Cogito_Ergo_Zoom

That's what everyone there was saying, that it was indeed a very short course compared to their usual. I believe this was their first event there if I'm not mistaken. They said the next one in San Antonio will be longer.

Will definitely do it again for sure. Me and my buddy spent the next three hours bench racing and comparing notes from our runs over beers afterwards. Definitely pick up a different set of skills that can come in handy elsewhere. Everything comes up really, really fast. Have to keep your eyes up at all times or your dead. Can't take the typical track approach of "I'll just get it right the next lap.", or "My tires aren't warm enough so I can't get a good lap." You just have to go and manage all the variables quickly "right now".

Just bought a RAM mount and PLX OBD II transmitter to go along with my iPhone and Harry's Lap Timer, so I'll have some video from the next event I run.

burglar

I try to explain it like this:
Track driving is like playing rhythm guitar - think, move, repeat to perfection.
Autocross is like trying to site read a metal solo - hang on and try to minimize mistakes.

Technically they're both playing guitar, and learning one will undoubtedly help the other. But the skill intersection isn't as big as it appears at first.

Cogito_Ergo_Zoom

I play guitar, too, and that is a very good analogy. Asking me to site read a metal solo would result in some pretty hilarious fail.

perfectlap

You can actually become a very good autox driver by spending some time out of the car as well.
The YouTube videos are great aid. Particularly those that are done "street level". Watch one of those videos over and over. The task is to train your eyes. IMO a few laps per autocross is not enough time to develop good eyes. And good eyes is a skill in itself. I once read an article about how the best GP drivers all had excellent vision, they could see far and noticed things in the backdrop right away. When viewing the YouTube videos learn that course, be able to call the next type of cone set up (six pin, four pin, left, right, slalom, etc.) before you arrive at it -- much like a rally driver co-pilot. I used to use the computer mouse to pause the video at the momment where I spot the next cone set up, call it and then let the video play again. Then learn to call the pins two gates ahead -- that's the ultimate goal.

The thing about autox, and this is true in most venues, the size of the lot means you can only run so many types of layouts. By the end of your first season you've pretty much seen every one of those layouts. It's just like playing the same video game over and over. As you walk the course in person, you're already thinking "this looks familiar". Once you're done walking the course you should be able to close your eyes and call the cone sequence in your head. I watched Juan Pablo Montoya do this once in an interview for the new N-ring and when they overlayed it with actual onboard footage the timing was perfectly in synch with his calls, down to the tenth of a second.

The early phase of autox is learning to master the in-cockpit movements so that you're not thinking about what your doing with the steering wheels and throttle/brake and concentrating strictly on what's in your far field of vision. That takes seat time. But if I were to give some tips I would say 1-drive with your arms not your wrists. 2-keep hands at 3 and 9 o'clock or 10 and 2 but be consistent, no shuffling. 3- keep your shoulder blades pinned, no rocking back and forth or side to side like your on a boat. 4-lay into your brakes hard..learn how quickly your car really can stop so you can better gauge the distances you need. 5- and in keeping with Randy Probst's advice, once you're off the brakes, make an effort to go slow enough to where you can think about the next cone set up and not just the cone set up immediately in front of you. Don't go so fast off braking that its all whizzing past you so fast that the second cone set up is right on top of you before you've had a chance to set up the car.