Frustrating autocross day

I don't hit cones very often, and I NEVER go off course. So what happened today? I went off course twice and hit cones on all my other runs. What's worse, my last couple of runs were good enough to win the class by a full second, and the last one might possibly have set fastest PAX. It seemed as if I was inventing new ways to lose. On my fourth run, I had a clean, fast, run going when I went blazing through the finish line so quickly that I couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting a cone AFTER the finish.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sA_Pjt1IUV4

I hope this kind of performance doesn't happen to me again any time soon.

Take heart at least you didn't DNF every run. I've seen experienced autocrossers do this on occasion.

Everyone has an off day now and again.

Tom

Sounds like you were actually on fire. Fptd? You only missed it by mere inches.

Sure, sometimes the cones don't fall your way, but I'd be more than happy with a super competitive performance like that.

I saw Sam Strano cone every single run (both days) at nationals this year. Everyone has rough days from time to time.

A bad day at autox is better than a good day in the office!

Consider yourself lucky, You got to run an autocross in January.

A lot of us are staring out the window at our ice covered cars...

As a relatively new autocrosser I make a point to try to figure out where I would go next if I were driving for practice reading the course. That course was confusing!

would it make you feel better if I told you that at my last motorsport event, I hit open train tracks and broke two wheels?

Also, as we say in rallycross....if you don't hit any cones all day, you're not driving close enough.

AClockworkGarage wrote: Consider yourself lucky, You got to run an autocross in January. A lot of us are staring out the window at our ice covered cars...

Exactly what I was going to say! It's still a few months away for me.

Last event of the year for me i was supposed to be helping someone get their mazda3 to be less prone to snap oversteer. I put the poor thing in the grass, sideways, at 55 mph on my first run. Hey, yeah, it snaps. i followed that up by driving slower than just about everybody ever for the rest of the day. And now it is winter. Whoop de doo.

Former520 has it right, in recent history I wasn't able to autocross at all. Not fun at all for me, 8 months of being in an area where possible but I couldn't. Really stunk a lot considering it was the only thing I did that got me out of the house for awhile.

We've all got good times and bad times. Always next event to make it up dude.

Blame it on the cold weather. You know, having to wear a jacket and long pants and all.

Yep, there was that!

I can vouch for the fact that even the professional drivers have those days. Makes you shake your head and wonder. The key is to put it behind, and move on.

I've never seen a course with two crossovers before. I always wondered how that would work out.

freetors wrote: I've never seen a course with two crossovers before. I always wondered how that would work out.

Sure confused the novices.

Results

Well, I just confirmed it. My last run was a 38.799, so my PAX would have been .813 * 38.799 = 31.543, and the fastest PAX time was 32.382.

Sigh...

I don't consider it a successful outing unless I've had at least one DNF... also, my fun runs are faster by far than timed. Kinda wish they'd fun run first - I might actually look decent in the standings then.

But/and, former520 has it right.

Just so I get this straight - somebody who is autocrossing IN JANUARY is complaining about anything?

January is the best time to autocross here in Florida. It's July and August that are killers, and likely to end early due to thunderstorms.

jstein77 wrote:

freetors wrote: I've never seen a course with two crossovers before. I always wondered how that would work out.

Sure confused the novices.

Watching the video confused me, and I've been autocrossing for close to 17 years now.

Your car is too powerful and too fast! I'll trade you my FX16 and those problems will go away.

PS I did not see any snow! I was shoveling snow yesterday.

Ice racing starts next Sunday.

Those of us deciding between shoveling snow and cat videos have no sympathy, at least until the lakes freeze.

jstein77 wrote: January is the best time to autocross here in Florida. It's July and August that are killers, and likely to end early due to thunderstorms.

You stop autocrossing because it's raining?