Legend1

You guys are awesome. Thanks for all the info. By the way, I hit the limiter after exiting a turn onto the longest straight the course had. I did not shift into second soon enough. The car hesitated (seemed like forever), came back on and I was in second but down on rpms. What really irked me was that the turn at the end of this straight was where I was planning to execute a left foot brake while trying to maintain my revs for the final short straight through the trap. I lost my focus when the car shut down. Thanks again.

pfb

Slow down to go faster...

solo2racer

I'll expand on what he said

You have to go slow in the slow parts and fast in the fast parts. Most drivers try to go too fast in the slow parts and don't go fast enough in the fast parts.

It seems obvious, but learning to brake early and enough before slow turns has taken me 5 years to mostly learn. And trusting the car enough to "let it hang out" in the fast parts is something I'm still working on.

solo2racer

That's actually optimistic. Most hard data I've seen (from data logging systems) put the up-shift time at .75 - 1.5 sec depending on the skill of the driver on a 1-2 shift and about .25 slower on a 2-3 shift.

That's a lot of "not accelerating" time.

Sometimes it's necessary if the corner is too slow, and sometimes it doesn't matter because there is a braking point right before the upshift, but trying to shift too much isn't a good thing. Not to mention the chance of mis-shifting and loosing 2-3 sec of acceleration - OUCH! (admit it, we've all done it ).

So to conclude, the answer is "it depends"

CG

I'll expand on this a little also. For me at least this has been the single hardest thing thing to learn. It is something you must learn if you want to go fast. It has taken me lots of seat time to learn it, and I still haven't completely mastered it.

Orthonormal

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RandyP
[B]The upshift is not the problem, but the subsequent downshift while turning can be a big problem.

Fed

9K clutch drops to start, lots of spin outs, and a doughnut or two are great at autocrossing.

If you're wondering, I'm not there to win, I consider myself an entertainer more than anything!!!

Seriously, best advice, more autocrosses, keep practicing.

CivicSiRacer

1) how do you guys launch at the start? RPMs etc.? - most guys I see launch with a little bit of wheel/tire spin. Most regions have about 10 feet from where you start to the lazer beam that starts the clock.

2) is it optimum to stay in vtec during the entire lap ( above 6k rpm)? i have only autocrossed once a couple of weeks ago and i never got out of 2nd gear. - most courses you will stay in 2nd gear. But if you come up to a hair pin turn you may slow down enough to shift into 1st. Save that for later when you learn your car better

3) when entering a sharp corner is it better to brake early and carry more speed through the turn or jam late? - I don't like to upset my car too much by jamming on the brakes at the last minute. Also never jam on the brakes and turn at the same time unless you mean it

4) this goes without asking but avoiding the rev limiter by shifting a tad early would have worked better for me on my last run. it was my best one, how much time did i lose by hitting the limiter in first gear which caused the engine to shut down momentarily? - well figure shifting you lose time - so if you only hit the rev limiter a couple bounces than that's not bad.

5) are the stock tires adequate for autox? - they are fine for your first season. Getting seat time is more important.

6) top up or down? - down. Lower center of gravity due to the top being lower in the car. But if it's raining you will not have a choice.

7) what is the single best tip to help a rookie improve? - seat time, seat time, seat time, seat time

8) how hard on the car is this event? - it's only hard on your tires, brakes, and some suspension components. And if you get into harder classes - harder on your wallet

9) what mods are legal for the A stock class? - catback exhaust, K&N filter replacement, spark plugs, spark plug wires, shocks (same height as stock), 4/5 point harness, and DOT racing tires on stock sized rims.

10) my times for each of the nine runs were lower for each successive run. my first lap was 43.88 while my last one was 37.75. The class winners best lap was 35.25. Can I expect to improve at this same rate at the next event and how along
before i plateau or hit the wall? - it's relative to how fast you learn from your car. Attend some novice schools and Evolution schools offered by your region or other regions in your area.

Also visit my help page http://home.dejazz.com/mlouie/autocross.html

CivicSiRacer

Being smoother is faster than being KAMAKAZI. Go slow to go fast meaning being smoother on the course with throttle, braking and turning - instead of jamming the gas and getting huge burnouts and braking too late where you screw up your apexes

calc

Not trying to be a smartass here, but I'm wondering if you meant only once in an S2k, since if you had only autoxed once, my guess would be that you wouldn't have a lot of expertise to offer.

cal