Love the pics. I agree that pics are better than video for this sort of thing. A camera in the right hands can really capture the moment and bring the scene to life by playing with angles and camera settings. Although the 360 would have been nice to see in a video!

 

I encourage you to read up on HD video, formats and encoding. True HD, runs 20Mb/s (MEGA BITS PER SECOND) or higher. Even re-encoded by the best H.264, maybe getting it down to 8Mb/s. But still too large for the web. You could always resample down, but you did say HD.

Have you seen any of the videos posted by people on forums?!? Maybe you're the type that is satisfied with the quality of the YouTube "experience".

 

for autoxing, i thought you are supposed to dodge the cones instead of running over them.. I've had my share of auto-xing (almost 4 yrs) then I discovered road racing....oh boy.. I am glad I did..

You should try HPDEs. It's totally a new different experience. Once you get a taste of it, you won't go back to autoxing.

 

I downloaded a bunch of WMV Videos from Microsoft. They run in 1080p24 and are only 120MB or so for 2-3 minute clips.

 

what is the stock class for the IS350?

I would love the hear the handling of the IS300 comparing to IS350 from someone who had owned and autoxed both.

 

The IS350 is in the same class as the IS300, and IS250, all in DS. The 2nd gen basically defaulted to DS as the SCCA still has not classed it. It falls in DS by the 1st gen being there.
I suspect they will leave it in DS, as the 3-series is there, even the ZHP competition package is there, and that was moved down from BS. Same with the G35, it stayed in DS, and i think the G coupe was also bumped down from BS.

As far as comparing the two, having auto-x'sed the 1st gen for three+ years. they are two different cars totally. The 1st gen, you could literally manhandle if necessary, and was a bit more forgiving, you could overcook a corner and typically come out fine with a bit of throttle steer. Also, it was lighter and narrower, which made it easier to handle thru the tight spaces.

With the 2nd gen, you overcook a corner, and you are done, it just plows, understeers like crazy.

In the tight hairpin I was able to compensate a bit with the throtle and got the tail to come around. Hence why i went for a spin in my last lap. I pushed really hard, I came out with way too much of an angle, and I did not let up. I had it for a sec as I straightened out, but right after the hairping there was a quick right-left combo, i was too loose thru it, and the tail came around coming out of the combo.
The weight really comes into play in these type of turns, and there is not enough rubber in the front.

Where the 2nd gen shines is when you are precise and smooth, it rewards you tremendously. It has higher levels of grip too, compared to the 1st gen.
And with the power advantage, it makes up time in any medium to high speed portion of the course. It just rockets off tight turns, and gains speed very rapidly.

When I first got the 2nd gen, I was not happy at all, I missed the nimbleness of the 1st gen. But after some time with the 2nd gen, do not miss it at all, and for sure, I am running quicker times with the 2nd gen.


Oooh, btw, have done a couple of track events, yeah they are great. Not many down here for one, and second, they are steep, running anywhere from 250-300 per event, whereas auto-x'ng is 30 bucks.

 

Nice photos! Mad skills.

 

Thanks for the write up and great picture btw I am surprised that those cars you'd mentioned are now in DS How can the IS250 compete with IS350 in the same class? Oh boy.. DS now has many cars that are in the 300hp+ The ITR used to dominate that class. I wonder where it is now.. heheh.. probably in the middle pack.

Both sports are fun. For my situation, since SCCA moved to a different site, I had to drive 2 hrs for autoxing. Before, it was just 20 min away which was really great. Driving 4 hrs (to and from) for 3-4 minutes of total track time per event was not worth it for me. Track events are more expensive but we normally get about 2 hrs of track time per event.

 

Thanks

Yeah, cannot beat the seat time in track events. And if you had to drive that long, for sure, auto-x is not worth it.
With my 1st gen, and before kids, I used to auto-x here in Miami, and go to the west coast of Florida, in Fort Myers to auto-x. The Fort Myers site is about an hour and half to two hours from my house.
Now with my decreased free time, I am down to the local events only.

 

Hey METRO!

Why dont you slap some Michellin PS/2's on there and see how your handling does. Soft and Sticky for me.

 

Thanks, hopefully by the time I need a new set, I would have bought some aftermarket wheels, leaving my stock rims sole for racing....and I'll slap some race rubber on them.

 

meteoro: I was wondering if you use the paddle shifter.... if so how are they during your auto-x events... care to comment?

 

Yes, use them all the time. I disable VDIM, set the tranny to ECT, and in manual mode.

Typically I use the first 3 gears, and mainly second. I hit third briefly typically, and then have to downshift to 2nd quickly.

The cool thing is that I can hold 1st gear in tight starts, whereas the old one would upshift.

As far as the position, they are great, very intuitive to use.