Al3xRats AutoX Thread

Al3xRats

Al3xRats

Greenie N00B Member
Attended my first AutoX event this past weekend and now I am officially hooked.
Thought this would be the perfect time to open a thread and document my thoughts and such.
I registered with a local car club that hosts the events. It's a small venue, very relaxed which is what I was looking for since it was my first.
The location was at the Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD and the car club is the Brandywine Motorsports Club.

Ok first thoughts:
- It is a humbling experience: people will outdrive you in a Miata or Honda Civic all day.
- I wish my car was still stock so I could see an evolution of modifications. (Car is in SMF class)
-Driving with an instructor helps out so much. I did a total of 5 runs and 3 of them were with him.

Driving your car like this really opens up your eyes to a whole other dynamic when compared to a drag race or regular everyday driving.

Next event is June 8th and I hope I can apply what I learned this past weekend to this one.




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never done autox myself, more of a road course kinda guy but im planning on trying out an autox this year, although i think my turbo is going to feel pretty laggy on a tight autox course.

either way im sure its great fun and i too wish my car was more stock so i could see times progress as mod level increases!

in terms of pointers, there is another member on here whos getting into autox and i gave him this same advice as it applies to big tracks and autox, GAS or BRAKE. there is not coast. you're either on the power, or on the brakes. even if its just a little throttle to keep the rpm up. it makes a night and day difference in times! thats an easy way to save some time on a run/lap
 
gotovato said:
never done autox myself, more of a road course kinda guy but im planning on trying out an autox this year, although i think my turbo is going to feel pretty laggy on a tight autox course.

either way im sure its great fun and i too wish my car was more stock so i could see times progress as mod level increases!

in terms of pointers, there is another member on here whos getting into autox and i gave him this same advice as it applies to big tracks and autox, GAS or BRAKE. there is not coast. you're either on the power, or on the brakes. even if its just a little throttle to keep the rpm up. it makes a night and day difference in times! thats an easy way to save some time on a run/lap
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I've done some karting in the past so I've already had the whole "gas or brake" principal down. This course was a lot quicker than I expected it to be. Lots of places I could have given it a little more oomf after reviewing my footage. The biggest spots I found for braking were actually at the Chicago box portion and right near the end before the finish line. The rest of the course could have been navigated with different throttle inputs for sure.
 
Oh man I didn't know you were on here! Glad to see a local hopping on the forum.

I can't give really many pointers since I have only AutoX'd once but I bet @VTMongoose can help out. I still need to purchase my spot for that AutoX event you sent me but I'm excited for sure. Thankfully the course in your video looks way better than the last one I did with Corvette Club of America so I'm hopeful to have a little better time.

How many runs did you get in btw?
 
alexwlwsn said:
Oh man I didn't know you were on here! Glad to see a local hopping on the forum.

I can't give really many pointers since I have only AutoX'd once but I bet @VTMongoose can help out. I still need to purchase my spot for that AutoX event you sent me but I'm excited for sure. Thankfully the course in your video looks way better than the last one I did with Corvette Club of America so I'm hopeful to have a little better time.

How many runs did you get in btw?
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They had two run groups, an A and B, with the original intent on having a morning run session of 3 and an afternoon with 3. The first half of the day got dragged out a lot longer due to the wind knocking over timing equipment so we ended up only getting 5.


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Not bad at all. My last AutoX was crazy super technical and the instructor actually told me to go the wrong way my first go around. At this event, would they let a friend ride with? I feel it would be fun for your last couple runs to ride with your buddies.
 
alexwlwsn said:
Not bad at all. My last AutoX was crazy super technical and the instructor actually told me to go the wrong way my first go around. At this event, would they let a friend ride with? I feel it would be fun for your last couple runs to ride with your buddies.
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I don’t see why not as long as they had a helmet as well. Most of the “instructors” were just experienced drivers with the club anyways. Id just double check with the organizers.


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Some pictures someone took at the same event.

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Another AutoX session done in the books.

This time around the event was run a lot smoother and allowed us 6 runs total.

Only different setup this go around are wider tires (235/45/17) with another alignment to factory spec.

The offset of my wheels did cause some rubbing in the back so I will for sure need to address my fenders and get them rolled/pulled.

Still learning and figured this season is the time to learn everything and get the hang of driving the car.
The only goals I have set for myself are to:
1. Be able to learn the course quickly and memorize it
2. At least finish a run in under 60s.
3.Don't hit any cones or go off course
4. Figure out how to drive this damn thing

Overall, this event had a fun course which definitely tested my skills again.

On to the next one!

Here is my best run which was like a 57.7 or something like that.
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Al3xRats said:
I walked it 4 times. By the third time around I had it pretty much memorized


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Click to expand...

Nice, does the group you run with do a Novice walk prior? Good way to get some pointers on course from experienced drivers.

What mods put you in SMF?


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macdiesel said:
Nice, does the group you run with do a Novice walk prior? Good way to get some pointers on course from experienced drivers.

What mods put you in SMF?


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They do have a novice walk, you can always also find someone who’s more seasoned and walk with them as well.

I have a SP63 long block and BNRS3 with supporting mods and some suspension work lol far far away from a stock class


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Al3xRats said:
They do have a novice walk, you can always also find someone who’s more seasoned and walk with them as well.

I have a SP63 long block and BNRS3 with supporting mods and some suspension work lol far far away from a stock class


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Word to that. I hear you on the stock class. Sometimes I wish I went back to stock for autocross but then I think of how much I enjoy where my car is everyday.


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macdiesel said:
Word to that. I hear you on the stock class. Sometimes I wish I went back to stock for autocross but then I think of how much I enjoy where my car is everyday.


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Click to expand...

Maybe my next “build” will be something I can start out with stock to get a baseline


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Another photo dump from the June 8th event. These pictures help for sure. Need to hug those cones a bit more.
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So August 10th I did something a little different and gave an actual road course a shot

A buddy and I drove up to the South Jersey Region SCCA Time Trial Sprint event which took place on the NJMP Thunderbolt track.
The time trial itself was performed on the technical portion of the course which did really test our skills.
Compared to AutoX the theory is all the same however you’re going a lot faster.

As always, super fun going all out with the MS3
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Last edited:
My only critique is that it sounded like you were coasting a lot of the time.

You say 235s, but what kind of tire? Being in smf, you have to run the cheater tire, re71r. :)

I have concentrated on autocross this year, as track driving is too much time and money. I might hit up a weekday test and tune but beyond that, it's been all autocross


Another suggestion would be to run with an instructor every run. I have done about a dozen days in the past couple of years and I still need to work on my driving, and humblebrag, I have a time attack overall win under my belt in my old speed.
 
breakfasteatre said:
My only critique is that it sounded like you were coasting a lot of the time.

You say 235s, but what kind of tire? Being in smf, you have to run the cheater tire, re71r. :)

I have concentrated on autocross this year, as track driving is too much time and money. I might hit up a weekday test and tune but beyond that, it's been all autocross


Another suggestion would be to run with an instructor every run. I have done about a dozen days in the past couple of years and I still need to work on my driving, and humblebrag, I have a time attack overall win under my belt in my old speed.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I still have a lot to learn and that should come with plenty of more hours of seat time.

Tire wise I’m actually running an “R compound” 200tw tire but a company called Zeknova. It’s a cheaper tire when compared to the big names and I’m actually impressed with the grip they provide


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