Autocross Newb
 

Hey Everyone,
Sunday I descided to go to an autocross event. It's an an army airfield. Anyways, I wanted to get some tips and reccomendations. I've never done autocross before, but my friend did some last year and he said it was fun and that my car should be really good at it.

Here are my mods

• Kumho Escta ASX Tires (Stock size)
• GMP Compitition Steering Knuckle: With stock alignment
• GMPP Clutch
• DC Sports Strut Tower Bar
• Ingalls Torque Dampener
• OTTP Stage 1 mount
• ZZP Intake
• ZZP Long Tube Header/Catted Downpipe to stock exhaust
• 2.85" Pulley
• Simmons 60# Injectors
• ZZP Canned Tune
• Ceramic rear brake pads
• Hurst Short throw shifter
• 3 Pod A-Piller
• Dual Interceotprs
• Analogic to replace stock boost gauge
• Oil Pressure Sensor Kit
• Fuel Pressure Sensor Kit
• EGT Sensor Kit
• 3 Bar Map Sensor kit, calibrated for InHg Absolute ;)
• Wideband Sensor kit
• OTTP Stage 1 H/E
• ZZP Pheonalic Spacer
• Dual Pass endplate
• Backup Camera
• Jensen VM9224 Multimedia Receiver
• Stainless steel/plastic braiding over most of the hoses under the hood
• Custom termnal bord on fuse box cover and where Option B tank would mount to support gauges.
• Custom wireing harness to support gauges
• Custom conduit for wireing harness over back of engine bay.

I know that the steering knuckles effect what class I would be in but I'm not too concerned about class or anything right now. I just want to go out and have fun with my car.
Would love to read some helpful advice,
thanks,

Jonathan, a couple key recommendations would be to get there early so you have plenty of walk the course and to suck up your pride and ask for a veteran to ride with you a few times to help you learn the course and get tips on driving it. Check out the following links as well for some additional useful information.

http://www.iowaregionscca.org/Autocross%20Basics.pdf
ANDY'S TOP TEN AUTOX DRIVING TIPS - MX-5 Miata Forum
Autocross to Win (DGs Autocross Secrets) - The Goal

With your mods, you'll probably be classified as street modified by SCCA rules, but the registration people will help you nail it down.

This helped me a lot.

AXDRIVE

Also SCCA has some basic things to do/bring with you.

Thanks for the tips and reading material guys. We'll see how it goes sunday. I hope my tires are okay. They still have some tread left on them, as they are not worn to the wearbars.

I had thought about having some one ride shotgun with me, but I didnt know if anyone would be avalible. From the reading it looks like I want the high number heat section thing. That way I can see the other cars go first.
The walk the course is a really really good idea it sounds like. Reminds me of when I saw a year in the life of the blue angles. Before every show, they sit in a conferance room with lil pins and go through their entire performance with their radio calls and move the pens like they are the sticks on their planes.
So thanks for the tips everyone.

Also,
I didnt know they did it in the rain, otherwise I'd have gone last month. Haha

Yup, when you get there just tell the people running it you are new, and want some help, and they will find someone to ride along with you. Walk the course as many times as possible. They might even have a "guided" walk through with someone who will give tips on how to run it.

These are very helpful, usually called the "Novice Walk" they will announce it approx 20 min before the drivers meeting. It's great to hear the different veterans ideas and perspective lines as many will help out during the novice walk. Also the Novice Chair will certainly ride along with you as long as there aren't too many novices, I get someone to ride with me every time. Good luck man!

Hey I had a blast. I only got enough time to walk through the course 2 times. I had to folow other people becuase I started wakling the wrong direction. Once I got the hang of it I could start to see the course for the coruse and not just a bunch of random orange cones. I tried to listen when people were talking about parts of the course.

What I think you are going to notice most is that you're probably trying too hard to put too much power down in our car. Changing pulley sizes in any supercharged vehicle immediately puts you in Street Mod, which is where you would be facing cars like my friend's 550 AWHP Evo. While I am sure you only want to do it for fun, most people in AutoX eventualy develop some sort of competitiveness.

I think the first step in all of this is tires. You will notice a significant improvement with better tires. If my assumption is correct, your tires were screaming for mercy, considering they are all seasons.
I would get some better AutoX tires (Such as Ecsta XS Xtremes which are the cheapest, Dunlop Star Specs, or RE11s). Get them in 225 width too, that way you can at least try to put down the power that your car is creating. 225 width are the safest width you can put on our 7.5 width wheel. If you have some 8" width wheels, then get 235s, or some spacers with 245's. If you want 255's, you'll probably need an 8.5" rim.

Might want to look into some suspension mods too. Koni's and some pedders would probably suit best since the coilovers for this car all suck (every single one of them).

No, the car fits into SM-F, Street Mod for FWD.