der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 25

T H E

H A B I T S

slow in the fast sections. Typically
when you start out, you want to
go fast - everywhere! Corners,
straights, slaloms, you name it. This
leads to a lot of overdriving in the
corners. You lose a lot of time doing
that, as you lose grip and have to wait
for it to come back. You have to learn
to be patient in the corners. Enter the
turn under control and be patient
before rolling on the throttle. A
common phrase you'll hear bantered
about is "Slow in Fast out", which is a
good idea when starting out. Get your
braking done early (before the turn),
enter the turn under control, wait until
you can see the exit of the turn, ideally
around the apex, and then roll on the
throttle as you straighten the wheel.
Watch and ride with fast
drivers. Watch the line they take.
Notice where they hit the brakes
entering a corner and when they get
on the throttle exiting the turn.
Watch their heads to see where they
are looking. One of the great things
about autocrossers is their genuine
interest in helping one another.
More often than not, if you ask, they
will take you for a ride-along,.
As you get more familiar with
autocross, one of the more important
skills you'll want to practice is
looking ahead. In other words, look
where you want to go, not where
you're currently pointed (great
metaphor for life, don't you think?).
This is big and takes a lot of time to
master. But the nice thing about this
skill is that you can practice it every
day just driving around. As you
approach every turn, practice
looking ahead and through the turn,
before you begin to enter the turn.
These are the basics of looking
ahead.
Now after all that, I would say,
just focus on one or two things at a
time. Don't try to do everything at
once as that will probably lead to
more frustration and confusion than
anything else.

O F

H I G H L Y

E F F E C T I V E

Pat: I would focus on learning,
learning, learning. One of the things
I love about this sport is how difficult
it is to master. There are many, many
different skills to understand and
develop. This is what keeps me
coming back, as I'm always happier
when I'm improving. For me, things
get boring if I stop getting better.
And after five years of doing this I'm
still learning and (thankfully?) still
have a long way to go.
Here are some resources that I
have found useful over the past
couple of years:
* "The Perfect Corner" by Paradigm
Shift Driver Development Author
Adam Brouillard (https://www.
amazon.com/Perfect-CornerDrivers-Step-Step-ebook/
dp/B019WQFEIK)
* "Perfect Control" by Paradigm
Shift Driver Development Author
Adam Brouillard (https://www.
amazon.com/gp/product/B01D3SVV
MQ?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs
_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks)
* "Driving on the Edge, the Art
and Science of Race Driving"
by Michael Krumm (https://www.
barnesandnoble.com/w/driving-onthe-edge-michael-krumm/
1122602931)
* Ross Bently's Speed Secrets.
(https://speedsecrets.com/rossbentley/) (He also does a column in

A U T O C R O S S E R S

Road and Track currently.)
* Stories in the Autocross Talk
podcast. (http://autocrosstalk.com/)
* I follow the Beyond Seat
Time Autocross blog/manual.
(https://www.beyondseattime.
com/)
* I also love reading Randy Pobst in
the SCCA SportsCar monthly
magazine. Great tips.
Learn when to use the brakes. I
like how Ross Bently emphasizes the
importance of when to get off the
brakes (End of Braking) more than
when to get on the brakes (Start of
Braking). And something as simple
as how you come off the brakes can
make a big difference. One should
typically release the brakes smoothly,
and not just jump off them as that will
tend to transfer weight abruptly,
upsetting the car and minimizing
grip.
Sign up for Test & Tunes. This
is a great place to get a lot of seat
time and practice. But you should
have a game plan to maximize your
time, otherwise it won't be that
effective. Plan ahead of time what
areas you want to work on. It's too
easy to fall into the trap of just trying
to be fast every run, doing the same
thing over and over. One of my
favorite quotes that I often used with
my baseball teams was the definition
of insanity by Albert Einstein:
"Insanity is doing the same thing

over and over again and expecting a
different result". The best local Test
& Tune events for seat time are SCCA
and BMW.
Get good instruction. Attend
advanced autocross schools such as
SCCA Level 2 and Evolution
Performance Phase 2. You can also
get great instruction at Test & Tunes.
This is huge, as nothing beats having
an experienced autocrosser in your
car to evaluate what you're doing.
Learn how to steer the car with
the throttle and brake pedals in
addition to the steering wheel
(especially with rear-wheel-drive
cars). This is important, since
autocross is all about rotating the car
so you have it pointed in the right
direction, allowing you to get on the
throttle earlier and more often.
If you want to get more into this
sport, consider gathering data and
video of your runs to see what's really
going on. Two really good systems
out there are "Track Addict" and
"Solo Storm". They integrate with
smartphones or tablets, bluetooth
OBD2 scanners, GPS trackers, and
GoPro cameras. Track Addict is free
and worked great on my iPhone. It
will overlay the data (speed, G-forces
[the friction circle], RPM, throttle
position) on the video so you can see
everything as it happened in real
time. Solo Storm is a more advanced
(and more expensive) program that

(Below) At the 2016 Pro Solo event at FedEx Field. Photo by AJ Aviles.

dB: What next-step tips would you
share with intermediate autocrossers?

July I August

25
http://www.autocrosstalk.com/ https://www.beyondseattime.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Corner-Drivers-Step-Step-ebook/dp/B019WQFEIK https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D3SVVMQ?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/driving-on-the-edge-michael-krumm/1122602931 https://www.speedsecrets.com/ross-bentley/ https://www.speedsecrets.com/ross-bentley/
der Bayerische July/August 2020

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