How Autocrosser turned road racer prepares for road racing

Julian Garfield has had a year of firsts. He just completed his first year in college and is the first Mazda Solo Advancement Scholarship recipient. With the SCCA June Sprints this weekend, Mazda Motorsports turned to Julian to learn how he was preparing for the event, and how that compares to his preparation in autocross.

Ever since the successful practice weekend at Blackhawk Farms, I have been very excited to make my SCCA Majors debut at Road America. It has been nearly four years since I've been on the track in a session exclusive to Miatas, so you can imagine my excitement to see a class of 58 registered for this weekend's event. The Hoosier Super Tour at Road America will be my most significant road racing event to date, so of course I wanted to make sure I am properly prepared for the weekend. And unlike the SCCA Solo events that I am most experienced with, I actually get the chance to prepare.

When preparing yourself for an Autocross, there is much left to be desired. Since each Autocross course is unique, there is not a specific way to prepare for the course you are going to encounter. Although most of the competitors attending already know that an Autocross course always consists of slaloms and sweepers of all shapes and sizes, there is no way to know what it’ll look like until you get there. Part of the skill to Autocrossing is preparing yourself to be unprepared, and learning as much as you can from the instant you set foot on the pavement. The first turn you make on course is a part of the competition.

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