School Me on Auto-Xing a DD

[Mousa]

I'm in the same situation as Dutch and just signed up for my first event for this coming Saturday. I have some friends that have been doing it for a long time and will report back on tips they share.

 

[Chad13762]

Enjoy your work assignment! Learn what you can, ask questions, stay focused.

Stick around at the end to help pack up - you will be appreciated and noticed for it.

This is important.

Everyone out there is a volunteer. There's the "required" work duties (working the course, etc.) but it takes a lot of effort to organize, set-up, and run one of these events. In our region (I'm sure others are the same), 20% of the people do 80% of the work.

Look for the people who appear tired, pissed off and stressed out - they're in that 20%. Then figure out how you can help them out.

 

[SugarMouth]

AutoX is the gateway drug to road course. Be careful.

 

[-Dutch-]

Good advice all around.

I bought a helmet this weekend and forgot to sign up, I'll do that when I get home tonight.

 

[odessa.filez]

AutoX is the gateway drug to road course. Be careful.

funny but not for me.
big brake kits are out of pay grade [emoji1]

 

[-Dutch-]

M'kay. It's official. I'm signed up for 8/5 at Devons airfield in Ayer, MA. Be there or be square.

 

[Mousa]

Had a blast this past weekend at my first event. Everyone was helpful and I can definitely see myself doing this again.

My main take away:

-Ask to ride along with other drivers. This was a great way to meet people, get advice, and experience the course outside of the course walk. Also, if you ride with someone who spins out, you'll wake up real quick. My typically approach was "Hi, I'm new. You can say no, I won't be offended, but mind if I ride along with you?" Also a fun way to ride in some fun cars. My favorite was a 1983 Supra.
-Walk the course more than once. I walked it a total of three times, once with two National Champions. I may not have done everything they suggested, but I tried
-Most people told me not to go easy the first time. It's totally fine to get a little loose. The car will react differently at slower speeds, making it harder to adjust for later runs. After my first run, my ride along instructor said "Good, but now go faster."
-Bring a hat. I was standing out there for a long time during my work group.
-Slow in, fast out.


Have fun bud!

QUOTE=Mousa;484404]I'm in the same situation as Dutch and just signed up for my first event for this coming Saturday. I have some friends that have been doing it for a long time and will report back on tips they share.[/QUOTE]

 

[-Dutch-]

Hi... My name is Dutch and I'm addicted to autocross...

"Hi, Dutch"

This is stupid fun. I had a blast today, and learned some new things.

1. This is stupid fun.
2. I suck at driving.
3. The GTI can be a bit tail happy under heavy braking. If I had better control I'd expect I could use this to my advantage.
4. Understeer under power is nearly non-existent. I ran into some real understeer only once and it was my own damn fault, I knew what I did wrong as it was happening.
5. Stupid fun for stupid cheap. If you're not already doing this you're missing out.
6. Racing in the rain is fun. Watching corners in the rain without rain gear is not.
7. Stock tires suck. My Bridgestones took a beating, even the rears.
8. I don't have one for this.
9. Or this.
10. Stupid fun.

Seriously though, today was a blast. I met some cool people and saw a wide range of interesting cars. Special shoutout to kDizz781 who I met at the track after seeing a few other GTI's and scoping them out. I did not ride with anyone or have anyone ride with me as I wanted to get a baseline experience before adding info. I only hit one cone in ten runs and didn't go off course so I'm calling it a win.

I'll have some videos up shortly so all y'all's or however you spell it can tell me how to get better.

Times were as follows:
1. 95.796 (Dry)
2. 90.550 (Dry)
3. 90.931+1 (Dry, one cone)
4. 91.659 (Dry)
5. 89.951 (Mildly Moist, PB)
6. 100.552 (Wet)
7. 96.350 (Wet)
8. 95.548 (Wet)
9. 95.134 (Soggy)
10. 93.198 (Friggin' Downpour)

 

[odessa.filez]

awesome!
I would think anyone attracted to a GTI would have a great time

 

[-Dutch-]

1. http://youtu.be/XthtBFLdb9c
2. http://youtu.be/V1gBI_i9U_Q
3. http://youtu.be/ZOhfFinbUiQ
4. http://youtu.be/SLU8_K3_4fw
5. http://youtu.be/5_0dxmK3_6g
6. http://youtu.be/eTe5MAI0eXQ
7. http://youtu.be/bgDldpIunps
8. http://youtu.be/QOt1B0egx7w
9. http://youtu.be/HycLULJWMKE
10. http://youtu.be/LbgYquyWKDY

If someone can figure out how to embed this crap go ahead.

3 and 9 have the big errors. 5 and 10 are the respective dry and wet fast laps. Teach me your ways.

 

[AtlantaDad]

Haven't watched all these yet...but wow that's a nice course you got there! Did you go back to stock? If not, what class did they put you into?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[-Dutch-]

They had four classes. Novice, intermediate, experienced street tire, and experienced race tires.

I'm not familiar with all of the groups and classes that different auto-x groups run but I was definitely novice. I didn't join expecting to win anything but was happy to not come in last.

I ran with the MAP downpipe and Rev A 5150 tune that Jon sent me on Thursday.

 

[kDizz781]

Good job today -Dutch-, nice meeting you.

The weather sucked but today but it was a blast. I am with you, can't wait to get back out there with some good tires.

 

[-Dutch-]

Good job today -Dutch-, nice meeting you.

The weather sucked but today but it was a blast. I am with you, can't wait to get back out there with some good tires.

I signed up for the next one as soon as I got home, you in? Rain or shine, today was awesome!

 

[odessa.filez]

I looked at the first two. Pretty good. Like the exhales at the end. Been there