The Cone Geek

During my last event, I noticed from the data, that the braking was lower than I would have expected. The Monday after the event, I experienced that dreaded moment when the car just didn’t stop as quickly as it should have. I had trouble stopping at the gate to wait for it to open, and I immediately knew something was wrong. Diagnosis? Bad brake rotors. A somewhat forced upgrade, but sometimes that’s the push you need to make improvements. Why Upgrade? Stock brakes are usually sufficient for typical autocross events. The runs are short, and the speeds aren’t too high, so brake fade or overheating rarely becomes an issue. But, since I needed to replace the rotors anyway, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to upgrade the system with something that would also perform well on occasional track days. I’ve been eyeing one of the upcoming Track Nights in America at Daytona Speedway , and I want to be ready when the time comes. Unless your car was designed with the track in mind, which I ...

 On September 22 2024, I had my first parking lot autocross, and it was a great experience. I was a little nervous coming into it because I had never driven a cones-only autocross, and this added a new layer of complexity. Racing on a kart track like Daytona allows you to memorize the corners and the racing line by navigating inside the tarmac. Cones have infinite lines. Since all of my racing experience has been in actual tracks, this was completely new. It was a lot more demanding than expected, but luckily I made it through. Tracking cones is a lot more demanding than I expected, and at least for now, my brain isn’t fast enough for me to think about the line and also look at other sources of feedback, but I am sure as I get more experienced I will get better at this. This race was the debut of the ApexPro data system. I would love to say that it was a spotless debut, but it wasn’t. I had a lot of trouble getting the video and the data to work at the same time. This meant that I ...

  In the competitive world of autocross, finding speed isn’t just about raw power—it's about precision and data-driven decision-making. The real secret to becoming faster lies in understanding the subtleties of your driving and the dynamics of your car. As I dive deeper into autocross, I’ve realized that the most crucial investment I can make isn’t in the car itself but in improving the driver—me. By leveraging data, I can fine-tune my performance and make every run count. The Power of Data When you break down a lap, there are several key data channels that can help you understand where you're gaining or losing time. Here’s a closer look at the main channels I focus on and why they matter: Speed: This is the most straightforward metric—how fast you're going at any given point on the track. But speed alone doesn’t tell the whole story. What’s important is understanding where you’re carrying speed and where you’re losing it. Speed data helps you evaluate your braking points a...

 After trying autocross, I was back. Now, I needed to get better. For this event, I had two goals; the first one was to improve my driving. I wanted to get a video of my hands during a run. I don’t have data to track my steering angle, so this is the next best thing. I invited a passenger to run with me and record me while I drove. The second one was to start trying to understand the tires. For this, I bought a tire pressure gauge and a temperature sensor. Racing sensors were too expensive, so I got a generic one off of Amazon. This one has a probe that you can pinch the tire with, as well as an IR measurement tool. In this event, I used the IR. I also made a change in my driving; by looking at the speeds from the previous event, I realized that through the whole track, I was within the powerband for second gear, so after launching, I shifted into second and completed the runs in second. I am now having doubts about that strategy (based on my Optimum Lap simulations that show tha...