Autocross school

[Ugly John]

FAST is the autocross club in Tampa, and they hold an annual school for their members. I'm not a member, but I was able to whine and cry enough about it that they let me in just to shut me up. :lol:

School is this coming Saturday. Gates are open from 7:15-7:30, and it's a good 2 hour 40 minute drive, so I'll be leaving my house at 4. It runs until 4, and I know I'll be too beat to make the boring dark drive home, so I got myself a cheap hotel to crash in.

We'll make 2 timed runs in the morning, then exercises in slalom, turning, and on the skid pad, and 4 timed runs in the afternoon to (hopefully) show our progress. There are 23 students with 13 instructors, broken into 4 groups based on experience, so it should be pretty intense. They even said not to bother bringing a chair because you won't have time to use it.

I'll post a review next week, but I couldn't wait to post about it!

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[WatchSquid]

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[stoli]

FAST is the autocross club in Tampa, and they hold an annual school for their members. I'm not a member, but I was able to whine and cry enough about it that they let me in just to shut me up. :lol:

lol - I saw your post on the 'Autocross, Track Days, Car Enthusiasts' fb page. Glad to hear you got in.

Next up you need to come out the The FIRM for track day.

 

[Ugly John]

Oh, and the school comes at a great time - this past weekend I finally felt smooth in my car. I was smooth in my 2015 V6 (well smoother), but when driving the GTPP, I was always behind, never smooth, and always felt like I was trying to push too hard.

 

[qtrracer]

Did a school about two months ago. Pretty insightful. That school was the second time I had the car on an AX course. We took a lunch break so a chair and shade were nice to have. Didn't seem to have a second gear problem even with the instructors driving. This was a long course as is generally the case at FedEx.

 

[Ugly John]

lol - I saw your post on the 'Autocross, Track Days, Car Enthusiasts' fb page. Glad to hear you got in.

Next up you need to come out the The FIRM for track day.

I've been to the FIRM for autocross, but I've never done a track day. Gotta say I'm a bit nervous about the idea since this is my daily driver and getting it banged up would be bad.

But it does sound like a heck of a lot of fun! And it's only about a 30 minute drive from my house. My old RC flying field is there too...

 

[qtrracer]

I've been to the FIRM for autocross, but I've never done a track day. Gotta say I'm a bit nervous about the idea since this is my daily driver and getting it banged up would be bad.

As a novice, the general rule is you can't pass unless you get a point-by; and then only on straights. Don't worry about bang-ups. All the novice guys worry about that so it becomes a non-issue. I've only seen one crash at an HPDE and that was an "advanced" driver doing stupid stuff.

 

[Ugly John]

So here's my short review of the FAST Autocross school:

It was AWESOME!!!

Like I said before, we started the day with 2 timed runs - they fudged the numbers a bit just for comparison and dropped cone hits. Then my group spent an hour running slaloms, an hour on the skid pad going in circles, and an hour hitting the turns. My group of 6 drivers had 3 instructors, so criticism and encouragement were plentiful!

The slaloms we started slow, focusing on getting the rear wheel on the back side of the cone, then gradually adding speed. My biggest take-away was I needed to go to a constant steering angle through each curve instead of making constant adjustments. I had to know how much to steer and get the wheel there and keep it there.

On the skid pad we made 3 circuits on each run, trying to get to a good speed, then controlling the radius with the throttle. A major focus was on getting as close to the cones as possible. We made runs in both directions, and then added a second smaller circle so we would run a figure 8. I was amazed at how it seemed like I was running over cones, but I was still 2 feet away from them. By the end I was running within a couple inches in both directions.

The third exercise was turns, and I got a little extra coaching since this was my work assignment - I tagged along with the advanced group when they did a walk through. The instructors were explaining the line you wanted to take, and the importance of setting up for the next turn. I was having trouble with this exercise until I stopped trying to drive like I was in a Miata, and hit the brakes harder.

At the end of the day, we ran 4 more timed runs, and I was able to take a couple seconds off my time - about 4%, but I was much smoother and ran clean.

It was a ton of seat time, and I drove about 13 miles during the day. The weather was fantastic - about 50 in the morning, mid 70's during the afternoon, and not a cloud in the sky.

FAST runs a real nice event, and they throw a good lunch as well, included in the cost of the event. I'll be heading down there a couple times during the year, and I'd love to take their school again next year. For anyone in Florida, I definitely recommend heading over to the Tampa area to run with them.:cheers:

www.driveFAST.org

 

[GuardDog]

I started out with them. Great group of guys and gals. Only thing I regret is never going to the end of the season award ceremony and getting my 1st place shirt! lol

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