New to AutoX Progress

[dave2278]

A couple of months ago I picked up my first Mustang and decided to jump into AutoX, what a blast!

I started out slow, but have been progressing and getting more comfortable with the car and this type of driving.

I have never driven like this, I have always been a slow technical driver, rock crawling mostly, so this is a whole different style and it is taking me some time to adapt.

Yesterday was my 3rd AutoX and I finally feel like I am getting closer to where I need to be to be competitive, still a ways off, but getting there!
Yesterday was a short, somewhat technical course, we only got 4 runs due to the heat.
I started out with a 36.6 second run, I just wanted to get a clean run in.
My next run was a bit better, 35.8 seconds.
The 3rd run is where I started to push a little harder, 32.9 seconds.
The last run was my best, and I was very happy with it, 31.9 seconds.
I ended up about 1.5 seconds off the pace, but improving every run.

This has been my struggle so far, I end okay, but very slow at the beginning.
I am trying to break my habits of regular driving, like anticipating turns and slowing too early.
I feel like my lines are pretty good, just not carrying enough speed into the corners and slowing too early mostly.

Thanks to @Bill Pemberton for much need guidance on a lot of things!

Either way, what a rush!
I included some pics of my old Bronco and the driving I am used to!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Heck, you will pick up " Cone Killing " just fine as improving each run is a good sign you are figuring things out. After all as a professional " Bronco Buster " I am sure you can tame your little red pony. By the way the car looks good and seat time is the number one modification to getting better autocrossing. Some of the other big benefits are also simple , though one involves a bit more exercise, and that is the number of times you walk the course. If you are only doing 1 or 2 times try doing 3 or 4. One item which seems difficult when you begin is to sit in your car after a walk through the course, close your eyes and see if you can drive through the cones in your head. No worries if you are moving your arms in the car , you may notice some really talented drivers doing the same thing. You won't be able to do it right away, but if you find you can do most of the course in 3 walks then do 4 for good measure. Amazingly one of the items one often finds is that many drivers only walk the course one time or maybe two. You will see your experienced drivers often walking a course to excess. I know during Nationals , walking a course 6-8 times is not even rare.

Free or simple mods that have the best bang for the buck:
1. Walk the course more than just a couple of times and work to be able to visualize the set up in your head.
2. Get as much seat time as possible.

PS - your car looks " Red " E for the track -- stunning!

 

[Dave_W]

Bill has some really good suggestions, and it's exactly what I tell my students. Walk the course until you've memorized it. I found when I was starting out that trying to draw the course from memory after the second walk, then correcting the map during the third walk helped. Draw a second time from memory after the 3rd walk and check on the 4th walk. That also gives you a good map you can refer to before each run if you start to forget the course, like if you don't run until the last heat. You don't have to draw every cone (apex/slalom pointers are important, though), just get an idea of each element on paper and the general line you want to run.

I tend to use each walk for different objectives. First walk is quick to get a general feel of the course / line, and looking for surface changes, major bumps, etc. that could upset the car. Second walk is identifying the "important" cones - the ones that determine your line through the course, and starting to plan my driving line. Third walk is tuning my line and planning my sight lines - I literally stop at each apex and think, "I want to place the car here, with it pointed that direction, and be looking there." Sometimes on this walk I back up an element and re-evaluate my entry and/or sight line to the next element. Fourth walk (if I can get it) is quick again, just a "sanity check" on my plans.

The other important thing is to look ahead. No, fiuther ahead. You want to be looking & planning about 1.5 - 2 seconds in front of the car. Anything closer than about 3/4 second is too close to really do anything about - the car is headed there and there's not much you can do about it. By looking further ahead, you're giving yourself more time to set your line through the elements. And the more time you have, the more relaxed you'll feel.

A lot of newbies are using the red sight line, sometimes barely looking over the hood and watching each cone as it goes by the car. You want to be using the green sight line, looking through the next element to the one after that.



Avoid getting "tunnel vision" or "target fixation" by scanning between the closer things (e.g., apex cone) that you are making small adustments for to move the car's line 6-12 inches, and things further away (entire element 2 seconds away) that you are planning on large throttle, brake, and steering/line changes for.

The more you are looking/planning ahead, the less panicked and more relaxed you'll be, and the smoother you'll be with all your inputs. And smooth is fast.

That Bronco is very cool. I like the way the axles are pushed out to the ends. It looks like the front tires are the furthest things forward, so you can drive up to a sheer vertical face, plant the tires against it, and climb right up it.

 

[Dave_W]

I think @RinerAuto has run events your area - that oval track reminds me of the course that broke his custom A-arm. If you run into him, tag along and get any tips you can. See if you can ride shotgun with him. I think he tends to be busy during events, but ask if he can act as an instructor on your runs or point you to someone who can.

One last rule - remember to have fun.

 

[mavisky]

As a starter, those concrete barriers near the track can make it very intimidating for someone new to the sport to push hard on the first run. The other guys are right though, walk it until it's memorized. After that you need to get seat time and you'll find yourself getting faster sooner. I still don't get fast fast until about my 4th or 5th run after taking 10 years off and only about 2 full seasons back in.

 

[dave2278]

@Dave_W that's some great info, thanks

I actually did bring a notebook to draw the track to this one and it did help, but drawing from memory is a great idea.

I definitely don't look far enough ahead yet, although I am better than I was when I first started, it's a learning curve, picking lines for this and rock Crawling is very similar, however the execution is night and day!

Any way you slice it, this stuff is a blast, and having fun is my primary goal.
This track was about an hour and a half from my house, that's a long way to go to drive for 2 minutes! Haha

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Always nice to have one of your autocross venues close to home. I remember when I first started I was driving 2-3 hours, often , to get some cone destruction time!

Dave, having fun is what it is all about and glad to hear that is your main focus ---still having fun 43 years after I began!

 

[DaveW]

Yep, having fun is the important thing.

When the other Dave_W talks about early, he means it. I had a pretty good event at our last local, and it had a pretty slow turn that was critical to slow super early and attack the exit. Once of the guys who works for me has also been autocrossing and said he had all kinds of trouble with this corner and showed me his video. He was crazy late so we pulled up mine that i had just posted as a learning tool for him. Others had trouble too so I did some screen caps of just that corner to illustrate and hopefully help.

Here is full video

Element below is between 0:20 and 0:28 on the video.








So, yeah, that early. Hope this helps.

DaveW