[longodj]

Hey,
So this is my story of my first experience with an autocross at the Btavia International Motorsports Park Go Kart track.

I woke up in the morning to a display that said 8:30AM and my mouth screaming profanities. Within 10 minutes I was in the car and flooring it on my way through the hour long trip that stretches from my house in Rochester to Batavia. I got to Batavia at 9:44AM. Driver's Meeting was at 9:45AM. After the driver's meeting I got my car teched and luckily was assigned "time duty" as my work assignment so they let me change my tires. I changed my tires as quickly as possible (no impact wrench just plain old torque wrench) and by the time I as done I was so drenched in sweat and brake dust that I had to buy a new shirt. It was 83 degrees F and 53% humidity out so even if you were in the shade is was disgusting.

At some point I finally got to get on track. I decided to do the smart thing this time and go first in the car of an instructor and then take different instructors each run. I've been using instructors but not so heavily at autocross. Maybe in like one run out of 8. The instructor's car that I rode in was a 1993 Porsche 911 RSA. At the first event at BIMP (not this one), his best time around the track was a 63.835s. The best time ever recorded with this group at that track was in the 59s range. At the last event as well the second best non-BMW time was a 64.230s. I hope that gives you an idea of times. So, this first run with my instructor was INSANE. I never actually took the step to sit in an instructors car before but it was well worth it. At the end of the run I felt sick and had the worst headache from repeatedly slamming against the roof. However, his driving was incredible. You could barely tell he was going around turns. Like...one second you'd be going one way and you'd blink and you'd be somewhere else. It was a rush. The guy apparently ran with One Lap of America for a few years and teaches HPDEs across various organizations.

So OK, now I get to run. I take the first instructor I can find, who happens to be the autocross chief. He gives me a good intro to the course since I missed the walkthroughs (big mistake). He tells me to stay late as possible, don't give too much throttle here and there, hit the brakes HARD here, look for this tree, etc. Oh and you should know that this is basically a tiny road course where there's pavement and grass and if you hit the grass with two wheels you're O/C, four wheels off you're out for the day. When I actually started my first run I went WAY early where he said to go late, I gave too much throttle where he said to lay off, I didn't hit the brakes enough where he said to, and the trees just confused me. So my first run was an O/C. Also, because I was rushed to put my wheels/tires on I didn't check pressures. So in the morning my pressures were at something like 41RF, 39LF, 40RR, 42LR which would explain why I was understeering like crazy on some turns but not others.

The second run I decided to take it a bit lighter and be a bit smoother. So now the "work chief" got in my car. He did a run with me that was certainly much better, but at the end instead of "exiting" I went around the "second monza" by accident and got an O/C.

OK, now I'm determined, only one run to go in the morning. The "work chief" asks if I want him to stay in the car and I said "sure, I'll take all the help I can get." This time I really, REALLY back off (honestly I wish there was an easy way of cutting boost for the morning runs so I could just learn momentum). I end up with something like a 68.6s. The run was great but I was still a bit choppy and a bit early, etc.

So now we break for lunch. I probably consume about 10 lbs of food since I missed breakfast and only had a few sips of fluids all day. Now I feel like crap because I'm in a bit of a food coma and inhaled Gatorade, and I start work again. This time I really pay attention to what other cars are doing where I am failing and look at the angles of their cars at those points as well as their brake lights. I get a pretty good idea of what I need to do. After working I let pressure out of everything and adjust to what I want. End up with 39F, 37R. Which, by the way, along with the rear sway in an xi is an awesome combination because you can rotate the car at will.

Now I'm on my fourth fun and I choose to beckon for my old favorite instructor. He's an old guy that drives a Camaro SS but he's the nicest guy out there and his biggest advise is get off the throttle We go around and with the new pressures and him in the car I have a new found confidence that makes me smoother and more throttle happy in a good way. I can now rotate the car with my right foot and with the right entry point I'm set. I end up dropping a second down to 67.4s and his only advice is go later on one turn but besides that you're doing great!

On my fifth and final run of the day I decide I want to go it alone. Now, every time I start I always vary the throttle to spool up the turbos. So, the flag goes up, I'm mashin away at the throttle you hear BAPBAPBAPBAP BAPBAPBAP BR BR BR BAP BAP BAP BR BR BR BAP BAP BAP. The flag drops and you see my car shooting backwards. I HAD IT IN REVERSE!!! Why did they put reverse next to first At any rate I only reversed maybe a foot so I immediately shot it into first and went through the course. I was smooth, I was rotating just enough, I was off the throttle at that one place in the middle of the course where I always went off course or just scrubbed off half my speed so I actually maintained my speed there this time. It was perfect until I tried to push the braking limit at the end of the course and lost a good second because I was FAR too late and had to correct. Overall though I felt like it was a really good run.

Now I'm sitting at the timing board waiting for the timer to come by and write up the scores. He writes down my score while I'm laughing with a few guys over my little reverse blooper. When I got to the board I was shocked and I tapped him on the shoulder and said "Uh, scuse me...but...uh....does that say 65 or 68?" and he went and checked and it said 65.416s!!!! For me that's awesome. I never saw the course in my life, had the worst day ever, and ended up beating out M3s. There was also a 135i there and he got somewhere in the 64.6 range. I am sure that he's a better driver than me, I don't really know him, but he seemed to be around the group longer and had more experience. But, assuming that I struck luck and just had a really good run that time, that means there's only a second difference in the 400 pound difference between the 135i and the 335xi.

Overall it was a great day and made me set my personal goal for next year of beating that record score It was set by a prepared AWD Eclipse pushing somewhere around 440hp. I figure....more driver training, that suspension I'm waiting for, and a nice power upgrade once out of warranty and I'll be part the way there