Hey, I'm been told that my speed through saloms is less than great. Can someone give me some advice. How can I get good speed through those cones.

 

Try to be at a constant speed all the way through. Accelerating or braking in a slalom upsets the car. If you do have to change speeds do so gradually.

Be sure to turn in just before you reach each cone. Get behind in your steering and you have to steer more and go slower.

Be smooth. Don't jerk the wheel around. I used to try to swing the back end around thinking it would be faster. In accuality it was slower because it was too hard to control. Now I do like to use "rear wheel steering" but if you end up counter steering to save it you lose your speed.

 

The one thing that I significantly improved upon after taking the Evolution Driving School was slaloms.

1) As already stated use more or less a constant speed (assuming that the cones are evenly spaced!). This does not mean enter and coast. This does mean enter at a certain throttle position and pretty much keep it there. Lifting or significant throttle input will change the balance of the car and cause you to go slower.

2) This is an important one - When you walk the course, pick an entry to the slalom where you more-or-less aren't "slaloming" until you are making steering inputs for the third cone. A slanted entry or an entry that only causes a slight input for the 2nd cone will do wonders for your times. For slaloms that can exaggerate the speed effect of this approach, you *may* find that you need a quick stab on the brakes near the apex of the 2nd cone (all of the extra speed is less time!)

 

What you'll probably find is that you're way behind on your steering inputs. Keep in mind the car takes some period of time to respond and settle down after steering input. Which means in a slalom, you must start your steering BEFORE you normally would. And yes, smooth is very important BUT... ride with those Evo instructors and watch (and feel) how quickly they're yanking on the wheel.

What it amounts to is that your steering inputs will happen well ahead of the point where the car will actually turn. You're steering without the help of feedback from the car. You steer and hope (if all went well) that the car will respond exactly like you think it will at the point in time when it should. It is very much an art.

 

when i took the evo course i learned that i was turning for a cone about a cone late.

when my car is approaching the cone on my left i had to start turning right. completely unnatural if you ask me, but it works.

that is what they mean when they say look a few cones ahead. the cone on my left is gone even though it is still in front of me, i had to start focusing on the cone on the right in front of me.

not the best description, sorry. but combine all the posts in this thread. we are all saying the same thing differently.

 

No, that's exactly what I was trying to say!! It almost is un-natural because you're steering for things that are coming up in way in advance, not what your getting ready to pass, that's already too late. And you're right, that's why they tell you to look ahead.

 

- Smooth steering inputs. The less you need to move your steering wheel from centered the better. Move the wheel too fast and the tires will exceed their slip angle and you'll just push.

- If you need to slow down, let up on the gas pedal just a bit instead of using the brake. It won't upset the chassis as much.

- Look at the final cone in the slalom and use your peripheral vision to go past the intermediate cones

- Try to hit every cone with your inside rear tire. If you start actually hitting them, then you can back off a bit and start turning later.

- Seat time

 

Tough to do when blind in one eye!

 

You accomplish the first by turning sooner for slalom cones. The earlier you can start to turn the less you have to move the wheel.

The second is correct, partially. The first part is right, the second isn't. You don't want to really ever turn later, and you want to go as quick as you can. You have two choices. Either turn early and go quick, letting the car drift and accounting for the drift in your inputs. Or you drive from cone to cone, turning as you get to each basically just driving around them. If you do this, you can't go fast becaue you will slide into the cones since the car takes time to react.

Turn early, like AT the cones with the front corners. If you hit them with the nose, you know you can go quicker. This will make the car move more, allowing you to miss the cone. If you slow down, you'll just run it over even harder.

 

Cool, you guys are great, thanks for the help. Can I ask for help with the long curving turns, i think ther're called sweepers. My fstock car seems to bob up and down a bit in them, make me nervous to go faster. What's the best way to deal with those?

 

As I learned in my first two years, there are two possible issues with any item for improvement - the car and the driver.

For the driver:
Bobbing up and down implies that an input is not even. Whether it's braking, acceleration or steering inputs, I cannot say for sure. Since it's a sweeper, the steering input should be constant unless you are countersteering for an oversteer/understeer condition. If you are at the limit of speed in a sweeper, braking would likely cause you to spin (the rear would come around). That leaves the throttle. I guess I need to ask, what is bobbing? Front to back? Side to side? Corner to corner?

Car:
What shocks do you have and how many miles are on them? Front swaybar?

 

Basically all the fstock mods except for good tires. 35mm sway, bilsteins HDs with less than 5k on them, k and n, that's about it. Right now, my approach is to turn in after braking and try to apex at the middle, all while trying to hold as much speed as possible. Then when I exit i'll roll the throttle down and speed out, sometimes I lose the rear end speeding out. The bobbing is up and down on the outside corners. Subtle, but it's there. It may be one aspect of the stock suspension I'll have to just deal with.

Which kinda of turns should I late apex anyways, right now I've been apexing dead center for all turns because I don't really know.

 

The car should not bounce if in a true sweeper in true steady state steering, throttle and braking. The only things that could change this is uneven surface, accidental input, or something loose on the suspension. The hardest thing about a sweeper is getting the entry speed correct so that you have to make minimum inputs.

"Most autocross turns are late apex turns." I have heard this said many times and I have found that it is true. The reality is that the choice of apex is decided by what is after the turn, not the turn itself. For instance, if you have a 90* left-hander followed by a 50yd straightaway, then a 180* right-hander, you would apex late on the left hander.

If this same 90* left-hander were immediately followed by the 180* right hander followed by the 50yd straight, you would early apex the left hander so that you could late apex the right hander.

In both instances, the real goal is to be able to get on the gas as early as possible. The more speed that you have getting onto the straightway, the more speed you will have the entire length of the straightaway.

This description would work better with illustrations. Have you ever read the book The Secrets of Solo Racing ? There is a whole section that talks about apexing.

 

No, I don't have that book. But I did buy several others and they cover the subject as well. Then there's stuff I read online about how autocross course are too tight and slow to use fancy lines, that's it's better to just try to hold speed. so I just do the normal apex. Sometimes I mix it up, but it just throws off my rhythm. Next time I'll try late apexing some more, especially on fast exit corners.