Quote:
Originally Posted by markw
"Road racing is all foreplay, while autocross is pure orgasm." - Randy Pobst SCCA Sports Car Magazine
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox
I should try Auto-X one of these days. I just can't get over the cost-to-time ratio. I know I'm lucky having an awesome local track that's cheap.
But Hallett = $110 for 5 15-20 minute sessions.
AutoX = $50 for 8 45-50 sec runs
Not to mention, I have to work one heat, and I have to stand on an asphalt/concrete lot all day.
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I was calling bullshit on the quote Friday night, after Saturday spent sliding around with a car that's more dialed in I get it.
On a track control is key, consistency wins and you get to try the same corner out 20-50 times in one day and you get time in between corners to settle and reassess, time in between sessions to tweak and review and watch others. It's all foreplay because at the end of the day you go home with a feeling that you worked, that you strung together a few good laps that you can be proud of.
Autocross is manic, aggression in a controlled fashion wins the day, and an actual victory in most cases with a tangible result against real competitors. There is no time between corners (unless the course is setup by the Corvette club) to take a breath, by the time you've straightened out hopefully you're lined up for the next one cause you're on the brakes. You will overshoot every corner in search of the limit because there is no more time to waste, only 4 runs left, 3, 2, 1, and done. It's an immense challenge and incredibly humbling when a guy who's never driven your car hops in for the first time and blows your time out of the water by 1.5 seconds on a <40 second course (that's what happened to me on Saturday, I scrambled back 1.2 of those seconds but there's another second on top of that to be found).
If you'll pardon my cheesy analogy: autocross with a good car is like a fabled Initial D mountain run, I don't care if you're hustling a big heavy Gran Tourer with 300-500 horses at the wheels (seen some AMG's and GTR's) or a Hot Hatch pitching into every corner sideways or a momentum car like an 86 wound out to the redline at 101% of available traction 95% of the time. It's exhilarating, every moment you are doing something, you are on the edge in the zone where driving a car is truly pleasurable.
Sploosh.
