[QUOTE=patinum,Apr 12 2010, 07:59 AM]
Phil (nsx) - the car looked great out there. I'm glad that you had a good time and hope that autox can be the balance between life and racing you're looking for.

I think this will be a great fill in for track days. Though I know the NSX is not the best car when it comes to AutoXing but then again I am out there just to look good.

I liked looking over there to check the results sheet and seeing how much time I had to make up to catch the guy in the Carrerra.... never going to happen.

I was eigth out of the twelve in my group with a 57.1?? I was pissed that I could not do better on my last two runs. I lost a little sleep last night replaying those runs in my head.

 

I think they post them up on their forum: http://forums.chicagovw.org/
They are not up as of this post, but I don't think it should be more than a few days.

 

Thanks everyone for helping me out with my first autocross. I'll definitely be around for more of these!

 

Matt cheated Just kidding. The learning curve is technically for people who have never tried autocrossing before, I see in the past results that he had two events last year. Two events is the unofficial cut off point. I can't boo hoo too much about it because I had done two events before I took the school as well. Keep in mind the events they look at are SCCA events. If you've only run smaller clubs you can still get into the learning curve.

Based on my experience I'll try to highlight some reasons why the school is good. The instructor to student ratio is quite favorable. Two students per instructor means that you have a lot of one on one time and even if the instructor is with the other student they often encourage you to ride along (if there is space, hard to do in a 2 seater). There have been times when I used to instruct, if the car had 4 seats, I had the car full of students. The more times you can get a look at the course at speed the better. Also the instructors assigned are usually used to driving a similar car, so they know what works and what doesn't. And a note on the instructors, in the 14 years that I have been autocrossing the depth of talent in the Chicago region is the best it's ever been. There are more drivers with National credentials than I ever remember. It makes it tough to get a good result, but when you do you know you've beaten some of the best in the country. So even if you don't get a National champ as an instructor chances are you'll still get someone who could place very well at a National event just on experience.

On the first day they break a big course up into two smaller courses. Typically you'll get 6-8 runs on the smaller courses each. Sunday they put the two courses together to get a feel for a normal SCCA course length and speeds. The plus side of this is you don't have to worry about learning a new course, just mentally put the two elements together. You still need to walk it to find the changes but remembering the majority of the course is half the battle. Seat time is the other. No amount of money spent on a car will make it go faster than seat time.

It's a bummer they didn't get the extra run in but lunch has always been a problem with the learning curve as far as I could remember. We just have the hardest time getting food sorted.

 

Thanks for the compliment Pat! I actually beat my instructor too But in his defense, he was on very old S-02's. I'm on my new star specs (love them). I liked him and his advice was very helpful. This weekend was some of the best driving I've done yet thanks to his help. I'm not aware of an instructor that had more than two students. So the instructor/student ratio was very good. Students are paired with instructors who drive the same or similar cars.

The event went like this:

Day 1:
Class room from about 9am to 10:30am. Covers all the basic stuff about autocross
10:30am to 1pm. Meet the instructors, tech cars, lunch.
1pm-5pm. DRIVE! They break the course into two smaller courses. We spent about 1.25 hours driving each course. As many runs as time allows. For first timers, the shorter courses are easier to memorize. For more experienced people you have lots of repetitions to try out different things. You also spend a heat working one of the courses.

Day2:
Run like a regular autocross. The instructors will drive the first half of the heat and take the students for rides. This is probably the first time the student will experience what the instructor has been teaching. The students drive the second half and try to replicate what they learned from riding.

Recommending this to beginners is a fantastic idea. The "I don't want to be the worst driver" fear is minimized since it is all beginners. The instructors are always around for questions. The instructors work the course with the students to teach course work. Anyone who has never done autocross before could come to this event and learn everything they need to know in a comfortable and fun environment.

 

Matt - who was your instructor?

 

Out of curiosity, who was your instructor?

 

SoloVR6 and I just want to give him shizz for getting beat by a newb Just kidding. I one instructor but I also know his S is brand new to him.

 

[QUOTE=SoloVR6,Apr 12 2010, 10:22 AM]Matt cheated

 

Ah yeah, Dan is a really good guy. I think he missed a lot of last season so he might be a little rusty but he is another one of those instructors who has National level experience. He'll be fast on good tires.

I'm happy to hear about the good results on star specs since that's what I'll be running this year as well. I didn't want to buck up for the R1R or risk the Hankooks. *specs seemed like the safe bet.