Carnal Knowledge
Autocrossers, has anyone else ever had this happen? I’m out storming through the course. I come out of a turn and suddenly…suddenly… nothing looks familiar! Where am I? Where does the course go? What’s next? OMIGOD! Well, it has happened to me…more than once…at National Championship events! I had to slow down and cruise around until I could spot the next gate and resume the run. Totally uncool and totally un-quick!
So, you missed a gate. What’s the big deal? No big deal at all if I came to the event only to socialize and to have some fun driving fast and listening to the tires chirp (excellent and appropriate reasons to go to an event). But if I came to the event because I want very much to try to win a class and/or if I have aspirations of doing well at Divisional or National events (hopefully also acceptable reasons for being there), then I think I had better make sure that I know the course before my first run.
Because of my early fiascos at Nationals, I now get really intense about learning a course. When I say I want to know the course, I mean KNOW the course. I want to know every turn, every apex, every pavement change, every off-camber, every on-camber, every slalom, every distance, every key pylon, everything that might affect how fast I can go, and where, when, and how much I have to slow down. I want to be able to sit in the car before the first run, close my eyes, and visualize the entire course from start to finish.
To achieve this intimacy with the course, I use an internal, mental, video camera. When I start a walk-through, I turn on the camera and try to mentally record the course as I walk. When I finish the walk, I close my eyes and replay the video. If I have the entire course absolutely committed to memory, then I have finished my next to last walk-through. If the video is still missing pieces-parts, then I have more walking to do. One or two walk-through’s rarely suffice. I walk and study until the video is complete.
Yes, this intensity causes me to miss many of the social aspects of course walking. It’s the limited brain capacity. I can walk and talk, or I can walk and study; but I can’t seem to walk, talk, and study.
Carr, you are goofy. A local 40-second course does not require all that nonsense!
No, I agree, it does not require that much effort just to figure out where the course goes. But I think it does require that much effort to get as close as possible to the best run time that can be achieved on that course in any car. And it certainly requires that much effort if I have any interest in winning a trophy at a Solo II National.
Many clubs do not have the space on their local lots to duplicate the length, speed, and degree of difficulty of the National courses. First time (and even second and third time) competitors at Nationals are often shell-shocked by the amount of time it takes to learn a National course. The walk-through’s are exhausting. Your little hoofies may be worn to the quick long before you have learned the course. So, practice ahead of time. Get that mental video cam lubed up and working at local 40-second courses, and it will be ready to roll when you get to National. Don’t be one of those drivers sitting in the car prior to the second or third run looking at the course map trying to remember where the course goes.
All right already! Now we are going to walk the course eleventy-seven times to be sure we know every turn. That will do it, right?
Well-l-l, while we are walking, we might also want to think about exactly where we want to place the car at any and every given point on the course.
Next Solo Line, “Location, Location, Location.”
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