I'm signing up for an autocross event. It will be my first autocross or track day, never been anywhere other than the streets/canyon driving. It should be fun. But I wanted to ask anyone here who is experienced about the consumables for our cars SPECIFICALLY. I need to know the exact budget for my weekend.

My car is a complete street, daily driver. 100% stock except lowering springs (gf210), 19" rims, cosmetic mods, and a catback exhaust. Would it be a good idea to change my brake pads to brand new ones before the autocross day so I do not have to worry about having no brakes in the middle of the event? How much of the brake pads does 1 good autocross session wear? What about tires? My tires at about 85% tread or more. Do I bring extra brake pads or do I replace them and then use the remaining stock ones for backup? Do i buy stock brake pads OEM or is getting the cheapest ones at autozone going to be a problem? I'll look into track or race brakes if I continue this hobby but for now, I'm trying it for the first time.

I will not do this event if I am going to have to replace the tires after the day. I understand it will have wear but dont want to burn through the entire thing. A pair or more of tires every day of autocross will be too expensive of a hobby. The tires should be 60% or more after the days end allowing me to drive the car on the street for a while right?

Gas: Complete fill up once I get in or around the event right? Will I burn through the entire tank in 1 day or how much will be used?




Expenses so far (please tell me if I am missing anything! anything at all, need an accurate budget estimate):
- event fee $75
- gate fee $10
- helmet rental $30
- full tank of gas $60
- food $20
- motel for the night $50
- tires??? do i need to replace after a day
- brake pads?? do i need to replace after a day
- oil change?

- tools. tire pressure gauge, wrenches and torque wrench, jack, jack stands, wheel chocks, hoses, shop towels, water, tool box. bicycle.



Any input appreciated.

 

Is it a track day or autocross? They are very different.

Autox will not kill your tires or brakes, you will use less than half a tank, typically. Autox put very little wear on your car, similar to an afternoon of canyon driving.

 

It is autocross. I opted out of a track day despite wanting to very badly because insurance will not cover my car. Can't risk getting in an accident with my daily driver.

Would it be safe to say then that I can just go to the autocross event without changing tires or brakes and also assuming they will be fine to use after the event is done?

I always thought autocross put more wear on tires than the track, and less wear on brakes. Cause you're constantly turning and weaving and stuff while the track is more high speed? But that assumption may have been wrong.

 

Go as is, you'll be fine. $75 is almost as expensive as a national event. Also, most clubs loan helmets for free.

 

Yeah I'll go as-is. Thanks for the help. The $75 is on the bit expensive side cause there are no work shifts like SCCA does, it's an event put on by speed ventures and you basically get unlimited runs from 9am to 4pm. not sure how many cars will be there though. but the course is a bit small, not huge like El toro in irvine. but for a first time, it will be great for me not focus on work shifts and get as many runs as possible. Not sure if they rent helmets. They don't respond to emails and I left a few messages and called a few times and no one calls me back from speed ventures.

 

You can get in an accident at an AUTOX too, don't let that stop you from going to a track day.

Are you running speed ventures AUTOX?

They have great driving schools for HPDE with great instructors (shameless plung) me being one. You should try an open course day with them!

 

OP are you going on Saturday or Sunday? I am still deciding between the two. Just FYI they have loaner open face helmets. You'll see some wear on your tires but you won't have to replace after a day. Not even close.

 

What is the temperature supposed to be like that day? If it is going to be really hot I would suggest buying one of those sprayers from Home Depot and spray your tires after each run with water. It will help with grip as well as saving your tires due to overheating.

Regarding tire wear, a typical autocross day should not kill your tires unless you really want to. It really depends on your driving and how the course is laid out. My first 2 times I did a number on my tires since I was pushing my car past the limit most of the time, which inhibited a lot of understeer and oversteer. Both of those will ruin your front and rear tires.

This year I took a much different approach, well basically my knowledge from what I learned last year and not only did my tires last a lot longer, I was placing much better!

Remember, the harder you push, the slower you really will go. It is all about being smooth! My best times were always the times where I felt like I was slower because I wasn't sliding around on the edge.

 

go get your own helmet for about the same price as renting.. and then you dont have to worry about someone elses nappy sweat and stuff in the helmet

 

Agreed. I have a Zamp and it was super cheap and it gets the job done just fine.

This obviously depends on if you will be continuing autocross or if you just want to try it out.

Another option is to borrow a motorcycle helmet from a friend. Just make sure it has the stickers for safety standards.

 

hm im not sure yet. I'm free both days for now. Still waiting to see if there are any unforeseen schedule conflicts. Saturday is filling up quite a lot, there's like 20+ cars now. Sunday has like 12 I think last time I checked.
Sunday is probably the less popular day anyway so if I go on Sunday i may get more runs in. But, it might be more fun on saturday.
What about you?


I used to ride motorcycles and now that I think about it (it's been a few years) I think a brand new helmet was $99 or something for a snell approved one. Maybe I might just buy one.
Or i can buy a used one for probably $50 which is right around the price of a rental. It's used but it's not like I'm going to be riding a motorcycle on the street everyday and the rental is also used.




It's supposed to be 77-78 degrees here in socal. Either sunny or partly sunny. I usually dont trust forecasts that advanced though there's also a possibility of winds and rain. Usually right around november it gets colder and windier. Would be a good idea to spray the tires though anyway. Are you talking about those sprayers that are white bottles that are used for lawn and garden to spray water and pesticides? Probably a good idea, Very small investment for tire preservation.



Question: At autocross events, do people usually do burnouts to warm up their tires? It's at the AAA speedway which is an actual track, not a random parking lot so I'm wondering if they will have a section where they do that.
And if they do allow that, should I do it or should I just go as-is? Im guessing burnouts = WAY faster wear. but stickier and safer.

Question 2: When looking for helmets to buy, what is the right terminology for a car track helmet? Is it "Track helmet", "racing helmet", "car racing helmet"? I've been looking mainly at the craigslist motorcycle parts section for motorcycle helmets. Motorcycle helmets suck cause you cant hear anything they have very good noise cancellation which is good on a bike, bad in a car. Also limited visibility. Hot and sweaty, get foggy. Very heavy.
i'd like one almost as safe or just as safe but more lightweight and open face. Any tips on this?

 

Yes the bottles for the pesticides.

Question 1: in SCCA burnouts are not allowed at auto-x events. Plus it is not needed, since it is such a short track with load on the tires basically the entire time, they heat up RIGHT AWAY. Actually in relation with my recommendation of getting the water sprayer, the issue at auto-x events is keeping the tires cool since they heat up so quickly.

Question 2: If you are just going to be doing auto-x, I think you should get a cheap motorcycle helmet, or an open face race helmet. Motorcycles M rating is sufficient for auto-x events, but if you ever plan on doing HPDE events then I would recommend getting a car helmet, which is SA rated. I believe the main difference between the 2 is that SA rated helmets have fire proof material as well as passing testing for roll cage impact.

 

You won't want to burn out at an autox.. only heats up two out of four tires and unlike drag racing, you need all 4 to be warm. It's an option at prosolo events, but it seems rarely utilized with how easy it is to overheat most of the current gen tires.

as for a helmet, for autox use only.. you need to acquire a helmet with Snell M2005 spec or better.. most likely you can find an M2010 spec helmet (good for about 7 years minimum, 13 with the SCCA) open face for about $65. HJC are cheap and common. Perk of an open face is they're cooler (temperature wise..)

If you want to get into competitive track stuff, you'll need a Snell SA rated helmet, which will cost considerably more.

These event fees are pretty high for an Autox.. locally up here in the MN/Midwest an SCCA event is about $35 with no fees for helmet use or instructor ride alongs, etc.. i understand it's a little different because they're paying people to do work assignments.. but there's alot of information to be gained by working the course, watching your competitors, and talking shop with your fellow drivers.

agreed on others mentioning a sprayer.. very helpful for street tires. spraying between each run will keep things consistent.
add sunscreen, a hat, and a folding chair to your tool kit.
I also recommend a 12v compressor or air tank. preferably both as tanks fill faster but run out. Pressure gauge is only helpful for airing down, you need to be able to add pressure after a cool down period if you bled it off while the tires were hot.

 

20 isn't that bad. Not all 20 cars will be there and lining up the same time. I actually spend a lot of time watching other drivers go at it anyways, just to see if I can learn something.

The surface is actually more like the typical parking lot. It's not a track surface. I've not seen anyone do burnouts to warm up the rears. If anything that ruins the front/rear balance doesn't it?

 

I signed up for this saturday's session. Should be fun, super excited. There's 30 cars on sat I think and about 25 on Sun. I wonder how many will show by the end of the week.

Also there's a brand new Scorpion EXO-400 helmet for sale for $59 free shipping. It's m2010 rated so good for most track and autox stuff. I didn't have a helmet and it cost $30 to rent but Speedventures ran out so I bought it. Good for another 3 hours if you dont have a helmet.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...WT.MC_ID=54006