Hey guys,

I've always been a drag kinda guy and have really enjoyed doing that(although not always on a strip, shh....) but lately I've been bit by the AutoX bug. Problems is, my car's an Auto(cause the woman in the household can't drive stick). Will it hinder me a lot or will I still be fine in an AutoX environment using Tiptronic?

Thanks.

 

Well thoeretically it would slow you down if you are/were a top notch driver looking for ever last tenth. If you're just getting into it or you still think there's room to improve on your driving, you'll be fine. The Z33 A/T tranny is very good, especially since it's a 5 speed. I've autocrossed a G35 Coupe A/T and it was awesome.. i wouldn't worry about it. A lot of Corvette guys autocross with A/T transmissions as well. Start in 1st (manual mode), upshift into 2nd and just leave it there for your whole run. Have fun!

 

I agree. I have had both the automatic and now have the standard. Once you get used to the lag in the shift, it isn't any big deal. In fact, in a lot of ways I liked the auto better.

 

Now the big question, will the cones damage the Z's paint if I happen to run into one or are they made out of that foam-like material that just folds on impact?

 

99% of the time if the cones leave a mark it'll come off with car polish. I've never seen any "permanent" damage from cones that's worth talking about.. they're rubber cones, but you really have to be flying to make any kind of mark on the car. And like I said, if you do make a mark, it'll come off with polish easily.

 

Once you get use to it, auto is fine for autox... As it was mentioned, theoretically you are loosing some 10s and 100s of sec, but practically you don't have to warry about it first couple of years...

Just put it in manual (TCS off, of course), start in first, shift to second at 6500 or so, stay there. When launching, apply brakes and rev engine a little, but not too much. 1500 or so, than drop brakes.

Once you get accustom to autox fast corners changes you might try to downshift to 1st when necessary. The trick is to do it with half a second-second adjustment for the auto delay. It's not as intuitive as manual, but with some practice, it's not a big deal. But for the first 10 events or so, 2nd gear if all you need

 

Cones are very soft and totally harmless.