WesM951

Well did my first auto-x today. Wow, i found a new hobby lol. I did learn a few things today. My car needs new shocks/struts and better tires. I was literally all over the place. If I pushed the car I would just get sidewase and scrub any time I had, if i went slow, I was just that, slow. My best run was the last run of the day where I managed a 41.288. The only other car in my class, ASP was a 84 911 Carerra Cab, was pulling 35's

One more note to self, never let this friend attempt to take pictures again. Out of the 15 he did take, all of them where only of 1/2 the car.

This one is one of my better runs, this turn was a long sweeping right hander. I was going for the late apex and got on it a wee bit much. Sidewase as you can kinda see.


This one is from the last turn, a sweeping left hander, then a chicane. You can see the chicane cones at the bottom of the pic. I'm sure this was from my last run where I was straight coming out of the sweeper.


My friend bobby's Impreza (non sti). Same sweeping right hander as first. Loads of understeer in this thing. He did better than me, pulling 40's.


Thats all for now. Any tips or anything, feel free to post em!

Macfreak007

Tips?
Practice, Practice, and more Practice....

CCCP

Hey I just got back from my first autocross too. My best run was around 1:31 plus a 2 sec penalt for hitting a cone. There was only one other car in my class, a prepared 924s, pulling 1:22's on R compounds. The avg. for other classes was around 1:23 or so. Had a blast and can't wait to do it again. And I'm also looking for any advice people can give.

Techno Duck

Stick with crappy tires for the first season atleast...they make things more interesting, not to mention teach you a bit about control.

pearldrum944

Nice, I wanna try it soooo bad!

Zero10

Yep, learn slow, then go fast. Get your lines down before pushing the car hard. You will be amazed at how much faster you can be once you find the right racing lines. However you will have no time to do this if you are always on the edge of control.
That said, stick with cheaper tires until you get good, and spin/slide less. This way the expensive tires will last longer.

I run Fuzion ZRi's on my 951 for auto-x, and am very happy with them. At $100CDN/each they are a nice tire to learn on

Mike1982

Yea, that is what I plan to do when I do autocrossing next year then. I might be able to get in 2 or so this year, but have to see all the places around me that I can autocross besides the local PCA.

Gator_86_951

I've only autocrossed once. I had been at a DE event in Ohio w/ Dan of 944fest fame the day before. I was freaking tired as hell. I flew back to tallahassee @ 5AM, drove to bainbridge and autoX'ed my friends gen II rx-7.

First time doing it, destroyed his time by like 6 seconds. Muhahaha. Auto-X is fun.

tomrc

Yea, don't start blaming your car and tires for crappy driving, as you progress you'll learn to drive smoother and not be all over the place. Learn to drive it first then make some mods. You want a humbling experience, have one of the more experienced drivers drive your car, sit in the the passenger seat and see how all over the track he/she is. Once you can handle your car smoothly then make the mods, besides how are you going to know if you are improving as a driver and not just improving the car?

Stuttgart 944

WOW. That first pic makes your car look like Andy's car (flat black). Need it detailed eh?

docwyte

Go slow in the slow parts and fast in the fast parts. Realize that with a 951 you need to get on the gas much earlier than you think! On the tracks out here, once I've turned in, I floor it, that gives me boost once I've hit the apex. If I wait till I get to the apex, I'm not in the boost until I'm almost at turn run out.

WesM951

Thanks for the tips guys. It was alot of fun!

I'm not blaming the car. I was just stating the obvious. My shocks/struts are bad, this I know. I also get alot of rubbing from the front tires. Not sure as to why. The tires just where not made to do anything like this, any amount of turn-in or application of throttle would send them up in a smoking blaze. I know I need work on driving, but I think with a well sorted car my times would improve, even with how I was driving today. I improved my time each time out, which is what my goal was.

My times where:
2 DNF's (I was missing a cone at the very end, a chicane. Gladly someone told me the 2nd time. Wish they would of the first time. I didn't even know I was DNF'ing.)
43.060
42.818
42.333
42.329
41.288

docwyte

tire pressures!

WesM951

I started off with a high 45psi and dropped it down to 35psi or so after the first 2 runs.

docwyte

How did you determine where to set your pressures? Pyrometer? Shoe polish on the slide walls to see if they were rolling over?