ED9man

I actually got some legitimate times on this outing! Had I not just barely clipped one cone on my best run, I would've been 8 seconds behind the SM2 class leader in a Mazda Miata, with the cone it was 10. Last time I was DNF all 3 runs and but my best was 11 seconds behind the leader, even though I skipped a gate or two.

I have a feeling it's going to take a very long time to get close. h: I bet next time I will find another second or so just because I'm still getting a feel for it and I know I'm not pushing to what I think is my limit is because it's all still so new and I still get a little lost. But could my car really have 8 seconds left in it? I can't imagine, but I do know the guy who won G-stock in an 88 CRX Si would've been about 3 seconds behind the leader if he ran in SM2, and I think that's bone stock except for Konis, cat-back, and slicks that are 225 in the front! h: That guy is really good, he's been doing it forever, he said the Koni's make a nice difference. Just out of curiosity what is a full suspension generally worth timewise, probably only a second or two I'm guessing?

I'm still having a blast though, it's a lot of fun. Although I wasn't having too much fun on my afternoon runs because 4 hours of sleep finally caught up with me.

pomansouth

do your self the biggest favor you could ever do and get a type r sway bar. You probably have ALOT of time left in the car only permitted by tires and comfort for the most part...

CivicSiRacer

Ummm no do yourself a big favor and at the next event go get an instructor to help you. 8 seconds is an eternity and a sway bar is not going to help for 8 seconds. Maybe 1 second the most.

Did you walk the course? When you walk the course you should get a sense of where the course goes the 1st walk. 2nd walk start to memorize apex points. 3rd walk look where you need to brake. 4th walk try to put them all together. If you need more walks then so be it.

You should be able to stand at the start line and close your eyes to visually know where each corner, braking point and apex are. Force youself to stick to those lines when you drive your car.

Also definitely get an instructor to ride with you to give you pointers. And even have them drive the car for you to see what your time would be compared to his.

LER510

This was my biggest problem when I did the Tour event at Peru last month. Our local courses are fairly short (we usually do parts twice to get 50 second runs or so) and easily learned. The national level course was a whole different story. I walked it 3-4 times each day and was still lost once I got past the first 3 corners, or so. As the results show.

Good advice on getting someone to ride along. Or, better yet, get some old hand to drive your car during a fun run and ride along. Back when I thought I was getting everything I could out of my old Escort, I had one of the elder competitors drive it. Coming from a completely different car (C/P Mustang), he was still 1.5 seconds quicker than I was.

ED9man

It's hard to get 3 walks in, I just managed to do it did it last time, but it really helped. Our courses are pretty long. My seat doesn't move so I unless the instructor is really tall like me he can't drive it. I had the novice chief ride with me last time, he actually didn't tell me too much, but maybe I'll find someone else next time. I had a pretty good feel for the course from walking I think, I didn't get lost at all in the morning, but I think I was definently fastest the 3rd run in the morning because I had the best feel for it then althougth I still wasn't 100% sure all the time of what to do next which naturally makes you slower. Any other tips? Maybe I can get a 30 second video next time of me driving, that's all my digi cam takes.

CivicSiRacer

ANother thing I recommend to novices is turn on the AC. The AC will suck power away from your car making you drive smoother. Most cars have TOO much power for a novice.

I did that at one school and everyone thought I was nuts. So I timed them without the AC on and then with it on. And they were 2-3 seconds faster

You can walk a course as many times as you want. Just got to get there earlier.

When I attended DC Tour, NE Divisionals, and Nationals I walked the course about 6 times each day. That's 6 miles I walked each day. Yeah I was worn out, but I knew the course like the back of my hand.

ED9man

I tore that shit out a long time ago.

Well I started to walk a couple minutes after it opened and I had just made 3 walks by the time it closed. They don't keep it open too long.

I thought the a/c compressor disengaged when you were WOT? :thinking:

pomansouth

good point..... My sway bar took me from 5-6 seconds behind my buddy to half second from him....instructors are alot of help though....they cant make your car any "better" or "fun"....the man with the biggest axe will have the hottest fire eventually....

Fujiwara Takumi

The most I learned at an autoX was riding in Mark McKnight's Miata during a fun run.

After an entire day of push push push and WHY cant I find this time he ran the course and claimed maybe 3-5 seconds over my best time, never really said anything to me the whole time, but it was so easy to see WOW is he faster out of here and WOW does that make him faster for the ENTIRE course. Taught me a lot about consistency and braking, I have a lot of braking issues.

Anyway, after you process that for a week and try again I think you will impress yourself. 8 seconds in an auto x is a lifetime, and you could put a supercharger and race rubber on your car and not make it up by thrashing it, you will just have to learn what youre doing. Until you know really really well what youre doing the go fast parts will probably add confusion.

One of my friends runs a rusted to hell 90 miata with no alignment, no mods, an he drives it to and from work and the events on chicago roads. He consistently beats one particular very good driver with everythign done to the car up to and including a blue printed engine, this type of competition is so driver influenced...and it takes a TON of practice. Just keep going to events and you will learn in no time!

ED9man

Last in class this past auto-x. h: Guy who ran in nationals rode with me though and said I was a good driver though, he told me too keep looking ahead at the next place I was going, not the one right ahead and it helped a lot because I wasn't doing it enough before.

What is suspension and slicks worth usually?