Auto X Drifting?

[raging panda]

The reason they were upset is because there is a purpose to auto x, its is to improve your driving skills and beat your personal times. The same reason that a drift session isnt called an auto x, because it has its own purpose. You didn't follow that purpose, and I'm not picking on you, its just that they have their own ideas of whats supposed to go on at an auto x and you didn't follow that idea.

[Menchi]

it's like competing in a hocky game and trying figure skate, I will be competing with the SCCA this summer and HX-50 has competed in the past, and they don't seem to like drifting, I don't understand how drifting can't be as fast as gripping, there was a thread on this and I DO NOT want to restart this discussion but in my own opinion some turns can be taken faster with a drift, so if you can use it to your advantage in an AutoX meet, go for it, and if they have a problem with it, you always have your times to back you up,

[slipangle]

"whats the whole point of driving a car
to have fun with it
i was having a good time. "

you were in an Autox event. The point of autox is to get the fastest time around the course. we're not talking about normal driving.

btw, San Diego is really lucky to have such a great autox venue in qualcomm stadium. we've got elevation changes, which allows for cambering of corners based on their setup. The lot is large enough to routinely run courses at speeds up to 70 mph for some of the faster cars. thats not quite 35 mph. At times, the fastest laps run (modified classes and shifter carts) were at around 75 seconds or so. thats a decently long lap IMO.

autox contains the same elements found at major racetracks (linked corners, chicanes, hairpins, increasing/decreasing radius corners etc) as well as features unique to autox such as the slalom, so technique from one is applicable, although not identical to the other.

[JunpoweR]

Auto Cross or X cross

Is mostly Scca out here on the west..
usually a time trial race..

So if youre going there just to have fun your'e in the wrong place.
I love drifting but it dosent get you faster times or good looks at the X cross..Keet it to drift events or something that isn't timed..
If youre at a time trial you should try to be fast and see if you can win..

Drift at a Drift event and you will get praise..
Gri[ at one then you will be called a GRIPTARD.. =)

So you don't have nay right to hate people at auto X.
Im surprised you didn;t get kicked out the first time..

[JunpoweR]

Auto Cross or X cross

Is mostly Scca out here on the west..
usually a time trial race..

So if youre going there just to have fun your'e in the wrong place.
I love drifting but it dosent get you faster times or good looks at the X cross..Keet it to drift events or something that isn't timed..
If youre at a time trial you should try to be fast and see if you can win..

Drift at a Drift event and you will get praise..
Gri[ at one then you will be called a GRIPTARD.. =)

So you don't have nay right to hate people at auto X.
Im surprised you didn;t get kicked out the first time..

[HX-50]

Blarg ok i was trying to avoid this thread but since someone mentioned me i guess i'll throw in my experiences in. In the local auto x near me last year a few of the guys in bmw 318's and I started using drifting in low speed corners to run faster times, at first the event staff didn't like this too much until they saw the times we were putting up. **NOTE!!!** we used drift for faster time, also they restricted the ammount of drift we could use and they asked that we didn't drift around corners near spectators, this was a pretty simple request and we complied, for this reason, there are some pebbles and debris on the course we run on, now if you've ever drifted on a course such as this you know that you tend to kick up said pebbles and whatnot, this wouldn't be such a nice thing if you were trying to watch the race and someone is sideways throwing all sorts of crap in your face.

That being said, near me after all runs are finished for the day they have what is called a "fun run" where you can pay an extra $5 and go do whatever you want to on the course, this is where we let loose and drifted, it got to be quite fun and a lot of people would wait around after to see it. Basically go in with a better attitude, if they are asking you not to do something there's probably a good reason for it, if your chapter of the SCCA doesn't have fun runs, ask if you can start some, but to come on here and complain that you got yelled at for messing around at an event where many people are dead serious about times is very immature in my opinion.

And one more thing, there are a lot of course workers who stand near corners at the auto x around me to fix cones that get knocked over and all that, if they think you're out of control because you're drifting they're going to do what they have to to insure the safety of everyone involved. Explain to them what you are trying to do and try and work out a system with them, if they're not hip to it, then get enough people interested in your area and try and rent out the lot for a drift event. Blarg ok there's my $.02

[PearlBlueSoul]

Originally posted by HX-50
Blarg ok i was trying to avoid this thread but since someone mentioned me i guess i'll throw in my experiences in. In the local auto x near me last year a few of the guys in bmw 318's and I started using drifting in low speed corners to run faster times, at first the event staff didn't like this too much until they saw the times we were putting up. **NOTE!!!** we used drift for faster time, also they restricted the ammount of drift we could use and they asked that we didn't drift around corners near spectators, this was a pretty simple request and we complied, for this reason, there are some pebbles and debris on the course we run on, now if you've ever drifted on a course such as this you know that you tend to kick up said pebbles and whatnot, this wouldn't be such a nice thing if you were trying to watch the race and someone is sideways throwing all sorts of crap in your face.

That being said, near me after all runs are finished for the day they have what is called a "fun run" where you can pay an extra $5 and go do whatever you want to on the course, this is where we let loose and drifted, it got to be quite fun and a lot of people would wait around after to see it. Basically go in with a better attitude, if they are asking you not to do something there's probably a good reason for it, if your chapter of the SCCA doesn't have fun runs, ask if you can start some, but to come on here and complain that you got yelled at for messing around at an event where many people are dead serious about times is very immature in my opinion.

And one more thing, there are a lot of course workers who stand near corners at the auto x around me to fix cones that get knocked over and all that, if they think you're out of control because you're drifting they're going to do what they have to to insure the safety of everyone involved. Explain to them what you are trying to do and try and work out a system with them, if they're not hip to it, then get enough people interested in your area and try and rent out the lot for a drift event. Blarg ok there's my $.02

Well well put, dude. Exactly what I was thinkin.

As for the person who said autoX doesn't make you a better driver, you obviously miss the point of autoX. Throw autoX into a canyon setting like Glendora or Mount Wilson. There's your autoX. How you navigate those cones and the technique it takes to do that FAST, is absurdly difficult. I have an extreme amount of respect and feel incredibly humbled when my car, fully modded, gets ousted by cars like miatas n such that just have good drivers. Honestly it shows how much you have to learn about driving when you put yourself up to that kind of comparison. Granted, most of the people that run have hyper modded configurations, and it does tend to favor FWD, but at the same time the rapid pace of autoX and the level of skill it takes and car controll you need, definatley warrant skill, not power/handling. Oh, and a little dash of money helps too.