Hi Im looking for some advice on whether it is possible to really autocross my Civic Hatch EXL CVT, as I was not able to convince my parents on the idea of a manual car. Id just like to know if anybody has any advice on what modifications I should focus on and whether I would be able to compete with my Civic. I assume a cvt cooler and a stickier tires would be needed but anything else? Thanks.
Don't do anything until you determine if you like autoX. The only thing to upgrade on your car for the first few events is the driver experience. The car is WAY better than the driver is and will be for a long time. yes 200TW tires will be helpful.
I drove a Coupe CVT at an event a few years ago. It was fine. One fun thing to do is learn to brake using your left foot. It is a lot easier to learn this without having to deal with a clutch. Eventually you can use left-foot-trail-braking to help turn (rotate) the car. Myself, I would learn with the car as-is - well, add a couple psi to the tires. Good luck!
CVT is fine. SEAT TIME, SEAT TIME, SEAT TIME.. Work on the driver, leave the car alone. There is so much to learn and work on as a driver that the car almost doesn't matter. And when you think you are good, have a "great" driver humble you by beating you in your own car .. Then repeat item 1 - Seat time!
I'll second the "don't buy a thing" sentiment. The car will be plenty fine. Goal #1 is to have fun. There's very little money in AX, so we do this for fun first, and most importantly. Always. Goal #2 is to improve the driver. The challenge of learning a skill in 40 second increments is addictive. Driver Mod is a difficult one, but has the bonus of automatically installing into every car you ever drive again for the rest of your life. It's easy to be focused on the time on the clock, when that's mostly irrelevant. The real cocaine-grade addictive buzz is coming off from a run with your hands shaking, breathing hard, and not believing you made a car do that. Eventually you may outgrow the tires or even your car. If you attend enough events and talk to enough people, you'll know when that is and what to do next. Of course we want you to grow into the person with a purpose built AX car on a trailer that volunteers to chair / run events, but showing up to a few events per year in a DD just for fun is completely acceptable too. Meet people, talk to people, ask for help, go for rides, have people ride with you. As silly as it sounds, the sport is very social, so building bonds with people in your area is very important to your overall enjoyment.
Lots of great advice already. The only thing I will say is that if you are serious about being competitive, you likely want to keep the car in the stock class for a long time. Once you start adding a tuner and other mods, you'll end up in classes that you probably are not ready for yet. Get out there and have some fun!
Having spent a few grand on mods that bumped my EP3 from Stock to STX, a big +100 on this. Getting good times was more my responsibility as a driver. (although the top drivers in Stock classes aren't exactly driving "stock" cars either...) What helped me the most quickly was attending auto-x school sessions. Not the brakes, not the suspension, not the tires. You'll get three or four seasons' worth of SEAT TIME in a day. Learned enough that I began beating other less-experienced drivers who had better cars.
Speaking of those AutoX school sessions where would I go online to look into them, I’ve got the Hatvhabck CVT myself and have been wanting to participate in some AutoX events to see if it worth getting into or just get some better driver knowledge and skills if anything
Our local region does sessions once or twice a year. I was also able to assist with a one-on-one session with the chief instructor -- another guy hired them for the day, and when I wasn't chasing cones, I got some instruction time, too. I also attended a couple Evolution schools when they came through. Got a lot of seat time with them. http://evoschool.com
