My son and I attended our first Autocross school run through the GGR chapter of PCA. We had a blast!

The instructors were very nice. We got to ride along in their highly modified cars and they were patient and informative in providing input during our runs. I dropped 11 seconds from my first run to my last and in the afternoon runs, my instructor sent me out solo (so I could save 200 lbs of weight!).

I ran over a bunch of cones on one corner until I cleaned up my line. There was lots of gravel if you got off line and there were a bunch of spins.

If you have not tried this sport, I would highly recommend it as a nice intermediate between risking your license on the street and a full track day.

My tires got pretty chewed up, but it was well worth it to see the grin on my sons face!

 

Father's Day came early! Sounds like fun.

 

I think first Autocross is the best. I had a blast on mine and am addicted already. Now you know what to bring and how to be prepared.

You'll be amazed at how better you'll be next time...your brain has time to process what you did and didn't do this time.

Any pics or vids???

 

I will see if I can get my son to help me post the crappy iPhone video I took of him.

I was thinking I should get another set of wheels with some other tires so I don't kill my street tires. Does that make any sense?

 

congrats Hal - sounds like fun and you may be hooked
if you plan to do this regularly, that would be a good idea. 996tt wheels are fairly plentiful and cheap

 

Do people run slicks or R compound tires for these events?

 

I think some do (R compound), but then they may bump them into a different "class". Not sure. You need to check.

 

Get thee to Laguna Seca!

 

I don't think you are going to ruin your tires. 5 to 6 runs for under a minute...no worries. But, if you think you are as good as you can get...changing to a more racey tire...even a DOT approved one will help (and bump you out of Stock class). I drive on my street tires - not a problem.

 

Both my son and I drove in the different run groups so total there were probably 30 runs between the two of us over the course of the entire event. The tires are NOT smooth right now!

 

i'm really excited to try my first autocross... been to track day, and skills day, but not yet an AC.
This summer i hope!

 

30! Holy crap. We get 5 to 6 runs at one event...how do you get 15 each? What kind of surface were you on?

 

I was thinking the same thing. I havent done an auto cross in all of my track years, one of the reasons is because I hear you get about 5minutes of driving time over the course of the day. If im going to be stomping on the gas & brakes, I want to be seeing north of 140mph. I have no idea where my car would be classed in an autocross, probably in Open, where there are lots of better cars for AX - my K24's are laggy sub 2700 RPMs.

 

Autocross school. Usually starts off with some skidpad exrecises to get a feel for handling dynamics. Then everyone moves on to run an actual course. Fewer participant than a regular competitive event (for GGR) so everyone gets many more runs.

GGR has also put on a 2 day school where on the first day participants are divided up into smaller groups which cycle through various 'stations', each focused on a particular skill (skidpad, slalom, threshold braking, trail braking, etc.). On the second day groups alternate between driving/working two different courses. Again, lots more seat time than a typical competitive event.

 

5-6 runs for a full day seems like a waste of time. Like going to my kids swim meet where you are there the whole day for their 3 events!