saber1

If you don't mind a mini-novel, read this and join me in my adrenaline induced joy.

I participated in my second auto-x yesterday and it left me with a big on my face. After pulling a 1:19 on my first run (misjudged the transition from a large right-hand sweeper to a slalom and came to a complete, tire smoking stop) I asked one of the veteran drivers to ride shotgun and give me some sage advice. My next run was a full 15 seconds faster. Needless to say, I was encouraged with my progress. The third run was even smoother, but a bit slower. The fourth run I made a stupid mistake and bumped my time up to 1:05. My veteran passenger gave me a bit more advice and wanted me to run my last two runs solo. My 5th run was faster than any previous, but I hit a cone. It was a really dumb place to hit a cone, too! Arrrgh. I settled down and hit my final run with focus and determination. It was a smooth run and about 3/4 of the way around the course I realized that I was moving pretty well. I rounded the final corner, a right turn that staightened just a few feet from the timing laser, with my foot to the floor. The car was drifting to the outside of the corner and putting me on a line to come dangerously close to hitting the sensor. The run was too good to lose it in the final 20 feet, so I slightly adjusted the steering wheel and put some faith in my Azenis. They held and I zipped across the line a few microns from the cones that surrounded the sensor. As I pulled up to the timeslip guy, I looked at the clock and let loose a shout that any U.S. Marine would be proud of. 1:03.449 and no cones , a full second faster than my next fasted clean run.

I love that feeling of knowing you reached a goal. From my second run, I was determined to break into the 1:03's. I was so juiced that I accomplished that. All that excitement and energy with nothing to do but park my car. Too bad I couldn't have run once more.

The addition of Rotas wrapped in Azenis helpped considerably considering I ran my first auto-x on the stock rims with craptacular tires. My new Corbeau TRS helpped quite a bit too, keeping me planted in place. It was quite nice that I only needed the steering wheel for steering and not for holding myself in my seat.

For those that are beginners like me, ask a veteran driver (one that is good at driving) to ride with you. It can be a tremendous help. The guy that gave me tips helpped me improve several areas of my driving. There are still many things I need to improve, but I'm encouraged to see improvement, especially in such short time.

Anyway, I don't have much of a point with this post. Rather, I wanted to simply share my experience and excitement with driving. So there it is. Chime in if you want, flame if you must. Regardless, have a nice day.

Cliff's Notes: Don't be lazy, just read the post.

CivicSiRacer

Good story I was swamped yesterday with people asking me to ride/drive their cars

seth90dx

How long is the corse?

stephan

I'm excited for my 4th event coming Oct 6th this Sunday :bigok: This time I might have an instructor point out all the big places to slow down and what not

CivicSiRacer

There is not "Specific" length or size to any autocross course. One weekend could be 30-40 seconds and another could be 65 seconds.

CivicSiRacer

Also like to point out for some reason people have a problem with asking someone else to help them out. Must be a guy thing, but I say you will learn 5x faster if you have a 2nd set of eyes to help you out.

Everyone thinks they are the greatest driver in the world, even I know I'm not and even ask other people to just ride along with me to see what I'm doing wrong so I can go faster