Since I wrote this post about autocross in November, there has been something that really bothered me about how many people responded. People seemed to have read the title, reacted immediately and actively and somewhat irresponsible in my post did something he was not - I never said autocross was easy, or it was not a heck of a lot of fun, or that I was all right. I never said autocross was a bad idea, or a waste of time, or even the wheel to wheel racing was better. I just said he was not in the race -. A statement, in passing, that the SCCA agrees with (they prefer to call a "contest of driving skills")
Despite this, stakeholders on various forums (the post has been shared more than two thousand times) most fell into one of two categories:
- "this guy sucks in autocross and here my screenshot of when I beat him. " Duh. I specifically said I was not good. I congratulate you for your excellent reading comprehension. Sure, they results that supported their statements cherry picked. They never took screenshots of the time I won trophies to two National Tours and ProSolos in highly subscribed classes. There was one particular guy who was super excited to stress that beat me by more than a second to a local autocross. He also, of course, neglected to say that I am totally available co-driving the car of a friend (in Street Touring class) which was almost completely impassable due to a combination of used tires and suspension ( my friend, who had multiple national champion, actually finished behind me that day with all the dirty races). He also failed to mention that, despite this, I beat his girlfriend by a large margin, but that's probably because it did not make me that I had a significant weight advantage compared to his girlfriend. Very good -. If I can make someone feel better about themselves, I am happy to do
- . "He is right, and the road race is much better and manlier" Come on, man. I'm not saying that. Both autocross and wheel to wheel racing have their own merits. In fact, I really like local autocross. I feel like the people on the national scene are a little too seriously at times. I mean, at the end of the day, we are all still drive around a parking lot speeds that would impress not your average student Ed teenage driver.
That all being said, there had been times in the past three years I've really missed autocrossing. Since I am now my Fiesta ST, which seems to be the car to beat now in SCCA "H Street" Solo, I thought I would take to see how it performed as totally available, out-of-the box autocrosser. To find out, I headed to the website of my local area and registered for the next autocross.
I must admit, I was a bit curious how I would be received by the locals. After all, I had not autocrossed with them in about three years, and I wrote an article at much lower their favorite pastime. However, I would not have worried: they are much nicer and better than anyone should expect them to be. Think about it: the lifer average autocross is someone who is happy to give up its entire Sunday to benefit others. It is 6:00, setting a course with cones he knows people will complain because it is not appropriate their car. Or it will stay late to pack the trailer, long after everyone got their trophies plastic and returned home. He does this knowing it will receive exactly zero salary and probably zero thanks to its other competitors. This type of person probably goes exactly zero time worrying about what someone like me thinks of him.
However, I was surprised to see how the club had returned since my last event. Of the fifty-seven participants, I probably recognize a dozen. In this dozen, at least ten of them have made a point of saying how happy they were to see me again. They shook hands, came and checked the Fiesta, and wished me good luck. I replied that I would definitely need. Autocrossing is not like riding a bike after all. It is a skill that greatly decreases with time. Besides, I'd never autocrossed a front wheel drive car before. I was pretty sure I'd give a whole new culture of people so they would be able to screenshot to the forum of choice. Oh, well - what the hell. Come see the course.
This is a rough rendering of the course as designed by the course designer, just a local legend known as "Bucky" at all. As you can see, Bucky did a great job to include several different elements on land that is slightly larger than a postage stamp Bolivia. As I walked the course, I counted at least three corners that really made me think about how to enter and exit them, especially in a car that I had very little knowledge of how it behaves .
My only other H Street competition for the day was a young man who finished second in the previous event in his 2013 Honda Civic Si on BFGoodrich Rivals - in other words, he had tire actual autocross. I had RE050A OEM Bridgestone Potenza tires on my whip that could be described as "crap", but that would actually be considered illegal in a national event because of their treadwear rating 140. (This opens another can of worms on the stupidity of the SCCA rule book: how a car can be illegal for the class of the street as it is on a new field). I did not like my chances
Okay, so I'm on a thousand words in this update and I have nothing on how the car performed mentioned. Oops. Doing now.
For my first race, at about 10:30 am, there were still damp patches on the pitch from rain the previous night and it was about 45 degrees. The Bridgestones did not care for this combination of conditions AT ALL. After AdvanceTrac off completely for my first race, the tires spun on a launch 3000 RPM all the way from the beginning of the first cone slalom, after which they clunked up when I upshifted second. The slightest nudge of the accelerator in the slalom threatened to send back around me, so I settled in well at moderate gas and led the slalom in the first round.
For Autocrossing, Fiesta doesn 't need more brakes it in stock trim. He quickly washed off speed, and I satisfied by the low growl of the EcoBoost range in second gear as I came out of left turn into the single straight line on the course. I came close to the second speed limiter before stepping on the brakes again to the sweeper in front of the trailer, throwing the car on the side and tail kicks slightly as I came out of the turn. The torque vectoring is somewhat surprising if you've never experienced; my first reaction was to stop the acceleration, but the Fiesta proved to task if I kept my foot in it. One can certainly feel the small Ford works to maintain the right amount of power towards the right wheel under slight compression shock, but it still feels safe and stable foot, even as Bridgestone gave way and started to slide a little on the side.
I hit another person cone hit all day; I crushed the inlet cone that I came to the final round before the release. Why did I do such a thing? Because the Fiesta goes where you point. This section of the course was a bit off camber and I was expecting a little tail-happiness and slip sliding around the tower. Nope. The just turned and stuck ST. Oops. One more. I came in a little faster than my competitor in the Civic for my first race, and it was also more a couple of cones. Yay! I'm not as bad as I feared suck.
With each stroke, I learned a little more about what the Fiesta could and could not do. I began to curse seriously Bridgestones because they were just not what I asked of them in the corners, especially with so little warmth in them. Even so, the Fiesta showed he was the real deal. The suspension can be a bit jarring on the road is perfectly suited to a lower surface autocross-grip. He treated elevation and camber changes effortlessly. I think someone might have a shot at a national trophy in one of these sleds with just a set of Bridgestone RE71Rs or Rivals BFG and lightweight wheels. The car is so well adjusted to the box, it does not need much else. In this sense, it reminded me of the Mazda RX-8 first when he appeared on the scene a little over a decade ago.
The young man in the Civic and I found a bit more time on our six points for the day, but he found about eight tenths more than me and claimed victory. After the first two innings, he was second and I was fifth on about twenty-seven cars. For a bone stock car driver with a rusty, I could not be happier.
The good news? If you are just planning to go and have fun at a local autocross few times a year, you can drive your stock Fiesta ST to lot and have a blast. The car will easily handle the wear of the event with minimal impact. The Bridgestones, while not super fun for autocross, could last up to a few hundred tracks and still have thousands of miles left to the street. You'll be competing with almost everyone, and you will be able to do for anything else your pocket monthly payment Fiesta ST.
The bad news? I am currently looking combos wheel / tire online. I do stabilizer bars Research. I look better absorb shocks. I plan to renew my membership SCCA. I even put one of my old license plates ProSolo trophies on the front of the car.
You know why? Because the Fiesta ST reminded me of something I had forgotten somewhere on the way to one of these national events somewhere in the middle of nowhere: Autocrossing a good course with a lot of good people is a pretty decent way to spend thirty-five dollars and a Sunday afternoon.
curse you, autocross. I guess we have not broken after all.
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