http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUpQrLolWL8

 

That course sucks.

 

+29340234

 

Yeah I agree that course sucked. You did pretty well though. Don't discount what you did at the track. Us Z guys need to represent more on the tracks. It seems like our cars are at a disadvantage. I was talking to Mike 03threefiftyz at the autoX the other day and we were talking about Z's being competitive. After doing 5 autoX races I feel that our cars are at a disadvantage with how some groups score points. Even the way our cars are classed could put us at a disadvantage where we have to spend gobs amount of money on suspension parts or drive with perfection.

 

Yah... thats what i was trying to say...

The course was sooooo short and tight.

I think I should have tried keeping it in 2nd and using the torque maybe??


Making plans to go to a big airport course on sunday


GOT MY RESULTS...
I was 13th raw
13th indexed
and 2nd in novice... to go figure a miata.. lol

Only like 30 cars, but I will take top 50%


I beat the other two 350z's raw and indexed though lol

 

Almost always. I autox about 20 times/year, and tried first one time on a hairpin U-turn, but am still not sure if it was faster or not. Point-being, 98% of courses should be run all in 2nd gear (some may need 3rd).

 

Lesson learned =)

 

That course the OP posted is clearly a first-gear course, imo, with only one or two spots to shift UP to 2nd, and then only briefly. He's only on the limiter twice--once before the crossover, and once at the end of the exit (aside from the botched launch). In general, though, you're totally right.

OP: it sounds like you may need to learn to roll on the throttle (everyone has to learn this when starting out), and if you're going to run courses like that fairly often: cut distance at every opportunity. In other words, run the tightest line possible. You're not going to carry enough speed on turns that tight to make adding any distance a profitable experience. You'd be surprised how much quicker you'll be if you're driving 50+ ft less on a course like that. Also, brake early (and maybe a bit more than you think you need to) on entry, it will make it easier to hold the line you want through the turns, clean up your exits and improve your times. My $0.02.

 

MUCH better autox course (and good for all 2nd gear):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56mz9Ungh7s

 

I'm happily taking it all in... Karting has gotten me used to a super fast reacting, carry as much speed approach. Which I need to alter with the weight difference lol

This weekend the course will be multiple times larger. I'll take what I have learned and update everyone...

Thanks again

 

I'm just spoiled. Most of this is 3rd
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Whoever built that course REALLY needs to read this:

http://www.houscca.com/solo/courses/coursedesign.zip

 

I didn't DL and read the zip file, but the people that designed that course have been doing so for about 35 years, run two annual autox schools/year, one HPDE school/year, and 14 autoxs/year that attracts about 150-200 people each time. The event in that vid is a much smaller lot than they/we typically use since it's the yearly event at the local college put on by the tech students there.

Here are the last two (not me driving):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWFtYySuYw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyewNMIXGgY

 

I was simply referring to the million cones lining the full course. Makes it hard to see where it's going beyond the very next turn, and isn't at all like a real SCCA autocross course. I understand the difficulty of working with small/odd-shaped lots though, as our primary local lot is a parallelogram with only one possible entry and one exit, which can never change. Limits design parameters and possibilities, but that's no excuse for making a course visually hard to drive.

edited to add: the same problem exists in the two videos you followed up with: that's what national-level course designers refer to as a "sea of cones." At any one point, looking out the front of the car, there's a scattered array of cones that are not at all intuitive. Yes, it can be figured out, but it's not good design, either imo, or according to Roger Johnson's PDF, which is generally regarded as the bible on course design.

 

You guys will be CalClub Solo2 haters after watching this video. FYI... This is one of my customers in his FP BMW E36. This was the fastest PAX'd run at the Divisional.

http://www.vimeo.com/12933891

 

Now that's a great example of course design. A minimum of superfluous cones, visually clear and distinct elements, good flow.

And yes, I'm jealous of both the site and the course. Only get to run those sorts of courses semi-locally (2.5 hrs away) three times a year.