Conedodger

I tell my students that it takes a season of autocross to get comfortable with finding your way around a course. It takes about 3 seasons before you really feel like you know what you are doing and become competitive. I'm to the point where I can break down the course into about a dozen key cones or elements that I can memorize. I know I'm going to have a decent day when I can close my eyes while sitting in grid and "see" the whole course and I only see those ~12 things.

Yesterday's course: (Didn't really have any key cones)

1) turn around
2) box to the left
3) turn around
4) gate left
5) gate right
6) crossover
7) turn around
8) box
9) slalom
10) turn around
11) gate left
12) gate right
13) finish

As I go through the course, I run through this list in my head, trying to look at least two elements ahead of where I am.

Triple-H

Well there ya go, maybe I'm not retarded, that's a nice thing to read Mark, thanks
And, no way am I that patient, when I can go out on track and run fast I just never felt compelled to dedicate that much time to getting good with cone reading

Plus, after doing driving schools for so long, it's hard for me to remain excited about spending an entire day and getting about 4-MINUTES of seat time... I'm used to about 90-MINUTES of seat time in a day

Conedodger

Looking ahead is the key to autocross. The car will naturally follow your eyes. Sometimes instead of a key cone, I'll actually pick a distant fixed object. It can be a tree, a light pole, a building. Something completely unrelated to the course, that will put you on the right line if you pick it up coming out of a corner. I say fixed object because I had a friend that picked a parked airplane at one of the airport courses. On his third run of the day, he came around a coner looking for the plane and it wasn't there! He had a moment of indecision that we could actually see watching from the sidelines.

Triple-H

All I do is look up, move the steering wheel, stand on the pedals and move the shift lever and it just comes to me
I'm fastest when I'm not thinking, just doing, when I'm in the zone my inner voice has just shut up
I really do miss the thrill, I really do not miss having students scare the chit out of me

A 2

want me to sign up for a school

Although I'm pretty sure I would not scare you being Captian Slow and all that

Conedodger

I find I enjoy the challenge of figuring out a course with a couple of walk throughs and 3-4 runs. It is the mental game that makes it interesting for me. I honestly think i would be a little bored after awhile hitting the same turns over and over at the track. I can understand not getting excited about investing 8 hours for 4 minutes of seat time. For me, the social aspect is as big a part of it as the seat time. I find there is rarely a minute when I'm bored at an autocross. 1/3rd of the time, you are in grid or running, 1/3rd you are course working, 1/3rd is catching up with old friends, wrenching on cars, etc..

Conedodger

We didn't mess with video yesterday, but here is one from the 1st and 2nd place drivers in my class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU8XY...yer_detailpage

Triple-H

You were a great student
The entire time I was in your car I felt comfortable
Of course I felt the most comfortable when I was behind the wheel
Maybe someday, it will all depend upon the house mods and the potential hot hatch to come
For now though, my extra time is for 2-wheel fun
One of the day trips I plan to make this summer is down to WGI when the GVC is doing a school
I hung with some of these people for 20-years and kind of miss them
But the desire to return the S to the track is gone, completely
Sort of the same exact feeling I had when the CRX-Si turned 10, I figured enough was enough, time to retire the stallion

A 2

Thanks for your kind words Spameister.

AutoX was definitely very social and it was nice that even rank strangers would come up and have an encouraging word or two or ask me if I wanted to come back. In that sense it is very similar to a track event organized by a club. Also helped that several people that came were also present at the previous weeks Lime Rock Park event.

I guess being that it was the first time I was being timed also caused mixed feelings. I was pretty sure with enough practice and a few more runs I could drop my times lower. Like I said earlier there was someone I saw setting a time of 31 seconds (10 seconds faster than my fastest time). Now even though I had all season tires, I possibly could have done better with more practice. Pretty sure an instructor in my car would have easily set a 35 second lap time.

Instructors (I had two) told me I was very smooth and improving my line, but not adding enough speed in the slalom sections. As far as I was concerned I was giving it all I had

I plan to go back for the test & tune events and possibly one other points event if they use the site close to where I live. I find that AutoX exercises your mind and trains it to look ahead and react instantaneously. Possibly that will help as and when I go out on track

Also a trivial observation - Miata's and BMW's were all about throttle control as they went through the corners. Guy in Corvette though only stepped on the gas three times - that gave him the speed he needed

Conedodger

My mind saw this as Spam-meister!