Wrong and wrong.
This is the point at which the contact patch is just barely sliding a little. It's not sliding much, so you still have control. This represents maximum traction for most tires and is the reason Bob Bondurant says "a squealing tire is a happy tire."
And many cars drop the AC clutch solenoid at WOT (so it won't really do anything when you want to go fast). And even if the car doesn't, you wont lose 10% of your power, and peak power doesn't matter in a real curve anyway.

 

A street tire should be making noise. I've found that some novices go slower than they need to, and some who think they should be on the gas at all times. I suggest working your way up to 10/10ths, not trying to push it from the get go. Get an instructor to ride with you, and then on each subsequent run, push it where the instructor told you you could go faster.

Do you have a Honda? Turn the A/C on in a Honda and it's like you're pulling a tractor. I think the A/C idea is a good one, and have used it when I was first getting used to racing in the rain.

 

i'm sure bob wasn't referring to street tires or even r compounds. race slicks are different.

also if your tires are sliding then you have less control. the advice however probably holds true for seasoned autoxers. however, we are talking about a beginner where squeeling tires = wayyy over driving the car which results in very slow times.

also the AC advice still stands. why? because in an autox rarely are you at full throttle for more than a second or two. Even in a relatively long course you wont be full throttle for more than say 3-4 seconds and that would be a very long straight.

 

"you gotta spin to win" Dont worry. My first time out a few years ago, I spun my car and almost backed over the timing gates. You'll find your times are better if you just take it easy and think out all your movements ahead of time than if you just go wild.

And as for the screeching tires... I dunno about you guys, but every driver I've ever seen abusing his tires (making a lot of noise) has gotten chit times. I dunno what kind of tires are *supposed* to be squealing, but in my experience, a screeching tire is a sliding tire.

 

Abusing tires and making noise are two different things. Have any good Subie driver's in your area? The fast ones make a ton of noise.
A screeching tire is a sliding tire. Load any tire in a turn and it'll be a sliding one. Tire slide and tire deformation result in slip angle, so any tire with a slip angle has some degree of slide. What's important though is not to think of tire noise as an indicator of the limit of adhesion.

 

I can agree with that... Obviously lap times and wear/heat patterns tell you more about how a tire is being effectively (or ineffectively used). We actually have plenty of subaru's here in RMD. The 2.5 RS is the second most common cars at our events (behind miatas). The best ones here don't make noise that probably has something to do with tire choice. But really, unless we're all on the same page (talking about the same tire) it really is pointless to discuss. Some tires are beyond they're limits when making a lot of noise, others are not. My roommate's azenis, for instance, hardly make any noise at all, and we can tell from his temp readings and shoe-polish that he is using them pretty much to their fullest. My kumholios, however make a lot of noise, but the bulk of that noise is made when I've pushed them too far. My old kumholio R tires never made a peep.

 

My tires make plenty of noise before before losing traction, and most others that I've owned do the same. The Firehawk SZ50/EP's I had were the exception, though. They would barely make noise no matter what I did (even if I went WAY over the limit), but I could feel when I was actually approaching the limit so it didn't matter.
Maybe I just don't understand what you are saying.... if you aren't using full throttle (and are therefore making some amount of power substantially below full engine output), why would it matter if you have accessories running or not, considering you could just push the gas a little more and get the same part-throttle engine output as you could without AC running?

 

the whole point of the A/C thing is just to make you forget about the gas and focus more on your line. It has less to do with power output (obviously, more power is better, all other factors being equal) and more to do with the psychological affects of driving a pokey car.

Regardless of the reasoning, its proven to work on nooby racers and more experienced guys trying to get a little better. I think rick is commenting on the relative scarcity of WOT opportunities just to demonstrate the importance of precise driving... just to show that power really isn't important.

keys to a good time (in order of importance):
1. driver
2. tires
3. driver
4. suspension/allignment
5. driver
6. power

 

I've never tried the A/C thing myself or recommended it, but I have told a few novice drivers after riding with them - "you know, if you don't try so hard to go fast, you will go faster."

My laundry list of first-time autocrosser advice is here -

http://accordinglydone.com/forum/sho...&threadid=4170

- it's the 6th reply on the 1st page.

 

Listen to this guy!!! I've spent a lot of time watching Hsun win STS while my car was broken down h: In fact my little list was something this guy posted for me on another board when I did really bad after switching to STS from HS.