A couple weekends ago, I attended a BMW Autocross event with the local chapter. Briefly, Autocross is a sport often taking place in a large parking lot with a course laid out by traffic cones. The courses are short (often around 45 seconds) and technical with a lot of tight turns. You only run one lap at a time, and the objective is to get the fastest time within your class, but you only have 3 runs to do so. I’ll expand on Autocross in another post, but I learned a seemingly simple lesson at this event that I want to capture.
The BMW autocross events are competitive, but not seriously. Since they’re timed, you’re always chasing those few tenths of a second to improve your lap, but there’s no real prize at the end. You typically end up trying to beat your last time unless there is a similar car being run that you can benchmark. At this event, I was driving my BMW M2 (I’m #10) and there were 2 others there: another Long Beach Blue being driven by a beginner and a black one being driven by an instructor.
BMW Autocross: Session 1
At this event, there aren’t that many people, so we all got 5 runs rather than the usual 3. During the morning session, I get consistently faster, but my last two runs are similar at around 48 seconds. It often happens where I improve significantly over the first couple of runs, but then hit a wall – figuratively, of course. I have been listening to other times being posted and some of the faster ones are in the 46’s. That’s quick, but I rationalize that they are modified cars with experienced drivers. The beginner M2 is running 54’s, so I have clearly graduated from the novice class in my second year of BMW Autocross. Then I watch the black M2. It runs 44’s consistently. After the session, the driver mentions the car is stock. There goes my justification.
Sure, there is a lot of time to be gained in experience, but 4 seconds is a ton of time on an Autocross course. I must be missing something. Driving in HPDEs and other BMW Autocross events has taught me to find the driving line pretty well, and I couldn’t identify any single part of the course where I thought I was just losing it. So, if it isn’t simply experience, and I’m driving the correct line, where can I find 4 seconds on a 45-second course?
BMW Autocross: Session 2
When I drive the M2, I find myself to be pretty conservative with the pedals. Not for fear of damaging the car, but mainly because I just assume I will lose control if I push the throttle all the way down. Instead, I focus on smooth application of throttle and brake. It isn’t until today that I realize just how much that could be slowing me down. Being smooth is great in Autocross, but you need to combine that with speed.
That is my focus for the afternoon session. Coming out of every turn, I make it a point to ensure I can feel the accelerator hit the floor. The difference in feel is immediately noticeable. I feel the pedal hit the floor, and I feel the power hit harder. My first time in the afternoon is 47.3. The last run is my fastest at 45.9 (technically, I hit one cone, which brings a penalty of +2 seconds, but we’ll just focus on the raw time for pride’s sake). Ignoring the penalty, I cut a full 2 seconds off my time! A bit more experience and more practice with strong pedal application and I’ll be within shouting distance of the black M2.
Like I said, it’s a very simple concept – accelerate more and you’ll go faster. While driving my usual way, however, it felt like I was going as fast as I could. I was braking hard, turning hard, and if I accelerated any harder I was sure I would lose traction. That clearly wasn’t the case. When you’re relatively new to this sport, your car’s capabilities will greatly exceed your own, especially in a more powerful car. Knowing whether the barrier you’ve hit is mental or physical will help you figure out how to break through it. I think this is a key element of becoming a faster driver.
