Autox @ FedEx, Sunday 17th

[Xenonk]

Anyone going? I am signed up and will be running as the first group in the morning, but I'll hang out for a while after lunch to see some of the action.

Keefe

[!S4]

I SO wish that I lived in your area. I'd love to see you in action. Yeah, I know, I've seen the video, but it's different in person. Do you ever let people ride with you? I know that's a lot of extra weight...

[typeSpeed]

I've been in contact with Craig Garfield and have been placed on the late registration, even though the event was full. Hopefully there will be a no-show.

[Xenonk]

I SO wish that I lived in your area. I'd love to see you in action. Yeah, I know, I've seen the video, but it's different in person. Do you ever let people ride with you? I know that's a lot of extra weight...

Yea, I never mind if people want a ride (as long as they ask and meet me prior to my staging process). I have had my car packed with 4 other people before for fun runs and instructional events. I did a full-car with:

Audi S4
Subaru Impreza WRX Sedan
Mitsubitshi Evo
Subaru Impreza STi
Subaru Legacy GT
Acura Legend
Volvo 240 Wagon
BMW 325

and a few other cars that I forgot along the way. It's pretty embarrassing for people to see me get a good time with a full-house, err-car of people (5 total). 800+ lbs of weight in the car sure does a lot of things to the driving dynamics.. the only way to make the car go fast is using momentum by swinging the car around and use less brakes and more gas.


Keefe

[Xenonk]

I've been in contact with Craig Garfield and have been placed on the late registration, even though the event was full. Hopefully there will be a no-show.

You should still show up, that way you can get a ride with me on a few runs.. I just need a solo run as my 4th run so that I can have a good shot of getting a decent time. Richard Fekete is making me work really hard to beat his STi.


Keefe

[typeSpeed]

thanks for the offer. I really hope I get a call before the 17th with some good news from Craig. I attended the Capital Driving Clubs April 9th event and had a horrible time. The ring leader was a jerk, Harry Grove Stadium is wayyyy too small and the ground just tore up my tires.

[!S4]

You should still show up, that way you can get a ride with me on a few runs.. I just need a solo run as my 4th run so that I can have a good shot of getting a decent time. Richard Fekete is making me work really hard to beat his STi.


Keefe

How many runs do you guys usually get in?

[almondcookie]

incidently, the rx7club is having lunch at fuddruckers in columbia starting @ 2pm. 25 people are suppose to show up so if and when you are done getting your upperbody autoX workout and need a bite to eat and want to meet some really odd people, stop on by.

[Xenonk]

thanks for the offer. I really hope I get a call before the 17th with some good news from Craig. I attended the Capital Driving Clubs April 9th event and had a horrible time. The ring leader was a jerk, Harry Grove Stadium is wayyyy too small and the ground just tore up my tires.

This is the mass email I got from Craig today:

"It is the Wednesday before the first Championship event, we have 270 people registered and 15 people waiting to get in. Who said there were not 200 autocrossers in the DC area? We also have 19 people who have canceled. If you are not going to be able to make the event, and have registered, please cancel yourself out."

I am not sure how far down the list you are of the 15.

The capital driving club is just good for seat time really.. you can't beat having 6 runs for the day for the price.

Keefe

[Xenonk]

How many runs do you guys usually get in?

Around here, usually 4.. some places still just do 3.. while some of the smaller clubs run as many as 6 (3 practice and 3 for the real deal). Autox Level 3 schools for about $150 to $200 gets you as many runs as you can for 8 hours (possibly over 90 runs, that's if your tires can take it).

Keefe

[Xenonk]

incidently, the rx7club is having lunch at fuddruckers in columbia starting @ 2pm. 25 people are suppose to show up so if and when you are done getting your upperbody autoX workout and need a bite to eat and want to meet some really odd people, stop on by.

I'll see if I can make it, most of the time, I usually head home for after morning event because we have to be there at the crack of dawn, so by the time 1pm rolls, around, I have already been up for more than 7 hours..

Keefe

[!S4]

Around here, usually 4.. some places still just do 3.. while some of the smaller clubs run as many as 6 (3 practice and 3 for the real deal). Autox Level 3 schools for about $150 to $200 gets you as many runs as you can for 8 hours (possibly over 90 runs, that's if your tires can take it).

Keefe

Wow, that'd be great. From what I hear, we usually get 5 or 6 here, but I'll see. At the school I got maybe 25 runs total all weekend. That's probably being generous, but I can't count either.

Somewhere that I could just keep doing runs back to back would be excellent, but then my tires would surely hate me.

Sorry for taking your thread OT somewhat. Good luck this weekend, and have fun!

[Xenonk]

It's all good.. during nationals, you only get 3 runs per each course (the combination of your two lowest times on each course determines your final score). Most national tour drivers walk about 15 to 20 times per each course.

Getting 6 runs or so should give a good idea on seat time. Always get an experienced instructor in your car, and always get a ride from a national driver. You can learn soo much more from experienced people if you are around them and pick their brains. The one thing I hear the most from inexperienced drivers are:

"My car cant do that"
"I cant left foot brake"
"I cant brake like that"
"I cant think that far ahead"
"I dont see the cones that I am suppose to look for"
"My car sucks"
"I dont remember the course, it's too long"
"I cant move my hands fast enough"
"My feet are not that sensitive"
"My shoes are too big"
"My feet are too small"
"I am not as good as you"
"I got confused with the cones, no one told me that I was off-course"
and about 50 other billion sayings that goes along with inexperience.

All of those comments can be resolved with an experienced driver/veteran and good teacher/mentor to guide you along the way. Usually I do get a few of the stubborn guys that are really negative and chooses not to change their ways (like driving seating position is the best example because "it's not comfortable"). I usually tell them to throw everything negative out the window before I teach them, all that extra negative baggage will slow their learning process down. It's all about some good guidance during your seat time. You can't expect to be good with just a day's worth of autocrossing (which is really just 4 minutes worth of intense driving). All new drivers need to give themselves some time and look for your own personal flaws compared to veteran drivers. It's just a case of the "what I do vs what they do differently" kind of thing.

I usually stop giving people rides when they start to beat me using my own car ;)

Keefe

[typeSpeed]

I'm going to have a paper license plate made up for auto events that reads "CONEATR"

perhaps supply one of my own cone's and wedge them in the grill to emphasize my skill. :)

[!S4]

I'm going to have a paper license plate made up for auto events that reads "CONEATR"

perhaps supply one of my own cone's and wedge them in the grill to emphasize my skill. :)

I saw a car with a cone stuck in it last weekend...pretty funny.

Keefe, I know that seat time is the number one thing you can do to improve your times, but are there any books that you can recommend? I picked up Ross Bentley's "Speed Secrets" 1 and 2, and "Going Faster!" (the Skip Barber book).

I'm actually learning a lot about physics and why things happen the way they happen. I hope that I'm not too busy thinking about all the things that I learned that start becoming "too" conscious about my driving.

[Xenonk]

Get foam core.. if you ever want me to make you one, I can..

http://www.speedoptions.com/members/38458/9728/pic7.jpg

I made these myself.

Keefe

[Xenonk]

I saw a car with a cone stuck in it last weekend...pretty funny.

Keefe, I know that seat time is the number one thing you can do to improve your times, but are there any books that you can recommend? I picked up Ross Bentley's "Speed Secrets" 1 and 2, and "Going Faster!" (the Skip Barber book).

I'm actually learning a lot about physics and why things happen the way they happen. I hope that I'm not too busy thinking about all the things that I learned that start becoming "too" conscious about my driving.


I can't tell you how many cones I sucked up under the car and gave them a tour around the course.

Those are the 3 main books to have. There's nothing much more from those books other than backing it up with practicing those skills and knowledge.

-Smooth is the key to driving fast. The real idea of being smooth is really putting the car at its limit at all times and keeping it there. Slow is pretty much defined when you over drive the car or wuss around in the car and not maximizing its potential.

-Patience is another key to have as if you are too anxious to make the turn and turn early, you just blew your apex. Too early on the gas, and you just blew your track-out attempt and will understeer yourself into the exiting cone.

-Look far ahead as possible. The further you look where you need to go, the better and faster you can drive. Most people in autocrossing only look as far as the next 2 gates when really you should be looking for 4 to 5 gates ahead.. when you think that far ahead, this will allow you to position the car where you want it to be to set yourself up for the fastest run in that section. The infamous time killer is the decreasing radius "S" turn. Most people treat the first turn as a typical classic line (out-in-out line) when really it should be a compound setup where you have to be looking for the 2nd apex as your exiting cone instead of treating like a real 2nd apex in the "S" turn. Reading compound or complex sections will be something as a veteran can teach you later.

-Achieving top average speed through a section is the final piece of advice. You can push the car to it's limits in number of ways, but it's your job to find the most economical path. Remember, the course is a fixed distance, so the only thing that is a variable is the speed of which you travel.. so if you can increase your average top speed, you will get a bigger result in cutting down time. You can divide the whole course into sections.. afterall, one lap around the course is the largest section you can get. Start dividing up the course in sections and be mindful of your speeds through a certain section. You'll eventually find out when you start gaining more speed out from one section, you will be traveling into the next corner too fast, so you will have to determine what is the most economical line to shave time off. Top speed isnt everything, it's combining the different sections together with the lowest time is what makes you go faster.



Keefe

[typeSpeed]

to practice, place a cup of water in your car and try driving around without spilling any of the water. This is the way of Bunta.

[Xenonk]

try with hot coffee in one hand.. that's the way of Keefe ;)

[typeSpeed]

ha, now Keefe lets not be so vain to speak of ourselves in 3rd person. :)

[typeSpeed]

Keefe,

I never got the mass email that was sent out informing us that 19 people have canceled. Should I contact Craig to confirm I got a spot for April 17th?