Lorenzo's AutoCross

[Lorenzo]

Started my first season at Autocross last month.

My first session was a BMWCCA novice class and my fuel pump failed on tech inspection. Had to drive my other car with winter tires. Not optimal...slipping constantly due to poor grip. But had a blast anyhow.

Sad day for ZHP...

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Stretched the legs of my 428...

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Took a second class form SCCA with repaired ZHP. My times were in top 25% of the class. But the experience level from the participants in this class was much less than the first one. So I don't expect this to be representative. Received good instruction today. He coached me to brake hard when entering all tight turns.

Attended my first Test & Tune event today. Best session yet. I must have got 30-40 runs. I steadily improved my times from 58 seconds to 48 seconds by end of day. The instructor drove my car once and got 45 seconds - so I feel pretty good about that in comparison to my best. Other than a lunch break and the two times we had to work the course, it was nonstop seat time. I improved my braking on the hard turns but the car felt slow to accelerate out of the turns. I don't know if that's driver skill or the ZHP doesn't have enough low-end torque.

Photos from test n tune...

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Next week is my first official points event. I'll see how I fare in the novice class.

[Johnmadd]

Looks like fun!

[Lorenzo]

Looks like fun!

It was indeed. I loved pushing my ZHP to the limits within the law!

[ZHPizza]

This looks awesome. Can't believe how much time you got to spend on the course!

[BMWCurves]

This looks awesome. Can't believe how much time you got to spend on the course!

+1

This looks like a ton of fun, and that is a lot of seat time!

[GoGators]

cool. you are starting the sport the right way! -lots of seat time, -lots of instruction, - minimal modifications/adjustability. the single best advice is keep looking forward, ideally two to three elements ahead of where your car is. needless to say, but the car looks great too!

[Lorenzo]

cool. you are starting the sport the right way! -lots of seat time, -lots of instruction, - minimal modifications/adjustability. the single best advice is keep looking forward, ideally two to three elements ahead of where your car is. needless to say, but the car looks great too!

Thanks! Yes. The two key items I have been concentrating on is:

1. Looking way ahead so I know what's coming up and plan accordingly. I get better at this as I learn the course. It's hard the first one or two times on a new course.

2. Hard braking as I enter tight turns so I can accelerate out of the turn under control, vs screeching my tires and sliding.

[GoGators]

i try to complete braking before turning in nearly all circumstances. I have found in our heavier, RWD drive cars that braking + turning will result in one of two poor scenarios. 1-you overload the grip of the front tires and end up pushing the front end or 2- at higher speeds section you get loose as you have taken some weight of the rear axle and now expect it to grip in a turn.