I spent a lot of time yesterday looking over my in car vids analyzing all those little things I never have a chance to think about during my runs.

The one thing I learned that really suprised me is that I did almost all my driving with only one hand on the wheel. I would sometimes use two hands in the slalom right before the hairpin and then to make the sharp turn in the hairpin but nearly everywhere else I had my left hand on the top of the wheel and my right on the shifter.

My wheel control was still pretty good with one hand on the shifter and one on the wheel (and that is not a bad combination to master), but after looking at the video I am going to try to force myself to use both hands for better steering control when I don't need to shift.

I am also switching to a 14.5 inch Momo steering wheel since the guy that owned the car before me put a tiny little 12.5 inch Momo in the car. This has not been very beneficial to my auto-xing since it brings the wheel very close to the column controlls and the dash and increases the force I need to use to control the car. With a 3 turn lock to lock, manual steering rack I need all the steering wheel torque I can get.

The only other thing I could see that might have penalizing my runs is how slow the car launches due to its tall gears. I could see how the runs were pretty similar but much of the time I made up was done by launching better at the starting point. This certainly motivates me to get a new set of gears installed ASAP.

My advice to any auto-xer that can pull it off is to set up an in car camera with a good view of the road ahead and your steering wheel (between the seats in the rear passenger or storage area is the best bet). Though I felt like crap and had a very average set of runs at the auto-x, I have gone away from this event with a lot of infomation that will allow me to improve my driving the next time around.