Well, yesterday was my first time auto crossing. I have been wanting to for a long time but something always seemed to come up. Anyhow, I took the "driving school" in the morning for an hour of 1 on 1 training. 20 minutes into it I'm pushing my car as hard as I possibly can. My instructor is almost yelling at me telling me that I HAVE to use the breaks . I was basically drifting around the corners and pissing him off. lol. But, I didn't hit a cone the whole time. However I did lose control once and spun out, still missing all of the cones! He then asks me if he can drive it and give me a few pointers. Here's where it gets funny! He takes off through the gate getting an impressive launch (way better than mine) goes through a couple of gates with no problems then bam! hits a cone. uh oh he's losing it, the car is swaying back and forth... he gets back on track and almost barrels through a sweeping turn and slams on the breaks and bogs the car in 2nd then almost lost control on the slalom again... LOL!!! We get out of the car and he says "Don't do anything that I just did!" "Are you interested in being an instructor? You've really got it in you" "There's no way this is your first time autocrossing" Anyhow, he was a great guy and we had a lot of fun driving together. The whole time I was driving he was SOOO on edge and holding on to everything he could LOL. So, the rest of the day whenever I saw him I would give him $h!t and we would get a good laugh.


I'm so hooked it's not funny. I'm shopping for a helmet TODAY! and I was already looking for one on the internet the minute I got home yesterday.


I always knew my car handled very well. But, I had no idea what this beast had in it. I just fell in love all over again. The S2000 truly is the best car available. I wouldn't trade it for anything.


Gulf Coast Autcrossers



-Leon

 

Congrats, it's a very fun and time consuming addiction. A helmet is definetely a good investment, just remember that a 5 dollar helmet is for a 5 dollar head. There's a really good closeout deal on a HJC AR11 model (SA2000 spec) helmet right now. It's the same shell design that Michael Schumi uses but fiberglass instead of carbon. Keep in mind if you want to do track days you'll want to consider a SA (special applications) year 2000 or 2005 helmet. But if you're just going to do autocross you can probably get away with a M2000 or M2005 spec.

http://www.thebellstore.com/Auto/HJCHelmet...utohelmets.html

 

thanks for the heads up on a great deal! I think I'm in the market for the hundred dollar range though... Only autocross for now until I feel I'm worthy of a road course.

please don't flame, I'm a noob to autox. I'm thinking about buying a motorcycle helmet. Is this a bad idea?

-Leon

 

Motorcycle helmet should be ok. Don't quote me on this but there are actual car racing helmets that are just Motorcycle ceritifed (M2000 or M2005). A few things are different such as the lining but it should still be for car use and not for riding a motorcycle.

Check ebay and you can probably pick up a M2000/M2005 Pyrotect full face helmet for 100-125 or less and an open face for 70-80. If I had to do it all over again I'd spend a bit more and get the SA2000 or SA2005 though, especially with that HJC SA2000 helmet being on such a good sale (180 bucks)

 

AutoX is an absolute blast!!! its very addicting

 

That's a matter of opinion

Congrats and keep it shiny side up

 

Make sure the helmet is Snell rated - that's what the M2000 and M2005 specs are about. Without the Snell rating, it won't be allowed in SCCA autocrosses...

 

Leon, you need to hook up with Eric and Scott and NASA. I go sometimes too when I am not tied up.

James

 

If you sure you will be only doing autocrosses, the M Snell rated helmets are fine. I just retired my Snell SA1995 Because BMW club only allows 10 year old helmets instead of 15 like SCCA. (SCCA only allows 10 years old for track events).

My new one is Snell M 2005. It is only good for autocross. No track events, NO ROAD RACING.

I also went to the open face helmet because I like the wider field of vision for autocross. The full face helmet seemed to restrict my field of vision. The restricted vision may be acceptable for track, but on an autocross course you may need to be looking out the sides to be looking far enough ahead.

 

thanks for the pointers guys!

I just need to get a helmet before Jan. NO MORE LOANERS!