My ITE race car doesnt like autoxing.

[99COBRA2881]

Maybe its the driver that doesnt like it anymore either.

My local SCCA region is 99% auto-x, only four of the regions members road race myself included. After reading an article in SportsCar a few months ago talking about club racers that also auto-x it got me interested to try my car out at an auto-x.

Long story short... I now know that...

-I cant get enough heat into a set of carbotech enduro race pads. Never had any trouble before with the XP10s on my 99 cobra.

-If Im going to attempt to auto-x the car I have to use a set of my good tires, trying to be cheap by keeping the car on very old v710s is a handful.

-The combination of short run time, a 4" alternator pulley and a PC680 wont restart the car after 3 runs.

After wheel to wheel road racing, autoxing wasnt the same for me like it used to be. I guess Im used to pushing the car well past 100 mph, feeling the g forces of max braking and taking a corner flat out.

Im glad I tried or else I would feel like Im missing out every time I see a local auto-x event come and go on the calender. Im just a road racer from here on. Thats not an entirely bad thing to have to say.

[gcassidy]

And when you throw in having to work the course for half the day, you need to be a hardcore jonesing autocrosser to keep coming back.

But its what got me started way back in 19mumblemumble.

[99COBRA2881]

Yeah I didnt even think about that part of the day. It makes me appreciate the volunteer workers at SCCA club races even more!

[David Hester]

I think that is pretty true everywhere. Setups are just at opposite ends of the spectrum. I tried a couple of autocrosses the past couple of years, but won't try again unless I get new tires for the Roush.

[a1yola]

I've done a few Autox eventwiki the past with an underpowered 96 Saleen. It was fun for the most part but I hated working the cones and the local courses were always setup for miata-type vehicles. I stopped after one season and never really looked back. Open tracking is where it's at!!!

[99COBRA2881]

I hear ya, the auto-x course had a cobalt driver saying the course was "tight" in my car that equates to "no effin way" especially considering my shitty tires and bassackwards setup.

Where the car is well prepared for road racing, I couldn't get out of my own way on an auto-x course.

I was bored on the auto-x parade lap. Once you feel the adrenaline of a lap with the pace car out in front while weaving back and forth to warm up the tires/brakes, soon you near the last corner, you line up next to the guy beside you, the pace car drops off, you make the turn onto the front straight, drop down a gear and bring the revs up... you stay there poised for the flag.... wait for it.... alittle more throttle...... everyone still lined up.... wait for it.... AND finally the green flag drops for 14 laps of adrenaline!!!

A Sunday drive around while looking at cones will about lull you to sleep.

[Jimmysidecarr]

Try Ice Racing!!!

It will ruin you for everything else!

[99COBRA2881]

But Jimmy if I was ice racing during the winter when would I work on my race car?

HAHA!

[MFE]

I started autocrossing in KC in 1997, I got hooked hard and fast. And I got pretty good at it in the Street Tire class, winning a couple of local trophies that weren't just attendance awards, but I never went to nationals. About 2002 I prepped the car more for road course duty. The improvements of factory cars by then, and whatever style changes took place on my part, conspired to make me less competitive then than I was when I ran my first autocross event. The opinions surrounding what comprised a proper autocross event were starting to drag the fun out of it, like every event had to be Nationals caliber and if it wasn't, the event sucked, the organizers sucked, and everybody attached to it sucked. My son was born in 2003, and that seriously limited my available time for prep and events. So, my enthusiasm for committing to the required time and drama was waning fast.

I continued to instruct at local autocross schools even as my attention turned 100% to track days, and I wasn't actually entering autocross events at all.

I now have close to 7000 miles on toad courses, and my only actual race experience has been at racing schools. Track days are a riot...I live for them. But actual race competition would add an element I find attractive, yet out of reach for a variety of reasons. Sure, if I wanted it bad enough, I'd make it happen, but it's not worth the sacrifices I'd have to make.

So isn't that odd...I lost my love of autocross, and frankly haven't felt the need to jump back into it, because the uber-competitive people beat all the fun out of it...yet I'm leaving a few percentage points of enjoyment of track driving on the table because it isn't a true competitive environment.

Good news is, I still enjoy myself enough to make it worth whatever effort I put into it. And heartfelt compliments from other drivers I respect is pretty nice even if there's no trophy involved.


.

[David Hester]

I joined SCCA in '84 to work corners so I could visit all the tracks expecting to go AMA road racing. Got hooked on autocross and flagging and forgot about bikes.
I really liked it when you had 4 classes-stock, street prepared, prepared and modified and prepared your car to the rulebook.
Lost interest when the powers that be started rewriting the rulebook to every darn car.
Randy Pobst, Jeff Altenburg, Neal Sapp and I don't know how many other pro drivers got started with autocross. Randy and Jeff raced in the SouthEast back in the '80's. Jeff won the SOLO National in his class, ProSolo, and Runoffs Nationals road race all in the same year, before he went pro. I still see him from time to time at Pro races. Saw Randy instructing at a PDX at Road Atlanta this summer. Both great guys.

[DocB]

As of late, I personally, have had a new outlook on this racing/driving thing/addiction.

If there is a start and finish line, I'm there.

Although I am continually modding and improving my car (and greatly enjoy this) I am not worried that it is not ideal.

Street, OT, AutoX, I am enjoying it all.

For example, I have participated in an AutoX event, that is held 10 minutes from where I live, 4 times in the last 8 weeks and have been having a blast!

I just enjoy driving and am doing it every chance I get. It may sound simplistic, but it has been working for me.

[GetBlown2k3]

I only auto-X if I've got nothing to do that Saturday or Sunday and the wife tells me a day ahead of time that she wants to go shopping... and I've got a Miata!! lol

I have been ruined.

[KILRSVT]

I do both autox with the American auto x here in nor cal and run with NASA hpde programs I'm so freaking hook on driving it's ridiculous I work right now to feed the addiction lol I feel I should enjoy it while I still have the excitement ... My buddy is s TT winner he has multiple track records in his class and his average time around infineon is 1:50 fastest has been 1:44 wrecked his car and he told me he lost his mojo for it ...his gonna try motorcyle racing now.. I guess I better enjoy it while I got the bug bite

[99COBRA2881]

Theres two sides to this hobby. People that do it for several years then move on, and people that keep coming back for years and years.

I've been open tracking since '05 missed a few years due to conflicts between finances or other things going on, but now in '11 I finally got my comp liscence and finished third overal in the MID-AM Championship ITE points.

Its rediculously fun but its a damn demanding hobby and lots of people burn out.

[David Hester]

No, Anthony. third type.
Some of us that keep coming back are just too dense to quit.
Don't know if I have another 34 years to race, but I'm gonna try. LOL

Congrats on your finish! Uh,oh. Now you smell blood..just saying.

[904tony]

Dont know if you've heard of him, but James Elterman was a driver/racer for takata racing and had the chance to speak with him a few times, and then met him at a SE divisional autox. Being a professional racer, I asked him about this exact topic, in my aspirations of driving professionally, should I focus on open track events or also go autox events? He responded that he sees a lot of people down autox because of the slower speeds and one car at a time setup, but how do you expect to fare on a track 3 times as fast wheel to wheel, if you cant handle yourself and your car on an autox course? Having raced against people who never autox'd in the wheel to wheel world, he sees that as an area to hone/improve skills+more seat time. And it makes sense to me, so thats how im approaching my racing, using an autox to get better and better so that I dont make a fool of myself on the track. And as for the working, thats how i started so doesnt seem bad to me, like to see how others take the course, and im in florida so the weather is great 99% of the time. Too hot if anything. Plus there are the comfy jobs. Our div. Has a/c in the trailer

[99COBRA2881]

Originally Posted by 904tony

Dont know if you've heard of him, but James Elterman was a driver/racer for takata racing and had the chance to speak with him a few times, and then met him at a SE divisional autox. Being a professional racer, I asked him about this exact topic, in my aspirations of driving professionally, should I focus on open track events or also go autox events? He responded that he sees a lot of people down autox because of the slower speeds and one car at a time setup, but how do you expect to fare on a track 3 times as fast wheel to wheel, if you cant handle yourself and your car on an autox course? Having raced against people who never autox'd in the wheel to wheel world, he sees that as an area to hone/improve skills+more seat time. And it makes sense to me, so thats how im approaching my racing, using an autox to get better and better so that I dont make a fool of myself on the track. And as for the working, thats how i started so doesnt seem bad to me, like to see how others take the course, and im in florida so the weather is great 99% of the time. Too hot if anything. Plus there are the comfy jobs. Our div. Has a/c in the trailer

That's a good point and most folks that replied already have a fair amount of experience in both auto-x and open track events. For the beginner, auto-x is an invaluable tool to use to gain car control skills and get the feel for the car at the limit.

I started open tracking in 2005 and went to my first auto-x soon after I had been to my first open track event. The car control skills I learned auto-xing have benefitted me greatly and the slower speeds don't feel slow when you're working a car that hard.

I had a good amount of success as an Auto-xer, but more importantly I made alot of friends over the past few years. So if you're thinking about going racing, don't just make the jump to open tracking without atleast trying a few auto-x events along the way. You'll be better off for it and so will the people that youre racing against.

Looking back at my setup on the race car, Ive thought about using up a set of street pads and one peice rotors. I had used my track only brake pads/rotors before auto-xing and had never had any trouble, seems the Carbotech compound I have on the race car just couldnt do anything at such low temps.

[PushinTheLimit]

Originally Posted by 99COBRA2881

I was bored on the auto-x parade lap. Once you feel the adrenaline of a lap with the pace car out in front while weaving back and forth to warm up the tires/brakes, soon you near the last corner, you line up next to the guy beside you, the pace car drops off, you make the turn onto the front straight, drop down a gear and bring the revs up... you stay there poised for the flag.... wait for it.... alittle more throttle...... everyone still lined up.... wait for it.... AND finally the green flag drops for 14 laps of adrenaline!!!

That is the way it is for me too... I love it.

I started out doing some Test N Tuning drag racing my old 04 Cobra on Friday nights. Thought it was really cool to go out in your own car and run it to see how you improve as a driver and with each mod you put on.

But I started to get bored quickly because bracket racing didn't appeal to me and wanted to keep the car street legal. I had a buddy that told me about SCCA autox and I gave it a chance. Loved it and started thinking how I wanted to prep the Cobra for Steet Modified and try to run nationally with it. But after riding around with my friend in his C5 Z06, I jumped platforms and bought an 04 Z06 and ran it regionally all year in autox. I was thinking the next year I would try to compete nationally with it and see how it goes.

Then that same friend introduced me to open track events. I did my first one at Nashville SS and just loved it. The rush it was to run wide open 20-30 mins at a time just completely blew away autox for me. But I knew I wouldn't be satisfied just doing HPDE's... so I sold the Z06 for a T1 prepped Z06 and worked my way up to W2W last year and ran in Nasa's ST2 class all year. Didn't make it to nationals but overall it was the most fun I've ever had racing. The adrenaline rush I get from W2W is awesome and nothing can replace that for me.

Now I do still autox on rare occasion... but that's only when its close to home for me and I got nothing else going on. I always looked at autox as a stepping stone toward W2W racing and a good place to knock the rust off from time to time. My 3rd and 4th ever autox I attended back in 2007 I even got the chance to run against Mr. Hester... good times!

[David Hester]

LOL We're down at Eastgate now for autocrossing. Next one is the 26th, I think.
BTW It's Dave, Mr. Hester was my Dad.