[Guam128i]

As I posted earlier in this thread I AutoX with everything off, and I always have from day one, which is what the OP was questioning.

Sorry to have started this debate about this on this off. It is a personal choice I think. The goal is to be faster at each AUTOCROSS race. What I also intended to get from you guys that AUTOCROSS is what set-up are you running. Coilovers? Sport Springs? Swaybars? Exhaust? Intake? Brake Pads?


BTW so you guys know the car I have been racing for the last 5 years is an 04 Subaru STI which is in SM class it has a lot of suspension mods, brakes, etc.

I am trying to set-up this BMW so I can get my wife into Autocrossing too. I drove the car at one race finished 3rd but I could have done better with maybe a little more power on the exits.

Prior to this 06 325, I have owned a 1989 M3, and 635 CSI, 530i but I did not get the chance to autocross this vehicles because AUTOCROSSING on Guam has just started in the last 5 years.

Thanks

[Ramos]

See, he's not a Noob !!!
Is your wife a noob? If so, let her drive the car stock for the first few times.. No need to upgarde anything, and maybe listen to Satakal and tell her to leave the nannies on until she has a comfort level and is starting to get annoyed by the interference... After that, I would say brakes, tires ... But there is no getting away from the fact that these cars lack an LSD

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by WE90325

what set-up are you running.

keep it stock. go to teh event already

[Guam128i]

I will let her give it a shot.

[Paddy]

I did my first Autox last month (second one, just last weekend). On my first time out I left DSC on for all my practice runs but I turned it off for my timed runs because it was too intrusive in the corners, basically cutting all power on the exit.

Here's my take. If you are a really good autox driver, DSC on/off probably won't make much of a difference because you will not be unsettling the car and making the DSC kick in.
For me, I'm not anywhere close to that level yet.
After my first autox I had a conundrum.
a) leave DSC on and work on my smoothness, if DSC kicked in and cut my power on a corner then then I should work on being smoother in that corner
b) leave DSC off, this is more forgiving for non-smooth drivers, because it allows you to power out of corners that you entered badly and thus saves you time (if you can apply that power without spinning out the car). It involves a lot more work for the driver to keep the car between the cones.

In the end for autox #2 I turned DSC off all the time for a couple of reasons.
1. It's a hell of a lot more fun
2. Getting the feel of the end sliding out and using the throttle to control the end
3. Spinouts, I don't ask for them but when they happen they are a great way to experience how the car really feels and how quickly you can recover and get back on track.

Here's my recommendation for the newbie, for the first couple of runs which will be mostly you familiarizing yourself with the track layout and apexes, keep it on. You won't learn much about the track layout if you're ploughing over cones and spinning about. After you are comfortable with the track layout, then turn it off and experiment with the limits of yourself and the car.

You're not going to be winning any prizes so don't worry about the times of other drivers. Use your own times as a gauge on how well you are improving and you should see significant improvement on most runs.

I think you will learn to be smoother quicker with DSC off than with it on, because DSC on can mask a lot of unsmooth actions that would normally unsettle the car.

Autox is a very safe environment to spin/push your vehicle. Other than a bit of cone scuffing (the cones are very soft) and a fair bit of thread wear, you should not incur any damage to your vehicle.