Autocross star is born!

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

I am quite proud to announce that I participated in my 1st ever autocross this past sunday, May 18th.

I didn't get to race both cars, but chose to run the miata in CS.

Break down:
*I was on my Street tires (Toyo T1-S's)
*Best run in my class: mid 33
*My runs:
1) 38.8
2) 37.8
3) 37.4
4) 36.8
5) 36.2
6) 35.7

All in all it was a good day. I didn't do any ride-alongs or have any coaching, so I impressed myself with my improvement.
I set little goals each run. When I achieved my overall goal of breaking in the 35's before my runs were over, I literally screamed out "WOO-HOO!!!" and raised my #1 finger up in the air in all my victorious excitement!

The guys running 33's in my class were on race tires, so I figure at the next one I will run my Azenis and should be right up there nipping their heels!

Since I ran as a novice, I was also up against bimmers, s2000's, Audi's, MSPs, ect...
There are some pretty ugly handicaps for the miatas in Novice, but I did manage to take 4th out of 14. Not bad, but it's a start.

Here's to it! (beer)

 

[t3ase]

Good job! Was it as hard as it seems?

 

[scapamouche]

Great job! Good performance for a first event.

Be warned, the Azenis will NOT get you up with the r-compounds. Great tires, I use them myself in STS/STX, but in a stock class, r tires are about 2 sec faster than even the Azenis on a 60 second course...

Make sure you find someone to help you out. If you go too long without advice it's really easy to get into bad habits that will hurt you later. Keep it up, and do us proud

 

[DrPhill]

very nice progress on those runs. i went to an autocross on the 18th too but i didnt see any msp's

mazdaspeedgirl, i mean this in the most sincere way possible, you look like a fine piece of ass, and i mean that from deep down inside my pants

 

[boostisgood]

(lol) dood I love your avatar, a dood onna bike drifting. lmao

 

[servoeyes]

What!?! Those times suck ass....

oh wait...this isn't the flamewars forum...oops!(wrong)


Seems like you did really well for your first time...I only hope that I can compete with all the fieros out here when I go out!(second)

 

[DrPhill]

yep that guys Japanese'in it up. i'm half japanese so i hope nobody gets offended

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

Good job! Was it as hard as it seems?

It was in no way difficult....except trying to remind myself not to break thru the slaloms and keeping BOTH hands on the wheel. But I got it down by the last few runs.

And I did not hit a single cone. Scared a few, but never even tipped one...

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

Great job! Good performance for a first event.

Be warned, the Azenis will NOT get you up with the r-compounds. Great tires, I use them myself in STS/STX, but in a stock class, r tires are about 2 sec faster than even the Azenis on a 60 second course...

Make sure you find someone to help you out. If you go too long without advice it's really easy to get into bad habits that will hurt you later. Keep it up, and do us proud

Thanx dude! I know that the Azenis != R compounds, but they will definately be an improvement over the T1-S's until I can get some Kuhmos or Hoosiers on my track wheels. The other guys in my class were a bit suprised. Next time, I'll have em runnin scared...lol!

I will conquer....

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

very nice progress on those runs. i went to an autocross on the 18th too but i didnt see any msp's

The guy I went with (alldat1111) found me on the board and gave me his number just so we could hang out, and I ended up dragging him out to the autocrosses. See what happens when you hang out with me?

mazdaspeedgirl, i mean this in the most sincere way possible, you look like a fine piece of ass, and i mean that from deep down inside my pants

lmao! If you only knew....

and your avatar is hilarious....initial D style bike ridin'!

 

[DrPhill]

now i wanna autocross and i also want a fine piece of ass

 

[DrPhill]

i tried to bike drift back when i was in middle school. it was cool for the first 1/4 second but then i flew off the bike and landed 8 feet away. always wear a helmet kids

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

now i wanna autocross

So why don't you?

"I can only show you the door...you're the one who has to walk through it."

 

[DrPhill]

the only one i know of happened yesterday. i'll be buying a 21mm rear stabilizer bar so i think ill kick a good amount of bootay next year

 

[alldat1111]

U did not drag me in the autocross, as I recall I came in third overall in novice and u came in forth. Nowwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[scapamouche]

So why don't you?

"I can only show you the door...you're the one who has to walk through it."

I've been TRYING to get him to come autox with one of the clubs I run with out here in Norcal.... So, are ya gonna show?!?!?!

FYI, DON'T change the swaybar until you've actually driven under autox conditions. You MIGHT find you don't need it...

I know that the Azenis != R compounds, but they will definately be an improvement over the T1-S's until I can get some Kuhmos or Hoosiers on my track wheels

Funny: I've never heard anything but GOOD about the T-1S. I know it's really a rain tire, but still! They ran those for a couple years in the Speed World Challenge!!!!

Word to the wise: don't bother with the r tires until you've reached the limit of the car on streets. Like my post about bad habits above, flaws can be hidden by having really good tires. If you were only 2 sec off the pace in your first event ever, and you think ou can improve, stay with those tires (or the Azenis, I can't fault those...) until you reach their limit, then you'll probably find yourself better able to take advantage of all that extra traction! I've been autoxin g since '96, seriously since 2000, and this year I MAY go get a set of r-tires for the first time. Admittedly, I've spent the last 2 years driving in a street tire class, but i don't think I was really ready for the r-tires till the start of this season (Back in JANUARY: Gotta love CA for SOMETHING )

 

[DrPhill]

would highway 9 count as autocross conditions?i drove it pretty quick today

 

[scapamouche]

Actually, no. Autox is almost ENTIRELY BELOW 60 mph! I have gotten into 3rd gear on ONE (yes, (1) ) autox course EVER! It was a course designed for corvettes to go fast on. My poor MSP was wheezing to get past 65...

Autoxes are driven on INCREDIBLY TIGHT courses. A LONG straight lasts 4-5 SECONDS.... I'm not familiar with hwy 9, but unless it's a stight as Lombard ST in SF, then it's NOT like an autox.

Did the car not want to rotate while you were doing your run? What kind of tires and tire pressures were you using? You can't really get a feel for how the car will handle under autox conditions with street settings for the tires. The higher speeds will make the car tend to be loose (oversteer) and the low pressures will make the opposite trend towards understeer, and the relationship between the two does NOT cancel out.

If you want the swaybar for street driving, great! No problem! If you want it to help make the car handle better under autox conditions, then you really need to wait until you see if the car really needs it... If you HAVE it, and find yourself wanting to keep autoxing, then you have to either take it OFF and run stock, or go the whole hog and modify the ENTIRE suspension to run in street touring. Assuming you want to be competitive, of course. IF you just want to go out and have fun without worrying about the standings, the go for it.....

Be careful, though: a rear swaybar that is radically larger than stock can make the car VERY unstable at high speeds! You've heard of the traditional Porsche story, right? 'let off on the gas in a corner and the car WILL spin out!" The same apllies to really big rear swaybars on FWD cars. Be warned...

 

[DrPhill]

wow thats alot of info.

i think the msp comes with a 21mm rear sway bar. im just trying to get my p5 to handel as close to a msp as possible

 

[DrPhill]

highway 9 is an insanely twisty road. twistier than the road on initial d. try it out sometime. its my favorite passtime on mondays