anyone going to this event at the el toro base in irvine this coming weekend. I signed up and heard its a great experience. I just wanted to get your input and and advise as a first timer for this event. thanks!

 

I'm a member of PCA/OCR which is sponsoring the event. I would normally be instructing at it, but have a schedule conflict this weekend.


Be prepared to have a great time. You'll learn more about your car in a single day than you could imagine. Driving on the street you've never been exposed to even a small fraction of your car's true capabilities. You'll learn about under- and over-steer, threshold and ABS braking, and much more.


Advice: eat a light breakfast. Some of the exercises can upset your stomach (like the skidpad and figure 8), especially if you had a big breakfast. Bring a jacket, it's going to be chilly. Although there will be a lot of time in the car, there will also be a fair amount of time spent outside of it. Bring some bottles of water and snacks. It's a long day, and there usually isn't any food on site.


Most of all, bring an open mind and be prepared to try things you might not have ever contemplated before.


Oh. Your car will get DIRTY. And that's OK, because you'll have a great time getting there. There are the Porsche people who are fanatics about their clean cars. And then there are the Porsche performance people, who think that a clean car is a car that isn't having any fun! You and your car will have fun, I promise.


DMoore
'13 C2S
'13 Panamera GTS

 

DMoore,

thanks so much for the info. Im very excited and not even worried about it getting dirty. I want my porsche to have fun haha. would you recommend taking this course multiple times? Do you also recommend that if i plan to do the autoX event monthly or at least every other month, should i get a new set of wheels/tires, or do you think with that amount of driving hard, the stock setup should be sufficient for a while?

thanks again!

 

The course is only given once a year, so pretty hard to repeat it. However, the San Diego region of PCA has a similar program coming up - I think it's in March or April. You could do that as well, although I think it would be unnecessary.


If you want to have fun autocrossing, then just start coming out to the monthly events at El Toro. I've entered just about every event for the last four years. I run a totally stock 911 (although I've gotten a new one every couple of years) with stock wheels and tires. There is a whole lot of performance in the car - and I'm still learning how to use it all. Stock tires are all you will need for the foreseeable future. AX'ing doesn't wear out your tires and brakes all that quickly. If you start doing track events, however, then you will see rapid wear on tires and brakes. On my last car, a 997.2 GTS, in two years I went through 5 sets of tires, 2 sets of brake pads, and 1 set of brake rotors. But that was because I did a lot of track events. The car's performance was great, it just uses up tires and brakes. That's the price of having high speed fun in a car. AX speeds are significantly lower than track speeds, so much less wear and tear.


You're welcome! And if you start doing AX events, look for me. I'll be driving a bright yellow 991S - that looks just like your avatar.


DMoore
'13 C2S
'13 Panamera GTS

 

Is it open to other cars or just Porsche?
If interested, where would one sign up?

 

It is not limited to Porsches. Run what you brung!


The event is this Saturday, 2/8. It starts about 0700 at El Toro. Unfortunately, registration closed a few days ago. For AutoX events we accept some day-of-event walk-ins. I don't know if they'll accept walk-ins to this event or not. You could try emailing Donald Chapman of the PCAOCR AX Team <porschedon@mail.com> to see if you could still sneak in.


The website for the event is https://www.motorsportreg.com/index....4#.UvR6502YZ9B


DMoore
'13 C2S
'13 Panamera GTS

 

Thanks for the info.
The San Diego Event would work out better for me.
I'll look out for that one.

 

lunarx:


Go to PCA San Diego's website. It's at pcaocr.org. You can go through the site and find all the information about their event and how to sign up for it. They run a very good program. But we have a better facility. They use the parking lot at Qualcomm stadium in Mission Valley, while we have a former USMC air base at our disposal.


I'm joking, of course. Both programs are good and very informative. But once you do the program, start coming out to Autocross events. You can find our schedule at pcaocr.com. San Diego also has monthly events. You'll have a great time, meet some great people, and continue to improve the skills you'll start to learn at the introductory class.


DMoore
'13 C2S
'13 Panamera GTS

 

I attended this event at El Toro a few years back and it was an absolute blast. Ironically, it was also right after a big rain storm which not only made some of the events more fun (the skid pad where you learn to steer with the gas pedal only was a BLAST!!!) but your car gets FILTHY!!!!!

I intended to do it again this year but my godchild is the lead in a production of Shrek at the local high school and I can't miss that.

The only other things that I would note are:
1) the year I went there was a pizza lunch provided. It helped quite a bit to have some food in us for the mini autoX event that closes this day.
2) I believe that you can bring any brand of vehicle you want to the event but registration is limited to PCA members. This event, in and of itself, is worth joining the PCA if you haven't already. The time I went there were dads with kids learning safe driving techniques in this controlled environment and wives learning why their husbands get so fired up about how these cars drive. So you don't think I'm sexist, there was also a lady in a *****in' black and orange GT3RS who was not only tearing up the tarmac but had better technique than a lot of us guys.
3) You're going to want to empty your vehicle of all non-essential junk before you start the day. That includes floormats, sunglass cases, cellphones, etc. You don't want a mat getting stuck in the pedals or a water bottle flying around when you do the figure eight. Do yourself a favor and pull all that crap out of your car the night before to make storage, etc. easier on Saturday.

As DMoore said, come with an open mind, bring some layered clothing (it gets cold out on that tarmac) and be prepared to have a blast!

 

Da Hapa:

Glad you had a good time! Come on out and AX your car - we have an event at El Toro almost every month.

And, FYI, that fast lady in the GT3RS now has a 2014 Turbo S in her stable. She just keeps getting faster!

DMoore
'13 C2S
'13 Panamera GTS

 

im super excited about this event and want to run the autoX at el toro on a more frequent basis. this being my first drivers ed course and autoX , how many times do i need to attend future autox events with an instructor? also do you guys recommend a gopro mounted on the top of the 991? many thanks