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School Me on Auto-Xing a DD

-Dutch-

Drag Race Newbie
Location
RI
I tried the recommended 40 PSI all around and this was the result. Rears seemed to wear a little better, fronts look like they could actually use a bit more pressure. These are both the front left.








Run 9, my best time:

https://youtu.be/9z3ayXCJq7s


Run 10, with a passenger I met this morning and rode with a couple of times. We were both floaters who weren't needed on any corners so we spent our day riding with other drivers and had a complete blast. He was driving a pretty much stock BRZ with decent tires. 100 HP less than me but running consistently faster. I'll get a nice set of tires for next year.

https://youtu.be/1-zhHD6Aus4
 

-Dutch-

Drag Race Newbie
Location
RI
Bro, it's bad. I swear I'm the only guy there running all seasons and it shows. I had so much fun all day though, I rode in some cars that were really well set up and their drivers knew how to point and shoot.

My best was an 81 and I rode with a guy doing 68 in a '12 mustang, and some Miata that won the day at 65. Such an experience and I had both of them ride with me and drive the car.
 

dood.

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
2017 GTI S DSG


Looks like a fun course! Yeah I've done a few events on the stock Hankook all seasons and they didn't fare too well, granted I didn't run high enough pressures. I also saw a lot of people spraying water on their tires between runs, might have to try that next time - on better tires of course.



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IHazTurbo

Ready to race!
Location
Grand Rapids
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
The stock Potenzas are not good at all if you want to push the limit of the car/your abilities. If you want a good summer tire that isn't too bad for some daily use as well take a look at the Pilot Sports or the Continental ExtremeContact Sports (what I'm using). They were a major improvement for me. They aren't as quick as a RE71 but I've put over 5k miles on mine and still have some good tread to last me part of next season.

I also recommend, if you aren't first heat or can separate yourself far enough in the heat from the front of your heat, to do a ride along with someone who is willing. It helps you read the course and see what other people are doing on course.

Also, smooth is fast. Try to find a spot on the throttle that you can maintain a consistent amount through the slaloms and long sweepers. The people you watch while working, listen to how smooth they are in and out of the throttle...often times the people that you don't hear the modulation as much are the ones putting up quicker times.
 

-Dutch-

Drag Race Newbie
Location
RI
Last event of the year is coming up, just a couple of days away. I'm pumped!
 

Chad13762

Go Kart Champion
Location
Henderson NV
Something to think about..

A very experienced racer rode with me this weekend. He advised that I should always keep my hands at 3:00 and 9:00, and only move my right hand during a shift.

I knew this, but didn't realize I had fallen into sloppy habits by moving my hands all over the wheel. Fixing my bad habit did help with the feel and fine control of the car.
 

RacingManiac

Drag Race Newbie
Location
MI
Shuffling or not seems to be a preference thing. I've seen really fast people who shuffle and really fast people who don't.
 

-Dutch-

Drag Race Newbie
Location
RI
I don't generally shuffle on the street or track, but 9 and 3 just doesn't work for me on this wheel. It feels horrible. 10 and 2 with thumbs on the contours.
 

-Dutch-

Drag Race Newbie
Location
RI
Today was a ton of fun. Very challenging as we ran in the opposite direction from the last two times I went so it was a completely different course but still a great time. I was part of the first run group and was in 2nd place for novices at the end of it but got busted down to 6th after the other run went. I didn't improve in the afternoon and ended up in 8th out of 16 novices but I beat my time goals and was the quickest of 3 GTI's there today so I'm very happy. I also scored a t-shirt.

Tires are an absolute must. Next year I'll be running with the intermediate group and with my current traction I will be at the back of the pack without a doubt. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of skill I have when I don't have to constantly worry about understeer. In certain areas I'm able to flick the rear and gun it to pull myself through small transitions but decreasing radius corners are my nemesis at this point.
 

victorofhavoc

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas City
A lot of novice drivers I see are very hard on the brakes and very late too. Auto-x is very different from other auto racing. Be on the brakes sooner and just enough to slow down, not enough to drop below turbo threshold. "There is an egg between your foot and the brake, don't crush it"

Keep it tight, no need to go wide in AutoX since you don't carry massive speed. If you have to go 10 feet out, you'll have to go 10 feet in, and when you're always turning that can cost you valuable tenths.

These specific cars rotate well with brake modulation and the front end pulling you out, but the turbo does create some lag, so anticipate it and roll onto the throttle as you're letting off the brake. This takes practice, but once mastered can save you as much as 200ms every corner. (Yes this means learn to left foot brake :))

As you mentioned, tires tires tires. Look at Tirerack's "tread width" for different brands and sizes. That's an actual measurement from Tirerack and not some manufacturer specific thing that makes no sense. with the stock 7.5" rim, the ideal size is a 7.5" tread width, but you can go as high as 0.5" over that and still be okay. The max width the stock fenders will take is 8.5" tread width. You can even squeeze 9" if you're really ambitious, but that takes suspension mods, the right camber, and some other things. 8.5" will allow for any alignment, but I digress. On stock, shoot for 8" wide tread width, and you should find some solid tires. example: 235/40/18 RE71R or 225/40/18 Ventus RS4. Direzza Z2 SS are good if you want more life out of your tires, and can almost keep up with the re71r. On an actual track they best the re71, because they can handle more heat for longer. Trade-offs... They run very wide though!! 225/40 on the Z2 is 8.5" wide.

Great to see you're enjoying yourself!! Have fun out there!!!
 

GTICrazy90

Ready to race!
Location
chino hills, CA
I'm trying to find if there's any auto-x school near me in socal, but I can't find anything. I'm cool with spending a couple hundred bucks to learn some proper techniques than pick up bad ones by learning on my own.

Any of you know any schools in socal or did all of you just dive right in and learned on your own?
 

Mugzy

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Frisco, TX
It is very tempting to try auto-x, but I know I will get hooked and I also worry about my insurance finding out. I have seen stories of people getting their policy canceled because their insurance company found out about their auto-x runs.
 

dood.

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
2017 GTI S DSG
I'm trying to find if there's any auto-x school near me in socal, but I can't find anything. I'm cool with spending a couple hundred bucks to learn some proper techniques than pick up bad ones by learning on my own.

Any of you know any schools in socal or did all of you just dive right in and learned on your own?



My local SCCA region, San Diego, is having a novice school on May 12th. I think the local BMW club also puts on similar events. Not sure where you’re at in SoCal but here’s a link to the SD SCCA schedule in case you’re interested http://sdrscca.com/solo-schedule/


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