[Ren Lacerda]

Hello everybody! New Camaro owner and first time posting! Glad to join this community.

What tips you have for someone that would like to start with autocross? What should I learn, research, etc.?

Here's my new baby:

[ABQautoxer]

1. Get an alignment. It will make the tire wear better and the car more predictable down the road.

2. Read a lot of the topic. Here is one link that is helpful: https://www.scca.com/pages/autocross-faq However be careful of where you get your advice. Unfortunately there is more bad or incomplete than there is good, especially with regards to car setup/mods.

3. Avoid the temptation to modify your car. Figure out if you like this and if you do where you want to go. Believe it or not it will take over a year to really understand enough of the rules, classing, etc to know this and believe me that first year the car is not holding you back.

4. Take a novice school when offered or an Evolution School or similar, they give you more seat time and instruction than you could figure out over the course of several years. Also ride along with anyone that seems to be fast and know what they are doing. Always ask for advice, I've been doing this 20 years and still ask for input every time I drive.

5. Remember its just people racing cars around in a parking lot or airport and not super serious business, have fun and make friends. Autox is far more about the people than the driving. Most people that aren't having fun at autox forgot this part.

[Hasti]

These vids are ancient but hold true, the whole series is good.

the main thing is seat time, dont worry about modding your car as your driving abilities havent passed the cars abilities yet.

[Hailwood]

Originally Posted by ABQautoxer

1. Get an alignment. It will make the tire wear better and the car more predictable down the road.

2. Read a lot of the topic. Here is one link that is helpful: https://www.scca.com/pages/autocross-faq However be careful of where you get your advice. Unfortunately there is more bad or incomplete than there is good, especially with regards to car setup/mods.

3. Avoid the temptation to modify your car. Figure out if you like this and if you do where you want to go. Believe it or not it will take over a year to really understand enough of the rules, classing, etc to know this and believe me that first year the car is not holding you back.

4. Take a novice school when offered or an Evolution School or similar, they give you more seat time and instruction than you could figure out over the course of several years. Also ride along with anyone that seems to be fast and know what they are doing. Always ask for advice, I've been doing this 20 years and still ask for input every time I drive.

5. Remember its just people racing cars around in a parking lot or airport and not super serious business, have fun and make friends. Autox is far more about the people than the driving. Most people that aren't having fun at autox forgot this part.

This 100%

Getting seat time and input from more experienced people will help make you a better driver. If you focus on improving, rather than being competitive (at least at first), you're more likely to have fun. I'm still a solidly mid-pack driver, but my driving is continuing to improve so I'm still having a lot of fun.

[Ren Lacerda]

Originally Posted by ABQautoxer

1. Get an alignment. It will make the tire wear better and the car more predictable down the road.

2. Read a lot of the topic. Here is one link that is helpful: https://www.scca.com/pages/autocross-faq However be careful of where you get your advice. Unfortunately there is more bad or incomplete than there is good, especially with regards to car setup/mods.

3. Avoid the temptation to modify your car. Figure out if you like this and if you do where you want to go. Believe it or not it will take over a year to really understand enough of the rules, classing, etc to know this and believe me that first year the car is not holding you back.

4. Take a novice school when offered or an Evolution School or similar, they give you more seat time and instruction than you could figure out over the course of several years. Also ride along with anyone that seems to be fast and know what they are doing. Always ask for advice, I've been doing this 20 years and still ask for input every time I drive.

5. Remember its just people racing cars around in a parking lot or airport and not super serious business, have fun and make friends. Autox is far more about the people than the driving. Most people that aren't having fun at autox forgot this part.

Thanks, this is gold! Do you think it is worth to invest in an extra set of wheels+tires?

Originally Posted by Hasti

These vids are ancient but hold true, the whole series is good.

the main thing is seat time, dont worry about modding your car as your driving abilities havent passed the cars abilities yet.

Thanks, seems like tire pressure is VERY important in autox!

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Ren Lacerda

Thanks, this is gold! Do you think it is worth to invest in an extra set of wheels+tires?

At some point, yes. But not right away, especially if you're thinking of running grippier tires, because you'll tend to acquire a bad habit or two that'll hold you back later. Give yourself long enough to have a better idea how far you want to take this activity and what class you really want to play in. Autocross classing gets pretty picky about wheel widths (it's not "run what you brung and hope you brung enough" like drag racing tends to be), and in general you want wheels as wide as the class allows for your car.

Thanks, seems like tire pressure is VERY important in autox!

Tires can gain enough pressure during a single run to matter when it comes time to make your next run. A quarter second difference could be the difference of one or more finishing positions, and it's a cheap enough and simple enough thing to stay on top of. You do need to experiment a bit to find out what your 'optimum pressures' might be, and they may not be the same, front vs rear.


Norm

[ABQautoxer]

Yes I should have added to #1 to get an accurate and easy to bleed tire gauge and air compressor though the compressor can wait several events.

Like Norm said, hold off on the wheels and tires. What would be legal for DS would be sub-optimum for CAMC. Hard to say which will tickle for fancy in the long run to better to feed your car tires on your OE wheels in the mean time.