Autocross tip of the day - look where you're going

If you're head isn't pointed in the same direction as your front tires, then you're not looking far enough ahead.

Good advice, I'm normally looking at the entrance to the next corner.

Problem with Autocross is I have never been able to figure out where the hell I am supposed to be going in the first place! Otherwise, your advice applies to all driving situations.

No. Look where you want to go.

Beer Baron wrote: No. Look where you *want* to go.

Yes. My are head are usually looking much farther ahead than the next segment.

jstein77 wrote: If you're head isn't pointed in the same direction as your front tires, then you're not looking far enough ahead.

Why are you looking in your side view mirror? Shouldn't you be looking where you're going??

Klayfish wrote:

jstein77 wrote: If you're head isn't pointed in the same direction as your front tires, then you're not looking far enough ahead.

Why are you looking in your side view mirror? Shouldn't you be looking where you're going??

Can't you see how cool he looks?!

I'm always looking into the next corner BEFORE I turn my wheels, and I still get lost occasionally. sigh.

But some venues are better at marking their courses than others.

You should always try to memorize the course when walking it......I normally even take the line I want to when walking. Always be looking at least to the next corner for my braking and turn in points. I have also been known to mow over a cone that allows my car to gain more than the 2 second penalty....

One time I visualized further ahead than I was looking, had this great plan to charge down the last half of the course at high speed.

Except I misremembered one of the last few pointer cones and blew past it on the wrong side at 90kph, only really looked at it as I was passing it. Oops. Everyone said it look like I was going to do an amazing run until that happened.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Cue the saying, if you're not hitting cones you're not going fast enough.

NOHOME wrote: Problem with Autocross is I have never been able to figure out where the hell I am supposed to be going in the first place! Otherwise, your advice applies to all driving situations.

Took me a while to be good at figuring out where I am supposed to go too!! Haha I used to get a co-driver to ride with me my first lap and just keep their mouth shut and point.

!!!

I tend to be faster with a passenger than without just due to that fact. That little hesitations you have as you search for the next gate add up.

With a rally type codriver you just do what you're told.

When walking the course, stop at complicated sections and crouch down so that you can see what it will look like when seated in the car. Get used to those sight pictures and where that means you will need to go next.

If you cannot sit down, close your eyes, and drive through the course in your head, you need to walk it again. I need to spend some time getting the mental edge back.

Watching way ahead is essential. If the average speed is 30 mph that's 44 feet per second. If the driver is looking down at the front of the car now he/she/it has maybe 1 second to react to what's in front of the car and the average person's reaction time is in the 3/4 second range. Looking further ahead gives the driver more time. This also means that you'll be planning a future move as you execute the current one, requiring serious concentration.

I don't try to memorize the whole course on the walk through because, as the saying goes, 'no plan survives first contact with the enemy'. I just store the overall shape. On the average course there's maybe 4 or 5 cones with real meaning. The rest are just fluff and BS or (as in the case of the average Chicago box) there to mess with your head. The trick is to be able to recognize those 4 or 5 and memorize only them.

Oh, and watch for course features that can cause the car to become unsettled, such as a rise in the asphalt in the middle of a slalom. As you crest the rise, even if it's only a few inches tall, the car will tend to stay up (thanks, inertia) and the suspension will drop thus lessening weight on the tires. If it happens that you have to make a turn at the same time, there's trouble possible there. Drainage grates can do something similar and as an added bonus you lose grip.

I tend to walk the course following the line I'll be in when seated in the car. That means I'll be ~4 feet from cones on my right and ~ 1 foot from cones on my left. It helps me see whether a course feature will lead to weirdness and if it does that's one of those 4 or 5 cones I mentioned earlier.

Curmudgeon wrote: I just store the overall shape. On the average course there's maybe 4 or 5 cones with real meaning. The rest are just fluff and BS or (as in the case of the average Chicago box) there to mess with your head. The trick is to be able to recognize those 4 or 5 and memorize only them.

THIS

This is what I do. If a part of the course is intuitive or obvious, I make no effort to remember it. And I don't do any of that "crouch down and memorize how it looks" stuff because that doesn't work for me. What I remember is basically like pace notes on certain obstacles. Something like "outside of divider in corner uphill, inside downhill, rightward spin around 180 cone." I don't memorize it in words and try to repeat it back to myself, I visualize driving through those parts that are important to remember.

I do remember the "pace notes" as a backup if that makes sense.

In reply to Curmudgeon:

That's an excellent point. I never thought of it that way before.

For me, its all in the preparation. I use a "multi-layered" approach, which requires at least three walk-throughs. The first walk through it to make sure I understand all the elements and to get a picture in my head of the general shape of the course. For example, is it a small loop within a big loop, or a giant figure eight or something similar. Given the fact that the course is in the confined space of a parking lot, it usually has some sort of defined shape. I can "read" the cones in my head an figure out where to go "on the fly", but that takes up brainpower that should be reserved for estimating speed, picking up braking points and evaluating whether I can push harder in a given section or take a different line. It also tends to make me go slower to have more reaction time. Having a general course shape in mind allows me to just use the cones to define the outline, which takes a lot less brainpower. (Hope that makes sense)

The second walk through I try to gain any useful technical information. I pace the slaloms to see if the distance between cones is the same and develop a general plan of which way I'm going to go through any optional elements. I look for camber changes or loose surface/dirt in the corners to try to estimate how fast I can take them. I also look for "hidden straightaways". With a Miata, a surprising number of elements require no or little steering or braking. Knowing those places allows you to pick up a lot of time. I also try to figure out when/where I'm going to shift/downshift.

The last walk through I go through as quickly as possible, trying not to look ahead at all. I keep my eyes fixed on each element until I'm standing in the middle of it, then look up quickly to see if the next element is in sight and easily understandable. When it requires a look and/or turn dramatically off line or when there are any cones from other elements that may be confusing, I'll spend several minutes trying to memorize it with some sort of mental "verbal cue". (Ex: "Hard left, followed by slight right" or "Left, right, brake hard, hard left") If I have more than two of these spots, I go back an walk it a forth time.

Unfortunately, my brain is as old as I am, so I need to try to do as much of the processing in advance as possible. If I do enough planning, my mental energy during the actual driving is focused more on how my plan of attack is working and where I can go faster and less about where I'm going next.

Sometimes it helps when trying to 'remember' a line through a part of the course to pick a 'target' to aim at even if it's nowhere near the course. For instance, at Saturday's meet in Florence SC there was one of those flashing color changing LED signs across the street which just happened to be a perfect marker to line up with when negotiating a tricky section. Instead of trying to read cones, I just turned right then aimed for the sign until it was time to make a left turn.

anjaloveshervw wrote:

NOHOME wrote: Problem with Autocross is I have never been able to figure out where the hell I am supposed to be going in the first place! Otherwise, your advice applies to all driving situations.

Took me a while to be good at figuring out where I am supposed to go too!! Haha I used to get a co-driver to ride with me my first lap and just keep their mouth shut and point. !!!

Good idea!

Actually, I also decided I was a lousy driver, and decided that restoring was a better car hobby!

I don't do any of the national tours, so I don't have to get it down pat in 3 runs ... so my first run is usually done at about 80 - 85% ... that's to ensure I actually remember the course from the walks I took ... as I become more familiar with the course I tend to get faster and faster ... at least until I start hitting cones ... Sun was a good example ... 1st run... 41.6xx, 2nd... 40.8xx. 3rd... 39.8xx, and the last was 39.3 ....

I forgot the other 98% of the time I am standing in the hot sun shagging cones. Can no longer justify the time expended vs driving time analysis.

wbjones echoes my experience. I've never done a National and the Regionals I have done had 4 or 5 runs.

I started doing hillclimbs and will do open track events for a better $/seat time ratio but the AXes have helped me with car setup and are still a lot of fun.

someone needs to pick up all those cones that fell over..