Car communities are always filled with people wanting to know what they need to do to get started with car activities like autocross, track days, or meets. To kick off useful/informative discussion over at /c/[email protected], I decided to write a series of “getting started” guides. I hope they might encourage some people to stop thinking about it, go out, and do fun stuff.
I feel like they might have some interest to the wider car community, so I’ll repost them here with some modifications to generalize anything that is 86/BRZ/FRS specific.
Autocross
What you need:
Autocross is often confused with track days, which is really far from the truth. Autocross is really no harder on a car than any number of normal on-street activities for a sports car. The runs are only ~40 seconds long with tons of cool down time between runs.
However, you do need a car in good working order that will pass tech. This means no bad wheel bearings, suspension that isn’t falling apart, and a properly secured battery. You are also responsible for ensuring you don’t have any major coolant or oil leaks. Nobody likes it when someone oils down the course and runs have to stop to do cleanup.
You also need a helmet if your region doesn’t have loaners. Most do, but it’s a good idea to ask if in doubt.
Nice to haves:
You probably want to bring a tire gauge for adjusting pressures.
Summer tires are good to have because all seasons are prone to chunking when driven hard. You don’t need to buy special autocross tires when just starting out, but if you are on all seasons keep an eye on the heat between runs and be carefully not to overdrive the car.
Bring lots of water, sunscreen, closed toe shoes, and maybe a wide brimmed hat. You will be out working at most events and will get a lot of sun.
A helmet sock is nice to have if you are using a loaner helmet.
Additional prep info:
I’d like to discuss the issue of classing. Basically, don’t mod your car to prep for autocross if you aren’t experienced at the sport. The things that knock you into a higher class can be unintuitive and if you don’t mod with a class in mind it will quickly become impossible to be competitive without huge money outlays.
For example, any aero mod in SCCA classing will knock you into either prepared or xtreme street at minimum. Prepared allows full on racing slicks and stripped out interiors; it is VERY expensive to compete in. Xtreme Street allows unlimited powertrain modifications; in many regions the winners have widebody cars with 3x the stock power levels and it takes a ton of prep to win in that arms race.
It’s usually best to just show up in a stock car for awhile and build for a specific class once you have experience.
I'd like to add an additional tip:
At most events, if you drive, you will be expected to volunteer. Volunteers are appointed to a certain section or corner and must watch and call in hit / knocked cones. Hence why you'll want sunscreen, water, and perhaps an umbrella to block the sun.
However, here's the real tip:
While you are volunteering, DO NOT get distracted. You are standing in the middle of a course where drivers are pushing their cars to the limit and going decently fast. Anything can happen, and if you're not paying attention, you may have less time to react and could get injured. This means, do not pull out your phone, do not film, do not dick around with your friends / whoever you might be volunteering with. Better to take it seriously.
And I sincerely say this without the intention of scaring anybody off. Autocross is a reasonably safe sport, both for drivers and volunteers, but accidents can and do happen.
Source (may be NSFL for some):
At my first-ever autocross event, my friend and I drove in the morning half and volunteered in the second half. A few runs into the second half, a Tesla driving through the slalom lost control and fish tailed, headed straight for a group of volunteers. One of them was filming on his phone, most likely didn't have time to react, and got hit by the Tesla and was sent flying through the air. It was pretty gruesome, but they survived (it wasn't someone I knew).
All great tips! This is why most places I have run they are absolutely crystal clear about policies around sitting down, being on your phone, spotters for photographers
It’s interesting, though, because my experience has been that often new people are too eager. They worry about missing a cone and ruining someone’s run, so they run out in front of cars even when it is unsafe.