autocrossing by itself doesn't interest me like it does some people (who make it their ONLY hobby). a lot of "going fast" has to do with how much you want to beat the living hell out of your car.
an example: once during the winter, i went faster in my POS Nissan than i did in the SUMMER down the same road in my 924. how can that be? impossible? no. at that point, i was really sick of my Nissan and i was TRYING to destroy it. i drove it like i hated it, because i did. i would 4-wheel drift through every corner, do e-brake "rally turns", and drive the car like i was trying to win the Targa Florio. i didn't care one bit if the car broke, and i was fully prepared to walk home if necessary. when i got home i was amazed that i got there in my fastest time EVER! then when i thought about how i took all the corners, and how my Nissan was "crabbing" most of the way home; it made a lot of sense.
if you are willing to beat up your car, you will be faster than if you are trying to take care of it. bounce off the rev limiter, drive it so that the RPMs NEVER gon under 4000RPM. left-foot brake, match the revs, etc. at one point in my Nissan i had my left hand on the steering wheel, my right hand going between the shifter and the e-brake, my right foot pinning the gas to the floor, and me left foot going between the brake and the clutch. no wonder i got home so quick!
those guys with the CRXs know that if they screw up their car, they can get another one. they spent less on a racing engine than the "doctor and lawyer 911 crowd" does on a set of super-duper tires that an advertisement said would cut 2 seconds off of their lap time. i've driven CRXs like they were supposed to be driven and when you do, they're FAST cars! i have a friend who had a very nice CRX that could stick to the rear bumper of a Mustang like it was glued. he spent less on his car than i did on my Nissan. the key was that he's willing to take his car to that one extra level that most people aren't.
one more item has to do with where you can "test" your car when the autocross is not going on. we have a dozen farm roads, dirt roads, gravel roads, empty parking lots, and dusty fields in which we can practice e-brake turns, 4 wheel drifts, and other crazy maneuvers. if your only place to practice autocrossing your car is at the autocross itself.... you will never do better than a beat up CRX
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one more point... i know a guy that brought his 1990 Honda Civic to a PCA invitational autocross in California. he proceeded to beat EVERY Porsche there except two guys... one in a 944 and one in a 911. he said it was absolutely sad. there were doctors and lawyers with $40,000, $60,000, and $80,000 911s that drove them like they were on their way to pick up the mail at the bottom of the driveway. most of these guys with turbo cars kept them revved so low the turbo wasn't spooling up properly. you'd have these show-offs with 911s that would spin in a corner, and hit so many cones that they might as well be trying to hit cones to collect points. what did they get beat by? a damn good driver in a Honda that is worth less than their wheels and tires were worth. i told him "good job! there's way too many Porsche owners out there that think that just because they have a nice car they have automatically become a good driver." it's the same reason that with my 924 i can stick to 911 bumpers like i'm glued there at 80mph. sure you have 100Hp more than me... doesn't mean you know how to use it. in the meantime i'll just stick here behind you and when i see a long stretch i'll wave as i go by.
obin