Here in Colo., they give you about an hour to walk the course and try and get familiar with it. They also have a newbie session, where one of the event coordinators does a walk through and explains what you'll want to be thinking about in various parts of the course. Even after having autocrossed for a couple years, I still sometimes find it helpful to attend the newbie walk-throughs.

Of course, if its your first event, you wont remember anything they said once youre behind the wheel. So just look ahead on the course and don't get caught offguard by unanticipated turns. I find it helps to try and look about 100-300 feet ahead, and let your peripheral vision take care of the nearby cones and whatnot.

Another pointer that seems to help beginners.... as you round a cone in the apex of a turn or a slalom, think about trying to hit the cone with the inside rear corner of the car. The idea here is that you wont acutally hit it because of the car understeering a bit, but you'll be close enough that you follow a nice, tight line. Going wider than you need to (especially in a slalom) is your enemy.

That said, if its your first event, you're not going to blow anybody's socks off... Just have fun.:thumbup:

BTW: CivicSiRacer's autox help page is good stuff.