East Tennessee Region SCCA

I really like what he wrote and know several of the people he mentions. I think he has a great attitude. The only thing I think I would add is on addition to having faster drivers drive your car, do some schools so you have someone critique what you are doing in your car.
I firmly believe if you have someone talking you through the course and giving you instruction, you will get faster earlier.

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thrdeye wrote:Yeah I totally agree with that Steve. You can overcome this with experience and do well on both types of courses (see: John Brown), but I think that takes years. I also think about how may real national level events I have been to over the years, and it's probably less than 50, whereas the fast guys get those types of courses 15-20 times per year.

I see what you did there.....

Thanks !

This is the first of a series of eleven videos on learning to autocross. It's somewhat old, but the basics should still be applicable. They should play in order if you let them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaK3DQLWus

My head hurts now.

If I were Don Rickles, I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to reply to that straight line. But I'm not, so I will.

Pretty cool site - http://edfishjr.com/

thrdeye wrote:Pretty cool site - http://edfishjr.com/

Did you see what's at the top today? Just like Wilmington last week...

Yes, the fucking bane of my autocross existance. I just need a supercharger and 285 Hoosiers

Interesting.

I don't agree with the post on (almost) never late apexing, though. For example, unlike what he says, in road racing you don't late apex a corner leading onto a straight, you take an early apex to get on the gas sooner. You late apex the corner at the end of the straight, assuming that corner doesn't lead onto another straight.

I musta been doin it wrong........ lol

Oh DeWitt. This is not the Road Racing tips thread. If you read that post and focused on that, well...that's a problem.

Here's the biggest take-away from that post, in my opinion.

Be careful not to confuse late-apexing with the technique of “back-siding” the cones. Back-siding a cone is not late-apexing. Back-siding a cone is a result of the racer deciding where the beginning and end of the corner are and on what radius.

dewittpayne wrote:Interesting.

I don't agree with the post on (almost) never late apexing, though. For example, unlike what he says, in road racing you don't late apex a corner leading onto a straight, you take an early apex to get on the gas sooner. You late apex the corner at the end of the straight, assuming that corner doesn't lead onto another straight.

in ALL my years and laps at 90% of the tracks East of the Mississippi.. Iv never found a reason to early apex. When I was forced to.. (inside pass,late), it almost 100% of the time led me to find all that stuff on the outside of the corner... LOL! as I watched the guy I passed.. motor back ahead of me.

The video series I linked didn't agree either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF0aRhD8_uI And that is about autocrossing, not road racing.

This is what he actually wrote:

Late-apexing is done on track for various good reasons, but the only one related to saving time is to increase exit speed off the corner by “lengthening” the straight.

That's wrong. Late apexing cuts exit speed, not increases it because you get on the gas later. It makes the straight longer, but not the exit straight, the entrance straight by delaying braking as long as possible. Wrong is wrong.

The backsiding the cone comment is a good one.

It's poorly worded, but the point is that in many turns on a road course, turning in later will net you more speed at the end of that straight than you would have gained by getting into the throttle earlier in the corner.

Oak Tree at VIR is a great example of a corner you would want to late Apex. Slow corner, fairly narrow track, leads onto a very long straight.