Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ghrankenstein
After my run, I got into Joe’s Hyundai Elantra for his second lap. Joe is a nut, which largely accounts for the fact that he gets his Hyundai through the course faster than many “faster” cars. Joe knows how to use the Elantra’s abundant drifting abilities to his advantage, and he slides the car through the better part of the course. Joe uses the handbrake a lot, which strikes me as crazy, but gets me to thinking.
|
I suspect Joe's "abundant drifting abilities" are probably the reason he's two seconds back on 1st place. Two seconds is a TON of time on a 50 second course. Maximizing your tires' slip angle is one thing, but drifting does nothing more than add time.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ghrankenstein
Joe rode with me again on my third run. I drove vastly more aggressively this time, but I still got lost in the course. I missed a full slalom gate, resulting in a DNF. I went ahead and ran the rest of the course as hard as I could, again plunging too deep in corners 4 and 5. My DNF time was a 59.8. I had already succeeded in one of my goals, but I didn’t take this as a success. I wanted to run better.
|
Newbie mistake, don't quote a DNF time. Everyone knows if you'd had to maneuver through the gate you missed or around a cone you hit, your time would be slower.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ghrankenstein
On my fourth run, Jon rode with me. Jon was apparently good karma, and I ran hard. Hard, that is, after my very slow start. I took off from idle, trying to avoid the burnout starts that Joe said held Jon back by two seconds. Jon had responded that he was taking off from several feet behind the gates, and that his starts were pure net gain. At any rate, I chundered ahead, gaining speed rapidly behind my strong Ecotec.
|
Joe again proves he's not to be listened to. It's just like drag racing at this point. You want to maximize your acceleration. You don't want to bog, but you don't want to sit there and spin the tires either. You find the happy medium the same way you do when you're trying to cut that good 60' time at the strip.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ghrankenstein
I had not embarrassed myself with my driving. Goal accomplished. Yet more cheers and congratulations, mostly associated with being a rookie and driving fairly well. Despite the final tabulations, times seem to be more important within various cliques, and cones hit seem to be grounds for trash-talking for the next round.
|
If you had a good time, that's what matters. Autocross is intense, it's competitve, but yet I've also found it to be a great place to find new friends, even those you compete head-to-head with. Hope you find your way back to another autocross. Getting better is all about seat time and figuring out which techniques work.