What are you doing to get ready for Auto-X season?
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Great explanation!!! Another point that I would like to add for those just starting out with autox. Go early, get a map and walk the track many time. You can decide on the line that you are going to drive on the track while walking it. Also you can memorize parts of the track that is confusing to you.
Everything is so much more intense and fast when you are driving through the cones. It pays to spend extra time to walk the track slowly to learn it.
Good luck everyone this season,
honda_nos
Everything is so much more intense and fast when you are driving through the cones. It pays to spend extra time to walk the track slowly to learn it.
Good luck everyone this season,
honda_nos
Originally posted by KC
Go to an event it's better to have it explained at the event site while you're looking at them.
Basically there's a few elements that make up a course.
The biggest thing to see is a 'pointer'. A pointer cone lays down on the ground on the other side of a standing cone telling the driver which side of the standing cone the driver should go around.
A 'gate' is 2 cones wide enough for a car to go though.
A 'slalom' is a series of cones that you alternate sides on every sucessive cone. Sometimes, they're optional, meaning... you can pass the 1st cone on either the left or the right. Many times, the 1st cone has a pointer on it saying you can only start the slalom on that side.
Then there's pivots. A cone or two or three clumped togehter that you must just go around in an arc to either the left or the right (depending on the course design).
Last but not least are 'walls'. Walls of cones are put up near single cones to make you slow down or make that particular turn a little tighter.
You see... for every cone you hit, you get 2 seconds added onto your time.
Those are really the elements of the course. There are other designs and combinations called various things... but those are the basic building blocks of a course.
Once you go to an event, you get to walk the course and really see what the course looks like and understand.
I usually only do one or two course walks now. Most of my driving now is looking ahead about 3-4 gates and planning for them. After years of doing this, you get used to different elements and know what to look for.
--kC
Go to an event it's better to have it explained at the event site while you're looking at them.
Basically there's a few elements that make up a course.
The biggest thing to see is a 'pointer'. A pointer cone lays down on the ground on the other side of a standing cone telling the driver which side of the standing cone the driver should go around.
A 'gate' is 2 cones wide enough for a car to go though.
A 'slalom' is a series of cones that you alternate sides on every sucessive cone. Sometimes, they're optional, meaning... you can pass the 1st cone on either the left or the right. Many times, the 1st cone has a pointer on it saying you can only start the slalom on that side.
Then there's pivots. A cone or two or three clumped togehter that you must just go around in an arc to either the left or the right (depending on the course design).
Last but not least are 'walls'. Walls of cones are put up near single cones to make you slow down or make that particular turn a little tighter.
You see... for every cone you hit, you get 2 seconds added onto your time.
Those are really the elements of the course. There are other designs and combinations called various things... but those are the basic building blocks of a course.
Once you go to an event, you get to walk the course and really see what the course looks like and understand.
I usually only do one or two course walks now. Most of my driving now is looking ahead about 3-4 gates and planning for them. After years of doing this, you get used to different elements and know what to look for.
--kC
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From: www.nasioc.com
Car Info: 2003 STX Pro-Solo/Solo-II National Champion
Originally posted by nic3krnnamja83
hey kc, i'd shake ur hand if i could thanks for the elaborate explanation. cones are bad!!!
hey kc, i'd shake ur hand if i could thanks for the elaborate explanation. cones are bad!!!
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 461
From: Cincinnati, OH
Car Info: 04 Java Black Sedan
I've got a question for you guys. I just got a set of Rota Torques last night and am not sure what class I should be running in. I have an 04 WRX with the wheels and street tires(rims are 17X8), rear sway bar, endlinks, and a short shifter. Where should I be. I need to preregister for this weekend's event.
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I am, spending over $1200 in rims and tires even though its my first season =o) I might go with the Rota Slip Streams (16x7 13.4lbs) and the Kumho Victoracer V700 225/50.
hehe I just went to an SCCA Lvl 1 class yesterday. It was great, we got 10 runs and I beat the instructors time by 2 secs in MY04 WRX Wagon (STOCK EVERYTHING even tires). hehe I drive my car better than he does =oP I was also .4sec slower than a guy in a EVO 8... hahah he wasnt that good or was I that much better... who knows.
to answer your question "theworx" with the 17x8, endlinks and rear sway bars you will be put in STX class. Im going to run in D-stock this summer and here are the list of things you can do.
D-Stock for WRX, non STi versions:
--16 inch or smaller rims with the width being whatever can fit.
--R-compound tires (you can run Street Summers if you want but Im going for it all in my first year)
--Front sway bars
--Short Shifter
--Alignment adjustments (NO cambers plates allowed but you can adjust the Toe in and out)
--Air Filter
--Cat-back exhaust (Cat must be stock) note: you can use a straight pipe as long as it is AFTER the Cat.
--Shocks (the CANT lower the ride height)
I am waiting on the answer if the WRX can run 17s and still be in D-Stock. I will keep you guys posted.
Just to give you some tips from what I learned yesterday... Put more PSI in the rears than in the front. I ran 45psi in the front and 50psi in the rear. You want a set-up that the rears will rotate. Also note if you upgrade the shocks make shure you use the stock top mounts. They will send you in the STX class if you dont.
Well hope that helps.. Good luck and Have Fun!!
hehe I just went to an SCCA Lvl 1 class yesterday. It was great, we got 10 runs and I beat the instructors time by 2 secs in MY04 WRX Wagon (STOCK EVERYTHING even tires). hehe I drive my car better than he does =oP I was also .4sec slower than a guy in a EVO 8... hahah he wasnt that good or was I that much better... who knows.
to answer your question "theworx" with the 17x8, endlinks and rear sway bars you will be put in STX class. Im going to run in D-stock this summer and here are the list of things you can do.
D-Stock for WRX, non STi versions:
--16 inch or smaller rims with the width being whatever can fit.
--R-compound tires (you can run Street Summers if you want but Im going for it all in my first year)
--Front sway bars
--Short Shifter
--Alignment adjustments (NO cambers plates allowed but you can adjust the Toe in and out)
--Air Filter
--Cat-back exhaust (Cat must be stock) note: you can use a straight pipe as long as it is AFTER the Cat.
--Shocks (the CANT lower the ride height)
I am waiting on the answer if the WRX can run 17s and still be in D-Stock. I will keep you guys posted.
Just to give you some tips from what I learned yesterday... Put more PSI in the rears than in the front. I ran 45psi in the front and 50psi in the rear. You want a set-up that the rears will rotate. Also note if you upgrade the shocks make shure you use the stock top mounts. They will send you in the STX class if you dont.
Well hope that helps.. Good luck and Have Fun!!
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2
Actually, D-stock (or any stock class) requires stock wheels or wheels of the same size and width as stock. If the wheels are aftermarket, offset can vary by +/- .25 inch from the stock wheels (+55 mm for the WRX, so +/- 6.35 mm).
Stock classes allow any street-legal tire that fits the stock-size wheel. I'm guessing that's what you're thinking of when you say "with the width being whatever can fit." The 16x7 wheels would be illegal for D-stock because stock WRX wheels are 16x6.5. You could, however, run any tire that fits the stock WRX wheel. Go here: http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/ for more Solo-II rules information.
Also, factory optional wheels are allowed. This implies wheels that were dealer installed options are not. A WRX cannot run 17-inch wheels in D-stock. Go here: http://www.solo2.org/cgi-bin/ultimat...07.html#000004 for more info.
Stock classes allow any street-legal tire that fits the stock-size wheel. I'm guessing that's what you're thinking of when you say "with the width being whatever can fit." The 16x7 wheels would be illegal for D-stock because stock WRX wheels are 16x6.5. You could, however, run any tire that fits the stock WRX wheel. Go here: http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/ for more Solo-II rules information.
Also, factory optional wheels are allowed. This implies wheels that were dealer installed options are not. A WRX cannot run 17-inch wheels in D-stock. Go here: http://www.solo2.org/cgi-bin/ultimat...07.html#000004 for more info.
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