http://www.surmount.com/jeff/autox.avi

This was at great lakes crossing near detroit, michigan. My dad let me use his car which i drive like once a month or so. this video i had a time of 60.73 and my best my 4th run was a 59.53 which was better than most stock cars, a 350z and a porsche 968 a couple times. the temp was about 45 degrees and windy. i got out of 2nd once after turn 1. the asphat was a bit gritty but not bad.

COULD ANY AUTO'ers CRTIQUE THIS VIDEO AND GIVE ME SOME TIPS?



Jeff O

 

Not bad for your 1st autox. You can tell by your lack of oversteer that you weren't pushing the car much. It's very hard to tell from outside the car but You can tell that you went wide at a few of your apex's and the jerky motion on the right lefts also says you weren't looking far enough ahead. My best advice to you would be to try to ride along with one of the better drivers at the event and see what he does differently. Either that or completely over drive the car and take every cone on the course. Thats how I learned to drive. But I learned in my own car and it was much cheaper then an S2K. I wouldn't recommend doing that in your dads S2K.

Then again this is what I look like behind the wheel So maybe you shouldn't listen to me. Ian's Crazy RUN

 

I'd agree that you weren't pushing nearly enough. That whole course looks like it would be first gear (short straights, lots of tight turns, etc.) which would lend itself nicely to having the rear end stuck out sideways for much of the course. Learning how much to have it hanging out is the trick.

Riding with someone else or having him/her drive the car would be most instructive. I've been teaching at the local region's autocross schools for years and the one thing that opens eyes most is having one of the instructors drive the car through the various sections of the school as well as the whole course. Until you experience the level of violence, you don't have a basis for comparison. You've been taught to slow down and be gentle - that needs to be reversed (properly, of course)...

 

Don't worry Ian... it happens to all of us!! http://waiautox.org/2002/02saini_spin1.mpg

Seriously, though... jeffskio - I would echo the others... it doesn't look like you are pushing it quite hard enough. Mario Andretti said it best: "If you don't come back to the pits with a steering wheel in your hands every once in a while, you aren't pushing it hard enough!" Understandably, you don't want to push it _too_ hard in your dad's car, but you get the idea. Other than that, it's hard to see much about your lines, although you should work a bit on linked turns. You have to set up a section of linked turns, usually by 'giving up' one of the first ones to get set up for the next couple. It's something you can start to learn by walking the course with some experienced autocrossers, because that's what they will be looking for. Just keep at it, practice makes perfect, and that goes double for racing!

 

Hey, that one was nice. You kept it going. But I wonder who Gets the most TIRE SMOKE award.