SK is a local Cal Club deal.... Anyone out of Socal has no idea WTF you are talking about. Not every region offers a stock street index class.

 

good to know......

 

That's what happens when a newbie tries to answer another newbies question.

 

Obviously real seat time is king, and I would heartily reccomend that you check out a racing school like Evolution. I got 80 runs in a weekend with multi-time national champs for just $450 for 2 days worth. It took me a whole season to make those lessons habit and be able to use them, but I wouldn't trade that for any piece of equipment.

Secondly, and it might sound a little Mickey Mouse, but buy a Playstation, GranTourismo 4, and a wheel/pedal set. You can play for hours and learn a LOT about the correct racing line. There's a reason that tons of pro racers play the game regularly.

 

Another way to see how far you are off, is have one of the top drivers drive you around the course on an "instructor" run. See how they run your car, see what their times are...to see how far you are off the pace (given their experience level).

I've had Ulllose and MP5 both drive my car at actual events. I am about even/ a little behind MP5, but am about 1.5-2.0 seconds behind Ulllose. You'll learn alot by sitting in your own car, seeing the speeds at which they enter and exit corners, how they handle soloms and transitions, as well as line and break points.

This has been the most helpful for me.

 

Alright, I've got a new autox newbie question. I want to get a set of numbers and am unsure whether to go with magnetic or vinyl. I'm assuming vinyl is the way to go, but figured I'd post it up and see what they rest of you are using.

Incidentally and unrelated point for the moderators - might be a good idea to sticky this thread in order to maintain it as a gathering place for noob autox questions.

 

I was under the impression that the magnetic numbers were just magnet-impregnated vinyl sheeting.

I bought a 10'x1' roll of white "magnetic sheeting" for about $30 shipped off of eBay. I printed out appropriate clip-art letters and numbers from MS Word to use as stencil and cut them out of the sheet with an Xacto knife. I used Krylon spray paint for plastic applications to give it more contrast against my silver car.

If you go this route, cover the back side of the sheet (the site that will touch the paint on your car) with masking tape before you paint it. If you don't, the spray paint may run and get on the back side and then embed itself in your paint.

 

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like a good way to go.

 

That's what I did. To avoid paint problems, try Krylon Fusion paint. It is made for plastic and has a flex agent.
You also can order the magnetic backed vinyl in colors.

 

I think doing alignment, check tyres and rotate the best tyres to the front, take care of the tyre pressures are excellent mods .

Nice brake pads if you are doing track rather than cones in a big plain field.

 

I guess that would be a valid observation...IF this thread were titled "newbie questions about pretend racing or lapping days"

 

I have vinyl on top of static cling material....works the same as the magnets, but a little bit more time to install before each event. Go with magnets covered in whatever color of vinyl you want...it is easier and will last longer.

I've seen a whole set of numbers and class letters being sold on ebay before. This may be the way to go if you don't have a consistent number for each event.

 

Make sure your letters and numbers are the correct size if you plan on attending any regional or national events.