VAP

Turns out I had the 3rd fastest time of the day, in-class albeit with a DNF. But the good news is I made all three runs "clean"... no pylons. Where I made my mistake (same one three times) is entering the final slalom from the wrong side and exiting it in the wrong place for the next turn. In essence I took a longer route. By doing so I was fighting to get back into the slalom harder than anyone else and exiting it on the wrong side I also had to fight the car to get back on the course for the first turn after the slalom.

While this don't feed the autocross bulldog it does allow me some peace of mind. All my runs were clean. I had zero cones. And even though I ran a longer, more difficult and disqualifying route I still posted 3rd best time of day with a stock ECU and on street tires. EVERY other competitor was on "R" compounds and out-HP'd me by at least 60 (the Stage 3 MTM A4). Some of them were more than double my HP and they also had exotic brakes, slotted/vented rotors and big calipers. We were all lowered about the same. Interestingly, I'm 4 seconds faster than that MTM A4 (on R compounds) around our local road course on street tires.

But this is NO road course... this is autocross. I was a bit outta my league yesterday. Thirty five bucks is a small tuition and I'm a quick study. Doesnt take a building to fall on me. I will be prepared next time.

R compounds will be ordered today for stock 17" TT wheels. Intercooler install schedule with 225 intake is moved up. New Eibach sway bar will arrive tomorrow and be in by the weekend. I'm looking for a 3" downpipe and a high-flow cat later this morning. Garrett Stage 2 chip goes back where it belongs... IN the car.

Now if I can just figger out HOW to read a friggin pylon (GAWD I feel stupid) at 45mph while negotiating a turn, grabbing a higher gear, heeling/toeing, watching rpm's, the road and my speed, that'll just about do it.

But, the good news is.... I'm baaaaaaack!

Jim TT

...could cut your time a little vs the heavy stock wheels. Anyway it's cool thet you did so well on your 1st time out. JIM<p><img SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/JIMTSIGTTFORUM.JPG"BORDER=0></A>

s4wood

His name is Dale Kirstein...and he is also an Audi owner (an A4)...but I think he was driving his Miata at the event. I would talk to him next time....he has been autocrossing for at least three years in that region.

I wish your region would list the cars like our region does. :-(<p><a href="http://registry.audiworld.com/audi/registry/details.asp?car=3821"><br><br>
<img SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/ss_s4sig1.jpg"<br><br>
Steve S.
00 Nogaro S4
NorCal Audi Club
http://www.norcalaudiclub.org

AkRascal

Now just wait for the second list of mods..... Glad it turned out better than you thought. I'm having a ball reading about your exploits...<p><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/akracttq.jpg" border="0">

jdan

always harder on ourselves than we should be. great first time out!

TTop Gun

...spend $200 at the link below...PLEASE!!! I've been playing this game for 6 years, and have seen too many people throwing good money away, and destroying a perfectly fine autocross car in the process. Autocross is 90% driver, and the other half :-) is the car.

Case in point, I watched a guy in an Acura NSX come out one day. He had upwards of $10,000 in bolt-on's, yet couldn't put the car within 15 seconds of the stock class drivers. Back to the drag strip he went, never to be seen again.

My favorite example happened while I was on vacation last year, and ran for fun at a local autocross while I was away. That screwy club put my car, a stock 1995 VW GTI VR6, into their "BP" class because of it's only mods --- tires and an SCCA-legal stock front anti-roll bar. Their BP class consisted of blown MR-2's and 944's with the boost cranked, an E36 BMW M3 with a supercharger, and other cars of this type. To make a long story short, there were 8 cars there in BP, and 7 losers when I got done with them. The funny thing is a third-hand quote attributed to the M3 driver, who didn't even stay to pick up his 2nd place trophy. He said, "I can't believe that I lost to a friggin' VOLKSWAGEN." Yes, he could have bought one and still had $30K in his pocket to learn how to drive it.

At our local autocross just yesterday, SM erupted in a shoot-out of over-dressed grocery getters. There were three cars - a turbocharged Miata, an A2 Jetta with a supercharged VR6, and a supercharged A3 GTI VR6. By the end of the day, the guy in the Miata managed to get into the 42's. The two VW's were in the 45's. (My fast time was in the 38's, and I PAXed #4 overall.) Anyway, during fun runs, I drove the Jetta with the owner in the passenger's seat. I was 4 seconds faster than the owner, and would have won the SM class on my only run in the car. The owner's first comment was that I didn't even use *half* of the motor. Yup, I think that he's got the picture now. Horsepower doesn't win autocrosses, drivers do.

Now, let me just say that I'm looking at the Denver results from yesterday, and everyone in SM lost to an FSP Rabbit by at least 4.3 seconds. If you're looking for another data point, look at the results of the kid in the 5 horsepower go-cart in Formula Junior. I think that you can see my point. Your determination is admirable, which is why I'm trying to focus it to where the *real* problem is, and that's NOT the car.

Oh, one last thing, if you're an autocross novice, don't be afraid to put your testosterone aside and run in the novice class. Had you done that (and your last run was on-course), you would have left with an 11th place trophy out of 48 cars. Even better, if your car was truly 100% G-Stock legal, you would have left with the SECOND place trophy out of 48 cars. Not a bad showing by a long shot.....<ul><li><a href="http://www.autocross.com/mckameyschool">Spend the $200, dammit!</a></li></ul>

UnspoilTT

A McKamey school was my first autocross event. I had not even seen autocross before. For me, it was a little like jumping into an upper division college course before getting the fundamentals in lower division. The school, at least the one I attended, was geared to novices who knew their way around the track. Frankly, I'd have liked to have known that before paying the $225.

I just came back from a weekend at an SCCA/Cal Club-sponsored Solo2 school, which had a broad enough range to include a real no nothing like me, as well as people who'd been autocrossing for a couple of seasons. I got tons more from this $75 2-day school than the 1-day, $225 McKamey school.

I'm not disputing that McKamey is good, but students need a little experience before they can profit from it.