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I bought a 1987 LX sedan awhile ago and joined the site, and I have always been intrested in Autox
There are a few events around me and I was thinking about going but dont want to look like a complete fool.
So Is there anything I can do to prepare my car?
I do understand im bringing a sub 100 horsepower beige commuter to a ''preformance car'' event but I still think it would be fun.
Just make sure you have the negative battery terminal covered, and that your suspension is in good order. I think you'll be surprised by how you do. As long as you're a decent driver you'll woop the ass off all the civics there.
The only thing to watch out for is left hand sweepers. The car will want to stall out because of the float bowl on the carb. Smoothness is key there.
just have fun. i havent gotten to do auto x yet. but ive been dragging in underpowered cara for 2 years now. my corolla was at 19s while the next were 3 seconds faster. still fun as hell though. XD
^^ what he said. Don't try to concentrate on being fast or aggressive either. Just work on being smooth. No one at the autocrosses is going to be impressed by aggressive crazy driving. Smooth, and calculated is where the speed is.
I don't know if every club does this, but here we have a novice walk for new drivers. If your group has one definitely join in. It's a huge help to have someone tell you how a course works, and how it would be best to drive it. If you can get somebody to ride along with you, and give pointers that's even better. Don't be afraid to ask if you can ride along with somebody or if somebody can ride along with you. The worse they'll say is no, and then you just go ask the next guy.
Do lots of reading about turns and hitting correct apexes. and always remember
"Smooth is fast, and fast is smooth."
"If you hear tire squeal, your not turning correctly."
"Shuffle, shuffle, baby fingers" (Referring to shuffle steering, which is GREAT btw. Light on the steering wheel, and eliminates over-correcting.)
Here is a good image on hitting correct apexes. http://www.motorcycleaddicts.org/att...ck-apex001.jpg
as silly as this sounds. if you have gt3 or 4 look in the back of the manual. ita actually really good help as well.
Extended, hard left turns can slosh the oil away from the pickup for several seconds. You'll know this has happened if your oil light starts flashing (indicates intermittent zero oil pressure). During the few seconds without oil pressure during the oil change immediately after this happened at an autocross I spun my center main bearing. I've since installed a small baffle in the sump of both of my Accords and haven't had the problem since.
^ whoa im so keeping that in mind for when i play around in a empty car park lol. pics of the baffle setup?
At tech they'll check to see if the battery is properly secured, no fluids are leaking, grasp & shake each tire to check for failing wheel bearings, check for significantly chunked/worn tires, check that all movable objects that may become projectiles during an accident are out of the car, some clubs check that lug nuts are torqued properly...
Bring some blue 3M painters tape for your numbers, plenty of water, sunscreen, hat, small tire pressure pump, and good quality pressure gauge...
You can either bring your own helmet, or possibly use their loaner helmets.
The clubs around here require helmets must be SNELL or DOT approved and must be 2000 or newer.
Walk the course as many times as possible, for me, it takes at least 3-4x...
Look ahead at least a few cones/positions while driving!
Be smooth enough not to upset/spin the car (e.g. no 'scandinavian flicks'), but not sluggish in your steering inputs (especially in slaloms), alot of fwd guys like to keep in the throttle a little bit during slaloms if they know the back end is going to start to wag.
In sections that seem overly-tight, the fastest way is to go nice & slow, don't try to power through them; if you're noticeably understeering you're going too fast.
Play around with tire pressures. Get enough tire pressure to avoid the sidewall from rolling over, but not so much pressure that it feels like you're just sliding all over the place. Overinflated just causes the sides of the tire to lift slightly, resulting in a really narrow contact patch, poor traction and what little tire still is in full contact will quickly overheat & get greasy, further decreasing traction, etc...
After 1-2 runs either get an instructor to sit in with you, or even have them drive with you as the passenger; preferably both by the time the morning runs are through.
Here's a really detailed write-up from the SCCA:
http://www.tirerack.com/features/solo2/handbook.htm
The #1 thing I would worry about at your first event is making sure you don't get lost on course. If there's a novice walk, definately go on it. But make sure you also have time to walk the course by yourself with no distractions. It's easy to get caught up in listening to someone talk about all the little technical details and then not remember the course you just walked.
Autocross isnt really a "performance car" event. It's a "High Performance Driving" event. The key word being driving! The Accord is perfect for that kind of event because there is a class for every car. This particular car is very forgiving and will help you to learn to drive fast. You gotta get the basics down first before you can jump in a 250 or 300 hp car and tear up the course. The most important things were mentioned already, but one thing that helped me out was looking ahead...as far ahead as you can. The cones will "slow down" for you when you look ahead, and when you dont look ahead everything comes @ you fast. Looking ahead will help you become a better street driver as well. Right now I'm on vacation in Jamaica and all the mountain roads are like a mini autocross! If you dont look ahead and you are driving fast enough, you will go right off the side of the mountain!
Great advice! Also, during turning, look where you want to turn, not the direction you are currently going. It will help you steer.Quote:
Originally Posted by onthe3rdday
