Autocross Course Walking 101

Concentrating on a few key elements will help you be faster, says six-time champ Bartek Borowski.

The key to a successful autocross run starts well before a driver pulls his car up to the starting line. Anybody who’s been to at least one autocross knows that the course walk is important. Because the course changes with every event, it’s the only way to know where the course goes before you have to start putting down times.

The SCCA Solo Nationals take place next week at Lincoln, Neb., Airpark. Most of the competitors will log more course miles on foot than they will in the car, walking each of the two courses multiple times. As important as it is to familiarize oneself with the course, more critical is figuring out how to go fast on it. In other words, according to Bartek Borowski, it’s quality over quantity.

“The way I approach it is to do one or two walks to get a general feel, then do one concentrating on the marks you want to hit,” he says.

Borowski seems to know what he’s talking about. He’s won E Stock at the Solo Nationals in a Miata four years running, has six titles total and was also the 2012 E Stock champ in ProSolo. This year he’ll be competing in E Street R, what is essentially the old E Stock class on R-compound tires.

“I would start by breaking up the course into the big elements and try to identify the important ones – places where one can lose a lot of time,” he explains. “Slaloms, for example…generally speaking, they’ll be about the same. So what happens in the middle of the slalom, typically, is very similar. But it would be important to know how you’re getting into that slalom and getting out of that slalom. Is there anything to be gained or lost at either end of it?”