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Video of my 2nd Autocross, critique please

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Old 07-26-2004 | 03:12 PM
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Default Video of my 2nd Autocross, critique please

Hey Guys,

I'm new to this, but it sure is a blast...

http://joelrasmus.com/gallery/view_photo.p...d=scca_20040725

Any helpful critiques?
Old 07-26-2004 | 03:24 PM
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To give everyone some background on the vid, this is his 2nd event. Joel's car is setup almost identical to mine. Basically all stock besides the exhaust. Stock alignment, brakes, tires, etc.
It's a tad hard to see as here in Vegas during summer we hold our autocrosses at night in a casino parking lot but it was rather short course, fairly tight, and all first gear.

I'll offer you my advice which I already gave you, get your dang hand off that shifter and back on the wheel!!!!

Like I said earlier the first slalom could've been taken faster (I was in vtec through the majority of it)

Joel your doing great for this being your 2nd time. Wait till we get back up to the speedway and we get to run the faster stuff

We won't talk about my driving last night, I was all over the place

Karim
Old 07-26-2004 | 03:51 PM
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Originally Posted by KrazyKarim,Jul 26 2004, 07:24 PM
I'll offer you my advice which I already gave you, get your dang hand off that shifter and back on the wheel!!!!
Yeah, what is that, a joystick fetish??

By having both hands on the wheel, you won't run out of turning ability. Notice the times that you ended up with your hand upside down, trying to palm the turn? No precision there - you'll be a lot smoother with both hands on the wheel...
Old 07-26-2004 | 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by jguerdat,Jul 26 2004, 03:51 PM
Yeah, what is that, a joystick fetish??

By having both hands on the wheel, you won't run out of turning ability. Notice the times that you ended up with your hand upside down, trying to palm the turn? No precision there - you'll be a lot smoother with both hands on the wheel...
Yeah what Jeff said. I mean about the both hands on the hweel no the joystick fetish
Old 07-26-2004 | 04:29 PM
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Thanks guys, perhaps I'll try velcro on my palms or something
Old 07-26-2004 | 04:57 PM
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Start by keeping your hands on the wheel

Too bad it's freakin dark out and you can't see any of the cones
Old 07-26-2004 | 07:22 PM
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Looks great! A few tips, in no particular order:
  • Try and keep your hands a bit farther apart, at the nine and three o'clock positions. It looked like a few times you'd grab the wheel with your hands quite close together, and then run out of range of motion while going around a sharp corner. If you keep your hands separated widely, even if you run out of range of motion with one hand, the other hand should still have a lot of room to move.
  • Don't let go of the wheel! You should always have at least one hand on the wheel -- letting the car steer itself, even for an instant, can lead to disaster if something unexpected happens (like a bump).
  • Don't coast. As a rule of thumb, you should always be using as much of your traction circle as possible, which means being hard on the gas, brakes, or steering. There are exceptions to this rule, and it doesn't mean you should be rough with your inputs, but coasting generally isn't the fast way between two points.
  • Get on the power earlier, and its twin brother, look ahead. It looks like you're driving around corners at constant throttle, straightening out, then getting on the gas. You'll go faster if you roll into the throttle as you unwind the steering past the apex of the turn, but to do this repeatably, you need to be looking far enough ahead on the course that you can see the apex and the following straight before you get to them.
You look to be doing well for your second autocross ever -- keep it up.

Steve
Old 07-26-2004 | 07:46 PM
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I consider myself a novice, did my second autocross yesterday too. In addition to the stick addiction, my observation is that it appears you are using your whole body to steer the car. I don't think this is the generally accepted approach. What do the experts think?

Here's a video of what looks like a slalom, notice how still his body is, mostly just arms moving to steer. I like how the Japanese show an inset of feet in most of their car videos.
http://www.pitstopcafe.it/s2k/video/...2000typev.mpeg

Thanks for sharing this video (), night racing looks like it adds another dimension to the game.
Old 07-27-2004 | 03:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Random1,Jul 26 2004, 11:46 PM
I consider myself a novice, did my second autocross yesterday too. In addition to the stick addiction, my observation is that it appears you are using your whole body to steer the car. I don't think this is the generally accepted approach. What do the experts think?
I won't classify myself as an expert but I lean in all the pictures I've ever seen. The only way you won't lean is to be truly strapped in with a harness and even then the head will do all the leaning...
Old 07-27-2004 | 04:36 AM
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Originally Posted by PedalFaster,Jul 26 2004, 10:22 PM
Looks great! A few tips, in no particular order:
  • Don't coast. As a rule of thumb, you should always be using as much of your traction circle as possible, which means being hard on the gas, brakes, or steering. There are exceptions to this rule, and it doesn't mean you should be rough with your inputs, but coasting generally isn't the fast way between two points.
I'd like to expand on this a little bit... The other points were right on. (This is personal observation, do with it what you want).

Coasting = throwing time away on the course. Agreed. (More on this later)

About traction.... a tire can only 'do' 100 percent of one thing, or, my point coming up, a combination of things at any time equalling 100%.. which only can come with seat time. (Never too late to start trying tho)

You can be 100% gas, 100% brake or 100% turning as Steve said, but only at certain times on the course. Being at 100% of any *one* thing at all times (gas/turn/brake) will also be slow and/or choppy. And how often are there 'straights' or 'braking zones' on an auto-x? Not that much. So that leaves us with turning... as auto-x is pretty much... all about turning and making 100% use of the car/traction.

So getting back to the 100% equation... You can be 50% turning, and 50% throttle you know.... That happens there? 100% of use. If you have the wheel turned 50% of maximum grip, you can actually be maintaining speed through the turn with 50% throttle. This comes with seat time to know where 50% and 100% of your grip is for your car's set-up. If you need to turn more, what needs to be done? Ease up on the throttle and sometimes, you can go easy on the brakes. (Trail braking and transferring more weight forward onto the front wheels to help them bite/carve into the turn)

You can do a combination of pedal work with turning that will actually make you faster. As you dial in more steering, ease up on the gas (or ease up on the brake if you're coming out of a hard braking situation). As you dial out the steering, feed throttle... don't mash it... because if your steering isn't 100% straight, you shouldn't be 100% throttle. It takes patience to just not mash the throttle.

Some people like to use an egg analogy here... pretend a hard boiled egg is under your gas pedal. The goal is to not break the egg. If you mash the gas, you'll smash the egg. If you squeeze the pedal, chances are you won't break the egg. Squeeze the throttle... don't mash it. (I use a different analogy.. but I'm not sure of the audience here, so I'll leave it at that... if you meet me some day, just ask what it is)

Reading the above, don't confuse 'coasting' with 'using part throttle while the wheel is turned'. There are people that think they're the same. If the wheel is turned, you should be braking (lightly) or on the gas still (part throttle, letting up slightly or feeding in the throttle.)

It takes work. It takes seat time, but it'll help you become a smoother driver and you can start feeling what your car is doing, rather quickly.

Hope I didn't step on anyones toes here. I know there are some great drivers on this board. Feedback on what I said above would also be appreciated as sometimes I have a hard time getting my thoughts into words....

--KC


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