Johnny--2K

Well, i hav only done this twice now....the second time we wont talk about as it was in the rain, and it sucked majorly!

First Time, MGA Research in Burlington, WI....Stock wheels/tires, rear S02's at about 5% tread left!

Run #
1 61.8
2 68.2 (spin out)
3 57.3
4 56.2
5 54.6
6 54.6
7 54.2
8 52.4 (balls to the wall fun run)

To give you an idea, a guy in a cobra finished first with an overall of 47.xx, my overall after index was 49.xx.....Total, 19th out of 31.

I was pretty happy with my first time, and i have videos...if only i could figure out how to get them off my DV CC and onto my computer?!?!

What do you guys think?

PedalFaster

It's hard to say by just looking at your times -- the next time you go, ask someone experienced to watch you or ride with you (if your region allows it). They'll be able to help you identify and correct the mistakes that everyone makes.

Having said that, the fact that your balls-to-the-wall run was two seconds faster than the others suggests that you're being too tentative and not using all of the available grip on your other runs.

Steve

Johnny--2K

great!! i will try and get the vids up onto the thread and maybe then you can give me some better opinions! I was really just having more fun than anything, esp on the last run!

Penforhire

Keep at it! It helps if you can find a known-good driver and have him do a run in your car with you as a passenger (practice or time-only run). There's not a much better way to know in your gut what your car is capable of. That tends to break down mental barriers we set for ourselves. "oh, I didn't have to lift there" or "so that's how I get through that section."

You'll get lots of advice and all of it is worth what you paid for it but...

Something I was taught very early (by a past National champion) and it helped: Be more assertive with the brake and gas. Not to stab the pedals, but rather to go for maximum pedal position. You'd be surprised how often your gas pedal isn't floored when it should be, or maybe you're easing into and then trailing the brakes instead of scrubbing speed as late as possible and getting back onto the gas. This advice is simplistic but concentrating on it knocked seconds off my time.

Hyper-X

Seems like you had a lot of fun.

My advice is the obvious... more seat time. Don't feel shy to try out new ideas, don't just take someone's word for anything, test it out yourself.

The strangest thing I learned last month was in order to drive faster, I had to slow my pace down just a little bit.

jguerdat

Ah, yes, the old "Slow down to go faster" trick. That's more important than any of us realized early into our racing careers. Force the damn car through those turns - make the tires scream for mercy. And slow. Smoothness is next to godliness and *proper* speed, throttle and steering wheel angles are how you get there.

One more favorite - "Wait till you see God - then brake!" Brakes are far more powerful than the most powerful engine in a car and are capable of more Gs than we expect. If you're not using the ABS, you're not trying hard enough (in most places - sometimes mild braking is called for). And if you get the ABS pumping and find that you now have to accelerate to get to the turn you just slowed down for, you really didn't see God.

Hyper-X

Jeez... I'm definitely not there yet, and for obvious reasons I haven't seen God yet.

I won't lie, I'm scared shitless when using the brakes to the point ABS kicks in. I'm not sure if our local course calls for that degree of braking, but I'm a virgin in that area in competition. If I plan on improving my driving technique by taking it to higher levels, I'll have to eventually experience and experiment with using ABS in Solo-2.

Now that I think about it, that's what fun runs are for...

PedalFaster

I'd say the former advice overrides the latter. In my experience, there are few opportunities in autocross to get into the ABS unless you're stabbing at the brakes, which is a no-no since it upsets the car. Unlike road racing, where it's typical to have to shed large amounts of speed going into corners, autocross braking is more often for relatively subtle (by road racing standards) speed adjustment. Our braking zones typically aren't long enough to involve triggering the ABS after smoothly getting into the brakes.

One exception to this caveat is trail braking, where the ABS will kick in more often as the car adopts strange attitudes in response to multiple simultaneous inputs.

I think we're putting the cart before the horse, though. Focus on identifying which parts of the course are slow and which are fast, and then determining what lines you should take accordingly. Don't worry about how you're implementing the plan (whether to use ABS when braking, etc.) until you're sure you've got the right plan in the first place.

Steve

jguerdat

I use the ABS all the time. The difference between a wild stab and a "squeezing" on of the brakes is a fine line. If the ABS isn't active, you're not braking at full potential. Obviously, sometimes you don't want to use full brakes but I try to use the ABS at every point that makes sense.

Additionally, I'd agree that smoothness, etc. is more important but the most obvious problem most folks I've instructed have is not using the brakes to their fullest, using engine braking or just kinda dragging the brakes do the slowing down. In a gross overstatement, you should be fully accelerating in all aspects of the course and that means negative acceleration (braking) and lateral acceleration (cornering) as well as the positive acceleration (throttle wide open). Everyone gets the throttle part but misses the others badly until experience shows how much can be achieved.

Johnny--2K

well, the last few runs (where my times improved the most) i had really been watching what others do, and the part of the track i was watching from (corner 3 worker) was a great angle of the whole track. I really did start squeezing as much speed out of each straight as possible, and mashing the brakes at the last second to get me into that next turn at the right speed....just enough to take the turn, and come out strong, with as little drift as possible on bald s02's!

Definitely need more seat time, but the season is almost over, and i dont know if i will be able to make it to the one this coming sunday..got an exam monday and college is definitely first on my priority list, esp since im more than half way done!