Auto X
6th Gear Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,635
From: state of confusion
Depends on how you drive it and somewhat on the lot conditions.
Tire wear is probably the biggest item, and I'd say that for a newbie to the sport that's really the only thing that'll wear enough faster to eventually become an "autocross expense". Most first-timers I've seen don't drive hard enough for even this to matter, but the smoother you can manage your turns the better off you'll be. The ABS should cover for you a bit if you brake too late for a turn and are still braking when you need to be cornering. Turn off the traction control and use the throttle to avoid (or kill off) wheelspin coming out of the corners (hint: this kind of throttle control is a finesse thing, and much easier to do if you wear flexible footwear instead of, say, combat boots).
Hubs and wheel bearings also see higher than normal loading and will theoretically live shorter lives, but not by enough to matter from running the occasional autocross on street tires. I've never had to replace any of these things due to autocrossing, but if you were hitting 30+ events a season plus doing a lot of testing you might have to.
Autocross speeds aren't generally high enough or the runs long enough to be any harder on your brakes than you would be by driving in the mountains, probably not as hard as mountain driving actually. As a beginner, you probably won't get much past 50 mph anywhere on course at your first event, so even though you may be doing some heavy braking in a couple of places, you aren't going to be doing them for long enough or enough times to fade them or use up a lot of pad thickness. There's only so much braking that you can physically do in ~half a dozen 50-second runs. Don't worry about this one, although you may eventually want to replace the OE pads with something slightly more aggressive but still fully streetable (Hawk HPS or equivalent should be adequate). Call Sam.
Shocks/struts - you may discover that you want new (and better) ones just to improve the autocross performance well before you'd replace them for just your street driving. Yeah, it's an expense, but once again the benefits will be there for all of your driving.
There will probably be a little more clutch wear, depending on how much slippage you allow to happen. You don't need to launch quite as hard as you would at the dragstrip, because autocross timing starts a few feet past your starting point.
Norm
Tire wear is probably the biggest item, and I'd say that for a newbie to the sport that's really the only thing that'll wear enough faster to eventually become an "autocross expense". Most first-timers I've seen don't drive hard enough for even this to matter, but the smoother you can manage your turns the better off you'll be. The ABS should cover for you a bit if you brake too late for a turn and are still braking when you need to be cornering. Turn off the traction control and use the throttle to avoid (or kill off) wheelspin coming out of the corners (hint: this kind of throttle control is a finesse thing, and much easier to do if you wear flexible footwear instead of, say, combat boots).
Hubs and wheel bearings also see higher than normal loading and will theoretically live shorter lives, but not by enough to matter from running the occasional autocross on street tires. I've never had to replace any of these things due to autocrossing, but if you were hitting 30+ events a season plus doing a lot of testing you might have to.
Autocross speeds aren't generally high enough or the runs long enough to be any harder on your brakes than you would be by driving in the mountains, probably not as hard as mountain driving actually. As a beginner, you probably won't get much past 50 mph anywhere on course at your first event, so even though you may be doing some heavy braking in a couple of places, you aren't going to be doing them for long enough or enough times to fade them or use up a lot of pad thickness. There's only so much braking that you can physically do in ~half a dozen 50-second runs. Don't worry about this one, although you may eventually want to replace the OE pads with something slightly more aggressive but still fully streetable (Hawk HPS or equivalent should be adequate). Call Sam.
Shocks/struts - you may discover that you want new (and better) ones just to improve the autocross performance well before you'd replace them for just your street driving. Yeah, it's an expense, but once again the benefits will be there for all of your driving.
There will probably be a little more clutch wear, depending on how much slippage you allow to happen. You don't need to launch quite as hard as you would at the dragstrip, because autocross timing starts a few feet past your starting point.
Norm
6th Gear Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,635
From: state of confusion
Tires are the most important mechanical thing, but even they are still secondary to driver knowledge and experience.
Norm
corner carver
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,371
From: New England
Depends on how you drive it and somewhat on the lot conditions.
Tire wear is probably the biggest item, and I'd say that for a newbie to the sport that's really the only thing that'll wear enough faster to eventually become an "autocross expense". Most first-timers I've seen don't drive hard enough for even this to matter, but the smoother you can manage your turns the better off you'll be. The ABS should cover for you a bit if you brake too late for a turn and are still braking when you need to be cornering. Turn off the traction control and use the throttle to avoid (or kill off) wheelspin coming out of the corners (hint: this kind of throttle control is a finesse thing, and much easier to do if you wear flexible footwear instead of, say, combat boots).
Hubs and wheel bearings also see higher than normal loading and will theoretically live shorter lives, but not by enough to matter from running the occasional autocross on street tires. I've never had to replace any of these things due to autocrossing, but if you were hitting 30+ events a season plus doing a lot of testing you might have to.
Autocross speeds aren't generally high enough or the runs long enough to be any harder on your brakes than you would be by driving in the mountains, probably not as hard as mountain driving actually. As a beginner, you probably won't get much past 50 mph anywhere on course at your first event, so even though you may be doing some heavy braking in a couple of places, you aren't going to be doing them for long enough or enough times to fade them or use up a lot of pad thickness. There's only so much braking that you can physically do in ~half a dozen 50-second runs. Don't worry about this one, although you may eventually want to replace the OE pads with something slightly more aggressive but still fully streetable (Hawk HPS or equivalent should be adequate). Call Sam.
Shocks/struts - you may discover that you want new (and better) ones just to improve the autocross performance well before you'd replace them for just your street driving. Yeah, it's an expense, but once again the benefits will be there for all of your driving.
There will probably be a little more clutch wear, depending on how much slippage you allow to happen. You don't need to launch quite as hard as you would at the dragstrip, because autocross timing starts a few feet past your starting point.
Norm
Tire wear is probably the biggest item, and I'd say that for a newbie to the sport that's really the only thing that'll wear enough faster to eventually become an "autocross expense". Most first-timers I've seen don't drive hard enough for even this to matter, but the smoother you can manage your turns the better off you'll be. The ABS should cover for you a bit if you brake too late for a turn and are still braking when you need to be cornering. Turn off the traction control and use the throttle to avoid (or kill off) wheelspin coming out of the corners (hint: this kind of throttle control is a finesse thing, and much easier to do if you wear flexible footwear instead of, say, combat boots).
Hubs and wheel bearings also see higher than normal loading and will theoretically live shorter lives, but not by enough to matter from running the occasional autocross on street tires. I've never had to replace any of these things due to autocrossing, but if you were hitting 30+ events a season plus doing a lot of testing you might have to.
Autocross speeds aren't generally high enough or the runs long enough to be any harder on your brakes than you would be by driving in the mountains, probably not as hard as mountain driving actually. As a beginner, you probably won't get much past 50 mph anywhere on course at your first event, so even though you may be doing some heavy braking in a couple of places, you aren't going to be doing them for long enough or enough times to fade them or use up a lot of pad thickness. There's only so much braking that you can physically do in ~half a dozen 50-second runs. Don't worry about this one, although you may eventually want to replace the OE pads with something slightly more aggressive but still fully streetable (Hawk HPS or equivalent should be adequate). Call Sam.
Shocks/struts - you may discover that you want new (and better) ones just to improve the autocross performance well before you'd replace them for just your street driving. Yeah, it's an expense, but once again the benefits will be there for all of your driving.
There will probably be a little more clutch wear, depending on how much slippage you allow to happen. You don't need to launch quite as hard as you would at the dragstrip, because autocross timing starts a few feet past your starting point.
Norm
For a first-timer or a newbie with only a few events under his belt, I'll disagree about upgrading the tires immediately. IMHO it's better to start learning how to get through the cones without tearing up tires that are more expensive (and perhaps less tolerant of/resistant to being abused).
Tires are the most important mechanical thing, but even they are still secondary to driver knowledge and experience.
Norm
Tires are the most important mechanical thing, but even they are still secondary to driver knowledge and experience.
Norm
6th Gear Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,635
From: state of confusion
In my opinion and many others, keep the car stock but upgrade the tires.
Norm
corner carver
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,371
From: New England
Everybody's experience is going to be a bit different here; this is mostly a function of lot size, course configuration, number of entries, weather, daylight, agreement with lot owner regarding FCO and finish times, etc.
After you have a few events under your belt, sure. But until then you might as well be putting the steep part of the learning curve on the tires that you have. Even "Street Touring" tires like Azenis will heat-cycle out before they wear out, so a newbie to the sport really ought to get himself past the worst of any overdriving tendencies before moving up.
Norm
After you have a few events under your belt, sure. But until then you might as well be putting the steep part of the learning curve on the tires that you have. Even "Street Touring" tires like Azenis will heat-cycle out before they wear out, so a newbie to the sport really ought to get himself past the worst of any overdriving tendencies before moving up.
Norm
I would also check out a stickier pad than the HPS. I would look into the Carbotech AX6 or HP+. I have personally used the HP+ but know people who have used the AX6 which is specificly an auto x pad.
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