THSCC Forums

You can always do an "Adam Breakey" and go to (don't recall the exact number) 20, 30 Evo schools in one year.

The hardest part of autox is not getting the seat time in the right quantities coupled with the proper feedback as you've mentioned. Using an entire Sunday for ~4 minutes of seat time a couple of times per month will consume a lot of time trying to focus on skill development, so imo just attending typical events is not a real efficient method to rapidly improve skills/work on issues/etc. Hence, just have fun! Of course sometimes letting go of a need to achieve something will bring out the best performance in oneself anyway...funny how that works in so many areas.

Truly excelling in autox takes a weird combination of skill too -- (1) pure driving talent and all that entails *plus* (2) the ability to see/read a new course and very quickly being able to perform at a high level on that combination of turns/slaloms/elements (i.e. maybe only 3 runs to try to post the fastest time). The #2 part might actually be the more difficult to master in some ways. Many times you could have different winners if we did 20 runs on the same course versus 3 runs, but it's the ability to combine both 1 & 2 that is mandatory to truly excel at autox. Most autox schools focus heavily on #1 with some attention (but not nearly enough imo) on #2.

As far as having fun on course goes, that's always been my "problem" in autox. I'd rather go out and have an absolute blast driving a course than necessarily posting the best time I could. That's not how I think about it, nor my expected goal ahead of time, but instead is a statement of how I actually behave once course. Sometimes there are "just those elements" that suck me into truly enjoying the experience which can and does result in giving up time (overcooking) the following elements. Sanford used to be like that for me -- those alternating sealed blacktop sections on the main runway and how transitioning onto them resulted in wonderful power oversteer practice/fun at the expense of some time on course.

It's too bad VIR doesn't have a nice autox setup (like Beaverun used to, not sure if new owners still do) that is open every Saturday for practice. It would be wonderful to have some facility like that which would allow a Saturday of say 30 runs. I really enjoy going to the BMW CCA autox events at the Performance Center track since the course is usually 1:30ish long, there is no course working necessary (they have that covered, a cone hit is a DNF too), and I usually get 6 runs before lunch and then 9 runs afterwards. In that environment I find I can actually get enough runs/time to work on technique and get useful repetition/feedback.

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

+1

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2002 MCS, 2003 MCS Track Rat, 2003 Generic White Yukon, 2003 BMWk1200rs, 1973 CB350F, 02 996. 08 Cayenne Turbo
http://www.clinehallagency.com

Yeah that would be pretty cool to do. My limited opinion, probably misinformed, is that most teams are not looking to sell a seat to someone who has only done autocross. The time for n00bs behind the wheel of LeChump races seems to be a thing of the past with more and more teams taking a SRS BSNS approach. I get that, and respect it especially given the money and sweat equity put into those cars. I'd hate to be the guy to cause one of those cars to get stuffed.

If/when I get some free time (when the kids are older and would rather hang with friends) to do HPDE weekends, I will give it more thought.

I still harbor a strong desire to go BMod or find a 600cc-swapped F600 racer to go in FMod. That would rule.

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Steve Carter
1972 Datsun 240Z-- resto pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/srcartermd
2007 GPW Honda S2000-- STR 86

Wow, that's an unreal price Steven, especially when you consider the Penskes that I know you just had serviced.

When I sold my '04 with 85k, many owners, a few previous accidents, and less than stellar condition, I netted right at $15k. Hate to see it go whenever the time comes but keep in mind you have an open seat in my FR-S anytime. It's a easy car to learn and doesn't require much prep if you ever decide to do a street class 'light' build.

good luck!

We let Klippel drive for Team Duff (at Chump.) I'll grant ya', he's a bit of an outlier.

Total noobs at Chump, in the East Region, is Not A Good Idea(tm) There are total noobs in LeMons everywhere; at every race, there's a few dozen that have never done this before.

QFT. HPDE experience is preferred, but in Lemons you can be fine without it because they really enforce the rules to the letter. In ChumpCar, having demolition derby experience is not required, but helpful. Believe it or not in Lemons most problems are caused by NASA sprint racer types that cannot grasp the endurance racing concept, not the noobs. I have a ton of HPDE experience, but at my first Lemons race back in 2007, the only similarly I saw between the race and HPDE was the fact both involved cars being on a race track. It's kind of whirlwind at first, but once you get over the initial shock, it's loads of fun, but lots of work. You will gain more respect for the pros after you experience how difficult it can be keeping total concentration, for two whole hours, with no break, in an oven, while wearing a blanket. That said, I can't wait for the next one!

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

Is that the one where you have to expect that this is the first time the guy you're 'racing' has ever been on a race track?

Those people tend to be the slow, mostly predictable people. Sure, "predictable" may mean "driving around the track in the dead center", but at least you know where they're going to be.