Autocrossing tips??

[Grant 302]

Nearly 5 year thread resurrection...gotta be a record around here!

 

[TymeSlayer]

Have my first ever AutoX next Friday and since it's my first and I'm not expecting to bring home any bling, I'll have to play around with this. A friend of mine tells me to leave everything on and that it's on there for a reason but his ride is a Kia Soul...

 

[VoodooBoss]

You'll want to start using sport mode. The advancetrac is way too invasive on the S197 cars.

 

[TymeSlayer]

Thanks for the tip Rick.

 

[blacksheep-1]

The big difference between auto x and road racing or hpde is that the tires never get a chance to warm up, so you'd want to run a ton more pressure to start with. As an example, you found a set of tires that worked best at..40 psi, I would shoot for a 40.2-40.5 as soon as you can get the pressures. (assuming they cooled slightly).
The other big deal about auto x is that since sticker tires have their best laps in the first 3 laps, you don't want to spend that time learning the track, see if you can run street tires then switch over to your slicks. Do the same for every event and you can probably get 5 events out of them, swap them on the wheels and maybe 6-7 events.
I like Hoosiers, but since the tires aren't going more than 8 events, total, try buying a cheapo set of tires..say Khumo, they're cheap,they work, and they're worn out in 6 events. which is what you're looking for. The Hoosiers (and others) will still look good, but the fact is, they're done.
You can use traction enhancing treatments (known locally as goat pee) but if you saturate the tire, and you have a lock up, it's instant cord.
Most auto x events I've seen are pretty much point and shoot events for larger cars, so I would concentrate and getting the car launched and stopped in the least amount of time, slow, transitional corners will never be a mustang's forte, so I'd concentrate in the areas where they excel.

 

[Krispy]

Which car are you driving? If it's a GT350 I have no idea. If S550 I also have no idea but don't know the driving modes on them as well. On the S197 cars the TC would come back on if it felt something out of whack. If it persists and you have a S550/GT350 take it to your dealer and have them look it over.

My car is a 2015 GTPP. The event ended up going well and I won my class while setting a new track record for the class. I'm sure there is another half second or so in the car once getting the traction controll fully off. On my track wheels I'm not running tire pressure sensors and am wondering if this could be the reason...? Alternatively, perhaps in modern Ford vehicles there are still some safety systems running in the background even when the display indicates Adv trac & TC are turned off (read this on a variety of forums).

I'm wondering if the background safety systems can be deactivated via tune? Anybody heard of something like this?

 

[Gab]

Most auto x events I've seen are pretty much point and shoot events for larger cars, so I would concentrate and getting the car launched and stopped in the least amount of time, slow, transitional corners will never be a mustang's forte, so I'd concentrate in the areas where they excel.

Agreed 100%. That's one thing I like about Mustangs at auto-x: point n shoot!

 

[TymeSlayer]

Hey, had a blast running the AutoX up in Steamboat. First run 56.703 and last run at 49.921 - Each run I got mo betta! The car ran fine, the driver needs help! Had a blast. May try this again some tyme.