(2011) If You Were A Newcomer, What Would YOU Want To Know?

[mcoupemindy]

If you were a newcomer, what would YOU want to know?

Because autocross is AWESOME, we are always bringing our newcomer friends to events - but even so, autocross and autocross events can be quite intimidating to the newcomer.

Look back onto your first autocross experience, what dumb questions (which don't exist) did you have? What would have made the experience less stressful and more fun?

Thanks! Happy Holidays.

[Bob]

If it wasn't for having marginal driving and memory skills,and a poorly prepared car, I could be good at this. I always ask " whats the best kind of music to blast whilst driving at 110% on the course?" I personally like Foreigner and Wagner.

[1996 328ti]

My problem with autocrossing is I'm fast in slow out and which way do I go?

[pseto]

At my first autox, I had no idea what was going on, where to go, or how much time I needed to allocate for the event. The drivers meeting helped, but still without asking a bunch of people what's going on, I didn't hae a clue.

Maybe an info booth, printed instructions, people with staff shirts on, or something could have help. Something outlining expectations on the website would be great and maybe a few old course designs.

[Zchild]

I would suggest an explaination of the cone placement and what they mean... For instance explaining why a group of cones is in a certain postion and which cones are directional versus which cones are actual gates and lastly which cones are braking cones counting down to a direction change or a gate... I hope this makes sense to the designers of the course. It's just some of the issues I encountered early in autocrossing which took the longest to understand. I understand this now but these were major issues when I first began the journey to becoming a regular.

[spidertri]

The thing that held me up the most before I started auto crossing was that I kept thinking I was going to break something on the car and not be able to drive home/to work the next day.

[etherpool]

The thing that held me up the most before I started auto crossing was that I kept thinking I was going to break something on the car and not be able to drive home/to work the next day.

Good reason to spring for a dedicated auto-x car!!

[Claff]

How about an "adopt a newbie" program. An experienced person can volunteer to have a first-timer basically shadow him throughout the day: show the newbie how to empty out the car, get it through tech, walk the course, get the car gridded, working the course alongside, and run in the same heat. It's not overwhelming to the experienced person to only have to deal with one person, and the newbie knows there's someone he can go to for any question. I'd volunteer for it and I'm sure most here would do it as well.

[CPSmith]

How about an "adopt a newbie" program. An experienced person can volunteer to have a first-timer basically shadow him throughout the day: show the newbie how to empty out the car, get it through tech, walk the course, get the car gridded, working the course alongside, and run in the same heat. It's not overwhelming to the experienced person to only have to deal with one person, and the newbie knows there's someone he can go to for any question. I'd volunteer for it and I'm sure most here would do it as well.

I like this idea. We may also want to have newbies pair up when possible, in order to streamline things a bit

[Spydeputy]

Post it here so I/We can see it ahead of time please. Thanks

[Bob]

The thing that held me up the most before I started auto crossing was that I kept thinking I was going to break something on the car and not be able to drive home/to work the next day.

I've had that nagging concern for 25 years, and actually experienced some mechanical problems, but none kept me from finishing my runs and getting home, although snapping off my 533's shifter in Harrisburg was problematic, I was able to get it into 2nd gear for my final 2 runs, and then got it into 4th, which allowed me to drive home(70 miles) "non-stop", kinda like a challenge. My admiration for the German(BMW) engineer is based on these experiences, the abuse these cars can take is incredible, I'm talking about hundreds of 4k launchs with huge race tires,and redlined engines, threshold braking,etc., the cars actually seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

[bobesser]

I've had that nagging concern for 25 years, and actually experienced some mechanical problems, but none kept me from finishing my runs and getting home, although snapping off my 533's shifter in Harrisburg was problematic, I was able to get it into 2nd gear for my final 2 runs, and then got it into 4th, which allowed me to drive home(70 miles) "non-stop", kinda like a challenge. My admiration for the German(BMW) engineer is based on these experiences, the abuse these cars can take is incredible, I'm talking about hundreds of 4k launchs with huge race tires,and redlined engines, threshold braking,etc., the cars actually seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

Imagine if they'd been engineered by the same people who made the B17!

Bob

[Bob]

Imagine if they'd been engineered by the same people who made the B17!

Bob

B17!?, Don't forget who got us to the moon!