On 9/15 s2ki will be hosting it's first NASA autocross. The auto-x will be hosted at Marina airfield in Marina CA (near Laguna Seca).

The course is on concrete plane tiedown space.

Its 960' long x 440' wide. The tiedowns (perfect circles for cones) are already layed out in a 20' grid. I can or can not use them, it doesn't matter.

I have some grid paper and plan to work on making some courses.

I figured some of you auto-x junkies could help me make the course more s2k biased

Any tips?

Anyone want to post their own designs?

 

no tips here, but just a question to add - do you design a course and then plot out where the corner workers should be? I'd assume so, and making sure they are out of harms way, but accessible to replace cones as necessary.

 

There is in existence a very well written guide to course design. It's written by Roger "The Real" Johnson, a very well known autocrosser. I can't seem to remember the link.

solo2racer? Help!

 

Is this the one?

http://www.ghg.net/cmjfsl/

 

That's the one, thanks Mack!

 

Roger's info is great. When I've done courses in the past I try and stick to a very few basic "rules"...

1. Avoid drag race starts. Not everybody likes it and it potentially creates problems.
2. Keep the finish simple so that people can power through the light trip and have plenty of room to shut down.
3. Don't use every cone in your arsenal just because you have them, and don't evenly space them everywhere. That makes the course harder to follow.
4. Make the course as wide and open as you can. Let the competitors pick their line, don't dictate it to them.
5. Break up your course feature sequence so it isn't repetitive (e.g. u-turn..straight...u-turn....straight...u-turn...).
6. Visualize driving the course, does it seem fun?

I wouldn't worry about worker stations too much in the design, safe positions will become evident after inspection. Also, don't "overplan" you course. Either you or somebody from safety will want to change something come event day.

-Andy

 

Here are a few courses used in Chicago. You can take any ideas you want from them:

http://www.tsscc.org/2001/images/event5_map.pdf
http://www.tsscc.org/2001/images/event6_map.pdf
http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/2001/imag.../event1_map.pdf
http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/2000/imag.../event4_map.pdf

Other suggestions:

Sketch the design on paper first. Have other people review it and make suggestions. You'll never get it right without helpful critiqueing.

As Andy suggested, avoid drag race starts. Use 90 degree starts with a wide enough gate that it's not painful.

Avoid tight turn, fast maneuver, tight turn, followed by another fast maneuver. This is a killer in the S2K as you get caught out of VTEC a lot.

Avoid using too many cones. Only put the ones necessary as critical cones when designing the course (ie apex cones, outside walls, etc). Then go back and add cones where necessary to improve the visual impact of maneuvers.

Absolutely drive the course before you are done. This is critical or you may end up with painful maneuvers at 40 MPH that didn't look bad walking at 5 MPH. If you do it in someone else's car (ie not a S2K) then people should not feel you are cheating.

Do not have a slalom right before the finish to try and slow cars down. All it does it get them off balance as they cross the line and slam on the brakes. This will lead to lots of spins.

Hope this helps,

 

The first one Brad posted.... TSSCC#5 was an absolute blast! It was fun and challenging. Some of the ideas from that course would probably translate well to the dimensions of the lot that you posted, Krazik. Good luck, and have fun! Try to get there a day or two before the event to set it up and test drive it if possible. It's really hard to design and set up a course on the morning of an autocross!

 

Thanks guys. The course will be setup the day before and will be driven by me and one other car.

I have printed out a bunch of grids that are the size of the concrete and have been handing them to friends to see what they come up with. I will review your track maps more tommorrow and will post any beta designs I come up with.


Thnx again for the input!

 

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Do not have a slalom right before the finish to try and slow cars down.