As you all may know today I went to my first auto x.

Adjusted PAX time I placed 24th out of 36... only 2 of us were running regular street tires. I had crappy Walmart brand BF Goodrich tires. My adjusted time was 41.112 and it was 5.452 off the winner. (This is PAX adjusted... not sure what that means.)

Overall I placed 33 out of 36 on just regular time with a time of 52.979 and was 11.121 off the winner.

I was in H stock and got 4th place just 0.104 seconds off third. Most of the guys in my group were seasoned veterans with racing tires. My best time for the day was a 52.616 in my first fun run.

Run 1:

Shifted too early into second... got bogged down and came in with a time of 57.720.

Run 2:

Stayed in first... hit the revlimiter on the short straights came in with 54.187

Run 3:

Began shifting in and out of first and second... slid a bit on the final 90 degree turn and clocked in 54.129

Run 4:

Gave it all... shifting... left foot braking and hitting all my marks... clocked in a 52.979

Everyone said I did really well and they said with better tires I should have shaved off atleast 3 seconds or so, but personally I thought I could have done better.

Its the most fun I've ever had... can't wait for the next one.

I'll post a time chart when it gets online and I'll see if I can find pictures.

Me right now ->

Oh and I didn't hit a single cone or go off course. It was a tricky circuit... very short straights and losts of sharp corners.

 

Now you're hooked.

 

Yes... already making plans for the one next weekend... its 3.5 hrs away. h:

 

Shifting too much can kill your times. Most courses you stay in 2nd. Remember shifting wastes time. Each upshift and downshift is .5-1 second added to your times. Unless the course has really sharp u-turns on uphills it's not necessary to shift.

Good job though. PAX times is like a handicap for golf. That way you can compare a Ferrari 360 Modena against your Civic. PAX would be like driver vs driver instead of car vs car.

 

Thanks Mike... the reason I shifted was because everyone else was going from 2 into 1 on the 2 very sharp corners. I did learn a lot though that helped me shave off 5 seconds from my initial run.

 

I tend not to shift too much either, but a tight 90-degree, or even a decreasing-radius turn, if pretty severe, may necessitate shifting 2-1 if you can't corner with enough momentum. At Solo2 Nationals, the South Course had a severe right-hander that when I kept it at 2nd in my first run, I was losing so much time staying at 2nd well below my powerband. My second run, I shifted 2nd to 1st, and back to 2nd right after I rounded the sweeper. I ended up gaining about a second.

 

You might have shaved off 5 seconds because you learned the course and your car better.

 

Which right hander are you talking about? All of the right hand turns were only 90 degrees or so with a lot of run off on the other side.

What was your best time and which class and car?

 

South Course (I think...it wasn't the Roger Johnson course, which I liked BTW), around the last third of the course. If you recall, after the slalom, sweeper, then the offset, you get to this severe 90-degree turn. The speed that I was going, rapidly slowing down, then turning, I was well under my powerband (big cams on my car doesn't kick in until 4400, VTEC that is) on my first run on 2nd gear. So, after taking a cue from the ITR guys in DS, I shifted down to 1st as I was slowing down into that corner. And I was mistaken, I improved by a little over 2 seconds from my first run to my second. Didn't matter in the long run though...I still ran like crap the second day.

This was last year (2003)...my two codrive opportunities (first one in DSP, the other in BS) fell through for this year. I was in 7 STX, and ran my Prelude. I was about 1/2 a second out of trophies after the first day. Roger Johnson's course was one of the most technical courses I've ever been on...it sure wasn't easy running it fast in the rain. In my same heat, Juliann Pokorny and Ann Vogel collided on-course in BSL...that's something I've NEVER seen before! That caused a delay for awhile (obviously), and the course subsequently got drier. Thanks to the rain, I banzaiied my first run in the rain (knocked out a "Walls of Doom" set of cones near the end), coned the second run, but made up for it on the third run...80.979 (4), 71.543 (1), 67.957. 33rd place (out of 44). From the last trophy spot to around 35th place was about a second difference, so there was a chance I or anyone else can get in the trophies depending on Day 2.

On the second day, I underdrove badly, and the WRX's advantage was readily apparent on this hp-friendly course. My runs were 58.994, 56.928, 56.853...38th place (out of 44).

Were you out there last year?

 

Oh you are talking about last year. I didn't go. I thought you were talking about this year.

I almost was run over by two FM cars. 1st driver was coming down the slalom, when the 2nd car out got lost and went right towards me, then at the 1st driver. Thankfully both cars turned right or they would have collided.