Camaro5FEST II Autocross by Lingenfelter and Pedders

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by So Cal Camaro

Enter me for Modified. Thanks, Dannie

You sir are Modified!.

[JusticePete]

Novice Notice

A number of C5FEST II attendees are asking routine first timer questions. THEY ARE GREAT QUESTIONS!!!! The autocross information posted by Tire Rack is excellent.

http://www.tirerack.com/features/solo2/handbook.htm

On Being a NoviceYou'll remember your first event for a long time. The adrenaline that makes you shake at the start-line before your first run, and the even bigger surge of adrenaline you feel when you finish. That excitement is part of the sport, and it's why we all do this.

Don't let being a novice overwhelm you! Every driver, including the National Champions, had a first day and a novice season. Auto-crossing is a skill that requires instruction and practice to see improvements. If it was easy, it wouldn't be so competitive, or so fun. In fact, when experienced road racers come to Solo for the first time, we often put them in Novice Class. It's not like falling off a log for them, either. The great thing about this sport, though, is that even when you're going "slow", it's still fun driving.

The course may seem "busy" at first, because it's tighter than what you see on the street, and you're trying to attack it faster than you could in traffic. You'll have fun learning the sport and learning to keep the car in control as you get faster and better with more seat-time.

With that said, here are some tips to give you the right novice attitude, so you don't become discouraged:

•Your goal is to have fun! That's why everyone is here.
•Your goal for the first run is to avoid getting lost on course (see course-walking tips)
•Your goal for the rest of the day is to improve your time on each run
•Your goal for the second event is the same as the first.
•Your goal for the rest of the season is to beat somebody (anybody!) and continue to make each run faster than the last.
At this point, you are learning a lot on each run, and you may be 10 seconds behind the class leader. That's not unusual! You're still doing OK.

Generally speaking, the veteran drivers like to help the novices. The magic words "I am a novice" will get you extra instruction from other competitors, who can critique your run. Just be careful not to interrupt a driver on a course walk, or while he or she is concentrating on going over the course in his or her head.

What to Bring to an Event
This list covers everything from sunscreen to snacks to tires pressure gauges. You will probably come up with your own list of things you need at a Solo event, but this will get you started.

You must have:

•Your car (although you may share a car with someone else) Your entry fee A valid driver's license
You may want to bring:

•Your SCCA membership card, to get a discount on entry fees
•A safety helmet
•Extra air in your tires. Stop at a gas station and fill your tires to approximately 45psi-Front/35psi-Rear for a front-wheel-drive car, or 40psi all around for a rear-wheel-drive car.
•Suitable shoes for driving. The best are light-soled, with a narrow sole which does not stick out past the side of the shoe
•Sunglasses
•Sunscreen
•Clothes appropriate for the weather forecast, plus a change for when the forecast is wrong.
•Rain gear / umbrella
•A hat
•A folding chair
•Thermos of water or other non alcoholic beverage
•Cooler for lunch or snacks
•Windex and paper towels
•A pad and pencil to write down all the advice you'll get
•A good tire pressure gauge

Registration

To register you must have a valid driver's license and entry fee (usually $15 to $20). Fill out the information card at the registration area. They will help choose the class for your car if you don't know what it is. You will also be assigned a car number for the day. At registration, you will be asked to sign the insurance waiver. You must do this to compete, and any guests you bring must sign the waiver also.

Once you know your class and car number, mark your car using white shoe polish on the window (it comes off with Windex), tape paper numbers inside the window, or use magnetic numbers if you have them.

Tech Inspection

Your car must pass tech inspection before you can compete. Read the tech inspection chapter to see what you'll need to do. Registration may be at one central area, or at your "pit" space (RLS).

The tech inspector will sign your card if you pass, or recommend changes to make the car pass, such as additional tie-downs for the battery or removal of loose items or hub caps if you've forgotten.

Course Walking

After tech, you will have time to walk the course. Before you go, read the chapter on course-walking tips. Course maps are available at registration, and the Novice chief will take you on a guided walk after the drivers' meeting. Try to have the course memorized before you go on the guided walk.

Drivers' Meeting

The drivers' meeting is mandatory for all drivers. The event chair will hold the meeting approximately one half hour before the first car starts. Be sure to attend. This is where you will find out information you'll need to know about the course conditions, number of runs, particular safety concerns, how penalties are assessed, and how work assignments will be handled.

Your Work Assignments

It's best to report for your work assignment as quickly as possible when it is time for you to work (RLS). Otherwise, some people end up working longer than others, which is no fun. The place to get work assignments will be announced in the drivers' meeting.

We try to put a novice with an experienced driver on a station if we have enough people. For a little bonus instruction, ask your co-worker to talk about the techniques of the cars on course. Read the chapter on Working to get more detail on how to call in cones and stay safe while working the course.

Fun Runs

If time permits, fun runs are held at the completion of the event while trophies are being readied. This is your opportunity to ride with other drivers and have them ride with you. Fun runs usually cost one to two dollars.

Course Clean-up

Once all the timed runs and fun runs, if any, are complete, everyone helps clean up the course. This involves bringing in the fire extinguishers and flags, cones and timing equipment, and storing them in the trailer. Scoreboards need to be cleaned off and the pit area needs to be checked for trash. When everyone helps, this can be completed in fifteen to twenty minutes.

Tech Inspection Requirements

Safety Helmet: If you bring your own safety helmet, it must be approved by Snell in the current or two most recent ratings (e.g. if Snell 95 is in production then that, 90 and 85 are legal). The club provides loaner helmets for people who do not have one.

Safety Belts: Original safety belts, at a minimum are required. Shoulder belts are not required, if your car did not come with them, but you must have a lap belt. Belts must be firmly attached.

Solidly Mounted Battery: The battery must be held down properly. If it can be moved at all, it will not pass. There are some additional battery requirements which may affect you if you have modified your car. The Tech Inspector will help you out with them.

Legal Tires: In Stock and Street Prepared categories, the tires must have measurable tread (Lincoln Penny test), and must be in good condition. Excessive weather cracks or visible cord/plies will fail inspection. Tire pressures should be higher than used for the street, usually 45psi-Front/35psi-Rear for a front-wheel-drive car, or 40psi all around for a rear-wheel-drive car.

Brakes: The brake pedal must be firm, with no loss of pressure when held down.

Steering / Suspension: The steering must be tight, with no excessive play. Wheel bearings cannot have excessive play.

Hub Caps and Trim Rings: Hub caps, trim rings and wheel covers must be removed for competition, unless they are bolted to the wheel.

Loose Items in Car: All loose items must be removed from the passenger compartment and trunk. This includes the floor-mats. You may remove the spare tire and jack, but you are not required to if they are properly secured.

Fluid Leaks: Excessive fluid leaks will not pass inspection.

Car set-up Tips
Keeping things inexpensive, we'll only talk about things you can do for free, or under $50. After a while, you may want to put more go-fast goodies on your car, but make sure to read the rule book, and stay legal for your category.

But also keep in mind, at this point you can go faster sooner by working on the driver instead of the car. See the course-walking and driving tips!

What you can do for C5FEST II

Tires: You've already read that you should put an extra 10 to 15 psi in your tires. The reason for this is to keep your tires from rolling under during hard cornering. But how much is too much? Put chalk on the edges of your tire, in three places around the diameter, and you can see how far over the tire was going during your runs. Bleed out a little if the chalk is still showing on the tread, or add a little more if the chalk has been worn off down the sidewall. The line of worn chalk to remaining chalk should be right at the corner of the tread and sidewall. Keep notes on how many psi you ran, and where the chalk line was, for your next event.

Remember that as you get better and corner harder, you'll need more air to compensate, so keep using the chalk at every event.

Driver Restraint: In order to have good control in driving, you, the driver, have got to stay put. So make sure your seat belt is tight and firm. Some people like to tug hard (fast) on the shoulder strap to engage the lock on the reel.

Driver Location: Most experienced drivers will agree that the best place for your seat - to give you the best control - is seat forward far enough to have your leg slightly bent when the clutch is all the way to the floor, and seat-back reclined or upright to a position that allows you to rest your wrists on the steering wheel when you shoulders are firmly against the seat.

This position allows you to run the full range of steering inputs and foot motion without stretching or moving in your seat, and can have a huge impact on your driving skill.

Course Walking Tips
"You must be able to keep track of the course in your head. If you can't, then you can't drive it to its fullest potential"

Josh Sirota

That quote is worth five seconds to a novice. Knowing how to walk the course is the most important step in being competitive and staying "ahead" of the course. Usually, you'll want to walk the course at least three times.

Step 1) Walk the course. Your first walk will be to get the general layout, and is often a social walk. Now get away from friends and walk the course alone, concentrating on memorizing the layout. Think of it in sections, with key cones marking the turns, such as:

start straight

slalom (enter on right)

decreasing sweeper to the left

"little snake" then "big snake"

right-hand curve (look for three pointers)

"thread the needle section"

tight right, then tight left

finish

Stop every now and then and run through the course in your head, from the beginning to where you are. Get down - the course looks different from a seated position. This will give you a better picture of what the course will look like at speed.

Pace off the distance between cones in a slalom. Some course designers vary the distance, and it's good to know before you arrive whether you will have to vary your speed in a slalom. Take a note-pad if you like, and make notes such as pavement changes, camber change, bumps, sand, etc.

Make a mental note to yourself (or write it down) how far ahead you will be looking. When I walk the course, I say to myself, "OK, when I am here I will be looking there" This will help you to remember to look ahead while you are driving.

"Repeat this step over and over until the picture is perfect."

Andy Hollis - Four-time Pro Solo and Solo II National Champ

How do you know if the picture is perfect? Sit down by your car and try to draw the course on a blank piece of paper. Include the key cones you want to recognize while you drive. If you can't draw the course, you will want to walk it again. Once you leave the start line in your car, you should not be spending any time figuring out where the course is.

Step 2) Plan the course. (Do this while walking the course again) Now decide exactly how you want to drive the course. Driving the course perfectly involves two things; coming up with the correct plan, and executing the plan correctly. If you don't have a plan, you can't possibly know where you didn't execute it correctly. It's hard to know if you did this step correctly, but step 4 is something you can work on.

The plan involves the line you will take through the cones - the quickest way through. Note, I didn't say shortest. Think about the characteristics of your car; does it corner better than it accelerates, or the other way around? That will tell you whether to slow down so you can get through the corner in control and get on the throttle as soon as possible, or try to carry speed through to keep up the revs.

Don't forget to plan where you will be looking. There is no need to memorize every cone on the course, only the ones you plan to be near, the "important" ones. Look from one important cone to the next in your plan.

Step 3) In Grid. Before you run, while you are in grid, go over the course again several times in your head, executing the plan you made before.

Step 4) After the run. Sit in your car and go over your run. Figure out where you didn't execute the plan. If the plan was to be near a particular cone, and you were five feet from it, then you didn't execute the plan correctly, and a red light should have gone off in your head. Maybe you need to adjust the plan because you were going too fast in the slow parts. Decide at this point whether your next run needs to be a better execution of the plan, or a modification of the plan.

Basically, don't use the car as an excuse, you will see a big difference in your times when you drive a course that never surprised you.

Driving Tips
Seat time, seat time, seat time. That's the best way to go faster. They say, "Before you fix the car, fix the driver". That's because there's so many techniques to improve your driving, it takes seat time to learn them all, but once you do, someone without those skills would have to spend a lot of money on their car to beat you, and probably still couldn't.

Here are a few techniques to get you started. Don't try to apply them all in your first run, you'll be too busy. But read through the whole list, then work at gaining these skills one at a time.

Look Ahead. I can't emphasize this enough. I repeat it out loud while I am driving. It's so easy to forget, but makes such a big impact on my driving. It all relates to hand-eye (and eye-foot) coordination. Look where you want your hands to drive you, and look far enough ahead to take advantage of the feedback. If you're looking at that outside cone that you're afraid you'll hit, well, you'll hit it. If you're looking ten feet in front of the bumper, the turns will keep surprising you. Imagine looking at your feet while you are running on foot! You won't be very coordinated, and you won't have a good sense of distance or speed. Same goes for driving hard corners as you do in autocross. Look ahead. You will be astounded at your performance the first time you remember to do this all the way through a course.

Slow Down to Go Fast. A common problem when you're starting out is trying to take the tight sections too fast, and not staying in control. I still remember finishing a run and saying, "Well, I didn't go very fast, but it sure was smooth," only to find out I'd gone faster by a full second! Just be patient in the slow spots. They're slow spots, after all.

Brake hard in corners. Go ahead, squeeze the brakes hard. There's no morning coffee on your dashboard, or eggs in the front seat. Once you decide to slow down for the corner, don't waste any time. If you find yourself at a crawl and you're not at the corner yet, why, you've just found out that you can brake later. Locking up your tires will not make you stop faster, so squeeze the brakes and let them do the work, not your tires.

Adhesion. Don't ask too much of your tires. For any tire/pavement pair, there's only a certain amount of traction. We'll call that 100% traction. You can use up that traction with your throttle, your brakes or your steering wheel. So if you're going into a corner, using 100% of your traction to make the turn, what happens when you ask for more traction by applying the brakes? Either you won't brake or you won't turn. Or both. Same goes for accelerating out of a corner. Ease in the throttle as you ease out of the turn. So use full throttle and full braking only in a straight line. This goes back to slowing down to go faster, and brings us to...

Smooth Inputs. You may have noticed that I used the phrases "squeeze the brakes" and "ease in the throttle". This is where you have to change your mind-set about inputs to controlling your car. You need to convince yourself that you can make your car respond better by squeezing the brakes hard instead of standing on the brakes, by rolling in the throttle rapidly instead of stomping on the gas, by turning the wheel quickly instead of cranking it around. Subtle, but it will show up in how often your car is in control instead of scrubbing off speed pushing around a corner. And it will take a lot of practice to become second nature.

Don't worry about the blinkers, wipers or horn. You're bound to hit them as you drive. Don't let it throw you. We've all done it!

More, Later... There are many more techniques for getting better times, but start with the ones listed above. After you've learned them, you'll be ready to buy a book on auto-crossing (see Recommended Reading), or attend a driver's school and learn the advanced techniques of heel/toe, shuffle steer, late apex, and more.

Go to as many events as you can. Go to the ones with the toughest competition - winning something local is fun, but losing to someone fast will probably teach you more. Attend drivers' schools in your area, or travel to another region. Do some Pro Solo2 events; these are explained in more detail later in this book. They give you 12 runs on a fairly short course, with time to walk between runs and a chance to drive against real national competition.

Always remember to have fun, even when you are being stomped by some national hot-shoe. You'll never stop learning - the best drivers will tell you this still applies after ten or twenty years! Remember, seat-time, seat-time, seat-time. Nothing will make you go faster sooner. And nothing is less expensive in improving your times.

There is no better way to improve as a driver than to participate in an autocross. Onb a road course, if you run at the ragged edge the consequences can be dire. Running at the edge in an autocross you'll incur a penalty for each cone you eat.

Our 5th Gens are all relatively new. Double check your brake pads and have fresh fluids in your 5th Gen and you should be ready to go and Always remember to have fun!,

[GTAHVIT]

Guys, keep in mind you don't need an SCCA Card.. or special license of any kind. Just show up register, pass the tech inspection, have a helmet and have a BLAST!!!

I'm thinking about opening up one of the open lap sessions to spectators.. maybe a one lap limit... We'll see.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by GTAHVIT

I'm thinking about opening up one of the open lap sessions to spectators.. maybe a one lap limit... We'll see.

That's about all I would need... Just give it a quck try...

[Mr Twisty]

You just gave away all the "fast guy" tricks!

Great info

[Mr Twisty]

Originally Posted by GTAHVIT

I'm thinking about opening up one of the open lap sessions to spectators.. maybe a one lap limit... We'll see.

Better specify Camaro only, I'll get my daughters go cart out there

[600hp-lpe]

Originally Posted by GTAHVIT

Guys, keep in mind you don't need an SCCA Card.. or special license of any kind. Just show up register, pass the tech inspection, have a helmet and have a BLAST!!!

I'm thinking about opening up one of the open lap sessions to spectators.. maybe a one lap limit... We'll see.

As long as it doesn't mess up qualifying for anyone, that sounds like a good idea.

The last qualifying session will have the cars from the HPDE that want to "do everything" so that one won't work.. they will be squished for time to qualify and will add to the line at the end of the day.

the first session on Friday - 9:30 to 11 am is open, -or- better yet, we could open another slot from 11 to 12:00 on Friday. If folks wanted to try a single lap or two (non-competition cars only). It's during the wedding, I would be glad to help out with this idea.

[Mr Twisty]

Originally Posted by 600hp-lpe

If folks wanted to try a single lap or two (non-competition cars only). It's during the wedding, I would be glad to help out with this idea.

AutoX really needs to be shut down during the wedding, everyone show the childrens hospital some love (and cash).

... Just a respect thing.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by MisterCamaro69

AutoX really needs to be shut down during the wedding, everyone show the childrens hospital some love (and cash).

... Just a respect thing.

[JusticePete]

Jacie has updated the registration list in the first post.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by mlee

That's about all I would need... Just give it a quck try...

Bring your wallet. One 'try' and you'll be addicted for life.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

I'm thinking about opening up one of the open lap sessions to spectators.. maybe a one lap limit... We'll see.

I thought that was a we are thinking?

I really do want to find time for those new to autocross. It is the best way to learn how to drive your Camaro with control in the tightest turns. 600HP-LPE is right about having quality track time for the most serious entries. By serious I mean drivers and not the level of build or class. I know this is a C5FEST II TEAM decision, but maybe we can open up a bit earlier, stay a bit later or both?

[Mr Twisty]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

I thought that was a we are thinking?

I really do want to find time for those new to autocross. It is the best way to learn how to drive your Camaro with control in the tightest turns. 600HP-LPE is right about having quality track time for the most serious entries. By serious I mean drivers and not the level of build or class. I know this is a C5FEST II TEAM decision, but maybe we can open up a bit earlier, stay a bit later or both?

Dad always told me, "The early [driver] gets the [most track time]."

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by MisterCamaro69

Dad always told me, "The early [driver] gets the [most track time]."

Well that is true, but it can be that the SLOWEST dirver that gets the most track time.