Every time I've gone auto crossing its been on asphalt / cement, the surface is typical of regular streets and highways, well today I went autocrossing and it was on blaktop. I have to say, I don't like the blacktop at all, it really takes alot of the fun out of auto crossing, its so hard to get traction while cornering you can't really toss the car around, you sit there and take corners nice and slow, you have to take eveything overly wide, it really takes the fun out of it and IMO it seems alot less safe then regular asphalt. There was an S2000 that lost it in the slolom, his car spun a full 540 covering probobally a good 50 feet in the process, there was an STi going throught the circles (the corse layout had 2 circles of cones next to each other that you had to figure 8 around) the STi started to slide out and just kept sliding, he ended up narrowly missing a group of people as the car slid backwards and slamed into and over a curb. I didn't even stay for the whole event, I left halfway through. Call it over paranoid or whatever but hey better safe then sorry.

Needless to say I'm gonna avoid black top.



BTW, this is me on the blacktop/seal coated lot, you can see in the background the regular pavement in the next lot over, just so people know what I'm talking about















anyways who else has raced on this stuff and what are thoughts on it?

the only blacktop time i have had was on the vda at beave run. It was really slick, but they had just put it down like a week before we did it. I almost spun that event and no one could get any traction. The stories you posted sound a lot more like bad course design. You can't blame the asphalt for people almost getting hit.

i see where you are coming from with howerver oesnt that jsut add to the challene?


btw also liek to point out that all the drift events ive seen have been on asphalt, coincidence?


Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, May 06, 2007 10:21 PM


My car may run 18s, but I can do your taxes in 10 seconds flat.
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It definetly was a horrible corse layout, its not a real big so the corse crossed itself 3 times and 2 of the spots you go through a gate, make a turn whatever and came back through that same gate the oposite dirrection and then turn off, one guy turned off the wrong way and next thing you know he was driving full speed through the corse the wrong way AT the next car driving full speed at him. Some guy got lost and almost hit the starter worker It was a horrible layout to begin with but throw in not being able to got traction and it was down right dangerous.

It does add to the challenge but it also take away the fun, I don't auto cross to win, I'm not super into it I don't plan on going to national competitions etc.. I do it because its fun and you learn your car. regular pavement is helpful because thats how the car will act on roads. I don't really see car control on seal coated blacktop to be something I can apply in any logical real world situation. But this big thing I like the speed and g-forces, thats whats fun, acclererate as fast as you can off the line, you can slam the brakes and get sucked forward when there is a turn coming up you take your foot away from the clutch and wedge it into the dead pedal in an attempt to keep yourself from sliding out of the seat from turning so hard etc... thats the fun, the competition itself does nothing for me.

X2......blacktop=AIDS......no bueno

I was once in an accident because of the VERY SAME crap!!! Seal Coated Asphalt....... freshly laid (about a week old) and an early morning rain shower made it super slick. Pulled into the lot from a normal street, turned the wheel..... and the car scated straight into a parked van. I wasn't moving fast (15mph or so), and when I tried to apply the brakes, it only made it worse (granted the tires on said vehicle where crap). I even ended up with a 'wreckless driving' ticket from it all..... thanks to the good state of Illinios!!!

I'd stay clear of any Auto-X event setup on that crap!




SPD RCR Z - '02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT - '04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI - '78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap

Never raced on the stuff, but a shop I worked at in northern VA had the stuff the hole way round. It was fun to drift an old friend's SC300, but other than that, it was crap.


Caution: Redneck Posting

Well, Ive raced on some pretty slick surfaces, small pebbles everywhere that even with alot of sweeping couldnt be cleared, sealed asphalt, fesh asphalt that gets pealed up. I decide early that its going to be slick and make sure a go good and slow. They are some of my favorite events because you can really get sideways on them. I usually do well at them too beacuse everyone else is trying to go too fast!


As for not relating to the real world situations!! It is more real world than a dry stick course!! You should be no where near getting loose on dry pavement on a day to day basis. However, a slippery autox course simulates driving on a rainy or snowy day, its nice to know exactly what your car will do. So I say its much more real world relevent!!



Go Go OG Traction!!