Ariel Atom 2

[dinoracer]

Just got the latest Grassroots Motorsports, pretty extensive write-up on this new toy, including a comparison to a Miata-engined Locost.

[TroyV]

Note to stewards.. Be prepared to class this car come NHIS. I believe Mark has registered..

Note to Carl/Instructors.. Mark has run autox with us for some time, and has some track experience as well.

[StephanAlfa]

Note to stewards.. Be prepared to class this car come NHIS. I believe Mark has registered..

Note to Carl/Instructors.. Mark has run autox with us for some time, and has some track experience as well.

As long as it has 2 seats it's fine to come with the car as a student. IMHO Auto-X experience does little justice on "experience" for our attempt to teach "the line and basics". I find most of my students with Auto-X experience to turn way to early on turns (in AND out) thus binding the car and loosing tons of momentum. At all times I had to"undo" what they know in Auto-X to get them focus on the line. In any case a student at COM is - in our eyes - a driver who is coming to participate in our events (always welcomed!) learn and ultimately making his/her way to get a COM license regardless of past experience elsewhere. This is what I like about COM and their preaching safety. You could be Michael Shumacker for all I care, you start with us as a student.

We welcome Mark and anyone who is eager to be part of this great club! :thumbleft:

[TroyV]

Aside from the specific traits an autox player brings to the table in the HPDE context, I mentioned this as an indicator to the potential instructor that this person can handle his vehicle and based on my dealings with him, will be a very good student. (You may read that as "won't do something crazy or stupid")

[HerbD]

IMHO Auto-X experience does little justice on "experience"

I would actually sharply disagree with this. Someone with extensive
autocross experience comes to the table with an excellent understanding
of their cars' dynamics at the limit, and probably a good instinct at how
to recover from understeer and oversteer.

If anything, an accomplished autocrosser out on track will have much
fewer distractions from the act of driving the car, and will be able to
concentrate on absorbing the specifics of the driving environment.

Just another perspective.

[WillM]

+1 Herb!

Experienced autocrossers have honed skills that cross-over to track driving nicely. Threshold braking, heel/toe shifting, smooth inputs, looking ahead, etc. In my experience, the fastest autocrossers are smooth. Boring to watch on course (minimal sliding around, no brake lockups, etc), but produce the fastest lap times.

It seems that those not accustomed to heel/toe shifting and looking ahead have to shift focus from driving the line to driving the car. Anyone remember when they first learned to heel/toe or when they were not used to heel/toe on the track? Seems the gut instinct is to pop the clutch right at the apex, exactly where you don't want to upset the car. Worse, without the blip to the throttle, the car bogs and shifts a boatload of weight forward.

In Stephan's defense, the timing is a bit different, and I've found that students with some autocross experience sometimes have to slow down and smooth out their inputs.

As an OK but not truly great autocrosser, I speak from personal experience.

[StephanAlfa]

OK OK OK I take it back...
Re-phrase: I think Auto-X are great drivers and well prepared to come and learn more on track.

Now NASCAR drivers on the other hand... :dontknow:

[HerbD]

OK OK OK I take it back...
Re-phrase: I think Auto-X are great drivers and well prepared to come and learn more on track.

Yeah! Cave to the peer pressure!

Now NASCAR drivers on the other hand... :dontknow:

Those guys are friggen crazy! Talk about your perpetual 4-wheel drift!

[rajito]

Those guys are friggen crazy! Talk about your perpetual 4-wheel drift!

Yes????

Raj

[TroyV]

As a driver that still does mostly autocross, I found my transition to track stuff rather natural, though I did tend to be early on everything at first as Stephan mentioned earlier. Getting a 4000 pound Mustang around an autox course in reasonable amount of time is an act of sheer will....and in that context "you must be early, or you will be late".

I like the chaos.

[HerbD]

Those guys are friggen crazy! Talk about your perpetual 4-wheel drift!

Yes????

Yeah, take a primitive suspension and a spec tire and hurl it
around an oval at 200mph. If you watch the in-camera video
of what they're doing with the steering wheel, they're basically
dancing on a film of molten rubber, in a constant state of drift.

It's no wonder that when one of them loses it, the carnage is
impressive, indeed. There's simply no margin for error.

[breakaway500]

This is my first full year of autocrossing and driving on road courses and as a newbie I have found the road courses to be more forgiving to drive to my limits than the autocross events.I would not say easier or harder,just different driving skills are involved.
The weekend after getting back from Summit Point, I attended my monthly A/X event (Troys) and proceeded to take out a lot of cones.The techniques I had learned on the road course were almost of NO value autocrossing.I had to go back to my FTW style of driving to be even close to the others in my class.
On the other hand,all I had to do was slow down my autocross moves to drive fairly quick on track.There is a lot to learning a road course and much of what you are doing in the car is spread out over more time and distance.
I can't wait to do more events and look foreward to going to new tracks!!

[DanDarcy]

Herb Wrote

If you watch the in-camera video
of what they're doing with the steering wheel, they're basically
dancing on a film of molten rubber, in a constant state of drift.

Sounds like driving a Mustang around NHIS. The car goes faster when your sideways especially through turn 3-4, Smooth is not always the fastest time

[Smoke and Mirrors]

OK OK OK I take it back...
Re-phrase: I think Auto-X are great drivers and well prepared to come and learn more on track.

Thats more like it.

Sincerely,
George D, Stephan's student at LRP that got signed off early because of his autocross experience..