Regional #5 Administrative

[integra55]

what John said ....

that being said, I'm not in the pro class (easily figured out looking at my times) but as a stepping stone to get to where John is pointing you, I still contend that if you will use your first run as a throw away and drive it slowly (so you can actually find your way around the course and increase your pace each run) you will be well on your way towards having more fun, and getting more clean runs in

as you get to the point where your first runs don't have to be little ol lady pace, you can really start to incorporate the suggestions from John ... they will make sense and really start to help

[thrdeye]

+1 on John's posts. The only times I have found a course map useful are:

--When they show where the grid and bathrooms are
--If there is a really complex group of transitions like a LRRLLRL slalom or something.

and like scoob said. Draw your own. Someone elses coursemap would look like how THEY see the course not how YOU see the course.

[jcox07]

plus 100 on jb's post. I have only been doing this autox for 3 years and I have come a long way, I have gotten both my car and myself better. I have gotten better by watching JB, Rob, Harp and guys like that as to see how they walk the course is how they position the car as well. This will help you learn key cones. Where in JB's miata the pin cone is always hard or an uphill slow turn, but in my car with the power it does not bother me as bad. Now the sweeper turns that JB can carry more speed vs. my heavy car can not is the difference that I am talking about. You first have to go slow in order to see where you can go faster, just as Richard and Walter have said. You will rarely see my times not getting faster on each run, this is due to seeing how the car reacts to the first run and I know then where I can push it harder. Try this approach and I think it will help you.

[Mark McCrary]

Agree 100% w/JB. If I can not run the course and remember key cones in my head in 30 seconds. I keep doing it till I can. Course map will not help while in the car. Its only good when when talking to other people you are not confused about which section. My opinion is if I can remember the course in half the time I think I will acturally run it I should be able to run it at real speed. That is a "running" kart is hard tho! lol

[Scoob]

JB is absolutely right. It will really help to stop and think during the walk and if you're still not sure, try to draw it when you're finished with your walks.

The other thing someone else mentioned elsewhere is to bend down, kneel down, whatever to get on the level where your eyes will be if you find something particularly tricky. Looking at cones from 6' up is very different from your actual eye height of 3-4' in the car. For me it's essential when I'm in the kart where my eyes are about 28" off the ground. Even my 5'5" size shows very different perspectives standing versus crouching down to see how the cones look at driving level.

There are lots of ways to approach course walks. Try some of these to see what works for you. Ask for an instructor to sit as a passenger your first run and go slower than attack mode to learn the course. As an instructor I'm happy to yell directions to you.

[dewittpayne]

I've been going over the videos I took. I was even more lost than I thought. There were a couple of points where I think the course design might have made things more intuitive. For example, the hairpin after the start:

The pointer cone is nearly invisible to the driver because it's behind the other cone (circled in red).

Next;

Why three pointers here (circled in green) when I really need to go to the cone circled in red.

Finally:

Something like a gate in the vicinity of the yellow circle might have helped draw attention to the cone circled in red rather than the one circled in green.

I appreciate all the advice on learning the course, but I'm fairly sure that my brain is wired somewhat differently than all yours and I need to find something that works for me, which may not be the same as what works for you.

[GaryM]

Visual confusion is something you'll never get rid of when throwing a bunch of cones into a parking lot. Heck, it's even a design element in quite a few courses with 'trick cones'. The whole purpose of walking the course is to help your mind sort out which ones to ignore and which ones to pay attention to. This is especially true when dealing with a course restrictive lot like PSCC. In order to have fun/long courses we have to double back around areas and that's always going to cause confusion.

Instead of trying to memorize the course as a 'map', think of it as learning 'directions' to get somewhere. For instance, if you are giving directions to someone, you give them visual cues on where to turn, red lights, and street signs. Do the same for the autocross. In your head, I read back these directions before each run. Know them as well as you know the directions to getting to your house.

When I am sitting at the line, here's an example of what's going through my head:
1. Start line, sharp left.
2. Head towards the close pole into a sweeping right
3. optional Slalom, off camber, start on right (Jon Brown said left)
4. Sweeper around light pole, downshift
5. X-pattern up the hill into a chicago box
6. hard brake, setup for left hand down the hill
7. hold onto your butts! downhill into left turn, slight lift

and each one of those steps I can picture exactly what cone I'm supposed to be looking at and heading towards for the next 'step' of my course directions.

I'd be happy to walk course with you and share some of my thought process during the walk if it would help you. Feel free to find me at the next event.

[disneyd]

I think the NBA should lower the goals down from 10' because I'm not quite tall enough (and a little too fat) to slam dunk. They should also shorten the length of the court because I find it difficult to run the entire length so many times. That way it would make it easier for ME. Also, these other dudes keep getting in the way when I'm trying to run down to the other end and score.

Dewitt, I don't think we've met and I'm sure you'll think I'm a jerk after this. However, if your goal is to be a successful autocrosser (by any measure of success really) you should stop beating this dead horse and listen to what the fast guys are telling you. Your complaints indicate that you are not walking the course in a useful way. John Brown, McCrary, and others have offered some excellent advice.

Walk the course until you can run though every obstacle in your mind with your eyes closed. Look ahead; Staring at the front bumper gets a lot of people lost even when they know the course.

The bottom line is that a lot of people didn't DNF. What did they do differently?

It is pretty much impossible to design a course where there are zero visual distractions and we can't create a tunnel of cones to keep everyone boxed into the course. We try our best to design fun courses that are easy for novices to follow, but there are always compromises. Most likely changing the cones you are complaining about would have fix one perspective and messed up another. We could build a straight line, point to point, drag strip course and probably nobody would get lost, but that wouldn't be a very fun course would it?

Try some of the good advice that has been offered for a few events and see how it goes. I realize the course didn't get finished at the last event in time for you to get it down well enough before having to drive. Stuff happens. The experienced drivers have gotten to the point where they can get the info they need in a couple of walks. You'll get there if you'll take the advice and help that is offered.

[flier129]

CCR does course maps every now and then. I've personally never got anything from them, but my dad seemed to gain from them before we walked the course. He's a casual autocrosser so knowing the general shape of the course helps, then he picks out the key cones as we walk it. He can analyze the course better than I can, if I get too detailed I end up full opposite-lock and taking double-digit cones with me because I just knew I didn't have to lift on that tight Chicago box.....

Now, out of the 4-5 times my dad has had a course map he admitted that it really only helped on two occasions. One was at the start of a season and he hadn't driven in anger for a good while. The other was when we ran in the last heat around 5pm (yup).

Easiest way of learning the course? Ride with a fast driver! I use to bum rides with Disney, Bradley, Cathers, and the like years back and thought to myself "ohh, so that's how you do that element......" I learned the most about driving when I was riding with someone.

Do this:
http://youtu.be/0Ao3B7IH6vk

[thrdeye]

Here is McCrary driving the course mentally after a walk. Look like some serious white boy ghetto dance, but it works.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=157 ... 2640816084

[Scoob]

OK, I'll bite and address the images DeWitt posted.

1. I agree that this pointer was obscured from view, but it was a bit necessary for the two laps around said cone coming from the other direction where you could see it perfectly. And to be honest, it was not a key cone at the start - the first cone was.

2. Those cones aren't related. Looks like you were turned around unless I'm missing something.

3. You're looking at the end of the middle element on the lower lot (green circle) while entering the first element on that lot. They are not related and no gate is needed.

Ask for help when walking so you understand where you need to go. It will really help everyone - few people mind helping someone understand where the course is since it ultimately helps speed up the event.

[Mark McCrary]

Dang Chris I swear you have that stored somewhere where you can pull that vidoe ot and any given moment.
Seriously I will be honest you can ask Robert Carpenter how I used to overanalyze everything. Even how much throttle should I apply at this spot. Finally Robert gave me one of his reality pep talks and told me to (PG version get in the car and just drive) and I picked up a lot of time! Bottom line my best advise is to just walk and run the course in your head. If you focus on the electronics its time you are losing on doing a good ole fashined course walk. The electronics will not drive the car. It takes time and you will get it! I seriously just clicks after a few times.

[dewittpayne]

Dang Chris I swear you have that stored somewhere where you can pull that vidoe ot and any given moment.
Seriously I will be honest you can ask Robert Carpenter how I used to overanalyze everything. Even how much throttle should I apply at this spot. Finally Robert gave me one of his reality pep talks and told me to (PG version get in the car and just drive) and I picked up a lot of time! Bottom line my best advise is to just walk and run the course in your head. If you focus on the electronics its time you are losing on doing a good ole fashined course walk. The electronics will not drive the car. It takes time and you will get it! I seriously just clicks after a few times.

Everybody thinks that everybody else's brain works just like theirs. They don't. I've never been able to run a course in my head no matter how many times I walk it or even after I've driven it. It's buried in there somewhere, but I can't play it like a movie. And if I don't get some sort of reinforcement, it's definitely not going to be there four hours later. Also, just because something has never helped you (being inclusive of all the responders), doesn't mean it won't help me and conversely. I'm going to try video or pictures and see if that helps.

[dewittpayne]

Scoob,

1. I agree that this pointer was obscured from view, but it was a bit necessary for the two laps around said cone coming from the other direction where you could see it perfectly. And to be honest, it was not a key cone at the start - the first cone was.

So why not put two pointer cones at right angles? It was a key cone for me. I missed it on my first two runs.

[thrdeye]

Simply put, you should not need pointer cones. Pointer cones are necessary during your course walk, but if you are driving on course at speed looking for pointers to remind you which way to go, you have failed at your course walk....and that circles us back to your course walk and preparation.