First autox (with gopro video)
 

Bought the 8 a week ago. Took a performance driving class with TAC scca club in Huntsville, AL this weekend ending in a beginner's autox event. Took some video with the gopro. Enjoy laughing at my noob driving:

http://vimeo.com/22636570

video is going to be more helpful for you if you stick with one camera angle; a few times (e.g., 1:24) i wanted to see how you set up for a certain gate but then it cut to the inside view. the way you have it now is OK for fun, but not going to be useful for learning.

not bad for a first time. you are miles away from almost every cone. you are apexing almost every cone very early; neither of those are unusual for novices. nice job with your hand positioning on the wheel.

00:53 - you lost at least a full second -- maybe 2 -- through that sweeper.

1:08 is a good example of turning too late; in that slalom gate at that point, your car should be facing much more left than you are in the video. you were way behind the whole trip through the slalom; my guess is that you had to slow down as the slalom progressed in order to not miss gates.

I cut this first video that way for friends and family. I didn't realize somebody would be willing to give me some advice. This is great!

Still trying to understand the whole late apex concept. Am I doing it correctly at 1:21? I was specifically focusing on trying to late apex there to setup correctly for that final 90 degree corner.

This one was tough for me. For this sweeper I was trying to brake in a straight line down to turning speed, dial in my steering wheel and take the corner at a constant speed, trying to apex at that last cone all the way around on the other side. I think, for this run, I had too much speed and ended up being 6ft away from the apex cone. But I was at near maximum tire traction the whole turn. Would I have done better to just slow down a bit and get closer to that final cone?

You called it. It was even worse because the cones got closer together towards the end. I was practically braking. So what I think you're saying is that I'm trying to take too narrow of a path through the slalom. I should exaggerate my arcs a bit more?

Thanks for the tips! This is tremendously helpful.

Great video, I think you need to get closer to the cones and you seem a bit light on the gas pedal, if you are accelerating then pedal to the metal. Difficult to know how the car is doing with no sound, its good to hear the engine and tires squealing. When you went through the gate that was a right angle with a cone at 1:25 you slowed down way too much the Rx8 is narrow and will fit through that gap going very fast.

While working the course (on that corner, actually), it seems most folks had problems with that turn. Just past it was a gate that was offset to the left, forcing you to curve in even further than 90 degrees to avoid the cone on the right. I don't know what the secret sauce was, but the experienced drivers out that day were able to blow through that corner at twice the speed of everybody else.

you'll find that autoXers are generally a very helpful bunch. a lot of times it's really useful to have a good driver either ride along with you or take a run in your car with you in the passenger seat...most clubs won't count a run with an instructor driving as one of your runs.

yes. in almost all cases, the shorter line is faster.

NO! you need to be turning earlier, not more; when one cone passes, say, your driver's door, you should already be turning the wheel the other way for the next one. it takes more time than you think for:

-Steering input
-tires change direction
-car's weight transfers
-car changes direction

if you wait until you are past a cone to begin turning for the next one, you are already late, and -- as you saw -- you'll need to slow down in order to give the car time to set up. the fact that is was a decreasing slalom (i hate those) compounded the problem. if you are almost running over the base of each cone with your inside rear tire, you're good.

Here is my fastest run of the day. Single camera shot with engine and tire audio. Critiques welcome!

http://vimeo.com/22685144

chillllaxx at the slalom lol, seems like ur a tad bit too nervous, but that's ok since it's ur first time.

as more experience folks at my club says, it's ok to hit ur lights and wipers lol, calm down though!

nice video quality, what camera are you using?

It's in the title

http://gopro.com/cameras/hd-motorsports-hero-camera/

Second weekend autocrossing video :

http://vimeo.com/22820532

I felt like I was really smooth and fast, but my times were eons behind everybody else.

How did you mount the camera?

Looks like the sunroof.

Suction mount to the sunroof

New video from Nashville superspeedway this weekend. Placed 4th of 19 in Novice. http://vimeo.com/24143815

Ahhhh! I can't wait to get some racing in!