Novi's Proletariat Garage

[novicius]

The Autox School itself was pretty straightforward: they broke us up into two groups and sent one to learn Tech and the other to the Classroom.

I was in the Tech First group -- and had the honor of having the Bananastang being the demo car for teching in. So stained and filthy in all her glory, we walked around the various safety points -- first & foremost was the battery puck!!

Right away the Instructors were asking me where my battery tie-down was, was the battery flopping around, this isn't how you should run your car and certainly can't run on the track, etc. I then pointed out the shiny new hardware keeping my battery puck in place and all was well. #bulletdodged #worththeeffort

The rest of the car passed fine (this time I had cleaned everything out of the car and left it back at home) so the trunk was bare, no floor mats, tires & lug nuts are tight, on and on. Then we talked about points and even tho' I could legitimately pass the car off as having stock springs IMO, I pointed out the aftermarket springs & no mufflers.

Then we switched over to the Classroom and spent a goodly portion talking about the traction circle, dissecting slaloms, working the radio and the flag when you're a cornerworker and the general point of autocrossing. All pretty smooth and helpful if you're not familiar with the basics. Honestly on a general autox day it can be daunting because it certainly feels like everybody else knows what to do and where to be if it's your first autox.

Finally they put us out on the course while the first group got into their cars. We worked the corners of half the track while Instructors kept hoping into and out of cars for ride-a-longs. After six runs, we switched.

[novicius]

Finally the afternoon rolled around, they completed building out the course (still wasn't as big a layout as the first autox -- about half as long) and started doing the autox instruction for serious:

We each got six runs, which was plenty to practice and think about. It was easy to lose track of what run you were on while you were trying to process your lessons and impressions (at least for me). Slalom cones are a particular weakness for me, I always feel like I'm cutting them too close -- because I do:



I hit two cones in this run. I was running tight and you can certainly tell that I'm not on hard on the throttle but instead trying to just flow up & down 2nd gear.




Cut a good time here. Felt decent. I try to be smooth -- and my hands flail like I'm in a slap fight with a twelve-year-old girl. I need better hand discipline. #twss




My best time of the day, good enough for 5th fastest amongst the Rookies.

[novicius]

My final thoughts on Autocross School:

I needed this. I knew I needed it -- and not just because of the in-car instruction. It is easy for me to get amped-up & twitchy if I don't know about where I should be or what I should be doing when it comes to working the corner, where to park, what to bring, and when to take breaks, etc. The minutiae of autoxing can stress me out as much as anything on the track -- and shit happens on the track real fast to this tired old brain!

Money very well spent!

[Cam]

Cool experience and good write-up. Nice work!

[dodint]

Vanquished?

[novicius]

No. Behind the camera, my hand-work is a mess. Jumping around the wheel, one-handing sometimes, habitually grabbing the shifter at times for no good reason, etc.

Just can't feel shit yet, I'm driving through eyes and rote mimicry still.


EDIT: Thank you CAM!! Encouragement is absolutely appreciated!

[thesameguy]

That is a hell of a list of cars back there... '91 323, '96 F350???

[novicius]

Yep, there were some oddballs out there. A lot of Miatas & BMWs tho'.

::



HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE!

These tires are hewn from granite. Heat? They say fuck your heat. #lol

[thesameguy]

I had Fuzion DGAFs on an E30 and they were awful. I knew they wouldn't be good going in as they were very inexpensive, but I was not prepared for how bad they actually were. The Fuzion is what drove to try (and respect) the no-name GT Radial Champiro UHP. The UHP means Ultra High Performance. It has features like:

o There are 4 straight grooves
o Ensure the tire drainage smoothly and wetland performance, make your travel safety in rainy (unlike the Fuzion, which makes your travel deadly)
o Provide Wide contact area can strengthens the grip force
o excellent brake and control performance
o Optimized design of the variable pitch (the Fuzion doesn't even have the variable pitch)
o Be beneficial to reduce the noise when driving
o Big pattern block on shoulder and transverse groove
o Strengthen the grip force when vehicle turning (unlike the Fuzion, which weakens the grip force when vehicle turning)



http://www.gtradial.com/global/Tire-.../CHAMPIRO_UHP1

[novicius]

Yeah I like how the grooves on the Fuzions look completely arbitrary. Like someone dragged a fork across a pan of brownies.