Pontiac G8 Forum banner

My first try at autocross with the G8

3K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  Deja-Bu 
#1 ·
These runs are sooo sloppy, but it was my first time in a car this size haha. I used to autocross my stock Cavalier LS Sport Coupe all the time and did pretty good. (Just so nobody thinks I'm a horrible driver lol.) At the end of the day, this run got me second in class somehow.

This is at Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT with CARTCT. Car was totally stock at this point. GoPro Hero2 camera was used.



I actually didn't touch a single cone, even at the end! Definitely hoping for better runs next year.

 
See less See more
1 1
#3 ·
Wow that's an awesome autocross course! Would love to have something like that! Nice run with a little drift towards the end.
 
#4 ·
Screw the autocross, you have a bad ass malibu. Reminds me of my old 79 prostreet malibu. My next drag car will be malibu or malibu wagon. Hopefully the latter. I've been thinking about selling my g8 and getting started on a wagon with twin turbos and lsx motor. Man thats a long fast course compared to the ones I've run. Congrats on your first time out
 
#5 ·
Haha thanks guys! Definitely was a fun course, I love the elevation changes and the long straights. The car definitely doesn't like the technical stuff as much, but more than made up for it in the straights.
(Also I believe the drift at the end was the only reason that this video made it online as opposed to the others lol.)


Thanks a lot! The malibu is my hobby car for sure, not that I like calling the G8 my daily, but its definitely the more practical of the two. I'll have to post a little thread on here about the malibu.

That car has a 496 big block, 10.5:1, solid roller cam, procomp aluminum heads, TH400 and a ford 9" with a mini spool. Whooole lot of fun in a straight line. My dad and I built it as a father-son project while I was in high school and college.

But I have ALWAYS wanted a wagon, doesn't get much cooler than that with the front tires in the air. As far as that twin turbo LSX build, my dad and brother are building a twin turbo LQ4 monte carlo ss, they have a build thread going on yellowbullet.
 
#6 ·
I'm interested in running some of these. Did you run the transmission in manual mode or Sport? Do you get more than one run? Like a practice run and then a timed run? Was this an SCCA event?
 
#7 ·
This actually wasn't an SCCA event, CARTCT is the local sanctioning body for autocross. I would have had to travel a bit farther to run an SCCA event. I don't think there's any real difference.

I know that $35 got me 5 timed runs, each at just over 70 seconds long. The first time out you will be in a novice class, and an instructor will ride with you on the first run. After that you're free to go on your own. After the 5 runs, all of the times are compiled so awards can be given, but we get to do "fun runs" for $2 per run. Where we get to take any passenger we want and compare cars / try to scare them lol.

I ran it in sport mode. I was still not used to the shifting delay in manual mode because the car was still brand new to me. If I were to go next year, I'd definitely be in manual mode because it felt like the car was always between gears.
 
#8 ·
Most SCCA events aren't that open and flowing designed to keep speeds below normal highway speeds, if it had been a SCCA event I would have been a bit jealous. Looks like a good course and a lot of fun.
It looks like you will have to get used to looking farther ahead, bigger cars require you to anticipate where you need to be and are less forgiving if you don't.
 
#9 ·
I've been in some incredibly fast, sweeping SCCA autocrosses, but it depends more on the available lot than anything else. A postage-stamp site like what's available in Phoenix makes for very tight courses with practically nothing in the way of straights. Stadium lots like we had available for a time in Kansas City allowed for much more open, flowing courses and even some straigtaways, and "freeway speeds" at SCCA events was understood to be a strong suggestion, not a hard speed limit. I saw 70 mph fairly regularly in a street car. Very narrow sites or airport runways like the site in the video allow for little other than slalom, slalom, slalom, turn around, slalom, slalom, slalom, turn right, slalom, slalom, etc. Again, more dependent on the site than the club.
 
#10 ·
Right, Thompson speedway doesnt really lend itself to being all that technical. This is far from the fastest course they've done here too. I had my cavalier up to 70 on one of them.

There has been rumors of them putting in an "autocross pad" ... I am directly against this idea.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the answers. I am looking into this and hope to run a few of these in the Indy area.
 
#13 ·
It really is worth it. I'm always worried about beating on either of my cars too hard, and the good thing about autocross is that you can go as hard as you want. There is always someone faster and always someone slower. Its more fun just to watch how you can better yourself as a driver.

(Anytime I see a cone in a parking lot now, I pretty much attack it lol.)
 
#16 ·
Hey!

Just registered and wanted to try Autocross this year w/ CART. Im in E/NE CT also, I see a red GT ON i384 once in a while..... There is also a white one floating around S Windsor area. If you see a Stryker Blue G8 east of the river its probably me..:driving:
 
#17 ·
Okay, nice! I'll keep an eye out! And I'm hoping to be a cartct regular this season for the Thompson events anyway. Sounds like there may be full-on track days at the new road course that's going in as well...

(And its a solid chance that I'm the red one on 384 lol, I'm always in the uconn area.)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top