Seat time seat time and more of it! Ask questions, ride with the fast guys, walk the course with them. Don't worry about the car just yet. Tires, good shocks, swaybars, drop in filter and a catback and you will be good to go as far as the rules go later down the road.

Mostly, it's done via protest, which means it really only happens at national-level events. So positive, you probably won't get protested locally, but when you do get protested at a big event, it will be in a well-documented and very public fashion.

http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/aft/430110

Someone a couple years ago had a tune on their car, and got called on it, and then, as above, we publicly stone you, quite mercilessly, in this case because it is so hard to detect and prove. I don't believe the offending car/driver showed their face nationally for the remainder of the year. Get caught with an illegal tune/flash once, you can expect to get protested every where you bring that car. Your options at that point are basically either reclass the car correctly, or retire the car from competition. And you'll still receive very close scrutiny at big events. As well you should.

In short, it's an albatross you don't want hanging around your neck. Cheating at non-SRSBZNS level is pointless, and at the SRSBZNS level, it is dealt with harshly.

I'll just echo what everyone else is saying and say the biggest thing you can do to be competitive in AutoX is to do it A LOT.

In just your first event you will see your times decrease by a few seconds...

DO NOT turn VSC and TRAC off! On stock tires, it will make the car useless. I ran my first run with all the nannies off and spun out immediately upon grabbing second gear. And I've got a good amount of AutoX under my belt in all kinds of cars. I ran the rest of the day with VSC Sport which, for traction control, is BRILLIANT. It gives you enough wheel spin to put down a good lap time, but will also keep you from sliding out. Once you upgrade tires you can pull back on the traction control until you're confortable.

Yessirree, seat time and instruction is what improves the driver

Also highly likely. Although, as others have said, good chance you'll be slower than the hotshoes by a considerable margin. They took a fair amount of time and effort to get there. A lot of fast guys used to be the back of the novice pack.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with this part. Or, at least, YMMV. I just did my first event with the car and was on the Primacy's, in the rain, and Pax'd well (9 of 87). So, the car's not undriveable like that. The back end can and will bite you, but nothing tells you "don't try that move again" better than exiting a corner backwards. IMO running with the TC and VSC on (even sport) just lends the impression that what you're doing is right, when it may not be, and could teach/reinforce bad technique.

Autocross is (typically) one of the very few places where you can spin and only hurt your ego. Take advantage of that. You'll learn a lot more about the cars behavior and responses on crap tires with the aids off than you will with r-comps and TC.

Just an opinion though. :thumbsup:

On the Primacy's, the BRZ is all over the track. But if you keep using the nanny's, you'll never learn the proper throttle control for this car. In the end it will hurt you in my opinion.

A safe controlled environment like Auto X, is a great place to learn throttle control with little risk of hurting someone, damage to your car and other property.

Practice makes perfect! :thumbup:

He's got a point. But for a beginner I'd use TC at least until you're more comfortable with autocrossing and the car. I'm comfortable with autocrossing, I've been doing it for years, but this was my first time with the car and I spun it out like an idiot. I was pushing it hard like I'm used to doing. You probably won't be pushing it that hard, but it's a good tool to keep the car straight while you're learning. Eventually you'll want to turn it off.

Well said. :clap:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRUGESU9V4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRUGESU9V4[/ame]

A lot of good advice here. First and foremost, have fun. Don't worry about being slow when you first start out. Just enjoy pushing the car in a controlled environment. I wouldn't worry about any mods right away. This car is very capable bone stock. You'll probably be slow in your first few events, and you'll be able to blame some of that on the tires. Less damage to both wallet and ego. After a good number of events on the primacys, switch them out for a good set of tires (rivals, rs3s z2s, etc.). Tires will make more of a difference than any other mod out there, and you'll appreciate then increased performance after running the stock tires for a season.
As for the stability control and tcs, I think the best thing to do is play around with it. On a warm day on concrete, it gets in the way even in sport mode. On cold and dirty asphalt, it can keep things pointed in the right direction while you learn the course. I'd at least leave the tcs off so you can get a decent launch at the start.
It's also good to be friendly and talk to people. Everyone there decided getting up early to spend 5 minutes driving around caution cones was a better idea than nursing a hangover or playing golf, so you've already got a lot in common. Ask questions, talk to other 86 drivers and see what they've done with their cars, try and get a ride with some of the faster guys, and keep coming back. Nothing helps like seat time.

^^^ What this guy said.

since having the car I haven't taken the car on any high speed corners so I haven't felt the vsc yet. also I don't get any wheel spin at all, even in sport mode. is this because I have the AT or driver noob? what is the correct way to launch our cars with a automatic?

I'm experiencing cognitive dissonance here regarding VSC discussion. What VSC does is apply the brake to the outside front wheel in a sharp turn to prevent you from completing that turn as you intended. The stock tires are capable of much better turning than the VSC will permit.

I only did one test-n-tune autocross on the stock tires before my BFG Rivals arrived. I tried leaving the VSC on for my 7th run and found myself running over cones that I easily cleared with VSC and TC disabled.

I would humbly suggest that you will do yourself no favors by practicing turns less aggressively than the car is easily capable of, even on the stock tires.

Also recall that defeating VSC and TC does not defeat ABS, which is a good thing.

I'm an automatic autocross guy too. Not nearly as fast as these guys, though.

When I'm feeling rusty, I'll leave the "VSC Sport" on for the first couple runs. Generally, it will only kick in if you've misjudged a turn. It will make a *thump* sound and you'll feel the steering adjust and the car slow down. It's not a subtle driving aid.

Whenever you feel like VSC is "getting in the way" rather than "covering your butt" ... it's time to remove the training wheels. Hold the traction button for 3 seconds, and it will remove stability control (allowing you to oversteer into the danger zone). Spinning will happen if you're staying on the edge, so learn the techniques of regaining control.

Was this with all aids off, or pedal dance off?? It seemed like you had it nice and corrected during exit, but then it looks like started wigging out (aids activating?). Or, maybe ice mode activated?

Just traction control off. Exiting the turn was fine, it was that sudden steering kick (from the drift) that I wasn't able to correct.