# Evolution Phase 1 Auto-x School… my impressions



## Andy (Jul 16, 2003)

I had the opportunity to attend the Evolution Phase 1 & 2 Autocross School this weekend, in Cincinnati and wanted to post my impressions of the Phase 1 school (I'll post my impressions of Phase 2 later).

I guess I should first give a quick background of my experience. I got into autocross toward the end of last year. I participated in the last four events of OVR's 2003 season. I raced my stock, 2003 BMW 330i (Performance Package) in B Stock, street tires and all. Participating in the first event was enough to hook me into this sport, hook line and sinker. I didn't do too bad starting out, finishing in the upper half of my class, heck I even trophied a couple of times. Over the winter I decided to put a little money into the car to help the performance... DA Koni shocks & struts, larger front sway bar and four Kumho Ecsta V700s... just enough to still keep me in the stock class. However, I knew that in order to improve my times on the course, I need to improve my driving skills, and that is when I looked into the Evolution Phase 1 & 2 driving school.

We had several instructors there for our class, but the two that I worked with directly were Danny Popp and Darrin Dismo. These two guys were fantastic, knowledgeable, helpful, easy to talk to, and were there for one reason... to help make me a better driver.

The course was setup with 5 segments through out the course (see attachment below). Timing lights were setup at the entrance and exit of each segment to time you not only on how fast you drive the course, but also how fast you were in each segment. I walked the course about 4 or 5 times. The first thing I noticed is that the course was very tight, a lot tighter then the courses I have raced on in the past. This course was designed to contain just about all the sections that you would encounter in a regular course: slalom, tight right-hander, tight left-hander, sweeper, "Chicago" Box and 90 degree left & right-handers.

The day was split up into 5 segments:

1. In the first segment, you start off with three runs by yourself, one right after the other. These three runs are to get a base line of where you are at the start of the day.

2. In the second segment, you get a total of 10 runs, one right after the other. On the first run, the instructor is in the passenger's seat watching you, your hands, feet, eyes, head movement, etc. On the second run, the instructor is in the passenger's seat, but is now watching your line around the course. The next two runs are made by the instructor. The instructor now drives your car, while you sit in the passenger's seat. You then get three more runs with the instructor in the passenger's seat. After those runs, the instructor gets out of the car and watches you from outside of the car while you make three more runs. After every run, the instructor sits with you for a few minutes in the car giving you feedback about your run.

3. In the third segment, you break for a "working" lunch. You take about a 30 minute lunch (provided by the school) and you receive a print out of your times for all the runs you've made so far. The instructor goes around the room asking people to share about what they've learned. This is where you get to learn from others and really talk through some of the key points. After lunch, the instructor gets behind the wheel with three other students in the car (everyone gets a turn). The instructor drives around the course slowly. This is where they really focus on looking ahead. At every section in the course, the instructor stops the car and points to the cones that you should be looking at.

4. The fourth segment is identical to the second segment. The only difference, is now you are with a different instructor, which is very helpful because every instructor will have a slightly different style and is able to point out things that maybe the other instructor didn't.

5. The fifth segment is just like the first segment. You get three more runs by yourself, however this is where you put into practice everything that you've learned that day. At the end of the day you receive a print out of your times for all of the runs. The instructor goes around the room once again asking people to share about what they've learned that day.

I knew I would learn quite a bit from this school, but I must say, I have gotten 10 times more out of this course then I even imagined. The highlight for me, was sitting in the passenger's seat while the instructor drove my car. It was completely amazing seeing (and feeling) how well my car could get around the course with these guys behind the wheel. That alone was priceless!!

Here are just a few of the things that I learned in Phase 1:

Seating Position
The first time Danny got in the car with me he said, "Put your arms straight out and lay your hands across the top of the steering wheel". So I did and my hands laid on the wheel just slightly past my wrists toward my palms. He told me to push the seat forward until my wrists laid across the wheel. So I did. I'm a pretty tall guy (about 6'-2") and knees felt a little cramped under the wheel, but not too bad. I was slightly closer to the wheel and after a few runs I did feel a little better about my new seating position.

My Left Foot
I never realized that I did this, but after a few runs Danny pointed out that I would hover my left foot over the clutch and move it back and forth during the entire run (even though I stayed in second the entire time). Danny said, "You've got a nice, big, dead pedal over there. Once you shift from 1st to 2nd, plant that left foot on to the dead pedal and never lift it"! It may seem like something small, but once I did it, it made me feel more smooth and confident during my runs and also helped to keep me planted in that seat.

The Slalom
On the slalom section I would tend to get behind in my steering a bit and was jerking the wheel back and forth quite rapidly just to keep up. Danny showed me how to turn in a bit sooner and to place the car behind each cone in the slalom which helped me to attack and accelerate through the slalom instead of just reacting to each cone one at a time. This also allowed me to be more smooth with my steering input, which ultimately helps with the transition between the cones.

Tight, Slow Sections (The 270 degree circle turn)
In the beginning I was constantly over cooking the 270 circle turn, which caused the car to understeer like crazy. When Danny drove my car, I found he would brake harder before entering the turn and would almost coast around it in order to stay tight to the cones around the entire turn. I learned (once again) that slow sections need to be taken slowly in order to be fast. Like Darrin said&#8230; Slow sections are meant to penalize the overly aggressive driver. Once I found the correct way to take the 270 circle turn, understeer was no longer an issue.

Push The Wheel, Don't Pull It
Danny noticed that when ever I needed to make a turn that required a re-grip of the steering wheel (any turn that requires more then 180 degree turn of the wheel), that I would re-grip at the top of the wheel and use that hand to pull the wheel down. He told me, that in order to have smooth steering input, the steering wheel needs to be pushed up, not pulled down. He told me, instead of re-griping at the top of the wheel, use the other hand and slide it down toward the bottom of the wheel to re-grip, then use that hand to push the steering wheel upward. This may seem like a very trivial thing&#8230; push, pull what difference could that make? Well, this was by far one of the best things I've learned, but oddly enough one of the hardest things to implement. The few times that I remembered to do this, the turn seemed, smooth, fast and effortless. The problem is, is that pulling the wheel is such a habit, that it takes a lot of concentration to remember to do this. I'm sure with practice, this will come more naturally.

If you've never taken the Evolution Phase 1 course before, I would highly recommend it. It's absolutely worth every penny!! Click here for more information on the Evolution Schools.

Andy Basham
#33 OVR B Stock
2003 BMW 330i Performance Package

*The Course:*









*My Times:*


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

From 37.0 down to 35.6, solid. You've got to be happy with that!


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## racerdave (Sep 15, 2003)

:thumbup:

Good stuff. 

An Emerson Fittipaldi quote went something like this: "The biggest mistakes made by amateur drivers are going too fast in the slow sections and too slow in the fast ones."

As for the push/pull portion, another great always said to pull: Jackie Stewart.

Bottom line, take it all in (like you have) and work on implementing as much as you can. Further down the line, you'll establish your own style. But sounds like you're on the right track! And your times were reflecting that you were practicing what they preached. :thumbup:


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

racerdave said:


> :thumbup:
> 
> Good stuff.
> 
> ...


Good quotes.

Several road races schools also say pull, not push.

But AutoX is different.

But it is all likes a big tool box. The more tools you have, the more likely you will have the right one when you need it.


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## Randy Forbes (Apr 1, 2002)

Hi Andy,

I'm late to the party again...

Glad you enjoyed the Evo school. The best part is once you've done the school you continue to develop what they taught you.

In your everyday driving you can look ahead (just keep an eye on the guy right in front of you as you watch the road 3 or 4 cars past him). You can pick the shortest distance around a corner. Naturally, you're doing all this at a slower pace, but it gives you the time to coach your way through to develop technique.


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## Andy (Jul 16, 2003)

Randy Forbes said:


> In your everyday driving you can look ahead (just keep an eye on the guy right in front of you as you watch the road 3 or 4 cars past him). You can pick the shortest distance around a corner. Naturally, you're doing all this at a slower pace, but it gives you the time to coach your way through to develop technique.


Funny you should mention that. 

In my everyday driving I have been practicing as much as I can by looking further ahead, which I have found to be quite useful and a lot safer. I have also been trying to push the steering wheel around corners instead of pulling it.

Thanks Randy for giving me the heads up about the school!!


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

Actually looking ahead, and HOW to look ahead is why we are so big on teh Roos Racing 2 day Precision Highway Course.

http://www.racenow.com/b05c_precision.htm

They teach not only where to look, but also how to look, where your eyes can go from one focus to the next. And prove to you that the car goes where you look. And that if you do it right, you will not run into anything close by as you look farther ahead.

They don't do it any longer, but when we took the course the first time, you actually did a slalom with your eyes focused on the tops of the trees far ahead. To show that you don't need to look at the cones.

Also VERY important in accident avoidance. If you are loooking 3 cars ahead, you can put your brakes on before the car in front of you does, allowing less braking, and giving the guy behind you (who is looking at your bumper) some advance warning so he doesn't run into your rear end.


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## TeamM3 (Dec 24, 2002)

gee, back when I attended in early 1996 the push/pull thing had nothing to do with the steering wheel 

they told me to *pull* my head out of my azz and *push* my driving skills to the limits :dunno:

still haven't quite mastered the *pull* part yet 

:angel: :bigpimp:


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

TeamZ4 said:


> still haven't quite mastered the *pull* part yet
> 
> :angel: :bigpimp:


We've noticed.


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## BahnBaum (Feb 25, 2004)

Pinecone said:


> Actually looking ahead, and HOW to look ahead is why we are so big on teh Roos Racing 2 day Precision Highway Course.
> 
> http://www.racenow.com/b05c_precision.htm
> 
> ...


Not to jack the thread, but the Smith System has been used as a Tractor Trailer Driver training tool for years (I believe almost 50). It relies on a system of driving ahead of your vehicle (easy when you're up so high), constant eye movement/scanning, and systematic planning for surprise events.

Alex


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## TeamM3 (Dec 24, 2002)

Pinecone said:


> We've noticed.


is the glass half full or half empty? :dunno: :eeps:


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

BahnBaum said:


> Not to jack the thread, but the Smith System has been used as a Tractor Trailer Driver training tool for years (I believe almost 50). It relies on a system of driving ahead of your vehicle (easy when you're up so high), constant eye movement/scanning, and systematic planning for surprise events.
> 
> Alex


But Ross teaches it in the context of high performance driving and cornering, not just keeping abreast of what is going on around you.

And many of the techniques they teach allow you to look around more, safely to keep an eye on the idiots out there.


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## Akakubi (Dec 21, 2001)

There are a lot of good racing techniques books out there available. I particularly like Bentley's Speed Secrets. But all authors in general come to exact same conclusions how to be fast. 

Anyhow, one of them was to study the course and identify the most important sections, i.e the corners leading to the longest straights. And setup your driving line and car primarily to suit those sections, even if it means marginally sacrificing performace in the other "slow" sections. It doesn't matter if it's a race track or AutoX field, the principles are the same. Slow in, fast out. That's why your instructor was very slow through the 270° corner so that he could hammer down the throttle as early as possible to gain speed on that straight. I bet he also took the apex way late or even made it into a double apex. :dunno: 

There are many more tricks that you can read up (early entry vs late entry, etc), all really start to make sense after you drive trying to apply them. 

And with more seat time, you'll be winning a lot soon.  Mods are not as important as one may think. Last year a Stock class Miata had a faster time than a CSP one in the SCCA.... Most of it is in the driver. :bigpimp:


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