New member and my first autocross this weekend

[John in Calgary]

After many years of raising kids I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and its time to pick up a new hobby so I decided to try out autocross.  Bought a helmet yesterday from Shawn, picked up a club membership and signed up for Sunday's event.

I have a '92 Miata (bright yellow, it'll be hard to miss) and my goal for this year is to get as much seat time as I can fit in right now, as Sunday will be my first event.  I also plan to get my wife out as often as I can.

I'm also looking to try out rallycross (I took a 3 day dirt fish school last year and am smitten by the feel of getting a car to rotate), so if anyone can point me at the right people to talk to that would be great.

John

[nnywg]

Welcome to the club, you'll love it!

[MurrayPeterson]

Welcome to your new (and addictive) hobby.

For rallycross in Alberta, you should check out Edmonton Rally club (http://www.edmontonrallyclub.ca).  Also, CSCC holds races in the winter on ice (aka Ice Dice).

[Reijo]

Welcome!

Be sure to come see us behind registration (or somewhere nearby) since we will be having a special rookie orientation and training on Sunday ... get you on the right track!   

[John in Calgary]

will do, Reijo.

[John in Calgary]

I had a great time yesterday, things to work on for next session:

1)  looking ahead (once I knew I was going slow enough for the current cone I had to conciously remember to look up to find the next couple of cones)
2)  start figuring out where my braking zone needs to begin (I have no sense for the combination of speed, corner size and steering traction yet, so ended up trail braking by necessity in some of the corners!) and try to concentrate on separating the braking and steering parts of each corner until I get better
3)  figure out if I'm actually faster using trail braking to fine tune my direction by rotating or if its better to get my braking done right ahead of the corner (I seem to have my left foot better calibrated after my first afternoon run where I tried to spin with Tom in the car)
4)  purposely work on using more of the course width, which of course comes from looking ahead and better planning of my lines
5)  remember to put on my shoes instead of trying to drive in my hiking boots - morning was with the boots, afternoon with my Vans, what a difference in room for my feet, and the brake pedal feel was way better!

Got ride alongs with Tom and Dan in the morning which was good, then in the afternoon Reijo showed me 5 seconds in his car even with snow tires.

Ok, I'm hooked.

John