richard nichols wrote:
>
> I'll give you the "ahas" that I gleaned from pro instruction at my last
> autox practice (8 runs).
>
> 1. Straighten out the course with your driving. IOW, try to make every
> curve into a straight.
Absolutely. The longer you can stay on the gas with the least amount of
steering input is what makes a quick run. Burrying the throttle with the
wheel hard over will not do the trick, the car's gotta be able to run.
> 2. Smooth doesn't count for anything. He told me some of the very best
> autoxers are choppy as hell.
BZZZT! Sorry Richard, but I gotta speak up on this.
Smoothness is very important. But don't mistake "smooth" to mean
"slow". The fastest hot-shoes are indeed smooth, but they're movements
may -appear- to be choppy. The best way to dsescribe this is to picture
a chart of steering input vs. time. The chart should look as much like a
rolling wave as possible. Now this wave may be very tall and narrow
(quick right left transition), but you should be able to enlarge that
peak and still find a smooth curve over the top and every where else as
well. Choppiness will result in a sharp "kink", or discontinuity, in the
curve. That kink will upset the tires, and result in having to back off
to regain control.
> 3. "Looking ahead" doesn't mean "x car lengths" -- it means at the start
> line, actually visually *find* the *next* "event", such as (in my case) the
> gate after a slalom. Then as you go through the course, and keep doing
> that, none of "events" will be a surprise.
Very, very, very true. Look as far ahead as you can. This doesn't mean
ignoring what's hapening in front of you though. :-) The "next event"
strategy is a very good one.
> 4. Point and squirt: hell bent for leather to the corner, brake at the
> absolute last possible moment (when it seeems too late!), get through the
> corner, then slam the gas pedal to the floor.
Yup. Agressive inputs, but -smooth-. The same thing applies to the
brake and gas pedal as does the steering wheel.
I hope I managed to put that into fundamental terms. The smoothness of
the inputs and the aggessiveness of the driving are difficult to blend
properly. But when it's done right, boy can it be FUN!
-Josh2
--
Joshua Hadler '74 914 2.0 CSP/Bi - Hooligan Racing #29 - CONIVOR
'87 Quantum Syncro - aka stealth quattro
jhadler@rmi.net
http://rainbow.rmi.net/~jhadler/
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