Don't mess with ^his thread, the turtle is fast and it bites hard

 

[QUOTE=shamoo,Nov 2 2010, 07:10 AM] So what's everyone's advice on getting my other car buddies to go?

 

I've been autocrossing for almost 10yrs now, but over the years autocross have become far less entertaining for me. Maybe because autocross prices are becoming much more expensive. I mean, it used to be 25 bucks (in NJ) now they charge 35-45 and sometimes I have to travel 2hrs just to compete. I also can't justify spending money to run 4-6 heats (60 sec per heat). So at the end of the day our paying, just say 40 bucks, for a total of 5-6min run. I would rather spend 250 bucks for a track day, which I have been doing for the last 2 yrs, you get 4 15-20min sessions. Don't get me wrong, autocrossing is great for learning your car's handling capability and i do recommmend it to all that who are into cars, but track days is by far better than autocrossing.

 

reasons why i might go to a track day in preference to an autoX event for my first time...
1. proximity the autox locations ive foind are about 100mi away, the track is 70, and my friend lives 10-15 minutes away from it
2. the extra time given to begginers
3. when it comes to damage to parts or anything, you can go at your own pace...and for me, without having done it, but wanting to, im a little more concerned with learning great technique than the competitive aspect

 

 

awesome....GPW is truly my favorite color for our cars.....between that and laguna...

 

Shock: Hello bumpstop
Bumpstop: How you doin shock
Shock: oh not a whole lot anymore


sorry Brian
Excuse: It's late

 

 

I offer the following for consideration:

1. People compare autocross competition to HPDE. Not a fair comparison.
2. The correct comparison is an autocross Test and Tune or School to HPDE.
3. If you wanted to compare autocross competition to track, you'd have to compare to a Time Trial event.

4. At a local autocross event, there will be a wide range of "competitors." It doesn't have to be competitive. You'll find people that putter around for fun and nobody minds at all. It doesn't affect their runs for the most part.
5. You putter around a track day and you'll have a Corvette up your butt within seconds. And if there aren't many passing zones, you're going to seriously piss off people by eating up chunks of their track time.
6. I also find that people get in over their head trying to chase down cars / drivers that are out of their league. Having a car "right in front of you" can play on your testosterone and adrenaline and put you in a bad situation. We call it "the red mist." It's caused many a spin and wreck on track at HPDEs...

My advice is: Novice school for autocross. Everyone will be there to help you improve as a competition against yourself rather than against other people. It sounds like that's what you're really looking for.

And at a Test and Tune or Novice school you might get 30-80 runs as opposed to 30-50 laps at an HPDE. A more fair comparison.

But whatever you do, kudos for starting to see the light!

 

For $250, I'd rather have 6 days of autocross than one HPDE. Add to that the potential for damage at my local track, (Watkins Glen), and autocross becomes even more appealing. It is also getting much harder to find clubs that will let an S2000 run an HPDE without a rollbar. I don't want a rollbar in my car for the other 98% of the time when I'm driving it on the street.

The social aspect of autocross is a big draw for me. Yeah, I only spend 6 minutes of my day on the course, but I have a great group of friends with common interests that I met autocrossing. There is a fair amount of time to hang out and socialize with these people at an event. Having known them for 20+ years, I consider them life long friends now.