A pre-season taste of autocross

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:59 am

Wilmington will have their Spring Fling this coming Sunday. Anyone else interested in a little "pre THSCC AX season" action? The parking lot for this event is very small, but they limit entires to 75 (so best to pre register and not take a chance on not getting in) and do a good job of using the space that they have. It's right on College Rd, so easy to get to. Hope to see some of you there.

http://www.myautoevents.com/pls/mae/frm ... 1-Mar-2009

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:24 am

Is this the old theater?

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:38 pm

Ryan Holton wrote:

Is this the old theater?

Yeah, very small venue. But, hey, it's usually shirt sleeve weather, work assignments are short and CLOSE, and the people are friendly.

Come on, Ryan. It's an FTD kind of place. For you, anyway. Heck, even I get in the top 10............sometimes.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:42 pm

Gwen Baake wrote:

Ryan Holton wrote:

Is this the old theater?

Yeah, very small venue. But, hey, it's usually shirt sleeve weather, work assignments are short and CLOSE, and the people are friendly.

Come on, Ryan. It's an FTD kind of place. For you, anyway. Heck, even I get in the top 10............sometimes.

I ran the first ever event there back in 03 or 04. That place is HARD on tires.

I'll pass, I do have their Camp Lejeune events on my radar

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:46 pm

Well, there’s yet another fraternity I’ve managed to join, the co-driver buried me in my own car club. Jeff Eng co-drove the Mini with me today in Wilmington and, of course, left me in a cloud of dust. Two seconds of dust, to be exact. :oops:

It was a good turn out, and pretty good weather after a few sprinkles very early, We got 5 runs. The lot is very small, but they managed a high 40’s course, with even a C box, sort of, and a short slalom. After our good fortune to have airport type courses I find the tight, small squares to be quite painful. But, still, I had a great time and it was fun having Jeff drive the car. Funny, the guys in SSM were pretty happy to have Jeff in HS for the day.

Jeff Eng · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:28 pm

Gwen,

Thanks for letting me co-drive the Mini this past weekend. I took a little ribbing for driving the Mini, but I think I did pretty well considering I never autocrossed a FWD car before or a Mini for that matter.

The car was a blast to drive and sounded awesome with the aftermarket exhaust. In stock trim I was impressed by how the car handled, very neutral and super easy to toss around. If the tires had lasted I think I could have easily gotten FTP with it.

Anyways, if you ever need a co-driver, let me know. I'd love to try it again, after you add on the goodies.

Jeff

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:17 pm

Gwen Baake wrote:

Well, there’s yet another fraternity I’ve managed to join, the co-driver buried me in my own car club.

Welcome aboard!

:oops:

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:42 pm

Gwen Baake wrote:

Well, there’s yet another fraternity I’ve managed to join, the co-driver buried me in my own car club.

It really does make you better.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:17 pm

Ryan Holton wrote:

Gwen Baake wrote:

Well, there’s yet another fraternity I’ve managed to join, the co-driver buried me in my own car club.

It really does make you better.

When does it start to make you better? I'm looking forward to it.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:32 pm

Karl Shultz wrote:

Ryan Holton wrote:

Gwen Baake wrote:

Well, there’s yet another fraternity I’ve managed to join, the co-driver buried me in my own car club.

It really does make you better.

When does it start to make you better? I'm looking forward to it.

Karl,

At your first event this year, you're going to go out and purposely run at 97% instead of 100 and over. For your first two runs, you're going to do them at 97%. That is your goal. Not to get a good time. Not to kick ass on the course. Just drive 97% while feeling every facet of response from the car. You're going to drive near the top of the slip angle/tractive force curve, BUT since you're going to be doing 97%, you'll be just to the left of the top of the tractive peak....going just as fast as being just over the peak but with a touch of extra grip when you need it for slight corrections.

This is going to be your best year ever autocrossing. Starting the first chapter well is required.

Chuck

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:45 pm

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

Karl,

At your first event this year, you're going to go out and purposely run at 97% instead of 100 and over. For your first two runs, you're going to do them at 97%. That is your goal. Not to get a good time. Not to kick ass on the course. Just drive 97% while feeling every facet of response from the car. You're going to drive near the top of the slip angle/tractive force curve, BUT since you're going to be doing 97%, you'll be just to the left of the top of the tractive peak....going just as fast as being just over the peak but with a touch of extra grip when you need it for slight corrections.

This is going to be your best year ever autocrossing. Starting the first chapter well is required.

Chuck

Alright - I'll try it. Hell, I'll try doing the whole course in reverse at this point.

Actually, I think I'm going to start a separate thread on strategy in a bit. I'd like you to weigh in, if you wouldn't mind.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:03 pm

Personally Karl, I think the big reason why you underdrive your first run (generally speaking), is course walking. Now, I'm sure Eric has pounded into your head by now that you need to know the course well before that first run, but "doing the dance" and running it over and over in your mind gives "extra hits" at it, well in advance of actually driving it.

If you have a tough time visualizing it, try this: Make sure you get there good and early and be one of the first out on the course to walk. Bring a video camera and hold it at waist high while walking the course. Tape only one walk. Then walk the course as normal. When the course walking period ends, watch your video, only, in fast forward. Now it will seem like what you will see at speed... and at the correct viewing angle.

I think too many people (myself included) don't crouch down to "driving height" when looking at the course, so your first run looks entirely different from the driver's seat than the course you remembered from your walks.

The times I've won at the National Tours/Pros and finished in the trophies at Nationals, I knew the courses well enough to draw all of the important cones on a map. I will say with good certainty that last year, I didn't walk nearly enough and it cost me time on every run. This year I need to dedicate myself to walking, for everything with the Corvette will come up a lot faster. - AB

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:03 am

Karl, I'd also add this. You bought one of the easiest cars to jump in and go 90% and whip the shit out of "average guy at local event." That only works if you go 90%, though. Go much more than that, however, and that car isn't so easy to drive. And the problem is your measuring stick has been people who do have the ability to put that car near 100%. The depressing thing is the difference in time between 90% and 100% is still kind of large, too. So when you go 90% you can stay clean and get crushed by the co-driver, you go near 100% and you're whacking cones.

It's the nature of your beast. The key here is recognizing that and DEALING with it. I don't think you're dealing with it well. You're letting it get to you, pushing for 100%, and then beating yourself up when you can't do it. I'm pretty sure I know where you're coming from since I started driving with Eric in that Godforsaken Spyder with the HUGE front bar and the toe-out in the rear. Took me several years to do much more than have an occasional lucky run. I can't tell you how many Pros I went to where I finished near last even though I'd have the second or third best run on one side (only to Eric and/or Telehowski) and have CRAP on the other side (and that one run one the one side was all I had on that entire side, too!). Everything was just dirty or a spin or both otherwise. I'd do just well enough to know I could ALMOST do it, but not quite get over the hump.

It sucks, but you just have to keep positive, keep your head in the game, and move on. I know, that's easy to say. Just get it in your head that you WILL kick the cars ass on the next run and start figuring out what you need to do to get that done in between runs rather than worry about how you just f'ed up. Yes, doing that takes practice, too. You can't just say you're gonna do it and expect it to happen immediately. But that's part of the whole visualization thing...you have to "get your mind right." Going out on your next run angry about your last one won't help you much.

And as for the course walk and visualization thing, try EVERYTHING. Try Aaron's method. Try going to a local event and just jog the course ONCE and then run it. Try everything in between. And realize, too, that not all courses require the same level of prep. At locals I can often jog a course once and since you get five cracks at it I've been FTD after spinning my first two runs. There's no way I'd go to Nationals and only walk once, but I also still only walk those courses maybe five times each. But I can still visualize them after only five walks.

Another thing I'm trying more to do is only visualize with braking at the OBVIOUS brake zones. Otherwise I avoid visualizing with throttle or brakes on my mind. Everything is just steering through the course and looking ahead. The big thing to think about is visualizing WITH looking ahead. If you're just visualizing cone to cone (which is the easiest way), you're probably going to drive that way. Visualize as if you were always looking the right place and if you're actually looking the right place, those gas and brake inputs will happen properly anyway. Try to avoid the "I'm gonna need a quick tap of the brake right here" kind of things. Your butt will get those right if your eyes are in the right place.

Of course, I've never finished anywhere but mid-pack in large Nationals fields, so take all that advice with the proper large chunk of salt.

--Donnie

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:34 am

Jeff Eng wrote:

In stock trim I was impressed by how the car handled, very neutral and super easy to toss around. If the tires had lasted I think I could have easily gotten FTP with it.
Jeff

Yes, you were FTP at the lunch break. I think we both spun that right front, so by afternoon it was well corded. I'm surprised the afternoon times were as good as they were with that much steel showing. :oops:

The car is very responsive. I just couldn’t stay off the cones. Koni called yesterday and my shocks are on the way. I’m glad, after all, that our T&T has been pushed back until the end of March. Now we’ll have something to set up.

Thanks for all the good input on starting the season. Karl, get that new thread started. The more coaching I read, the better! :!:

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:45 am

To Donnie's point about visualization, you should read a book Eric turned me onto in 2001. It's called Thinking Body Dancing Mind

I have a copy and would gladly lend it to you. It helped me not only in autocross, but other facets of my life. Worst case, it's an interesting read. - AB

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