The Great Autocross Mega Thread!

[MustGoFaster]

Doing it at all is more important than how well you do. You'll learn more about you as a driver and the limits of your car than you will at any other time. Hope to see you out there.

+10

I'm registered.

[john]

I just started reading a bit about the safety requirements and didn't find what I was looking for.

Will I need to get a hard top for my car or can I drive it as a convertible? The soft top obviously wouldn't offer any additional protection. The tech info I read didn't talk about it.

[cmspaz]

It's okay to be humbled now and then. If someone is a better driver than you, so be it.
I never said it wasn't. That's a good part of why I autox, because I know I'm not the best driver, and I want to become better. If someone's faster than me in my own car, that just means I have further to go.

Plus, it's something we can all laugh about later, and you know I'm good for more than a few laughs :D

[Kracka]

I just started reading a bit about the safety requirements and didn't find what I was looking for.

Will I need to get a hard top for my car or can I drive it as a convertible? The soft top obviously wouldn't offer any additional protection. The tech info I read didn't talk about it.
No hardtop or roll-bar needed for local auto-x.

[john]

No hardtop or roll-bar needed for local auto-x.

Good. Is there a map of what some of the courses have been in the past? Are there many/any straight aways in them or is it pretty much turn, turn, turn?

I know part of the trouble/fun about these is that you have to try and memorize the track before hand. Just want an idea what the courses are like.

[cmspaz]

Most of them are turn, turn, turn, but it depends on the location. For a Viper, I'd suggest the Valley Fair and Canterbury events, since the lots are larger and allow for higher speeds.

There's a guy there who used to drive a Viper, but now runs a Porsche Cayman. If you end up coming to an event, talk to him.

[MustGoFaster]

Here is the one course map I could find. Normaly maps are not provided, since you could study it a bit and gain an advantage.

http://home.comcast.net/~genericdad/DCTC_Test_and_Tune_1_2007.bmp
It's for a Test and Tune event, normally the two courses would be linked and make one long one. The two places you see no blue line and a line of orange dots are slaloms. You have to weave in and out of the cones, alternating what side of the car they go down. Since they are optional slaloms there are no lines drawn, you can start on either side. As you can see there are a few small straights. But even though they are there, much of them can be spend setting up for, entering ans exit the turns. Your top speed will be ~60mph +/- depending or the course/car. Some of the bigger courses, 75mph isn't out of the question, smaller courses (Midway Stadium) 45mph tops.

[john]

ok, thanks. I am thinking it may be quite a battle with my tires and traction everytime I hit the gas coming out of a turn..... My tires are in good shape but they are not anywhere near racing tires. I have a feeling I would come out of the turns, hit the gas, and slide into a long row of cones.

I will head to an event to spectate first and see if I think it would be much fun.

In the meantime I am going to look into Brainerd as I should be able to carry some speed.

[MustGoFaster]

I know a car with that much power will be tricky, but it shouldn't be THAT bad. Use 2nd gear to eliminate a lot of the mechanical advantage. Most people stay well within the limits of their vehicle. But with a Viper, I'm sure it is easy to venture outside of the limits of the rear tires fairly easy.

[Matt D.]

ok, thanks. I am thinking it may be quite a battle with my tires and traction everytime I hit the gas coming out of a turn..... My tires are in good shape but they are not anywhere near racing tires. I have a feeling I would come out of the turns, hit the gas, and slide into a long row of cones.

I will head to an event to spectate first and see if I think it would be much fun.
Spectating autocross isn't that much fun. You don't really have any sense at all of what is going on in the car until you're actually in a car on the course.

Of course there's a point to where there's too much power for autocross, but that's where driver ability comes into play. Kevin Cyr drove his Viper in local autocrosses and did quite well locally before he got his Cayman. There are Corvettes out there as well on a regular basis, so your car isn't as much of a "non-autocross car" as you may think it is.