AutoX Impression's

["Mark Radelow" <rpcprod@hotmail.com>]

Well I finally broke down and went to a SCCA Autox this past weekend. 
Saturday was a practice day and Sunday was a competition.  I only drove 
Saturday and it was a hell of a lot of fun.  I am running stock 
suspension and tires (YEE HAW!)  Anyways here are my impressions of the 
car as an autox'r.  I have to say it was definately not as bad as I 
thought it would be.  Yes, the car does love to push but if you come in 
nice and slow into the turns and come out screaming you won't do as bad 
as you think.  At first I tried just driving really fast all over (can 
we say HORRIBLE understeer).  But after a couple laps with a VW Guru I 
was set to rock.  The key is to come in nice and smooth and with a 
fairly low speed into the turns.  If you do this you can prevent the 
extreme pushing the car loves to do.

The VR6 has more than enough power to shotgun you out of the turn so 
high initial velocity isn't really required.  Let me say one thing 
regarding the ABS.  I experience the sleigh ride a few times, but once 
you know what to expect you can prevent it from happening.  Being really 
smooth with the car will prevent it, and making sure that you come into 
the turns slow enough will help you greatly.  I would still probably run 
without ABS and, contrary to what everyone else says, think the lack of 
a proportioning valve makes little difference.  

Overall I am happy with the way the car performed.  It absolutely 
SCREAMED through the slaloms and I had a higher velocity at the end of 
the straight aways than most cars.  My times (being the first time I 
have EVER done an autox) were not that bad.  I was right on time with a 
BMW Z3 2.8 (the guy has been autoxing for awhile).  Will the car be 
competitive in G-Stock?  I doubt it.  The national champion in G-Stock 
was there in his MX-6 and he was running 86's while I was running 96's.  
I mean I am not a great driver so that might account for some of it (as 
well as tires) but I doubt a GLX would ever be able to be that fast.  

Anyways, thats about it.  Oh couple of other things...  Talk to some 
people about Solo I and they said the GLX's that run in that totally 
kick everyone's ass (Even M3's!!!).  Too bad I am not willing to stick a 
rollcage in my car.  I got to ride in a Scirocco that was incredibly 
fast (DSP class).  I also got to have the most incredible ride of my 
life in an RX-7 (late model twin-turbo).  The fastest Corvette (A ZR-1) 
ran the course in 78.something.  A Viper GTS was there and he ran it in 
like 78 to.  This RX-7 was running 77's!  Were I was going 70 in the 
slalom, he was doing 100!!!!!  It was so incredible.  It might not be a 
VW, but it's still a helluva car.  That's about it.  thanks for 
listening/reading


Mark Radelow
VW Jetta Homepage
http://jetta.aosi.net

I will have autox photos up soon!

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com