Seems like everyone has taken up climbing which is awesome! Always love more people in the sport.
The one I haven’t seen is autocross. It’s a big empty space (usually a parking lot) with cones and your car one at a time. See how fast you can make it through the course. No, you don’t need some awesome car to participate! In fact, the more shitbox the better! We see old police interceptors, Miatas, Honda Fits, Chevy Volts, Porsche GT3’s, and everything in between.
I enjoy track driving as well but autocross is way more fun. You get out and learn the limits of your car and your skillset in a super safe and inviting atmosphere. No matter what you’ve brought everyone is excited when you get faster. Events are almost always run/work so half your time is spent chatting and setting cones back up when someone inevitably commits cone genocide.
Autocrosses always have instructors as well that are happy to ride along and give you pointers. If you’re comfortable, they’ll often even be willing to run a lap in your car to show you what it’s capable of. Usually going 80% of what they can do so it’s even more safe.
I got into autocross back when I was 17 and bought a $2000 Porsche 914 when they were highly undesirable and Porsche was almost bankrupt. I raced motorcycles after that for some years then got married and decided to give up the bikes. I wanted some more (safe) speed in my life about five years ago and found the local Porsche club running autocross in my area. No Porsche required! I took my Cadillac for the first few years and managed a third place finish overall my last year of driving it. Got the bug bad and a dream car crossed my path (Lotus Elise). It’s punishing and the electronics were horribly unreliable. I love it more than any other car I’ve owned.
Don’t be like me. Go buy a Miata like a sane person if you decide you want a dedicated autocross car! Parts are endless and cheap. Plus the car is near bulletproof to start with.
And that’s where we stand and how I got into then back into autocross!
I’ll bite because I haven’t seen it yet!
Seems like everyone has taken up climbing which is awesome! Always love more people in the sport.
The one I haven’t seen is autocross. It’s a big empty space (usually a parking lot) with cones and your car one at a time. See how fast you can make it through the course. No, you don’t need some awesome car to participate! In fact, the more shitbox the better! We see old police interceptors, Miatas, Honda Fits, Chevy Volts, Porsche GT3’s, and everything in between.
I enjoy track driving as well but autocross is way more fun. You get out and learn the limits of your car and your skillset in a super safe and inviting atmosphere. No matter what you’ve brought everyone is excited when you get faster. Events are almost always run/work so half your time is spent chatting and setting cones back up when someone inevitably commits cone genocide.
Autocrosses always have instructors as well that are happy to ride along and give you pointers. If you’re comfortable, they’ll often even be willing to run a lap in your car to show you what it’s capable of. Usually going 80% of what they can do so it’s even more safe.
I got into autocross back when I was 17 and bought a $2000 Porsche 914 when they were highly undesirable and Porsche was almost bankrupt. I raced motorcycles after that for some years then got married and decided to give up the bikes. I wanted some more (safe) speed in my life about five years ago and found the local Porsche club running autocross in my area. No Porsche required! I took my Cadillac for the first few years and managed a third place finish overall my last year of driving it. Got the bug bad and a dream car crossed my path (Lotus Elise). It’s punishing and the electronics were horribly unreliable. I love it more than any other car I’ve owned.
Don’t be like me. Go buy a Miata like a sane person if you decide you want a dedicated autocross car! Parts are endless and cheap. Plus the car is near bulletproof to start with.
And that’s where we stand and how I got into then back into autocross!