Autocross PRACTICE Event this Sat/Sun (19th/20th)

[tanK]

Yes its not a "track day," but, its a fun event.Â* These are the only autocross events I go to and I usually tally up 20+ runs per day and then sometimes fun runs at the end.Â* The event is held at California Speedway.Â* Theres plenty of spots open thats why I'm posting here to grab some Evo's out there.Â* Theres a bunch of WRX's and STI's out there and only 1 Evo (not me).Â* Anyway, its $60 per day and there will be loaner helmets available.Â*

Saturday:
http://www.solo2.com/eventpage.asp?eid={0050AC84-4453-453F-A087-11A6D0E9FB62}

Sunday:
http://www.solo2.com/eventpage.asp?eid={0A58782A-B6DE-418F-B0B9-44009B4A60C3}

Main website
http://www.solo2.com/

My first event there was caught on TV also.Â* You can kinda tell from this video, the HUGE lot we run at... I'm in the black mazda 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aDFQtv_jkw

[JWest]

Really? 20 runs on Sunday??? Hmmm, didn't used to be that way on race days... only on practice days that you needed to sign-up for a month in advance...

well, glad your enjoying it.

good luck,


JW

[tanK]

Yeah, there still spots left for both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is filling up quick though. The last event I ran around 22 runs that day. The worst day, I ran about 18 runs, which isn't too bad either.

Race days are usually 4 runs and they take your best time and compete in your class. Practice events are more laid back, its timed but you aren't in direct competition for points or anything.

[Richard EVO]

approximately how long does one "run" take?

[tanK]

Longest I've been in was ~76 seconds, shortest was ~66 seconds. It totally depends on the course layout. Don't expect the seat time of a track or anything!

[Richard EVO]

I don't know anything about autoX other than I watched it once.

So a "run" is one time through the course - you don't take multiple "laps" around the course on one "run", right? So if on a practice day you get 20 runs of 1:10 each, that's about 24 minutes of actual on course track time for the day. I'm just trying to do the math.

[tanK]

Its kinda dependent on the event organizers. I have been to events where cars are grouped together so they run for a 2 hour session non stop, and then theres events where cars are grouped and each group runs 1 time through, then the next and so on. I have no idea how this event will be done.

Your calculations are correct. You don't get a whole bunch of time around the course, but its a decent amount.

Also, the groups that are separated in the morning, usually 1 group works while the other groups run. Most I've worked in a day is about 2 hours max. By working I mean picking up cones that other cars knock over, waving other cars down if a car spins out and stalls, etc.. Some areas of a course can be tedious to work at, but its fun to watch some of the faster drivers take specific corners and stuff.

And depending on the organizers again, at the end of the day, they may put up fun runs. Usually majority of the people leave by then so its a constant 30min - hour of non stop runs back to back.

[Tomasu]

Event kicked ass... even if i got yelled at for drifting :p

more details + pics + vids later (and probably in its own thread)

[tanK]

Event kicked ass... even if i got yelled at for drifting :p

more details + pics + vids later (and probably in its own thread)


Haha yeah, was fun in the morning for me, as my tires started sucking major ass as well as me getting frustrated and driving like a cow!

On the way home I forgot my tape was still on too... cop gave me a weird look. Also apparantly the greasy tires/frustration allowed me to plow through cones so hard, my lip on the passenger side is hanging! Need to fix that....

[JT-KGY]

Also apparantly the greasy tires/frustration allowed me to plow through cones so hard, my lip on the passenger side is hanging! Need to fix that....


I saw the picture of your car... red IX MR right?
You broke the front lip? I have a feeling that I will too... I think the IX front lip is weaker than the VIII's...
:(

[JT-KGY]

My first event there was caught on TV also. You can kinda tell from this video, the HUGE lot we run at... I'm in the black mazda 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aDFQtv_jkw


Ahh... I remember that.. I think I was there that day too.. those tv guys are annoying....

[tanK]

Yep Red MR... only Evo out there that day.Â* My lip isn't really that broken, its just that on the passenger side, its a little loose.Â* I'll just double sided tape it up and it will look like new.Â* The corners of the lip (like the part near the wheel) isn't too strong I guess.Â* Though my car was hitting the cones pretty hard!

Yep, that tv event was my first autocross event ever!Â* Was pretty fun since seeing some sort of documentation was cool... not to mention the crowd over there are friendly. What car did you drive that day?? I don't think I saw many other Evo's out there that day... maybe like 2 VIII's one silver, and one white RS.

[Skiracer]

Sounds like fun. I looked at the solo site and it says you need to be a member of an exisitng club. What club did you join?

[tanK]

I'm part of no club whatsoever.Â* I just go to the practice events to well, practice.

Here's a collection of pictures from the two practice events... theres only 2 pic's of me, and a bunch of Subaru pics (b/c the photographer ran a subaru that day as well). The second pic is when I ran over a bunch of cones, which you can see going along for the ride underneath my car.

http://public.fotki.com/makofoto/solo_ii/pfm_2x_practice/

[JT-KGY]

I have the white RS.



Sounds like fun. I looked at the solo site and it says you need to be a member of an exisitng club. What club did you join?


You only need to do that if you're going to championship events... 3 runs....timed and points.
You can win a nice champion jacket if you're the class winner at the year end.

Picking a club doesnt really mean anything... it's just a way for them to spread out the labor...
as each club takes turns to host the event.

[Skiracer]

So, i don't need to register for an event? I just show up?

[Skiracer]

So, i don't need to register for an event? I just show up?


Bump for an answer.

[tanK]

You can show up, but then you won't be guaranteed a spot. What happens is they usually have a premade list of pre-registered people who paid the entrance fee to run the day. Those who don't show up give their spots up to walk-ins. This is the case most of the time, however there are cases where they won't allow walk-ins whatsoever.Â* What you gotta do is look at the event listing on the main page and follow the directions there.Â* Usually they tell you to send in a $60 (for a practice day) check to hold your spot.Â* Then on the forums they usually have a list of who made it in and who didn't.

You can register for free on www.solo2.com and then read/post on the message boards, etc.Â* Auto-x practice events are usually a good foot into the "motorsport scene" in my opinion because it doesn't bring the "scary-ness" of a track where you can go rally mode or die in some instances.

[Skiracer]

So, did you prepay for the event or did you just show up?

Oh, here's me at SOW spinning in my car in turn 1 at around 100ish MPH. :tickedoff:
http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/11007/112-1244_IMG.JPG

[tanK]

Prepaid for the event. Its the safest way of getting your spot secured. You won't have high speed spin outs, as Auto-x is mainly a low speed lots of fast corners type of event.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/n00bular/Evo.jpg

Eating some cones...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/n00bular/MRconed.jpg

[Skiracer]

Cool, i'll try to sign up for the next event.

[Richard EVO]

Prepaid for the event. Its the safest way of getting your spot secured. You won't have high speed spin outs, as Auto-x is mainly a low speed lots of fast corners type of event.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/n00bular/Evo.jpg

Eating some cones...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/n00bular/MRconed.jpg




Prepaid for the event. Its the safest way of getting your spot secured. You won't have high speed spin outs, as Auto-x is mainly a low speed lots of fast corners type of event.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/n00bular/Evo.jpg

Eating some cones...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/n00bular/MRconed.jpg


:-o EEEkkkkkk!!!!Â* That's a lot of body roll.Â* I assume you have the stock MR suspension in that thing.

[tanK]

Cool, i'll try to sign up for the next event.

I believe the next event will be hard to get into, as its mostly reserved for "Solo nationals" entries.

"Entry to this event requires entry to the Solo Nationals. CSCC members have first priority then other region members"

So it will be hard to get entry into this event. Don't give up though...

Richard Evo, yes its on stock suspension and everything. Tons of body roll around the corners... didn't help much with understeering either. I aligned with Robispec the next day and I should have done it before the event. My alignment was a off from factory, so the alignment would have helped tremendously.

[JT-KGY]

You DO NOT need to prepaid for championship events.
JUST SHOW UP.
It's 3 runs per event. Timed runs and points if you have CSCC points card.
(CSCC is the name of socal SCCA region)
Fees are $45 for non-point card holder. $25 for point card holder.
Point card is $35 per year... GET IT before you come to the events.
NO ride alongs on champ events.


Practice events are those that you WILL NEED to prepaid as you get anywhere
between 12 to 18 runs so spot are limited. You'll get timed runs but no reruns
are given in case if you get flagged down.
If you just show up at the event, you'll very unlikely get to run. HOWEVER, you
can most likely get tons of ride alongs. :)

I've been doing this for 2 years now... I find it more fun than those un-timed
DE track events... Lots of friendly people at the events willing to help. On
champ event days, up to 250 cars show up... lots of fun. :)

Email me if you guys got more questions... email notification on socalevo sucks.

[JT-KGY]

Yes, with OEM suspension, Evo will lean way too much. You'll lift the
inside rear tires on tight corners.

tanK, what alignment spec did you get?
I just got mine done by West End.

[tanK]

I got aligned by Robispec as stated in my post :P

He did an awesome job, though it took like 2 hours.Â* Drive home on the canyon road was fun!Â* O0
My WRX buddy told me to check out West End... did a post here but no one really did it on an Evo here.Â* How do you like it?Â* Only reason why I went with Robispec (or even Muellerized for that matter) was that they deal with Evo suspension daily and specifically.

The championship events, don't have an appeal for me yet.Â* I don't see myself being very competitive in autocross- YET.Â* Practice Events are very beneficial to me though, since I get more seat time and get to learn a bit more about the car.Â* I'm also waiting to make the transition into track time... but I wanna hit up StreetsÂ* :smitten:Â*

Your buddies "Motocrew" (I think thats you anyway) seem to be very good drivers the few times I've been out.Â* They continue to crank out awesome times, and very stable runs at the events.Â* O0

Anyways I'll say hello the next time I'm out thereÂ* :mitsu:

*edit* I'm an idiot... long day at work you asked for specs not place :uglystupid2:
I got a -1.7 camber at the front and a little toe in, forgot how much but its not a whole lot... and 0 toe in the rear and a -1 deg camber rear.

[JT-KGY]

:) I wasn't out there that day (when you're driving your red Evo MR). If I was,
I will be in the white RS.

Ya.. I went to West End... took one hour for me while I sat in the car.

I asked West End to give me -2.1 camber front and -1.2 camber rear....
zero toe all around.

How much does Robi charge (you can pm me :))?
West End, darin knows his stuff though I already have a good idea what
alignment spec I wanted to get.

[JT-KGY]

tanK,

Btw, while -1.7 front neg camber isnt a lot.. but works very well for Evo with
stock suspension... Your car should rotate much better now on autox courses.

[tanK]

Yep, car is much better. My alignment was all over the place from factory, amazed the tires held up ok! I didn't want a crazy camber up front since I'm still on street tires, and I'd like to drive daily on them for a bit :)

Took a couple quick turns around his house and the car turns in much better, I should have done this right after I got the car!

[Tomasu]

Here are a few videos from that last event. Unfortunately i only got early and slow runs of mine on video :-(

Added a couple of Clips of you TanK, haha. You looked pretty dissapointed in your tires in that small clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnE2i0i7Bxk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXR3DQOZgTI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djJupot-_ps

[tanK]

Heh thanks Tom!

Wow you look so in control of your car in your vid! You should have taken a ride with me... the seat didn't hold me in very well so I was sliding around in my seat a lot.

I was somewhat disappointed at the amount of understeer I experienced that day. So after I got my alignment my car turns in so much better... even on the streets its noticeable. I really wanna try it out again on the auto-x. Hopefully my tires will have worn in a bit more... brand new tires with lots of thick blocks on the tread = super fast heated tires = greasy slides everywhere.

[JT-KGY]

tank,

Falken 615s... 255/40/17 $127 each.
http://www.vulcantire.com/azenis_rt615_t.htm

[Tomasu]

tank,

Falken 615s... 255/40/17 $127 each.
http://www.vulcantire.com/azenis_rt615_t.htm


damn thats a good deal ^
TanK jump on those!

Ive since bought Kumho MX tires, and they feel pretty good so far! Nice and sticky compared to the crappy allseasons i had before..

Have you done anymore events lately? I havent had the time or money lately...

[JT-KGY]

damn thats a good deal ^
TanK jump on those!

Ive since bought Kumho MX tires, and they feel pretty good so far! Nice and sticky compared to the crappy allseasons i had before..

Have you done anymore events lately? I havent had the time or money lately...


Didnt go with Hankooks?
I assume you're the driver of that Mr2? :)

No, will go again late Nov.
You guys going to El Toro double practice?

[tanK]

Yep I went to SCNAX cup autox practice (sp?) with JT-KGY... still on those bad tires. Â*Robispec alignment helped out tons though! Â*I'll probably pick up some of those tires when I burn mine up.

Yeah Tom, it was funny seeing your car sliding around last time on those allseasons. Â*I think I'll be hitting up more events as the weather is getting better, and by better I mean cooler.





damn thats a good deal ^
TanK jump on those!

Ive since bought Kumho MX tires, and they feel pretty good so far! Nice and sticky compared to the crappy allseasons i had before..

Have you done anymore events lately? I havent had the time or money lately...


Didnt go with Hankooks?
I assume you're the driver of that Mr2? :)

No, will go again late Nov.
You guys going to El Toro double practice?


Nope, thats not Jin the MR2 driver... He drives a blue WRX, but he wasn't at SCNAX (spelling??)

Probably won't be getting out to El Toro this weekend unfortunately.