My 370Z doing an autocross lap
 

(x-post from Autocross section)
It was at Devens Airfield in Ayer, MA. NER SCCA

First race day ever!

Now that I look at it, I could have pushed it a bit more, maybe even downshifting to 1st some times... it was my first day of racing ever and was thinking too much about the course and what side of cones to be on, etc.

Any comments are welcome!




Someone also took pictures. Go here and use your right-arrow key to advance the slideshow.

Nice video man thanks.

What camera was used in front? Was VDC on or off, were the windows open or closed?

sweet vid, thanks
for
sharing

nice

nice run man.


Love the sound of that stillen exhaust

I just knew you would come in here and talk smack about the 370. Ok, yes we get it, you're a mustang fanboi...


wait, what?

:roflpuke2:

GoPro camera used in front (borrowed, not sure what model) and stuck to middle of the windshield on top. Rear camera was my FlipCam Mino with a suction cup mount.

VDC was off (more fun even though I was scared to turn it off. nowhere to crash, so what the hay)

Windows were closed for this run, although I was told that the pros leave the windows open so you can hear the tires better.

Thanks for the comments, all

:bowrofl:

Audio from the Flip cam was unbelievably good, I might have to look into that.

Nice clean driving. Could tell you were taking it easy but the first big step in Auto-X is be cone free and on-course. Myself, I have a reputation for being a cone killer. :)

Looks like fun. Was that your first run of the day. How the heck do you figure out where to go :)

Nice video and first run! I want go when I get a chance!

That stillen exhaust sounds pretty loud! No HFCs?

Awesome run, car sounds great!

I love my stillen CBE and berk HFC combo. It's only loud at start up when cold, and when you open it up.

Nice video and good job for your first time out. Once you're comfortable with smooth lines and staying on course, there is a lot of time to be saved with improving your braking. Notice that you spend a lot of time coasting with slow deceleration into corners. It's normal to 'street brake' when you first get started. You can shave a few seconds off your time if you 'track brake'. Either your foot is on the gas or you're 100% on the brakes (with appropriate trail braking and smooth transitions from gas to brake and back). Just something to think about.

Here's a video my friend took from our autoX last weekend. Notice that when I brake for the turn at the end of the straight, she's clamping down hard. Full throttle straight to full braking.

Dammm, even the AutoX tracks are better then the ones we have here. Great vid car sounded sick.

Nassau Colliseum and Tobay Beach are huge, but sandy.

Meadowlands have some great ones

Thanks - I definitely hit a bunch of cones on the last wall of cones with a 90-degree turn. I would take out 4 in one swing. I put those corner workers to WORK!.

My first run of the day was really sloppy and I missed a cone and went sideways for a little bit :tup:

You know which way to go because there are pointer cones that literally point to the side you should pass them on. They are laying on the ground and point left or right. WHen you enter a slalom, they just have normal cones and you're supposed to know to alternate. On my last run of the day, I had a time of 72.999 which was good for first place NOvice class but was disqualified because I entered the slalom on the wrong side. It can be really tricky and you're expected to get there super early and walk the track 3 or 4 times. Only problem is that it looks wayyy different when you're slowly walking than when you're driving like you stole it.


You should do it at least once. I was glad I did.
The Stillen sounds awesome I think and no, I don't have HFC. I don't even know what that is. High flow cat, I assume, but still don't know what that means.

Thank you! :tiphat:

Yeah I think you're right. I'm also wondering now if I should have been downshifting to first gear. I was concentrating on where I was supposed to go next that I didn't want to think about anything else... really tough for a noob.

unless you were going less than 25, highly doubt you need 1st gear. 1st gear = tire spin

No reason to leave second on that course, especially early on

Yeah you are usally going faster than you think. I remember as a novice that I shifted down to 1st gear for what I thought was a slow part (relative to the rest of the course), turns out I was doing 40mph and I just bounced off the rev limiter.

that is more of a normal autox. if you want to try tight, come down to ct where we cant go over 50mph

If you watch the vid I posted, there were a couple spots where first gear was (or would have been) helpful. But parts of that course were painfully slow.

I did feel like I was going fast... videos don't do justice for the feeling of speed and adrenaline!

that's because you are pulling over .5g under braking and nearly 1g side to side

This is awesome. thanks for sharing...hey what were your temps like???? i notice you dont have an oil cooler?

Right!!

When I got back to the grid of cars, and remembered to look, I know I saw it at 220 degrees. So maybe a little more than that at the finish line?

I think this is different than a full-blown race track with multiple laps.
During this Autocross event, the laps were just around 70-something seconds. Even though I was in second gear the whole time, maybe it's just not long enough to get too hot.

Anyone else on this topic? I switched to Mobil 1 synthetic 500 miles ago, if that makes any difference.

pretty rare to see over 240 on even a long autocross course.

Nice video, that was a really long course!

I don't think the time it would take to downshift to first and then upshift back to second would be overcome by the increased acceleration of 1st gear. best to just stay no lower than 2nd.

Thanks.
OK - that makes me feel better. I still have a lot to learn about more acceleration, the limits of the tires, and hard braking. I did learn to brake hard for those clamshells, in order to transfer weight to the front so I could steer harder. I would over-do that, though, and brake too hard causing me to plow through the wall of cones. Let's just say I put people to work that day picking up cones ;)