My First Autocross in the DSM... Finally!!!

[Jordanbutter]

I was going to start messing with tire pressure, but what I was running seemed to work pretty good and the front tires didn't seem to roll under much.

Bring chalk, go to your next door neighbors beat up the little kids and take their sidewalk chalk. Its the best way to see if there is/isn't enough pressure. Also something to work on, that I still am also, know your brakes. I still brake too little too early and slowly slow down, I believe I, subconciously, don't trust my breaks even though I know they are plenty good. A lot of the fast guys that I ride with at the last second as hard as possible, but with a smooth application. I'm still workin on it.

Anway it sounds like you've pretty much got the basics, that is a great thing because now you can start working on the fun stuff. Good luck.

- Jordan Butterfield

P.S. DSMunknown Empty your in box and I'll send you a PM, as not to go off topic in the thread.

 

[housegsx]

Cmspaz, thanks for some of those tips. I walked the course 3 times, but I was mostly focused on just remembering where it goes. As far as picking braking points etc, I will have to get more used to my car to be able to pick those out beforehand and to think of those things while driving. That comes with time and experience I'm sure.

Jordan, yes, I forgot the chalk at WalMart. And the little neighbors weren't awake early enough to steal any from them.

As for braking, I feel like I'm pretty good at that already. If anything, I go in too fast, but not often. But I know it would be a different story on a road course and the speeds were faster and things to hit. I'm sure I'd start off braking way too early. Jordan, do you left foot brake then? It seems like nobody does it, but I find myself doing it all the time if I don't need to be on the clutch.

 

[Polishplayboyx]

damn, that DSM looks good

 

[cmspaz]

As for braking, I feel like I'm pretty good at that already. If anything, I go in too fast, but not often. But I know it would be a different story on a road course and the speeds were faster and things to hit. I'm sure I'd start off braking way too early. Jordan, do you left foot brake then? It seems like nobody does it, but I find myself doing it all the time if I don't need to be on the clutch.

First off, "slow in, fast out" is something to live by with DSMs in autox. Remember, you've got AWD. If you go in too slow, you can just go WOT earlier and make up time at corner exit with the turbo fully spooled. If you go in too fast, the only thing you're doing is losing time, period.

And as for pedal work, you should only need to be on the clutch twice on any autox course: launch, and shifting into second shortly after. Then move your left onto the brake. That's its resting point for the remainder of the run. 2nd gear can go as low as 20mph, and all the way up to 65 (past the redline), so that's the only place you need to be. And with dropping down to 2k at 20mph, trail brake into the corner and go WOT earlier... basically, brake boost to keep it spooled, just like a launch, but using your brakes in place of the clutch to keep the engine under load.

Also, course walking: I usually do 3 myself, more if friends want to (it never hurts). First time is course layout, getting a pic in my head, then I sit down for a few minutes and drill that in. Second time is looking for those key cones to get close to and finding those "shortcuts," then I sit again, and put those cones with the layout in my head. Third walk is then trying to pick out shift points, braking points, WOT points, overall the longest and most intensive walk. I try to do my third walk alone.

 

[housegsx]

First off, "slow in, fast out" is something to live by with DSMs in autox. Remember, you've got AWD.

Very true. It seemed I was only going too fast on the one tight 180 that I was coming into at the top of 2nd gear. I got it right the 2nd time through. The 1st and 3rd times I was carrying too much speed.

And as for pedal work, you should only need to be on the clutch twice on any autox course: launch, and shifting into second shortly after. Then move your left onto the brake. That's its resting point for the remainder of the run. 2nd gear can go as low as 20mph, and all the way up to 65 (past the redline), so that's the only place you need to be. And with dropping down to 2k at 20mph, trail brake into the corner and go WOT earlier... basically, brake boost to keep it spooled, just like a launch, but using your brakes in place of the clutch to keep the engine under load.

That's pretty much what I was doing except for using the brakes to keep the turbo spooled. Good idea. That's something that I'll have to incorporate.

 

[cmspaz]

That's pretty much what I was doing except for using the brakes to keep the turbo spooled. Good idea. That's something that I'll have to incorporate.

One thing to note is that you should only trail brake to that extent below 2800, because you won't need it above that. If you do it all the time, by the fourth corner, your brake pedal is going to feel more like a rock than anything. I'm not, however, advocating watching your tach during runs. You've got no time to be actually looking at your dash, you just need to feel for it.

 

[bmoha2]

What tires are running on your OZ's? How did they perform? What width are your wheels? What size tires are you running?

 

[Jordanbutter]

Yeah I left foot break for slaloms, but I really need to start doing it all the time. As said before, you do really need to be able to walk the course and find important cones, apex cones, gates that may look off set but have a straight line through them, also look for sucker cones, the ones that look like apex cones but will really through you off the line. And one thing to remember, lost time is gone forever, you can't get it back, if you try to make it up thats when you start going to hot into corners, just remember what you did wrong and fix it your next run. Also something I do, take a deep breath right before you start. I don't know about you guys but my heart rate is usually up there a bit. It slows me down and lets me think exactly what I need to do.

- Jordan Butterfield

 

[housegsx]

What tires are running on your OZ's? How did they perform? What width are your wheels? What size tires are you running?

Kumho MX. 245/40/17. My wheels are 17x8. They are a tremendous improvement over the 18 inch wheels with 225 Nittos I had on previously.

 

[bmoha2]

My new OZs are shod in Falken ZIEXs. 235/45/17. I dig them. They seem really grippy. can't wait for the next Milwaukee autocross event to try them out.