It will run in an up and coming Pylon, probably the Sept. issue.
--Pat Kelly
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>From: Vernon Head <vlhead@pacbell.net>
>To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
>Subject: Re: really long, intense autocross content for new drivers
>Date: Wed, Aug 14, 2002, 9:49 AM
>
> Rich:
>
> We could use this for the school. Good job.
>
> -Vernon
>
>
>
> on 8/13/02 10:56 PM, Richard Urschel at osp13@mybluelight.com wrote:
>
>> I sent this to the various webmasters in the Region
>> to do with
>> whatever they want. You, too, may do the same.
>>
>>
>> What you can expect from yourself as a driver at your first autocross.
>>
>> We see too many drivers including a few women who think they are most
>> excellent drivers whose times end up reflecting their newness to
>> autocrossing rather than their natural talent or driving skills. In other
>> words, they are slow compared to experienced autocrossers in similar cars.
>> Sadly, they seem to have a penchant for becoming quite angry over their
>> disappointing times and have a tendency to go away, often forever.
>>
>> How much do you know about driving a motor vehicle at it's limit?
>>
>> Have you read all of the books on driving? If so, good for you. You have a
>> good theoretical foundation for understanding all of the various skills you
>> still need to develop through experience and practice. Have you ever
>> driven a car at it's limit of cornering ability on public roads? If so, you
>> either scared yourself out of your wits for a few seconds or you're
>> socially psychopathic. You just can't get anywhere near the limits of
>> handling in a modern vehicle on the open road without seriously
>> endangering yourself and everyone around you. Once you've
>> learned where the
>> true limits of your vehicle are, you'll realize how far away you were from
>> them in the past, and will never contemplate approaching them on public
roads.
>>
>> Finding the limits and instantly exceeding them.
>>
>> It's relatively safe to exceed the limits of handling in an autocross, you
>> might
>> brake too late or too hard and slide a bit past your intended turn in point,
>> you might accelerate too
>> abruptly or too much coming out of a turn and cause your front tires to push
>> beyond their traction limits, you might run wide in a corner and hit a cone
>> or two, you might even spin. But you likely won't hurt yourself, your car,
>> or anyone else the way you likely would on the open road. What you can do,
and
>> will likely do if you are at all aggressive is drive beyond the optimal
>> grip level of your tires. Maybe when accelerating, probably when braking,
>> and most certainly when going through the slower corners (see the tame
>> consequences above). Your times will suffer for it, badly.
>>
>> You probably won't be exceeding the handling limits in fast corners though
>> because you won't yet know how high they are, and the faster you are going,
>> the less tame the consequences become. Emerson Fittipaldi said most new
>> race drivers go too fast in slow corners, and too slow in fast corners. It's
>> definitely true of new autocrossers. Before you can produce reasonably
>> quick autocross times you will need to learn where the optimal handling
>> limits of your car are when accelerating braking; going into, through, and
>> out of slow and fast corners; and when going through a slalom And you will
>> need to drive at those limits throughout the entire run.
>>
>> Cartoon time.
>>
>> To achieve and maintain optimal tire grip, you will need to learn to be
>> ultra smooth but very quick in manipulating the cars controls; when
>> pushing down or lifting off the throttle, when turning or unwinding the
>> steering wheel, when shifting, and when pressing on or coming off the
>> brake pedal. This will take a lot of seat time (practice). On
>> the open road, or even on a race track, you often have seconds to set
>> up for a corner. You may start braking 100, 200, or even 300 yards before
>> the corner depending how on fast you are going. In autocrossing,
>> you will have zero time to set up for a corner. Even if you are on a
>> very short straight stretch of the course, you will begin braking as soon
>> as you stop accelerating as hard as the car can, usually in second gear.
>> It typically takes 35 to 50 seconds to run an autocross course. There are
>> no straight aways on which you can relax while the car is in top gear. You
>> will always be busy. You may become frenetic not from panic or
>> uncertainty, but because you aren't yet used to the relentless pace.
>> Some hold their breath for the whole run, and some don't discover they are
>> doing it for years or even decades of autocrossing. Many have shaking hands
>> at the end of a run due to the intense adrenaline rush.
>>
>> So you need to learn where the limits of your car are, how to correct
>> instantly when you start to exceed them, and how to be ultra smooth
>> with the controls so you don't upset even slightly the suspension of
>> your car which needs total composure to produce it's ultimate
>> performance. And you need to learn to do it while driving in speeded up
>> cartoon time. So give yourself a break. Don't expect miracles the
>> first time out and you'll have a lot fun now and in the future rather
>> than becoming disappointed in yourself at your first event. In time,
>> maybe a season or two, you might well be turning some pretty quick
>> times. Assuming you actually do have all that natural talent and
>> driving skill you thought you had in the first place.
>>
>> How to be smooth and fast.
>>
>> Undoubtedly, you already want to know all the driving techniques
>> specific to autocross, how to read the course, where the correct line
>> is, and everything else you can arm yourself with for your first
>> event. Well, that's a much longer subject, and we might get around to
>> actually writing it for you. In the meantime, I'll give you the most
>> important one which you would do well to begin practicing immediately:
>> LOOK AHEAD! When you drive on the freeway you look well up the road due
>> to the speed you are traveling, and to give yourself adequate time
>> to react to the unexpected antics of all of those other people on the
>> road who are actively doing any and everything except actual driving.
>>
>> When people begin autocrossing they tend to look at the cones. Don't do
>> it! You've already trained your nervous system to drive the car exactly
>> where you look, so look at the course between the cones. Your nervous
>> system also knows not to run over curbs at the side of the street
>> without you looking at them, so trust it not to run over the cones you
>> are about to pass by. You are going to be traveling at highway speeds
>> on the autocross course and you need to look ahead as you do on the
>> highway to give yourself time to properly position your car for the
>> next turn and the next. If you look no further ahead than the corner you
>> are about to enter, you will find yourself constantly surprised by
>> each of the succeeding corners which of course will all be rushing at
>> you at cartoon speed. If you do look ahead, you won't be surprised unless
>> it's by the facts that you really can drive between the cones without
>> looking at them, and that you'll automatically drive a line faster than
>> the one you thought was optimal when you walked the course looking at
>> it one turn at a time.
>>
>> Sign up for Internet Service under $10 dollars a month, at
>> http://isp.BlueLight.com
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