GTA Autoslalom - PITL Event #2 Sat June 7 (Brampton, ON)

[ToyoburuBRZ]

Originally Posted by drewbot

How much does that event run? Sounds incredibly fun on an airfield

It is extremely fun! In a FSAE car with aero I was able to do slaloms at about 140km/h... They try to set up at least one slalom to be 120km/h in a road car.

They don't have pricing up as of yet but in the past it is usually no more than $40-$50.

Here is their website that has the list of events on it and it should be updated with a price soon
http://www.wosca.com/index.php/club/events

[engsr]

Originally Posted by ToyoburuBRZ

I've been doing autocross for the last five years with a formula SAE car and absolutely love it. Now that I have a BRZ I want to continue but after seeing videos of this event, it makes me uncomfortable seeing how close the course is set up to poles and signs.

I think I will be doing the WOSCA autocross instead which is held at Centrilia airport on a wide open runway. Because of this the course is typically a lot faster and a lot safer I feel

The courses are always designed with those things in mind. However, if you run out of talent, then there may be an issue. But that can happen at any kind of venue.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by Skurj

That's what has always bothered me with these events whenever I have seen them on youtube or when driving by.. it seems a forest of cones.

this is a large portion of the autoslalom competition experience,





Your cognitive abilities of reading and memorizing the course are as important as the driving part.





A clean completion of the course at a brisk pace is often enough to land anyone in the mid pack.


Pylon penalties are crippling and completing a run only to be told that you went off-course, without knowing where, sets you back at least another 2 runs before being able to attack at full speed.


This is how a typical day for an uninitiated novice goes.


Go like a bat out of hell from the start,


Totally forget that there is a corner coming up


brake super late and super hard


completely overshoot the entry


full lock the wheel


severely overheat the front tires while scrubbing off speed just to make the corner


then back on the throttle 100%, most likely oversteering in a RWD car and continuing to plow in a FWD hoping to pull out
now you’re flying towards the next corner with tires that are cooked and the process repeats over and over again


you cross the finish line having hit 2-3 cones and get told that you went off-course.. but they don’t tell you where exactly


you don’t get a timw


you finally stay on course on your 3rd time but you’re still hitting cones and you’re still blowing through turns because you think that’s fast




the day’s times are posted and you’re bottom of the barrel


you’re too proud and say fuck it and never show up again.




If this has/will be your first experience, then it’s time to relax a bit and be humble and start from the basics.

[f0rge]

This event is great for noobs, everyone is friendly and the whole thing is very low key.

You don't need to be competitive to have fun. Some veteran guys go 10/10ths every time but there's plenty of people just taking it easy and learning the course and the limits of their cars. Getting lost on course is a frequent occurrence even for some of us that have been doing this for years.

I'm never competitive in my class but I still have a blast each and every time.

[brzr]

i had lots of fun at the spda autocross.....might show up for this

[wparsons]

Track walk, track walk, track walk!

You NEED to walk the course before you try driving it, and put yourself in a similar vantage point to where you will be in the car (ie don't just walk around the course, walk the line you want to take in the car). Find any reference points you'll need, and try to at least remember the flow of the course.

When you're in the car, look ahead. If you're not looking far enough ahead, you'll constantly be playing catch up with yourself.

[7thgear]

one thing about picton tho... chances are there will be no track walk.. since we end up with like a 2km course and close to 100+ people

so they may simply do a congo line for everyone (plus you get a map)

[drewbot]

On my very first run on the SPDA clinic (day 1, end of day course) I got confused for 1 second on the straight

What I learned is that when doing the track walk, take into account the distances between cones does not really mean equal time between cones, since you are speeding through some sections. Seems self explanatory, but when you have all that adrenaline pumping, it's hard to account for everything.

@Skurj it's too bad you missed that clinic, as it was very fun and also informative. The slightest of tips from different drivers made all the difference from run #1 to run #12

It is also incredibly fun learning the limits of OE suspension and OE tires on cold surfaces with TRAC OFF

[Skurj]

Curious how many runs I might get at an event like this? I've heard with the big ones it may not be much?

[engsr]

Usually we do 5-6 timed runs. Depending how well the day goes, there's usually fun runs at the end of the day. Last event there was over an hour of fun runs, and some people went 3-4 more times from what I saw.

[f0rge]

My windshield just got a nasty crack in it (stupid low car), will they let me run with the crack or will I have to get a new windshield beforehand?

[engsr]

It won't be an issue from our standpoint.

[f0rge]

Sweet, might still fix it before if I have time.

[7thgear]

BUMP


be there or be square