How do you get better at Autocross?

This is often a question that people will ask when they first start autocrossing, or in my case, when they resume autocrossing after two years of not competing. Additional questions about autocross include: How do I get better? Do I really suck this bad? Why am I so slow? How do I get faster?

The way you get better at Autocross is by doing it more. I don’t mean by going slower when you are on course so you get more time at each event. The key to getting better is to do it more! Go to more events, run as many as you can afford to enter and are willing to drive to. If you aren’t fortunate enough to live in an area that has a large number of events, I recommend trying to find events outside of your area. They will likely require more time and money commitments, getting to and from the events, but it really is all about the Seat Time!

I am in that boat, I haven’t autocrossed competitively in over 2 years, since I sold the Corvette (https://www.autocrossblog.com/), due to a couple of moves across the country, buying (and selling) our first house, and prepping to have our first child (www.jacquelinehammond.com).

You can also attend autocross schools, I’ve been to those put on by https://evoschool.com/ multiple times, and highly recommend it as an option, though I think you should have a year or so of autocross under your belt before you attend one. Also check your local area for autocross schools put on by clubs, they are a great way to get started, and actually that was how I got into autocross back in 2000, by attending a local autox school in St. Louis.

So how do I plan to get better at autocross? By going to as many events as my budget, life, and wife will let me go to! I’m fortunate that I live in the Bay Area (SF, CA) as there are events here almost every weekend, and in a lot of weekends multiple events going on.