ajw45

Water, snacks, hat, and a folding chair

Hurricane

Very nice!!!

George from MD

Keep your eyes up- don't look just ahead of the car but out where you're going to go. And be smoooooth. If you find your movements are too rough try steering and shifting with your fingertips.

LehmanZ06

It's important to walk around the paddock and brag to everyone before you run that you will kick their *** when you run because your car is so amazing and you are a very good driver
Note: This walk around the paddock should be done in a full race suit !

Code

Good call! Gotta bring the bare essentials, It's going to be a long day, atleast that's how it is in my area because there are so many racers. I'm usually there for atleast 8 hours.

TAL2GK

This is helpful. I'm considering doing my first AutoX next weekend but had no idea it would be an all day event. I was thinking it would be maybe a three hour thing. It looks like fun, but wondering if I'd just spend my marital capital on DE events, instead.

At least with a DE you're using a full race track. Maybe I'll feel differently after I try one.

StormRune

It depends on how big the autocross group is. It is all day when we have the 120-170 cars I mentioned earlier. When the number is on the lesser side we just take more runs. I'd imagine there are smaller autocross groups that take much less time. I'd check with your local group for what to expect.

ThePhanatic

Okay so here's my report back...

There were about 125 people there. All ages and all ages of cars. Some were completely stock, while there were also full-on race cars that people trailered in. I got there early, parked, signed the waivers and began to walk the course as suggested. I was trying to visualize in my head what it would be like, but I don't think I did a great job. I would like some tips on this part if anyone has any.

I worked the course after the driver's meeting, and that was pretty simple to pick up. It helped me to work first as I could watch more experienced drivers. Next I 'rested' and continued to watch the more experienced drivers. For my runs I rode with an instructor in his initial runs, and he ran with me. Didn't hit any cones, but nearly spun the car out once (sport plus), but I was able to correct and save it with braking. Over the course of my 4 runs I improved each one, and the feedback the instructor gave was great. My biggest challenge, as I expected, was memorizing the course (when to be on it, when to let off based off what was coming, etc). By the fourth run I felt pretty good about knowing the course.

After my runs, I worked the course again, then rested. I continued to talk to other people and watch the more experienced drivers. I had one more run with the instructor, and his biggest advice there was to not fiddle with control when on the limits of grip (I don't have a lot of experience in the car at that level yet), and to look even further ahead than I previously was.

Each run I had was better than the previous over the course of the day, and I felt pretty good about that. I got to experience the car in situations I hadn't been able to yet (sliding around). It was a lot of fun, and I got to chat with a bunch of great people. I will definitely be doing more including Golden Gate PCA's autocross learner's course later in the summer.

cas1337

Hey Gary, I met you at the COTA Autox in February! How's it going? Hope to see you in mid may for the next event.

StormRune

I'd say it sounds like you had a great first day to me! Just getting steadily improving run times is a good goal to achieve on any outing. The way you push a car in autocross is quite unlike any aggressive driving you'd ever do out on the normal roads so it certainly takes a lot of getting used to.

Good to see your Rennlist handle Chris. You placed quite well in your first outing in Novice class! Well done. I expect before too long we'll be running neck and neck.

Yeah, I hope to get out there in May too. Hopefully it's not getting too toasty by then. I don't go out there in full Texas summer heat.

J.Ho

Drive it like you stole it.

TAL2GK

If I stole it, the first thing I would do is quit going in circles in a parking lot.