[atakacs]

Ok it's like this: At my last AX I was probably 6 seconds slower than the avg for my class, ESP on what was mostly a 50-60 second course. Most cars were mid to low 50s and a Z06 even ran a 49. My best was a 60. I am literally one of the slowest drivers at the event. I'm on stock tires which I know sucks, but... even when I let a buddy drive my car, he got a better time than me the 1st time ever driving it so I know it's me, not the car. I mean... there's a guy in a lightly modified CTS-V on street tires that gets better times than me!!!

I ran a few AXs last year... 3, maybe. How can I improve or practice without spending several years doing it? We get so few runs per event and then I couldn't attend the local driver's school, and I'll miss about 4 of the AX events over the summer for work as well as the EVO school. I thought about setting up some cones in a Wal-Mart parking lot after hours but I'm sure the cops would show up in no time... so I tried something different. I got a Logitech/Momo racing wheel & pedals for the PC and a few driving games/simulators like NFS and GTR2. I'm not sure how good they are at making you a better driver... unfortunately I think they made me more cautious, not more competitive.

So what do I do? I'd like to be competitive by the end of the year and recognized as the most improved this year. Do you think there's any hope?

This post has been edited by atakacs: May 11 2007, 08:21 PM

[atakacs]

Guys, an update from the front:

I invested in a Cruisecam mount to mount my vid camera so I could review my own races and see my flaws afterwards. (I also figured out that w/ a 7" LCD screen, I could even watch my last run in my car before my next run!) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I got an alignment yesterday. I asked for a -1.0 camber, 4.5 caster and neutral toe. The Firestone dude said it wasn't possible? I guess it would have to be lowered to get a -1.0 camber? Anyways, the end result was about -0.1 camber, 5.0 caster and neutral toe... not far from where I was to begin with, but it is nicer on the highway - not sure about AX.

Today, I made the 3.5 hour drive to BeaveRun for some AX practice. It went well... I think a few more of those and I'd be feeling pretty comfortable. I used the Cruisecam and my camera to film most of the laps. I'll watch them soon.

I'm signed up for NW OH (Toledo area) SCCA school for this Saturday. It's another 3 hour drive. I got told a big fat NO for EVO phase 1 (full) but the organizer is going to talk to the EVO guys and see if they think it would be ok to attend the Phase 2 on Sunday after the Saturday NWOH SCCA school. If not, it's a 20 minute drive to OVR pts 3 for me. 3 big things in a week... I should be making some progress.

Does anyone know if it's ok to run/rollerblade/ride a bike through the course in the morning or would that be considered cheating? I typically run a few miles in the morning so I was thinking of running through the course. Rollerblades, on the other hand might give me an even better feel for the course. Thoughts?