Hi all,

I am going to be doing my first autocross event this spring. Is there anything I should be aware of before I do this in regards to the factory RF tires?

Eventually I'd like to be able to do a track day in my car too with the local BMW club and the racetrack we have here. I have a feeling though that requires many more mods I don't want to tackle, so I might just stick to autocross.

I'm a girl (not that sex really matters) and have no garage so I don't want to be bothered with swapping tires, lugging tires around, buying new wheels, etc. ... I just want to have fun with my car. :-)

Thanks.

 

While RFs are not considered to be the hot set-up for autocross (they have fairly stiff sidewalls, but are also fairly heavy), they should be fine for starters. Your driving will be the major limitation to start with, so just focus on improving that before you start sliding down the slippery slope of wheel/tire/car enhancements. Depending on what club you autocross with, they may have a Novice class running on indexed (adjusted) times. If so, you might consider entering that class.

You could also run your car stock on the track with RFs as well (assuming it's just tracking instead of racing). Again, it's the new driver that's the major limitation. After a few track events; well, there's that slippery slope of trying to go faster again.

 

I autoxd and tracked my jcw last year on the OEM Dunlop rfs. Compared to other autox tires (ie: star specs) they suck but they will get you by and you'll still have fun. At least I did.
It is hard to get the car to rotate with tire pressure adjustment alone but it can be done. Just chalk your tires and adjust as necessary.

Also they are loud! They squeal like a piggy but don't get scared by that. I never lost grip enough to spin out.

As for tracking, I did 1 event with the RFs and pretty much melted them. The instructor I had with me was surprises they were RFs though if that men's anything.

These tires do work fine but once you get into a good tire you'll never look back.

 

Thanks everyone! Yes, I imagine that
A) wanting to go faster and
B) wanting to upgrade all kinds of things on my car
is going to be a slippery slope! ;-)

I want to get rid of the RF tires, but I want to do it when the tires need to be changed, and that's not for another 10K to 20K miles. (my car has 12K miles, so how long should these tires last with normal-to-agressive driving?)

 

You can probably get a pretty good estimate of how many miles are left on your tires by measuring the current tread depths and comparing those measures with what they were when new. Your 205/45/17 OE RFs probably came new with about 10/32" tread depths, and they now have about 12k miles on them. For example, if your current tread depth measures are about 6/32", you're about half way to the wear bars (about 2/32" before your tires are completely slick). You should replace worn tires when they get down to the wear bars, if not a bit sooner.

You can pick up a tire tread depth gauge cheap at the Auto Zone near you. It's another one of the tire maintenance thingies (like a tire pressure gauge) that everyone should have and use regularly. They can also be used to check for uneven wear across the tire tread, for example.

 

Many of my racing friends refer to the "track crack pipe", as well as the "slippery slope". One of them also quotes a phrase: "Racing makes a heroin addiction seem like the craving for a salty snack."

I'd put extra air pressure into the tires the day before the event. We usually tell first-time students to set their tires to 36 PSI and then forget about them, because there are way too many things to think about at an autoX (especially a school). 36 PSI is generally high enough that nobody has to worry about the tread rolling over, and low enough to keep the tires from skittering really badly on the pavement. It certainly isn't optimum for 99% of tires/drivers/cars, but it works for the first time.

Also, the day before, make sure the lugs are torqued to spec. (Don't know what the spec is for our cars yet.) Make sure the battery is solidly held in place, that the pedals return freely, that the car has no big leaks or visible problems, and that the steering is nice and tight.

Also clean out the inside of the car. Everything that is not fastened down or inside of a closed compartment like the glove box should come out of the car. That includes the extra junk that winds up under the seats, and anything in the door pockets! Your car will do all sorts of moving around at an autoX that it has never done before, and things will go everywhere if they're in the open. And having them go down into the pedals can be Very Bad News Indeed.

Remember to bring along water and sunscreen, as well as any gear appropriate for the weather. You're going to be standing outside all day long, and exercising more than you realize, so prepare for that! One of those plastic storage boxes can come in handy as a place to put things that come out of the car, your water, your sunscreen, your lunch, etc.

Work gloves can come in handy, because cones can get pretty filthy when they get run over. And they can come in handy when moving your stuff around, especially if you have a spare tire that you remove from the car at the event. (Obviously not there in a car with run-flat tires, but still.)

Tires will not last as long autoXing as street driving, even aggressive street driving. AutoX is an order of magnitude more aggressive then aggressive street driving. You will wear the outer corners of your tires much more autoXing, but one or two events should not kill your tires unless they already needed to be replaced.

Most important: Be safe, and have fun! Learn what you can, know that there is more. It took me almost a year to be able to absorb the lessons that I got at my first autoX! It is very difficult to think through the adrenaline, at least at first.

 

Thank you for that lengthy and detailed reply, much appreciated!!

Hmmm, how are you working out more than you realize? That's an interesting bit of info. And thanks for the info on removing stuff from the car, you know, I'd have never have thought of that and my luck I'd have a kettlebell or something ridiculous rolling around in the back of the car, lol. (I got a bell the other day and thought it was secure with the little trunk net... ummm, nope! ha!)

I have no idea what to expect. Just that my guy friends keep telling me I'd love it, be good at it, and must try it. We shall see!!

PS. You have my dream color: Ice Blue. (I got mine used so it is what it is, though I like it and it's kind of rare I guess.)

 

Just holding yourself in place in the car expends more energy than you think. And having your adrenaline spike for a full minute every 10 minutes or so will wear you out. And just standing around out in the weather is a lot more tiring than I thought it would be, never mind running away from spinning cars! (It's rare to have to run, but it's a lot of work if you have to!!!)


Thanks! I kind of fell into it at the last minute; at first I wanted Laser Blue but it wasn't available for the Justa at the time, so I was going to get Horizon Blue. But when I saw it in person, HB was too dark. So I decided Ice Blue was the way to go.

 

If you're autocrossing, just do what I did (accidentally) burn through your RFs first... (this was after 3 autocross events running at 41psi)




Here's a video I made on the last event of the fall, as you can see, I still have a ways to go as far as hitting cones where I should and have a lot to learn, but I will tell you I have a ton of fun out there

http://vimeo.com/32674960

 

that's cool, thanks for sharing!! looks like it was fun.
i have no idea how you know where to drive. all the cones everywhere, it looks confusing. oh my.

and wow, it did *that* to your tires?! dang.

 

I did my 1st autocross in MA last year on runflats. I had a blast! No need to worry about special tires until your driving is limited by them.

I thought I was doing pretty well (my best time was 56 seconds) until one of the instructors offered to drive my car around the course with me as a passenger. He completed the course in 50 seconds!!!

You've got plenty of car as is to get you started.

 

You'll walk the course a few times before you drive it. It's really a lot less confusing than the video.

 

Yea! It is way less confusing than the video, you walk the course before and if it's your first time (at least in my club) you can ride along with someone else and watch the first group run the course too.

 

Cool!!

 

I did two track days and Thunder Hill last year. It was not hot 60 so not huge tire temps. I thought 2 days and they would be toast. They held up great. Going back this week so I will run higher in the rears. I will run the RF now for wet and street set up. 2 track days and 8K street miles. Have Nitto's now for the track I can't wait to run for dry days. Forecast for MINI Thunder III just went to nice both days!!!!