redrotorR1

I'm with Andy on this one. The course wasn't that fast. It's the camera angle/position that gives that impression. A Z06 would have been near the top of 2nd gear on several spots on that course, but I didn't see anywhere that would have necessitated/allowed a 3rd gear shift. What also gives the course the impression of super speed is that there are no tight/tricky areas ... so the Miata driver never really slows down.

The South course at Nationals was faster than that.

twinturborx7pete

iTrader: (3)

Hell, we never have really fast courses here in Buccaneer Region... Usually very tight and intricate..

Though, the last course for the season was very fast.. and had a return loop.. ended up topping out 3rd gear at the end straight away...

PureSephiroth

I was talking to an S2000 driver that said he hit the top of 3rd gear at an autocross in the West Michigan region. Of course, they were running on Grattan Raceway.

NickBW

browsing threw the results I am amazed to see...
'HS' Total Entries: 2 Car Model Time Diff. From 1st
1Tm 8 Chris Warren 1988 White Integra 74.977

The 88 integra in H-STOCK in a bigger corse where more powerfull cars would have a bigger advantage pulling out such a great time!? Unless I am missing something I give him great props.


btw cool vid

CarmonColvin

Chris Warren is an autocrossing machine, it is ALL driver and not the car! If you look at other results from the region he consistanly places among the top in pax time. He has been doing it for years in the same car. I was told that he has over 1000 autocross miles on the car.

At that event in the video he would of placed first in the following classes with his time.
SS, AS, BS, DS, ES, FS, GS, HS, BSP, DSP, FSP, PB, EP, DM, STS, STX, SM, SM2

NickBW

Man, thats insane. I'd like to see a video of him driving the crap of his car to pull such times.

*note to self, take evo driving school ASAP

88IntegraLS

That was an awesome course. RX7's love fast courses like that in my experience. One local club I go to has no space for their courses and I'm always in first gear with my FC during their events. The other local club in Eugene has courses that put me at the top of second at times, which is a lot more fun! Stupid dodge Omnis always kick my a$$ though. My street tires have to go.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

I've got a newb question for the autoxers. I would get so confused knowing where to go on an autox course because to me it just looks like a bunch of cones. How exactly do you guys know where to go??? Sorry I'm retarded I know but this is one of the reasons I don't autox, because I don't want to look stupid

Valkyrie

I'm wondering the same thing :P

LateApex31

Keep your eyes up and look far ahead. Just go out and have fun and don't worry about looking cool!

Sweet vid though, niceness

CarmonColvin

Don't be afraid to autocross, it is nowhere near as difficult as it looks from that video. A view from the drivers seat is much better than the view from the grill. The key is walking the course. All good autocrossers walk the course multiple times before the day's runs begin. I have even seen at regional and national events where they open the course up for walking during lunch. I usually walk the course twice and study it well enough so that I can close my eyes and can see the entire course in a "drive through".

The Alabama region will also lime the course. They have the same machine used to lime the lines on a baseball field. They will go along the outside lines of the cones so it gives you a much better idea of where you are supposed to be. They were not visible in the video but the course was limed at that event. FYI: There is no penalty for running over the lines, they are just there for visual reference and cones are the only thing that count against you.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the input guys I appreciate it alot! If they let me walk to course I'm sure that would make things way easier because here they have a pretty small but difficult course so lots of turns and things like that. Well you guys might have talked me into getting up the nads to go and compete in one of these things. Still if I screw up I'm going to feel like such a jackass

redrotorR1

Hopefully, Alabama region uses flour instead of lime. Lime hurts the eyes when its windy out .... and lime doesn't do wonders for paint.

CarmonColvin

It could be flour, I just assumed it was lime because it is a lime machine that they use. I will try to remember and look at the next event to see what they fill it with.

88IntegraLS

Lol, ur way ahead of most car "enthusiasts" just by showing up and giving it a try. Most kids are too afraid of not looking cool to even give autocross a shot, and they miss out on all the fun. Truth is, no one cares how you look. Real racers are cool people, not like street racers and show posers, etcccccccc.

DamonB

Couldn't agree more

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

well I mean like if I run over cones and just don't look like I know what the **** I'm doing it doesn't matter who you are the coolest people will still think "oh my god this damn newb" I've been a couple of times and thought it was awesome just didn't have my car at the time. Maybe when the season comes back around I will go and make an *** of myself

CarmonColvin

My first autocross was not an SCCA event. The North Alabama Corvette Club held time trials a few times a year at the same place the SCCA holds their events. I was envited to attend by a man that I had went and test drove a 1st gen he had for sale (I didn't buy his first gen; I ended up with an '89 GTU). That man happens to be speedturn on this forum. I don't remember exactly how he knew about the event but they did not turn away our Mazdas.

I was only 18, I had only had my GTU about a month and it was raining! I had done some drag racing and street racing but nothing prepared me for what I was about to do.

Because the field of cars consisted of 30+ Corvettes and 2 Mazdas the course was setup for full speed. It had a huge sweeping turn (100 yards in diameter?) A 180 turn, a 5+ cone slalom spaced out so far a schoolbus could of navigated it and then some offset gates that could be taken at full throttle. I found out later that they use the exact same course configuration for every event.

Now the embarrasing part. I spun out, not just sideways, I spun around multiple times on the first turn of my first run! I remember being scared that they would ask me to leave when I finished my run. I had no clue what I was doing. I think I even hit a few cones in the slalom. Instead of criticism and an envite to leave, I had many other drivers approach me and give me pointers on what to do the next time. Even being an outcast with the "wrong" car nobody said anything derogitory towards me, it was all encouragement.

I didn't miss a local event after that for quite a few years. I could not get enough. I was an addict.

Don't be afraid to attend an event, everyone has had a first autocross at one time in their life. At every event in Birmingham we have at least 5 people that have never done it before. The organizers have a quick "newbie" class on how the timing is kept and the penalties for hitting a cone. Those people are usually placed in the first work group so they can see how things flow before they actually do it in their car. And usually some otherdrivers offer them a ride along so they can see it from a car first and they are given pointers on how to be smooth and safe (fast comes later).

And don't worry about hitting a cone. EVERYONE does it, often!. I don't think I have attended an event where I didn't hit at least one cone. When I had my track car I once had to take home a cone, because it melted and stuck to my header. What a stinky mess that was.

Autocrossing is not for everyone, long hot days in the sun just to get 5 runs does not sound like fun to most people. But you will not know until you try it.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

wow thanks man! If everyone is the encouraging in my town I would deffinatley go! I'll try it once and see exactly how it goes. Maybe someone would be nice enough to take me for a ride once, like you said, around the track in a car. The only time I've seen a second gen in an autox it was a prestine 88ae and it popped a coolant seal and that was that so I'm kind of scared I'd mess my engine up. This was a nice aniversery eddition to with like 40k original miles on it but I guess thats all in the name of the game. I saw a third gen tear the vetts a new one though and that was great! But there are vipers and everything else that come to this one so they are all the big dogs and I would just be a little puppy

CarmonColvin

More information was posted about this video on the ALSCCA forum. The driver was Matt Blackwood and was 1st place in CSP at the event. It is not clear if it was the video from his fastest run. He was 7th fastest overall for the day.

Also posted was another video by the same person. This one is older and in a BMW but you get to see the same facility with a different course layout. The first half of the video is incar and the second half is from a door mounted camera on a different run.

http://www.unix.eng.ua.edu/~mblackwood/autocross.wmv

I have been looking for video of Chris Warren who could of finished first in almost every class in his H-Stock 1988 Integra but I have not found any.