Ok. So those who have never driven an autocross - or driven one with a v-8, whether a 'vette or Pony car, or a Griffith...
Kegan has driven at Moparty, so he can offer more insight on this particular event.
In my experience, with a 4 spd the right pedal should never be a switch, and very rarely if at all will you get to floor it and make good use of it. Sometimes maybe a 1/2 second or so. With an automatic, there is a little more built-in cushion accelerating and maybe with engine braking but if so its not enough to prevent upsetting the car. My car has 3.23 gears and shorter tires. Even on a tight course that never exceeds 60 mph I find it very difficult to take advantage of leaving it 1st gear. Maybe a better driver, with a better seat could, but that's my experience.
That's very interesting.
Missing a cone and getting a DNF is major disappointment.
When I had opportunities to influence course design (event chair, program chair, etc) my goal was no DNFs for anyone. Getting lost isn't fun and it is discouraging to have repeated incompletes.
Regardless - Knowing that -
@Tuesday can be alert to the possibility of a hard to see cone.
What I was talking about was understanding how a 'gate type' cone course differs visually from a 'road type' cone course. Moparty looks to be the former. These are more common because they are easier to setup and maintain during the event. They also require the driver to come up with the true course and the best path(s) a car should take. Sometimes one has to imagine a cone that ought to be there, and frequently one has to ignore tricky cones that mislead the driver into making the couse tighter or more difficult than it is.
I'm going to steal an example from Roger H. Johnson (the Insane)
Solo II Course Design.
A driver following the course cone to cone will follow the black line.
View attachment 1716292870
A driver who has planned the course will ignore the inside cones, and pick a couple critical cones to look for while driving.
And a really good autocrosser will be able to plan a tightish sweep that still maintains momentum and allows some throttle to be squeezed on as the steering wheel is returned toward center.
In this example I'd be looking for these 3 cones
View attachment 1716292871
Although 2 might be hard to pick out before the apex, its exact location is not critical, we start the sweep left as or after we pass it. Before then we're looking at cone 3 and the turn beyond.