Auto X tips for first timer

[kcturbo]

Hey guys, Going to play with the vette club in the morning if they will let me. Ive never done an Auto-X before any sugestions or tips about what to look for. My car is a 88 944 turbo S (M030).


Hey anybody out there????

[This message has been edited by kcturbo (edited 06-09-2001).]

[951carter]

worry more about staying on course than going fast. take your first run nice and slow so you can get a feel for the course. dont expect too much from your first outing,and remember, have fun !!

[kcturbo]

I was told by a friend to worry about making my apexes as good as I can. Like you said staying on course is the first thing you have to do. Thanx....

[timsirk]

hey, i'm right there w/ you. I'm thinking about going from motorcycle GP racing into autocross...i'm picking up a 944na next weekend for a daily driver so that i can thrash my RX7. Lemme know how it goes!!

Tim

[Dave951M]

Walk the course several times before the meet. Try to keep your apexes as good as possible, remember that rear wheel drive cars "cheat" on the turn. That is they take a tighter line on a curve than the fronts, unless of course, you're oversteering your way through . Take each run a bit faster than the last. Remember that each cone you knock over or out of the chalk box is a time penalty. I lost time of the day once because I nudged a cone out of the box although it was still standing. Relax and enjoy. I think you'll find that techniques you learn to drive faster also will make you a bit faster on the track and a better driver on the street. Also, beware, this activity is extremely addictive.

Dave951M

[White951]

Keep your hands at the typical 9 & 3 oclock or 10 & 2 position. You waste time doing hands over hands when turning. Get "Secrets of Autocrossing" by ???Henry??? Watts.

John
86 951

[Z-man]

So, did you go, and how did you do? Are you hooked yet?

I second the suggestion to get "Secrets of Solo Racing" by Henry Watts. Great book for beginners.

Other suggestions:

Put a little more pressure in your tires. I suggest an even 38-40 psi for starters. As you begin to understand the handling characteristics of your car, you can start to adjust the tire pressures to minimize/maximize understeer and oversteer.
I would also stay away from modifying your car heavily until you've gotten to a point where you understand your own driving preferences, and can set up the car to suit you best. (Or, you can always stay in a stock setup, which IMO, is a purer way to race!)

Don't worry about other people's runs: concentrate on your own times and what you can do to improve them. Definately keep a log of all your autox events (run times, tire pressures used, weather conditions, placement in class...etc.) As you attend more events, you can see how you're doing. (I have a excel spreadsheet that does some percentile calculations as well!)

Also: turbo's can be a bit trickier to control in an autox compared to n/a's. You have to be especially smooth in your transitions: they say there's nothing worse than a turbo spooling up in the middle of a tight slalom! As you get better, try a technique called "left foot braking:" it allows you to stay on throttle, and slow down, and still keep the turbo spooling! But that technique is a bit more advanced.

Above all: definately have fun, and enjoy driving your car like it's meant to be driven! AND: Smoke some vettes!
-Zoltan.

[1.2gees]

• Always look at least one turn down the course, more if possible.
• Start turning the wheel at least 1-5 feet before you need the car to start turning. Distance will depend on how tight the suspension is, and how fast you're going.
• Try and get on the gas early, at the turns where a straight will be proceding.

This is called late apexing, as you slow down in a somewhat straight line, turn in later, and hit the geometrical apex of the turn later. But as soon as the turning is almost completed, you can get on the gas, and thus get out of the turn at a faster speed, even though you probably spent more time through the turn, you're going to end up covering every inch of the straight away faster!

Hope this helps.
Ahmet

------------------
It's all the driver...
My page over1g@hotmail.com
Porsche owners Gallery.../My 944

[kcturbo]

Sorry guys, Got rained out... Gona try and make the HPCCC at Heartland Park this fall.

[1.2gees]

Keep us updated on how you feel about it/do, I'd personally like to know other 944 owners opinions in auto-xes...
Ahmet

------------------
It's all the driver...
My page over1g@hotmail.com
Porsche owners Gallery.../My 944

[Z-man]

Originally posted by 1.2gees:
[BThis is called late apexing, as you slow down in a somewhat straight line, turn in later, and hit the geometrical apex of the turn later. But as soon as the turning is almost completed, you can get on the gas, and thus get out of the turn at a faster speed, even though you probably spent more time through the turn, you're going to end up covering every inch of the straight away faster!

Hope this helps.
Ahmet

[/B]

Definition of APEX (as it applied to autox): the point where your car is closest to the inner boundaries of a turn. Geometric apex on a uniform curve is half way through the turn.

Actually, in late apexing, don't you want to hit the apex AFTER the geometric apex? Meaning: you want to be closest to the inner part of the turn after you have past the geometric apex. That way you're already accelerating before hitting the apex. If you hit the geometric apex, you're in close too early and won't accelerate as well.

Or at least that's what I believe how Henry Watts explains it in his book, "Secrets of Solo Racing."

What Ahmet says is true: the faster you come out of a turn, the more speed you'll be carring down EVERY FOOT of the straight.

On the reverse side, if there's a long straight BEFORE a series of tight turns, it can be beneficial to early apex the turn: carry speed longer into the turn, hit an early apex and brake hard LATER. Of course you'll come out of the turn slower, but it's all a matter of where it is better to be going faster: prior or after the turn. You gotta pay the price somewhere!

Sorry if I've confused you, (and I'm not expert by any measure, just learning to apply these principals myself )
-Z-man.




[This message has been edited by Z-man (edited 06-12-2001).]

[1.2gees]

Originally posted by Z-man:
Actually, in late apexing, don't you want to hit the apex AFTER the geometric apex? Meaning: you want to be closest to the inner part of the turn after you have past the geometric apex. That way you're already accelerating before hitting the apex. If you hit the geometric apex, you're in close too early and won't accelerate as well.

That's exactly true.

On the reverse side, if there's a long straight BEFORE a series of tight turns, it can be beneficial to early apex the turn: carry speed longer into the turn, hit an early apex and brake hard LATER. Of course you'll come out of the turn slower, but it's all a matter of where it is better to be going faster: prior or after the turn. You gotta pay the price somewhere!

Ditto, however keep in mind, MOST of all turns are late apex'ed in competition. Reason being, you can brake harder in a straight line, than you can scrub off speed while turning. With aerodynamic aids though (F1), it can be beneficial to keep your speed up through a turn. Also keep in mind, all preceding turns must be sacrificed for the one that comes right before the long straight, as 5mph at this spot, is much more important than 5mph ANYWHERE else on the track. Late apexing IS also safer, by far.
Ahmet

------------------
It's all the driver...
My page over1g@hotmail.com
Porsche owners Gallery.../My 944

[This message has been edited by 1.2gees (edited 06-12-2001).]

[Dave951M]

Whether you apex at the geomtric apex or late apex is determined mainly by the next turn. Some course designers have fast courses and the converse is also true. I prefer to mostly apex a bit late since the speed carried into the turn isn't scrubbed off as you guys have pointed out, but it also leaves you the option to throttle oversteer into the next turn. The guy setting up courses when I was active was notorious for decreasing radii turns at the ends of the straights followed by a set of chicanes. Kinda tough to carry much speed through that one, but we tried. I'm still planning on competing again sometime, just have to fix the cv joints first.

Ahmet- I would have been there last week except for the click, click, click in the rear.

Dave951M

[kcturbo]

Thanx for the input guys. Ive got to put in alot of overtime at work for the next few weeks. So I wont be able to any Auto-X's for awhile. Got the book secrets of solo racing at home. Reading about it and doing it is two different things.