Steven (local STR guys) summed it up nicely! ^^^

I bolded the most important line!

 

Well said.

I'll echo what Corey said. Those canadians know there stuff. If you can't run a simulation of the course in your brain before a run, than you haven't studied enough. Learn to make a plan for the course, then execute that plan. Analyze the run, fix your mistakes and try again. Strive for Logarithmic decay in your lap times.

Nick

 

Actually, I think I may have gotten burnt out with too much seat time that I started to view local events as kind of throw away events and practice. But I wasn't that focused on my line, course walks, etc. I think by the end of this season (when my overall finish spots really began to fall) I just wasn't engaged.

I wouldn't describe myself as new to autocross, but I don't have the 10 year experience many drivers seem to have. I'm just having trouble getting over that plateau and wanting some general input on that as well as car set-up.

Sounds like the general agreement is try to stiffen up the front a bit more and calm the rear end on the car.
For me, more mental preparation and log some time with some good driving instructors. I was able to talk with Sam Strano at the final Steel cities region event and I'm hoping to get him as an instructed at the evo schools.

I think like most everyone thats competitive, I look for continuous improvement. And I was seeing it until about July and then it stopped and I actually slowed down a bit. I still was having fun and everything, I just wasn't driving any faster / better.

 

Awesome quote man!

 

Nice to see some more talk about driving in here!

That's very wise. Not only your money, but your time is much better spent on improving as a driver. Time is a limited resource, and any time spent thinking about car parts is time NOT spent thinking about driving.

My advice for the off-season is to read, watch videos, and find a good kart track.

Read the Inner Game of Tennis, like Corey mentioned, and Secrets of Solo Racing by Henry Watts. Read them twice. Read as many driving tips online as you can - Andy Hollis' Ten Tips are awesome, and there are others. Read Corey's post above again, and Nick's - he put very succinctly what you want to achieve at every event.

Watch videos. I'm sure you already know the names of 10 top drivers, so just google them and watch how they drive. Compare that to how you drive and find opportunities to improve. If you can find vids of guys (or girls) who were faster than you on the same course, even better! If you watch enough, you'll get a feel for how the car is rotating and you can use that, the sound of the engine and the driver's inputs on the steering wheel to get a pretty clear picture of what's happening. Eventually you'll start to see mistakes coming and spot where even National Champs are making corrections to save fast runs.

Find a good kart track where you can keep your skills warm through the winter, and you might even learn a thing or two while you're there. Karts, especially the often-underpowered indoor variety, are speed maintenance vehicles that highlight even the slightest mistake. Practice smooth inputs, smooth lines, looking ahead, and adapting to different karts. If your kart track offers some kind of all-you-can-race pass for a day, do that. Seek instruction at the track, too. See if the staff will watch you and give you pointers.


When the season starts back up again, take as many schools as you can! Seat time is good too, but not if you keep making the same mistakes. A good instructor can often do more for your driving in a day than you can do yourself in a season. You can also get free instruction by going for ride-alongs and getting others to ride with you, and just by watching the lines of fastest drivers.

For more tips, just approach the fastest drivers at your club, or at national events, and ask them how they got there. Most will be happy to talk about it.

 

 

Solid advice on the karting... i really didn't consider doing that through the winter.

 

I think it's clear from what you said about others jumping in your car and beating you by a couple seconds that you've got work to do as a driver...so focus on that first.

I think all of us have periods where we've gotten worse. A lot of it stems from the fact that sometimes it's hard to tell what's fast. Sometimes I'll overdrive and think I just laid down a hero run when in fact it was a second or two off the pace. Or I'll add a lot of unnecessary distance so it'll feel fast but won't be.

Or a setup issue will cause you to get slower...it only takes a little bit to be 2 seconds back.

Best thing is taking video, as well as having people ride along. Especially people in similar setups (obviously STR S2000 or other STR car is ideal, but another good popular one is an STX RX-8 or BMW or BRZ should be pretty similar). Then they can help you figure out what's going on.

Karting is great too since you can get lots of laps in and try different things to see what's fastest. They are more momentum conservation though - sometimes the s2000 can take more of a power line than a kart can.

 

Oh and I definitely feel you on the 3 run thing...it's definitely an issue for me as well. Part of the reason I like pro solos so much .

But I've gotten a lot better over the last year or so. You just have to remain disciplined and start thinking of local events almost as two separate events. One "national style" where only the first 3 count, and then the "last chance event" or something where you get a 2nd chance (all runs after 3). Look at the results and calculate where you'd be if everyone only had 3 runs. Treat this as more important than who actually wins. At the same time, if you can't get it done in 3, or even if you can, still try to improve in later runs.

Some people are suggesting totally throwing away runs after 3...I don't think that's right. I think both skills are important - getting a good run in quickly (important for everything but most important for nationals and national tours), and being able to refine it to be even faster after 3 runs (important for more competitive local events and for pro solos). So kind of think of it as two different things you're trying to do. It's worked for me pretty well.

 

Well said! I wouldn't worry too much about set up. Besides, when you start changing stuff every event (or every run), you start to lose the feel of how the car is going to act. It's easier to learn to be fast when the car is a constant. For instance, I run my car on the exact same settings every event. Same shock settings, same tire pressures, regardless of the course, location, temps etc. Is it the ideal set up for every event? Of course not. However the car has the same feel every time so I am more comfortable in it then, say, the guy making all sorts of changes.

Just something to consider.