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That was only the first three turns of the course, and that all happened in about five seconds. During my first run ever at an autocross course, I was just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Things seemed to be happening really fast. I unfortunately went on the wrong side of a gate, so I got an “Off Course” penalty, and my first try didn’t count.
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| Sorry for the poor quality of the action shots of my car. A fellow offered to take pictures of my runs, and he didn’t quite seem to know how to work the camera… |
On my third try, I nailed it and didn’t get an Off Course penalty. My time was just over 53 seconds. Most people were running around 45 seconds; the fastest cars were around 39 seconds. I was told I did pretty good for my first time out. Actually controlling the car around the course at near-full-throttle and braking is quite a rush. You just can’t properly drive your car like this anywhere else.
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| I didn’t knock down that cone there. That cone is a “pointer;” it means you have to pass the upright cone on the side it’s pointing to. This is one of the things that makes autocross difficult; you can’t see the path, so it’s difficult to figure out the line. |
After the first run, I pulled back into the staging lanes. The instructor in the car with me told me I did pretty well for my first time out and reminded me of the course layout again. On my second try, I was just trying to get the course right this time. I missed a gate again, but this time I knew the course. (I guess working the course down in the thick of things didn’t help me learn the course as much as I thought it would. Things look different when you’re behind the wheel, after all.)
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| Wow, this is a BLAST. |
The rest of the day, I kept trying to improve my time. I’m ashamed to say that every single one of my runs was right at 53 seconds. I tried to work on my technique (braking in a straight line, hitting the apex, accelerating out of the turn) and tried to push myself faster, but to no avail. Part of my problem was that I couldn’t find an instructor to ride with me the rest of the day. I think my bigger problem is that I was being too cautious. Never having properly hooned my car before, I didn’t know where the limits were, and I was a little wary of probing those limits my first time out.
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| Stop coasting, dang it! |
