- 2,232
- Ocho Rios
- Marcus__Garvey
Yeah, autoslolam, autocross, solo, whatever you call it; is mostly a social sport. With a lot of downtime for every minute of seat time you will meet a lot of people, and it is that aspect that draws a lot of the casual drivers.
Learning the course seems harder than it is. Take it in as sections, don't try to memorise each cone. In a clamshell there are only 2 cones that matter, same with a chicago box(aka 3 cone slolam), etc. The rest of the cones are just there to scare you. There are only so many elements that you can make out of a bunch of cones, so after a while you'll be able to relate sections you see to those you've driven in the past and apply the same techniques. Some elements even look like turns on a real track. When you walk, walk where you would be sitting in your car. Don't walk two feet left of a cone, because in the car you're going to be 5-6 feet off of it; that type of thing.
As with any novice on a track; the goal is to get a clean run in and build upon it. Speed will come with time. I'll try to wrap this up, but here's a bit of an advice dump. Turn your head on course. In the car, especially on a parking lot course, you may find yourself looking out the side windows a lot, or even over your shoulder in a tight turnaround. Turn the head far, look where you want the car to be. In a slolam look at the final cone, or at least 3 cones ahead if it is a long one. The slower speed the turn the more important it is to take the tighter line. The tight line is almost always the fastest, and as the day carries on you will find a lot of marbles offline anyway. Solo is a game of speed vs distance. Each turn you are deciding exactly how much speed to sacrifice to cut the distance. Shuffle steer. Try to not be replacing your hands on the wheel, or risk finding yourself crossed up. Leave the car in 2nd once you get there. Oh, and with a big rear bar you may experience some snap oversteer as you lift the inside rear tyre, so; be ready for that. Just go to maintenance throttle(mid-throttle) if that happens and it'll settle down in a moment.
If you see anyone emptying their washer or overflow bottle, do laugh.
Edit: oh yeah, brakes are for transferring weight, not slowing down. That too.
Learning the course seems harder than it is. Take it in as sections, don't try to memorise each cone. In a clamshell there are only 2 cones that matter, same with a chicago box(aka 3 cone slolam), etc. The rest of the cones are just there to scare you. There are only so many elements that you can make out of a bunch of cones, so after a while you'll be able to relate sections you see to those you've driven in the past and apply the same techniques. Some elements even look like turns on a real track. When you walk, walk where you would be sitting in your car. Don't walk two feet left of a cone, because in the car you're going to be 5-6 feet off of it; that type of thing.
As with any novice on a track; the goal is to get a clean run in and build upon it. Speed will come with time. I'll try to wrap this up, but here's a bit of an advice dump. Turn your head on course. In the car, especially on a parking lot course, you may find yourself looking out the side windows a lot, or even over your shoulder in a tight turnaround. Turn the head far, look where you want the car to be. In a slolam look at the final cone, or at least 3 cones ahead if it is a long one. The slower speed the turn the more important it is to take the tighter line. The tight line is almost always the fastest, and as the day carries on you will find a lot of marbles offline anyway. Solo is a game of speed vs distance. Each turn you are deciding exactly how much speed to sacrifice to cut the distance. Shuffle steer. Try to not be replacing your hands on the wheel, or risk finding yourself crossed up. Leave the car in 2nd once you get there. Oh, and with a big rear bar you may experience some snap oversteer as you lift the inside rear tyre, so; be ready for that. Just go to maintenance throttle(mid-throttle) if that happens and it'll settle down in a moment.
If you see anyone emptying their washer or overflow bottle, do laugh.
Edit: oh yeah, brakes are for transferring weight, not slowing down. That too.
