Hey, So I'm going to my first auto x meet this Oct. I'm a newbie so any advice?

 

Bring water, sunscreen, hat and sunglasses. Get there early, keep an open mind and ask for help from the instructors. You will be lost and slow out there but don't get discouraged. We were all there the first few times also.

 

Just go and have fun. Don't worry about trying to be fast. Ask lots questions (but not when a driver is buckled in the car and sitting in the grid).

 

if its an overnight thing bring a tent, sleeping bag, grill, food and beer, plus the day stuff.
if its only a day thing, bring loots of water, 1.5gallons per person and enough to fill your car if you blow a hose, spare hoses and a spare belt, also if you run differnt tires then on the street bring them and a good jack.

prepair to be slow, and learn a lot about how your car handles, and have fun and be safe. just my 2 cents.

 

Get there EARLY, so that you don't feel rushed when you find out that you have to (1) register or at least sign in if you pre-registered, (2) empty the car of anything that's loose (including floor mats, which will likely draw commentary relative to current news), (3) get your car numbered, classified, and through tech inspection, and (4) attend the drivers' meeting.

Walk the course enough times to at least know where it generally goes. But concentrate on the course - if you talk with your buddies about whatever happened the night before or what happened on the job while you're walking the course, you might as well have stayed sat in a lawn chair back in paddock. Maybe even draw your own little course map (most local or regional events probably do not provide them).

If there is an instructed course walk, take it.

Make sure that your tires are at least adequately inflated. Slightly higher than the door sticker pressure at least up front is probably best at this stage, with the fronts a little higher than the rears (assuming stock 18" tires, something like 35/32 or 36/33 ought to work). Don't worry about being "off" by single psi's.

Worth repeating - if instructors are available, take them up on the offer.


There's LOTS more, but if you go in mentally overloaded you could miss out on the fun part of it . . .
which is really the bottom line for your first event --- go HAVE FUN.


Norm

 

Hardest things to to learn are slower is faster, and the object is to BUILD speed, not SUBTRACT speed. If you push your car super hard, you will go slow. You take out cones and go off course. Spin out. Lose control. Etc. Thats bad. Be smooth with your braking, be smooth with your gas pedal. No panic braking and dont be jerky with your gas. Also, if you start out slow and get faster and faster, or BUILD speed, you will be running faster by the end of the day. If you go out there and drive your car into the ground and then try and turn it down a notch, or SUBTRACT speed, you're just gonna tear **** up and be frustrated.

^ Hardest things for me to overcome my first season

 

I can understand how that would be difficult, Especially because I'm the kind of person to go a million miles and hour anyways, thanks everyone for the input, I'll just have to go out and do it now. It's not til October 25th so I have some time still to dwell on it!

 

I agree. Don't get caught up in comparing your times with others on your first few events. Just go and have fun... you'll learn the limits of your car. I beat the absolute **** out of my car on my first 4-5 events... sideways everywhere... and I was SLOW. After a few events everything will click and you'll be able to be a lot smoother and faster.

 

Good luck tomorrow guy.

I have an event tomorrow also.

 

So honestly does auto x beat the hell outta your ride? Brakes,Tires, or anything? I really really wanna get into auto x but its my dd and dont wann waste my tires...i have the stock 17s though still...