First time autocross event - Any Advice?

[N2VENOM]

I signed up for a autocross event at our local airport hosted by Porche Club of America. This will be my first time autocrossing. I have some experience driving at Willow Springs. Any intellegent advice for a first timer?

[smeredith]

Tires and too much power seemed to be my biggest problems. Depends on the track also. Did a couple of autocrosses on really small courses with a ton of turns and felt like I was a drifting car. I just run my street tires (Goodyear Eagle II) since my budget doesn't allow for a whole set of different tires. Bigger courses with longer strait aways seem to allow you to use your horsepower more. I finally came to the conclusion that smoother is faster on time. Less tire spin and drift, the better you are, even if it seems like you're going slower. Just my 2 cents from a rookie point of view.

[RICK LAKE]

N2VENOM Go and have a good time. Tires, Suspension setup, and then power have alot to do with time and speed on an auto cross. Learning to drive SMOOOOTH is the big factor for being fast.
We also need to know some things about your car, first is was it weighted and balanced in all 4 corners? you want a 48/52% bias of front to rearend weight. The next is your suspension on the car. If your car is a street car the springs are way too soft for autocross or road racing. Under hard braking the car will nose dive or plow if going into a turn. If you are serious about doing this kind of event, you will need a total different suspension setup. A good shock like QA1, Penske, or Koni with multi adjustments for dampening and rebound of the car going around turns. Figure about a 35-40% spring increase rate in the front and 20-30% in the rearend on springs alone.
Tires, this is another big thing. I used to run 15" tires and wheels, I now run a 17" wheel tire combo. 335/35-17" Micheins in the rearend and 255/40-17" in the front. The car will pull almost a "G" now from .76. Softer the tire, the better the grip until they get slimmy and slick.
The most important thing is to overfill your oil pan for this, 1- 1.5 quarts over. This is a safe way to protect your motor from running dry in long "g" turns. The problem is the oil getting back to the oil pan under hard turns. I run my motor 1 quart over full and have a 3 quart accusump for backup to portect my motors in roadracing and autocross. More info about your motor would help like what oil pan is being used. This is your first lession. Put Max air pressure in the tires. The spec is on the side wall. Good luck. Ps drive the course easy the first couple of times, walk the course if possible first. It's like dancing. Stay smooth on your feet, nice and relaxed. Rick L.

[N2VENOM]

Thanks Rick Lake, I have a Kirkham 427 Lemans with a Roush/ Shelby block 451FE. I have a 8 Qt. canton fully baffled road race oil pan and a accusump pre-oiler with electornic valve. I am running Avon CR6ZZ tires. I'm to understand that the airport surface is rough.

[Clois Harlan]

You should be ok! Have fun and don't hit the orange cones.

Clois

[Jamo]

Jaysus...

Your first time and folks are telling you about shock settings and overfilling oil pans? Hehehe...

I've autocrossed for over three decades, been the President of the local SCCA Chapter, designed courses, been a safety steward and run (and won) in everything from a Vega GT and 510 BRE to Vettes and Cobras, conducted schools, etc., and the single biggest problem I see newbies having is worrying about way too much sh!t.

My word of advice...calm down and make your goal to simply learn and have some fun.

1. You're running with folks who have their engines (and mass) in the wrong damn place...take any advice from them with a grain of salt.

2. Go to the SCCA site (or Google) and read up.

3. Go early...make the drivers' meeting and watch others. Hopefully, your work group will be before you run, so get out there and watch from the course.

4. Walk the course.

5. Walk that sumb!tch again.

6. If there are slaloms, walk off the distance between cones...are they consistent, increasing or decreasing distances between cones? Them little Nazi boys like to play tricks.

7. Pump up the tires. Avon radials...get them up to between 36 and 40 lbs. I like about 3-4 lbs more in the front to ease steering and turn-in.

8. If you expect heat, get a rose sprayer (cheap plastic) to spray the front of the radiator with between runs.

9. Don't screw with tire pressures in between runs this first time out. You're not going to make that much difference. Focus instead on seeing/feeling what it's all about and getting a clean run.

10. Don't worry about spinning out...you'll never know the limit til you exceed it.

11. Fill your gas tank...prevents sloshing around. Half-full is the worst. Later, you can play with barely full once you know how your pickup works, etc.

12. Everything out of the trunk and from behind the seats, check your wheel bearings and steering couplers. Make sure your helmet is new enough...no motorcycle helmets. Clean the frigging windshield.

13. Relax...breathe deeply before you start. No drag race start---spinning tires, etc. The first turns are usually sharp and quick, and your time doesn't start until you break the beam anyway. Same thing at the end...usually tight corners to slow folks down, and after you break the beam, hit the brakes and come to a stop at the sign.

14. Don't worry about classes or who's faster...learn and feel the car this first time out.

15. If it's hot...dump the coolant (you should anyway) and run water with some Water Wetter. Water cools better and you don't want to make the track slippery if you dump stuff.

16. Forget what you know from Willow Springs...I love watching road racers spin out their first few times autocrossing. Learn to give up speed to gain quickness. Do your braking beforehand and power out as if there's a raw egg under your right foot...asspecially in a Cobra.

There's more...much more...but that's enough for now.

Just go have some damn fun!

[Tinker51]

Originally Posted by Jamo

Jaysus...
Learn to give up speed to gain quickness. Do your braking beforehand and power out as if there's a raw egg under your right foot...asspecially in a Cobra.

Truer words were never spoken. A friend who is competitive on the national level in SCCA once gave me a very sage piece of advice for autocross. Slower is faster. Relax, be smooth, have fun.

[N2VENOM]

Jamo, Thanks for the great advice. Question for you.... How do you have the time to respond to so many posts with a fair amount of detail? Over 11,000 posts! Club Cobra should have an award for the most loyal, informative and dedicated member. Peace, Darren

[Jamo]

aw shuks...thanks

Have fun!

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by Jamo

1. You're running with folks who have their engines (and mass) in the wrong damn place...take any advice from them with a grain of salt.

Are you referring to the 928's or 944's?

I would certainly take very little advice from "them" (the 911 guys), but "them" sure know how to tear up an autocross course.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

IMHO, good road racers make terrible Auto Crosser's but good Auto Crosser's generally make very good road racers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've tried it a few times, they used a sun dial to time me, got lost on the course more than once.......

One of the quickest I've seen was a really tall skinny 16 year old kid in his mom's Honda Civic WAGON!!!!!!!!! he tore up the place, smooth as silk and very quick........

Smooth is fast, that's for sure.........

My advise, go back to Jamo's check list and re-read (many times) it and do #'s 3-4-5-6-7..........asspecialy # 4 and # 5..........wish I had had that list when I tried it!!!!!!!!!!!

David

[Tommy]

Maybe it was just me or maybe it was the guys that set up the courses, but I got lost on the first half dozen autocross courses I ran. Those damn cones were everywhere. I finally got in the habit of drawing a map of the course while I walked it. That way I could study it again right before it was my turn on the track. .... You'll likely see lots of improvement over your first dozen events, largely because you are getting better. I wouldn't worry too much about car settings until the driver feels somewhat comfortable. .... I think autocross is a great way to safely learn more about your car's limits and your abilities as a driver. But I eventually grew tired of spending an entire day at the event and three hours standing as a corner worker for about six minutes of track time. That's when I switched to track day events. Keep that option open after you've logged some autocross time.

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Are you referring to the 928's or 944's?

I would certainly take very little advice from "them" (the 911 guys), but "them" sure know how to tear up an autocross course.

I was talking about Porsches...not those other things.

Never seen a 928 out there in all that time. Not saying it couldn't happen...just never seen one. 924s and 944s are not really that good in their stock classes.

911s are only good against other 911s. That's why they have their own events.

[rustyBob]

Jamo you crack me up...........you tell the man "relax and have fun" then you give him a list of 16 different things to do..........thats funny.........you do deserve an award.

[Jamo]

17, 18 and 19 are the ones that will get you nervous.

[SPF2245]

Couple other thoughts, don't shift unless you HAVE to...I'll run right up into the rev. limiter to avoid doing an up shift and then a down shift if I'm only got a second or two to use the higher gear. Most courses will be set up so second is all that is needed you might touch 1st or 3rd on a section...but don't spend so much time shifting that your upsetting the chassis or wasting time shifting.
Final idea, run some of the ugly blue painters tape around the front end and rear fenders. It keeps the paint scuffs from hitting cones down to a minimum.

Have a good one.

[Doug I]

Just have fun. You'll probably do a few donuts anyway - so make 'em good !!

In the beginning if it isn't fun you're trying to hard.

[smallblockhead]

N2Venom. First off, have a blast, it's a lot of fun. If you get a chance, find out who the good drivers are and ask if you get a ride with them before you run. And remember, Brake early, Turn early, and Look down the course at the next two turns, not the one you are on.

Gary

[N2VENOM]

Thanks for all the advice. I had a great time. I was able to keep up the the hardcore autocrossers. As far as lap times, I was in the middle of the field of about 60 cars. Porche Club of America put on a great event. Peace, Darren

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Darren:

You deserve a big round of appluase for that accomplishment.......

My first time out, I finished dead last in my class and out of about 50 or so cars, I was in the BOTTOM 5 in times...........I really sucked at it..........The course was realllllllllllllllllll tight and I was in my 65 Fastback, not the ideal car for a tight course...........

David