, I mean do you always know where you should be driving? I rode with one novice last year who would drive full speed into a gate and only then start looking for where the next gate was -- he had the car control skills needed, but needed to work on planning ahead.

Another thing to work on is recognizing the couple of places on a typical autoX course where you need to go slow. If you feel the car understeering and going off line, you were going too fast.

Work on being able to put your car exactly where you want it for 58 seconds (or whatever your next course runs). It's better to be exactly where you want at 35 MPH than to be 5 feet away from the ideal position at 40 MPH. The best autoXers win because they put the car right where they need to, again and again and again.


Also, you don't mention what kind of tires your friend had on the WRX. Novice autoXers usually don't realize what a huge gap there is between dedicated R compound autoX tires and street tires. Words alone cannot explain how much different the car handles on R compounds. I'm not saying this to encourage you to go buy R compound tires, but just to let you know that if you (a first time autoXer) lost by 4.5 seconds to a WRX on R compound tires, that's actually not bad at all.

 

my friend has an 03 wrx with Potenza S03.. but from what people say they are fairly equal in dry... now i know i am a novice and ever since i totaled my 3000gt a few years back because of a turn i have ben hesitant to relaly push it.. but with the evo.. you are all right i feel in total control of my car... its just... i dont' know how to correct certain things... what to look for going into a turn and exiting a turn.. what i should be setting up for... i mean ****.... now that i have done it... looking at drivers like... clarkson, tiff. and the stig.. you realize how GIFTED these drivers are... not that i can ever be like them... but hey i'm sure as hell gonna try... so thanks guys.. if you have any good tips for me on how to approach the turns what to look for how and where to exit and such that would be great... i'll be going back to the track shortly... becuase that was too much of a rush to just do it once....

 

Seat time is key in autocross, which is the best part. Just because someone has the best car does not mean said person will have the fastest times.

 

Race Rubber.

I am not convinced that will make as big a difference as anything mod you would do. It is however, expensive.

 

Same Breaking zone.

Which car do you think is on R compounds.



I lost this event by 2.25 seconds on PAX time to that mustang. Granted he is a great shoe, but anyone who can brake that much later into the entry to a chicago box, is going to gain big chunks of time, not to mention the higher cornering speeds in sweeper due to the higher lateral grip.

 

pratice!! seat time...learn you car and what it can do and handle....learn where and when to turn ect...no one can make you do it right and a lot of these people have more experience than you which also might hurt you. i am knew to this and i have been asking questions too but that is how you learn...ask around, get tips on car setup and on the track....walk the course many times that helps....if you know the course you can drive the course and don't be scared to tear up the track remember it is only tires and those can be replaced fairly easily!! if a chick can do it so can you!!

 

if you are having problems another good thing is to get a ride with a more experienced driver so you can see how they are handling the section(s) you are having trouble with. That or ask if one of them would ride with you. Generally the AutoX crowd is kind of a family atmosphere, and the good drivers generally like helping out the new people. Getting their comments after ther run can help you to get a better idea in future events how to walkt eh course and set up you plan of attack.

 

Dude you ripped off my Name!!!!!

Talk to FastMarsh hes usually in the miami lancers forum he autox's and there are also alot of other guys in that forum that are pretty serious.