3/20 PCA Autocross

Last week I did my first motorsports event in my Alfa Romeo Giulia, doing an autocross "test and tune" with the Chesapeake chapter of the Porsche Club of America. It was fun playing around with the handling limits of the car, but it reminded me why I haven't done autocross in a few years.

My first thought out of the gate on my first run was how quick my car felt under acceleration. The course layout was fast and I got all the way up to third gear in some of the straights. I'm sure that's all down to gear ratios, but it was a pleasant surprise. I was also surprised how easy it was to play with the car when it was sliding around. There's no way to turn off the traction and stability control in the Alfa, so I was able to throw the car around without really having to worry about spinning out or getting too out of shape. However, the actual amount of grip prior to losing adhesion was much less than it was on my BMW, and the lightness of the steering made it very hard to feel where that limit was. The end result was that it was hard to carry very much speed through tight corners or the slalom section. Maybe the weight of the car and the lack of overall grip are normally hidden by peppy acceleration and a light steering feel, but finally fully reveal themselves on an autocross track.

As far as the course layout, I did like the fast sections and fast turns, but there were two very long wide turns that felt more like going on a roundabout on public roads than going through a track corner with any kind of apex. The course reminded me more of doing a car control clinic on a skid pad. Even beyond the day's specific track layout, the feeling of navigating through all these cones reminded me why I prefer driving on a real race track. There's just a fundamental difference between a track's edges and turns all being defined by walls or curbs or grass vs. a few cones on a wide open expanse of pavement with nothing but your imagination to decide where you should put your car.

My last autocross event prior to this one was in August of 2016 in my BMW. Shortly after that I took the BMW for an actual track day at Summit Point. One factor behind the gap in autocross events was the wear and tear on my daily driver, which was significant at the track day but is still non-zero even in an autocross event. A bigger part of the blame though was that driving on a real track is just so much better. The PCA autocross this week, while certainly fun, reminded me that the track is really where my heart lies. Hopefully there are more track days (in other people's cars) in my future.