Autocross with the Automatic Transmission?
 

Has anyone had any experiences Autocrossing their cars with the Automatic transmission they would be willing to share?

You should go ahead and do it and let us know!

I have manual...

I autocrossed my AT 5 times already. You never really get out of 2nd gear once you get into it so its a non issue. Plus less things to worry about. Just keep the car in manual mode and you should be fine

I have never auto-x'd a car before but I'm looking forward to trying it with this one. The first noobie auto-x in chicago (the two day SCCA "learning curve") is in April. I'm looking forward to it...

I have 86 runs on my at frs so far. I will also be at the next Chicago event this month. We have a two day autox this weekend in champaign if you can make it down.

I have a thread in here called feldys autocross videos a ton of videos in the frs and even one From Chicago. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11848

Sanctioned driving schools go a long way.. just saying.

Well buddy, say a little more!

Ok that's nots totally correct. I have never auto-x in an SCCA event but I have done some auto-x during those ride and drive events. Some especially long half day events with BMW where they provided class/track instruction.

Something Skip Barber-esk ($2000) is out of the question, as I have enough of a budget to afford the race feels and a helmet. any suggestions for about $500?

I AutoX my AT.

I have autox'ed for several years in all MT cars. This AT is great, just put it in manual sport mode and go. You can't launch as hard as you could in a MT but in a regular autox setup with the 15' rollout before the lights it really doesn't buy you much. Just hammer off the line, shift to 2nd and leave it there which is really what you do with a manual car on 95% of courses. On a rare occasion you'd maybe hit 3rd, rarely every would you want to try and cram it back in 1st, but on this car with the AT if you did need 1st or 3rd you can get them and back to 2nd faster (at least for me) than in a MT.

I thoroughly enjoy the AT in AutoX.

I test drove a AT at autox held here by TRD, felt it was annoying to not be able to get back into 1st, tranny says nope, youre going too fast

right there a mt wins

Most local SCCA regions will offer a driving school... They usually are less than $100 and will cover the basics and get you a good amount of seat time for your money.

If you want something with a little more intensive instruction evoschool.com is the way to go. They likely wont do any more around the mid-west until next spring. They usually do one early in the season in Gary, IN... that is particularly a good one to go to.

We offered the evo school down here in champaign during the spring this year. Will likely be doing the same next year.

Maybe when its new, but it doesn't take too many times of going back to 1st in an AutoX before the transmission also starts to say nope. The sound of the syncros grinding into first is pretty hard to get out of your head.

I haven't tried autocrossing with the AT but I have tried going on our local race track with it. All I can say is that with the 86, racing with its AT tranny is a joy!

I just got done with doing DE on a road course with the PCA (Porche Club of America) and it was $275 for a 2 day event. This is minus getting your car inspected for about $50 and another $80 or so in gas. I also have an auto.

They do Barber and Talledega and it is nowhere near that much.