der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 24

T H E

H A B I T S

O F

H I G H L Y

E F F E C T I V E

A U T O C R O S S E R S

(Above) Crossing the course at Regency Furniture Stadium. Photo by Jaclyn Heck.
Pat: Well funny enough I can blame,
or thank, my kids. When I decided to
start autocrossing, I needed a car as
my SUV wasn't going to hack it. But
what car??? So I did a little research
and found a list of the ten best cars
to autocross. Perfect. Number one:
Miata. So I said I'll get one of those
until my kids said, "Oh no, no, no
dad. That's a chick car, you can't get
that." Alright then, moving on to
number two: Corvette. Hmm,
maybe, but maybe not. Let's look at
number three. AH HA! A BMW M3.
I always loved the look of the M3s.
That seemed great to me, and more
importantly, to my kids, so I went out
and purchased a 2006 E46 M3.
After racing that beautiful car
for three years, I knew there was a
more competitive M3 in my SCCA
class: the E92 version. It had a better
suspension (very important in
autocross), more power (with a V-8,
I had never owned one of those
before), and was actually more
comfortable than my E46 M3. But
most importantly, it was one of
the most competitive cars in the
F-Street autocross class. (Did I
mention I'm a competitive person?)
dB: How have you modified your car
for autocrossing?
Pat: I run a Street Class car by SCCA
standards so there is only so much I

24

can do to prep my car. And I like it
that way. I really got into this for the
driving, not the wrenching. I did a lot
of that in my youth, but now I'm more
comfortable behind the wheel than
under the car.
I have taken advantage of the
rules to better prep my car to be
more competitive. Basically we are
limited to changing the wheels
(+/- 1 inch diameter), tires (treadwear
200), a single sway bar, shocks, and
upgrading to an aftermarket catback
exhaust. Biggest improvements
come from the tires. Treadwear 200
tires are amazing! Easily the biggest
bang for your buck. Bridgestone
(RE-71R), BF Goodrich (Rivals) and
Yohohama (A052) are the three big
manufacturers of current cuttingedge autocross tires. I've also gone
with one inch smaller diameter
wheels for weight reduction and
cheaper tires. Added a stiffer sway
bar to the front to help reduce body
roll. Luckily, I didn't need to replace
the shocks as the stock ones are very
good. The exhaust doesn't really add
much performance for the cost so I
skipped that. All in all, it cost under
$3K for me to prep my car to
National-level competitiveness.
dB: How did you come to be so
involved in NCC autocross?
Pat: To be honest, after my first event,

which was a Level 1 school with
SCCA, I was totally bitten by the
autocross bug. Hook, line, and
sinker. I only knew of SCCA
autocrossing and they held events
once a month. Once a month, are
you kidding me? I needed more.
Luckily, I discovered other clubs in
the area (BMW NCC and Capital
Driving Club) and signed up with
them. Nowadays, you'll find me out
autocrossing every weekend from
March to October. NCC is a great
club to run with. Everyone is
extremely friendly, helpful, and laid
back. I must admit I always thought
the cars would be fun, but I didn't
realize just how great the people were
going to be, and that's what keeps
me coming back.
dB: What tips could you share with
drivers who are new to autocross?
Pat: Highly recommend participating
in autocross schools. Three really
good ones are the SCCA Level 1,
Evolution Performance Phase 1, and
the BMW Novice schools. Also, track
schools like the BMW M Club Driving
School are not only informative, but
tons of fun.
I was lucky enough to attend a
BMW M Club Driving School, down
in Greer, SC, where an instructor
talked about how to approach a turn.
He said remember "BLT" like the

sandwich, except in this case it
stands for "Brake" "Look" "Turn".
The important parts here are "Brake"
before the turn. While you're braking
"Look" into the turn (looking ahead)
before you start to "Turn" the wheel.
The nice thing about this skill is that
you can practice it during your daily
driving. More on this later.
Arrive early to the events so you
have time to empty the car, set your
tire pressures, put your numbers on
the car, go through tech inspection,
register, and make sure you are ready
to go before you start your course
walks.
Both BMW and SCCA clubs
do a novice walk, before the
competition begins, to help beginners navigate the course. I highly
encourage new drivers to do these, as
the guide will usually give great
insight into how to attack the course.
I still do them sometimes just to make
sure I'm not missing something.
At first, the course layout will
seem very confusing. I used to take a
pen and paper and attempted to draw
the course, but inevitably
I would run off the page drawing it.
After a couple months of this, I was
able to remember the course without
writing it down. Now after each
course walk I close my eyes and see if
I can drive through the complete
course in my mind. If I can't
remember it, I'll do another course
walk. Usually it only takes one or
two course walks nowadays.
As far as car setup goes, talk
with the fast people who are driving
the same type of car as yourself.
Ask how they set it up. Ask what tires
are they using, what size tires do they
recommend, what tire pressures
do they run, and so on. But it's
important to understand that
autocross is more about the driver
than the car. Focus more on
improving your driving skills,
especially in the beginning, because
the car will be far more capable than
you are.
One of the most common
driving mistakes for novices is going
too fast in the slow sections and too

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