Autocross Videos - Tips and Discussion

[DocWalt]

Really enjoying my car

[AustinTX]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Really enjoying my car

That looks like a riot! STX++

[cmiovino]

Originally Posted by steverife

Agree with everything John said. I'll watch your vids here and there and I definitely think you'd heavily benefit for being more committed and purposeful in your runs.

Originally Posted by AustinTX

Just generally seem to be unwilling to let the car get a slip angle into it. Top of STX means pushing right to and sometimes over the edge of control - you look nice and smooth :P

Thanks for the feedback both of you. Yep, this is all correct. I have too much mechanical sympathy for the car and there's something up where I don't drive 100%. Even on public roads, I'm generally right at the speed limit and barely a hair over when others go ~5-10mph or something over. I'll have to mentally work on this for next year... not speeding, but speeding on course lol.

I also notice this in general with me. Take lifting weights for example. I'll stick to what I think is a heavy, but comfortable weight. Girlfriend and I were testing our maxes and I was a good 25% off my max on nearly all my lifts and never really get push or get close to what I can actually do. I actually had no idea where the limit or my max was.

[foshjowler]

Made a last minute decision to bring the Cayman out to a local event. It was relatively cold at about 55F the whole day, so the all season weren't totally out of place. Ended up 4th PAX of 100 participants. A lot of the fast drivers didn't show up to this one, but still feel quite good about a top 5 while on all seasons.



https://photos.app.goo.gl/tBc1ckK97cy9o5qa6

[Breezio]

Final event (weekend) of the season and what a doozy!
Our local club (Snake River Region) sold out for the first time ever for the Saturday event with 105 registered drivers.
This was my third run from Saturday morning. Got the class win and 4th PAX for the day. Which I'm pretty happy with. A friend in STS just got me on his last run. The two others ahead of me were co-driving an SS GT3. The owner has gotten very very good over the past few years and the co-driver is a national champion.
There was more time out there, but I kept over-driving the car.

For Sunday, another big day (96 drivers and perfect weather). I had a straight bonkers third run by settling down and not over-driving the car (video below) and won my class. Also gave me the top PAX spot until the very end of the day when another of our national champions (STS) just snaked past me on his 7th run.

[cmiovino]

First outing of 2025. Had the new RE-71RS mounted the prior day, so this was scrubbing them in. They feel wildly more precise than the Yoks I've run the last 3 seasons. Curious to see how they feel at the next event after they're scrubbed in now. They felt really good as is.

I also started from nothing adjusting my damper settings on the RCE SS-1's, starting out with 5/5 (20 clicks total), then 7/7, 8/8, and finally settling at 10/12 (firmer in the rear) just as I ran them all of last season.

[cmiovino]

First real points event of 2025. 7th out of 106. Car is very quick on Stones and even though maybe they don't have the raw grip of the Yoks (when they're not overheated) I feel like the precision and confidence of the Stones allows me to get on power quicker or something. Well, when you're not 180ing the car around like at the start of the video, ha. Honestly, if there's any less grip, it's by much - I'd actually say they have a hair more.

[AustinTX]

Some say the Stones are quicker than the Yoks on asphalt if nothing else but because they feel better. But on concrete or with OPR (like nationals), the Yoks come to the top by a small amount.

Here are my DST winning runs from the South Texas National Tour this weekend - good for 4th in PAX. Could have won, but small mistakes here and there...

[cmiovino]

Had our first official local SCCA event of the year. Also had a Starting Line - ish school the day prior. Boy, did I learn a lot. I can and should be more aggressive than I have been and the car can definitely hold speed and get on the power way earlier than I thought. Results showed at yesterday's event. 2nd best finish ever in ~15 years doing this (5 in the BRZ).

Also, removing the pre-load from your front swaybar helps. I always skimped out and bolted it on in with the wheels off, but I took the time loosen everything up and just slide them in sitting on some 4" blocks while adjusting the endlinks. I do think this was having a detrimental impact on handling and might have been like running a massive front swaybar. It was enough I could feel a difference.

[cmiovino]

Our local SCCA region had to cancel this Saturday's event. Not enough drivers. Had some storms roll through earlier this week and some people haven't had power for a few days, plus it's been generally wet for events.

Hit up our other local region for Sunday and it poured at the beginning of the day, but dried out. Last 4 runs out of 6 were all dry. Landed my best PAX points finish (977) at an event in the BRZ. The Stones are doing a lot better than the Yoks for me at least. Could be driving style. I do think the Stones are better on asphalt.

Three things:
- Did a school a week earlier plus another event. Learned to be more aggressive, but still smooth.
- Dampers are set even square in the middle now. No slight rear bias anymore. Yoks needed more in the rear to make it rotate, but the Stones don't.
- Got rid of the pre-load on the front swaybar with some adjustable endlinks. I think this really helped and the bar was binding up or effectively working much more than anticipated.

Kinda still looking at a headers that have popped up here locally. Tomei, FT86SpeedFactory (catted), and a JDL non-catted. Kinda wanted Tomei for the sound, but the others are coated. Then wanted the catted one, but hear they fall apart easily. JDL one is the roughest of the bunch. Plus tuning is extra. Kinda back to holding off again until next year.

[foshjowler]

Got a cheap headrest GoPro mount off Etsy so I could bring the camera back inside the car. It’s not the greatest quality thing, has some shake to it, but with some smoothing in post, it seems to be fine.

After a handful of events I’m pretty settled on doing the “mullet”. Getting more used to the Yoks on the rear, I still think they’re a weird tire, but they certainly have the grip back there. I’ve been playing around with pressures, and can’t for the life of me tell the difference. I bumped up the rears 2.5 PSI and the balance is the same, just maybe a little sharper. I remember them being that way when I had them all around. Lower pressures didn’t really seem to result in more grip/faster times, just worse feel.

Saturday was day 1 of a two day event, but couldn’t make day 2. Since it was the last ZMAX event before the Tour in June, figured getting some runs on the surface would be good. My run was good enough for 2nd in Pro Street Tire, and my 4th run was 4 tenths faster, but punted a cone at the end of a wall, so no good there. After 3 runs I was about 1 second ahead of everyone else, but everyone was picking up time through each run as tire temps were coming up on a cool windy day, just couldn’t keep my final run clean.

Thinking it might be time to rebuild the shocks. They’ve got probably 25-30k miles, and the car has had a couple of shock spins. The first being at VIR on a 35* out lap, and the back end just came around on me. I chocked it up to old and cold Stones, but then a similar spin happened through the finish at the Atlanta Pro. If it happens again, I’ll send them in for a rebuild. Was already planning to do it in the off season, just might need to accelerate that timeline.

[RT-BRZ]

This video is from the second event on the 3.91 rear diff. The car is definitely way more controllable now in autocross and I'm expecting good results on the track in July. I still have more to learn about handling the car. I'm a middling autocross driver so I know there are places I should have done some things different.

Enjoy.

[cmiovino]

Lots of rain events lately. Drove to Central PA Region's 3rd and 4th events, all rain. Stones on the highway at even 50mph in downpours are sketch. I don't remember Yoks being that bad until they were at the very end.

Here's today's best run. It was "dry"... ish. Wipers were on and you can see some hitting the camera. At least I didn't run in the final heat when it totally downpoured for a good 20 minutes.

[foshjowler]

Had the Charlotte Tour this last weekend. Finally brought home a Tour win after being less than a tenth away a couple of times. I ended up having the shocks rebuilt right before this event, and good thing I did because they were totally dead when I sent them in. All weekend the car was super easy to place exactly where I wanted it, and it never once surprised me in the least. No idea how long they've been so cooked, but it's been at least all of this season.


My day one run felt amazing, and it showed with a half second lead and 2 tenths off top PAX. It's possible that I could have pulled an extra couple of tenths out, but don't think I really left much on the table. Day 2, my run was good, but a little tentative, and feel I left a half second out there. Then I DNFd my final run when I looked too far ahead (if there is such a think) and overlooked a pointer. Either way, it was enough to maintain most of the half second lead I came into the day with. Ended up 7th overall PAX, which was 2nd street tire (ZMax typically favors Hoosiers over street tires), and by far my best Tour result. Hopefully this form will hold with the rebuilt shocks, but now I'm wondering how long I've been giving up time due do blown shocks.