Well, I did my first autocross event this past Sunday. All I can say is, wow, its very much like automobile crack.

This is a write up for those that have never done this. Its real big here in Columbus OH, but this is run by the SCCA, and they do this all over the country, just about everywhere. You can find your local chapter from their website: www.scca.org

Coming into this event, I had thought myself a fairly experienced driver. I felt I had pushed my car to its limits on the streets with my back-road drives, and parking lot donuts, and higher speed runs. Well, let me just say I have never pushed this or any other car ANYWHERE near the limits that you will drive on a course like this. Even a larger road course wont force you to drive as hard.

The course was set up in a very large parking lot. I would guess that the length of the course was apporximately about 3/4 mile or so long. The course was fairly fast, I probably topped out around 50 in certain sections. But the course is all curves and turns, and any sections that were straight were slalom sections. It was a very challenging experience. It is an eye opening experience to get on a course like this, and drive your car as fast as it can possibly go, while keeping it on the track. I have never heard my tires squeel so much. I slid and squeeled around every corner, with the car at the limits of traction, feeling the 4 wheel drive pull me through as I accellerated out of corners, and the brakes almost fail to stop me in time for the next one. The ABS got a workout as well, as I tried to slow down enough to not go off the track when I came in too hot. And, comparing yourself to these guys that do it all the time, well, its a humbling experience to say the least. I was expecting this, so it wasnt to shocking, but it really levels your head when you see how well some of these other people can drive the same course.

In a nutshell, I did pretty well for my first time out. My best time, 59.2 seconds, was not bad. I finished 8th out of 17 novice drivers whom had completed in 6 or less events. I finished 98th out of 123 when ranked by the system they use to even out the differences in vehicles.
While this may seem poor, consider this:
my time beat the times of
a 2005 corvette
a 2007 corvette
a 2000 A4
a couple older MR2's
a 2001 mustang
a few acura integra type r's of various years (including
an older late 80's porsche 911
an 84 rx7
an 07 civic si
a couple mini-coopers
a saab (not that thats even a challenge)

You can see all the results here: http://www.ovr-scca.org/_autocross/r...007&rid=18I am in Class D street prepared.

Unfortunately, Because of the aftermarket chip, I had to enter in a class thats pretty competitve. The guys I was racing against had like 20 degrees of camber, and were running really fat racing slicks. Obviously they had plenty of other mods as well. The BMW numbered 123 was incredibly fast, in fact was one of the fastest cars of the day. If I continue to do this, I am definitely going to need a set of rims and some racing slicks down the road.

While the cars make a difference, the driver makes the most difference. While I beat some drivers in corvettes, the other corvette drivers absolutley smoked my time. So who is behind the wheel makes a huge difference.

All in all, It was a total blast. the most fun I have ever had behind the wheel of the audi. I am going to do it again for sure, probably within the next month. I highly reccomend this to anyone wanting to see what its like to really push the limits of your skills, and your vehicle. It is cheap to do (cost me $30) and you will meet some really cool people. I also got to ride as a passenger in a very fast vette (51 sec lap) and a bmw M3 (58 sec).

Unfortunately, my video camera failed to work after sitting in my hot car all day. I had it mounted and everything. Luckily, others have some vids up from Sunday already. My pictures did come out OK.

Here are a few links. This is an in car video from a Suby. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7kjtB0M605E
This vid gives a better idea of the space involved...I am actually in this one a few times as a track worker out on the course....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kGEpD4sLsY

And here are a few pictures. Sorry for the large pics, hope you're not on dialup!

Getting her ready for the day.........


A very nice z06




Lots of Subies around this event..........





Heat one of the day linig up on the grid............




The fastest car in my class, and one of the fastest overall....big slicks on this car, and lots of camber



I beat this porsche's time somehow.........




My time was real close to this M3.....my son is riding along in this picture......



My son got a ride in this 2006 zo6, wish it was me! But alas, I was to busy driving at the same time as him.




Heat 4 lining up on the grid, this was the heat I drove in.




My lowly a4 on grid, waiting for the fun to begin.

 

looks like fun, How did the shelby do?

 

Not bad. D Street Prep is a tricky class to run your first event in. I ran my A4 bone stock in G Stock class and placed fourth out of the 15 novices. One of the novices I spanked was driving a class ASP WRX STi. Haha, he was a tool! Have any pics or vids of you running? And a word of advice, if you didn't already know. Knock your tire pressure waaaay up. I ran it on 40 psi my first day, and then 49 on my second and did a world better on pretty much the same course.

 

He did pretty darn good.





T:1
Clint Frysinger
2004 Factory Five Racing 65 Roadster
54.654

51.981

53.205

DNS

51.981
100

 

Really??? Some guys there told me to run less. I was running around 45-47psi the first 3 runs, then I dropped the pressure to about 35 for the last run in hopes of getting more traction. It seemed like I slid around a lot. But, I could not notice much difference, even with a 10psi drop. At this point, I am ready to start experimenting......thanks for the advice.
I'm thinking slicks would be a huge difference, if I keep at this, I am going to have to go that route for sure since I am forced by the ECU to be in this class.
A bigger turbo wouldn't hurt any either!

 

Wow!

Sure it was a nice experience.

Hope I'll join you in the next one.

 

Corvette's don't belong on the autocross course. Road Racing is where they belong, like these guys:


These two ex Daytona C5 Vette's were at the SCCA road race I worked this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. I totally snagged that first one from the pace car.

 

Try fooling around with the front/rear distribution. Run them harder in the rear for a bit more grip in the front to help keep you cornering smoothly. And if you're serious, get a set of Hoosier DOT race rubber. Be warned, though, they only last you about a season but race rubber is good for at least a second off your best time!

 

I hope so too! You would have loved it. The drag strip was cool, but this was way more challenging and a bigger rush for sure.
Hey, If you need your tri-pod sooner, let me know and we can meet any day for lunch, I am at OSU, you are downtown, so not to far away. Otherwise, I can just bring the tripod and helmet to you on June 8th at the GTG.

 

Very cool. Yeah, I know they excel there more than the autox. But there were a couple vette guys that put up some really nice times. I rode with one guy on a 51 sec run he did, his car and the driver were amazing, he was very skilled with the car. Blew my time out of the water.