[tnoice]

Here is what I have learned from the many autocrosses I have done.
1) slower is faster. Chances are you are completely over driving the car. Your grip is limited by the little contact patch where your tire touches the ground. If you are braking hard and attempting to turn at the same time, you are over extending that contact patch. Working on smoothness and obtaining the speed you want to go through the turn at.

2) typically stay in one gear during an autocross. If you go into a turn, you might catch yourself pushing the clutch in and switch gears. It places undo stress on the clutch and slows you way down because you are shifting too much. Most courses I do, I get into second and stay there. Second is a perfect gear....it is really tall.

3) smoothness...smoothness...smoothness. The more you jerk the car around, you can upset the balance.

4). Depending on surface, most of the time my tire pressure is set at 34 in the rear and 30-32 in the front. Make sure you do not wear below the triangles on the side of the tire. You can ruin a set of good tires by destroying the sidewall.

I will leave it at that right now. You will really enjoy autocrossing and it will make you a much better driver on the road. You will truely learn the outer dynamics of your car at the limits. I think my autocrossing experience actually saved my families life last year when a car crossed into our lane on a winding road in the Appalachian mountains coming home from a cruise. it was by far the scariest moment I have been through in a long time.

Happy autocrossing.