Finding "the line"

[JST]

One of the key topics emphasized at the Performance Center (as with all other driver's schools, I'm sure) is the importance of staying on the right line through a corner. Obvious, yes, but basic and fundamental.

I think one of the biggest problems I have at autocrosses is that I tend to focus on remembering the course as a series of gates to get through, rather than envisioning a line to follow through the course. Obviously, finding the line at an autocross is a lot harder than finding it at a track, since the boundaries of the course itself are largely imaginary (especially if Kevin is designing it).

Any tips/tricks that you use to find the line when walking and memorizing a course?

[Nick M3]

Aside from trying to walk the line you plan to drive, I think you just have to do a shitload of them.

Eventually it starts getting pretty easy to find the course.

[SpaceMonk]

That, and take an EVO school or two. They really focus on looking father ahead. If you're properly looking where you should be (2-4 gates ahead, depending), you will find yourself taking a better line naturally.

For example, in a five cone slalom, be looking at the third cone as you enter the slalom, then to the 4th cone as you pass the first, etc. If you're taking a left hand sweeper, or 180, be looking out your drivers side window as you're still going straight, preparing to make the turn.

[Nick M3]

There are still spots for the Phase I school on Sunday. ;)

http://www.wdcrevo.us

[clyde]

Eventually it starts getting pretty easy to find the course.

Finding the course and finding the line are two entirely different things.

For me, finding the course (even Kevin's) is pretty simple. Yeah, I might forget to do part of a skidpad from time to time, but that's another story. :D

Finding the right line...

Because of the difference in distance between turns, the traditional racing line is frequently not the best autocross line. On a track, it's all about maximizing exit speed and carrying that speed down the next straight. The longer the straight, the more important the exit speed. The shorter the straight, the less time there is to be gained. Most of the straights in autocrosses are so short that setting up for a turn to maximize exit speed will cost more time than can be gained before the next turn. It's a fuzzy concept that sounds wrong, but where the track is about speed over distance, autocrossing is about time over distance. On the track, misplacing your car a foot to the left or right of the proper line for each turn doesn't have a substantial impact on the total distance that you travel on a lap (forget about putting a wheel off). Being a foot to the left or right at an autocross on each turn can have a significant impact on the total distance you travel and your resulting time.

It's very easy to fall into the trap of looking for the traditional racing line at autocrosses. Breaking that habit is crucial to turning low times.

On top of everything, whether its finding the course or finding the line...when you're walking the course prior to running and then when you're driving it, LOOK AHEAD as far as you can. Doing so will help you more than anything else. To illustrate, at the one autox that TD ran this year (so far anyway :twisted: ) I walked the course with him. There was a right hand corner (nearly 180 degrees IIRC) that led to something resembling a straight with a nasty kink 2/3 of the way down. The way the gates marking the stretch were lined up, though, it almost looked like a solid line of cones from left to right. As we were walking, TD came out of the corner and said, "Shit, that looks like a sea of cones." I pointed to a garbage can that was beyond the course, but directly ahead of us. No matter how you came out of the the turn, the garbage can appeared to be between two specific cones. Aiming for the garbage put all the cones that should be on your left on your left and all of the ones to the right on your right which let you set up properly for the kink. After TD's first run he said that he was a little confused coming out of that turn, remembered what I said about the garbage can and it worked for him just like I said it would. (FWIW, JST, this was the one at the high school lot that you decided not to run.)

All of that said, I usually don't find the "right" line until a day or two after an event.

[JST]

Eventually it starts getting pretty easy to find the course.

Finding the course and finding the line are two entirely different things.

For me, finding the course (even Kevin's) is pretty simple. Yeah, I might forget to do part of a skidpad from time to time, but that's another story. :D

Finding the right line...

Because of the difference in distance between turns, the traditional racing line is frequently not the best autocross line. On a track, it's all about maximizing exit speed and carrying that speed down the next straight. The longer the straight, the more important the exit speed. The shorter the straight, the less time there is to be gained. Most of the straights in autocrosses are so short that setting up for a turn to maximize exit speed will cost more time than can be gained before the next turn. It's a fuzzy concept that sounds wrong, but where the track is about speed over distance, autocrossing is about time over distance. On the track, misplacing your car a foot to the left or right of the proper line for each turn doesn't have a substantial impact on the total distance that you travel on a lap (forget about putting a wheel off). Being a foot to the left or right at an autocross on each turn can have a significant impact on the total distance you travel and your resulting time.


That's very helpful. Are you saying, then, that the proper "line" to focus on is not the one that gets you through turn X fastest, but rather the one that gets you through turn X in the best possible shape for turn Y? Compromising the line through one corner (presumably as little as possible) in order to set yourself up for the next?