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Just bought a pair of piloti prototipo's. A bit overkill ($85) for just autocross but I figure they'd be a great long term investment when I move on to track days.



And yes, I got them in red

What do you guys wear for autox/drag/time attack etc? I had converse before I bought these and they worked great but fell apart within a few weeks of owning them =/

 
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i just use the shoes with the thinnest soles i have, short laces. hard when working corners, though...

 
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Yeah the running around corner working in my converse eventually tore the sole from the top of the shoe, I don't imagine running around in these for corner working, though.. I'd probably bring a spare beater set for that..unless I get lucky and I just work the starting line or the gate entrance.

 
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yeah, but i prefer not to faint everytime i take the shoes off, or i could get a DNF (sweaty day, you know )

 
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hahahaha yeah i hear ya.. ugh im so mad I gotta wait till school finishes to start autoxing.. I even got a set of Azenias (RT-615k's) for 250$ brand new with a set of koneis. they have autox events here at hershey park but it's mainly just porsches/ferraris/corvettes. though id be fun to try and beat a guy with a $200k car in my $5k civic

 
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Adidas

 
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Adidas are sweet. I had Adidas cleats in extra wide. They were great for lacrosse...it was like planting a metal pole in a foot of cement.. made for great body checking

Out of curiosity I also looked at pumas and WOW they're pricey! I mean, the ones I got were pricey too, but even just generic shoes run you $100+ a pair...No wonder why all the rich girls at high school had them...

 
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$100 a pair is pretty average for quality kicks, at least in my experience. Pumas are super comfy too.


On topic though, do you guys find that a track specific set of shoes is all that beneficial?

 
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yes, they have thinner soles. helps a lot in the pedal work, double clutch, heel-toe, left foot braking, throttle control, braking modulation - the feed back is much better than thick soles - try to drive with bare foot to see how it feels. Track shoes for real need to be fire-proof too.

 
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^^ Covered pretty much all the bases.

What stuck out to me with these shoes is that the sole extends to the back of the shoe.. and it occurred to me that it's a genius design. The fact that you have a flat, planted surface on the carpet rather than a pointed one makes for much better footwork. (It also saves your carpet ) Still, I can't really heel-toe that well yet because of my enormous feet (size 13M) but I've gotten essentially everything else down. Hopefully that'll change with these shoes.

 
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oh, yeh, i had forgotten the extended soles

 
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for who does not know the techniques, here they go:
double clutch - this also combines the heel and toe altogether and all the complicated fine pedal work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_clutch


Heel& toe - yes, it matters to FWD too - i can lock my front wheels in an ABS car if i force the trans- and if you have a beefy rear sway bar, it could cause the car to oversteer depending on where of the start of the corner you do. if doing this after entering the corner, it could get messy....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heel-and-toe

left foot braking - i also mainly trained this when driving rental auto cars. With the rear sway bar, i can do oversteer u-turns if need be, no parking brake at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-foot_braking

Here is another good reference for driving tech and autoX:
http://www.eurotuner.com/howto/38238/index.html

 
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Oh, yeah, this is a friend on a 6th gen - 2 drivers: notice how the steering wheel action is sooo much different.
The one in blue is my friend - this also shows how much the car setup can make it to over or under steer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32neXLb8Raw
"follow the force must you, Padawan"

 
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I drove in my 15 pound work boots today and it was almost like I was learning to drive standard all over again... NOT recommended lol. (slight exaggeration on the weight)

 
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oh, eh, found these too
http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets10.html

 
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Wow great stuff sdaidoji. (+1) I think I remember watching that video somewhere but it was ages ago. I've been wanting to put in a beefy 17mm rear sway bar to help combat understeer but it'd bump me up to DSP.. =/ I swear the body roll in my civic is like an amusement park ride.

@tbohar -- I almost failed my driving test because I took it right after work at a construction job and still had my tim's on.. the guy from the DMV that came with me weighed about 400lbs...was seriously an awful combination. Still passed though, .

Edit: I saw that youtube vid.. that track is like a DREAM!! I wish my club lots were that big!! Also that eurotuner link was fantastic -- the diagrams were perfect (I tend to be a bit of a visual learner). The farnortheracing link was also good but a bit hard to read. The concept of rear/front lateral can get really confusing for me once you start throwing in factors like camber and weight transfer.

 
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^I'd definitely recommend getting a rear sway, but go bigger than 17mm!

 
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i would agree, but zeferint is on a 2000, so he have more camber gains than us in front - maybe the 17 might be enough?
i put mine 1" in rear since i was already in DSP (springs, eibach sway (in the garage shell now...), CAI...

 
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Just a tip, practice sliding your hands on the steering wheel and not crossing over. Makes for faster and smoother transitions. Little hard to tell but it looked like you guys were a bit early on the slaloms.

And wow, some scary "run off" room spots..

What other suspension mods do you have? 17mm isn't all that big.

Why would you be put in DSP for a swaybar?

17mm isn't very big on a '00 Civic. I'm running a 22mm rear bar on my '95 and even that isn't very large. My sponsor runs a 32mm hollow ASR bar on his EG. I run a 14mm rear swaybar on my daily driver '99 Civic EX and it doesn't do a whole lot.. A buddy of mine who used to run his '96 Civic EX in ST ran an ASR 24mm rear swaybar without issues, can't remember his spring rates though..

Again, why would springs, swaybars and intake put you in DSP??

 
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"Cars with swing axle suspension may be lowered sufficiently to achieve no more than two degrees of negative camber at rest, and may use a camber compensator." (Stock SCCA guidelines)

Looks like I'm outta luck for any camber adjustments anyway. If I had the money to go to DSP I'd already have the coilovers, camber kits and the sways bars in, . Hopefully my summer job will take care of that. Though even when I get coilovers I really only wanna do a rear sway bar and just leave the front one alone (unless I can get one of a stiffer material thats the same length) since a longer front sway bar is just going to just make the understeering problem worse.

@civicexracer:

"The engine air filter element may be removed or replaced. A replacement element which is taller than standard may not be used to hold the air cleaner cover open. No other components of the air induction system may be removed, replaced or modified."

"Standard, as defined herein, suspension springs must be used. They may not be cut, shortened or collapsed."

"Rear anti-roll (sway) bars: May not be removed, replaced, or modified in any way."

Stock rules are a

 
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So you're running stock class. 6th gens with the wishbone suspension can't get any camber adjustments stock. Unlike the McPherson suspension on the newer gens that can simply use a camber bolt. Pretty much the only benifical mods for a Civic in stock class would be Koni shocks and Hoosiers. MAYBE removing the front swaybar but I doub't that'll help at all..

However, if you DID modify your car out of Stock class, your car should fall into ST class. You would be put in DSP if you ran r-comps and/or other mods illegal for ST*. My buddy used to run his '96 Civic EX in ST and another buddy used to run his '99 Civic Si in ST.

For sdaidoji, a guy in my region that had an '02 Civic ran in ST(STS at the time) for a couple years and no body every said anything to him and I'm pretty sure his car fit the rules. He later decided to try out R-Comps and was then put into DSP.

 
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Well, i could not find the 7th gen in the STS class, unfortunately at the time it was up to 6th gen
2005? or was 2006?

 
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As far as I know from what I've seen, 4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th gen civics are all in ST except for maybe the 7th gen Si's due to their diff. I know for sure 8th gen civic Si's are in STX because of their diff., not sure if the lower model 8th gens are also put there(I would assume so).

There was also a recent move for DSP Civic's into FSP last year. A local here used to run his 5th gen hatch in DSP but now with the class change, he is competing in FSP. So for all I know, all the Civics could fall into FSP.

 
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Yeah, I checked the 2007 rules, it says mine is STS. To be honest, I did not care much, i was just a novice then, and even now i would still be a mid-pack - tought competition in nashville region... And since i had already the DSP magnets, i just kept using it, i would guess... They put me in FSP in the start, actually, but since i found out that ANY V-tec need to be in DSP, i did change.
Slicks did not matter much either, i ran the tire class there (around 12 to 25 entries everytime, so i was around 6 to 10th :P - never catched a darned sprite in his 200 bucks allseasons and lawnmower engine...

 
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Hahaha! I just did notice this one.
That's my friend and his friend driving there, i am not in there I do not steer like the guy on the white shirt, no way! My first cone was after one year autoxssing, proud as DD (daily driver) driver, shameful as racer - n-DD (not Dare Devil enough)
Arnold is also even better now, but he sold his vic and now is doing autoX in his fit... and fast...

From what i know, the other guy was popping his cherry for the first time, being the reason he was steering so bad - the video is axctually very good to show how a good driver is different from an average, being the reason i like it. Same car, diff drivers. Makes a whole lot of impact to what we ean seat time is the best improvement a car owner can make to his times
Heck, i have a sunroof car! I get 0.001 sec when i drop the top of the miata!

 
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Believe it or not, but I wear a $5 pair of kung fu shoes.

The thin sole and close fit are perfect for driving, heel and toe etc.

 
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I've gotten in the hand of doing that.. When I'm daily driving it's so hard to establish good habits since you're not in the same mindset that you are when you're autoxing. For now I've just been rolling my foot to get the hang of the heel-toe but when i go to actually do the heel toe I press the brakes way too hard and nearly smash my face into the steering wheel. Haven't quite gotten the finesse down yet, haha.

 
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The only advice I have to heel-toe shifting is kick the gas with your heel while you're applying the brakes, works for me lol. Just makes it easier for me to focus pressure on the brake pedal and I turn my foot and kick the gas when I'm ready to down shift. This way I don't smash my face trying to stomp the brake and gas in one single motion lol.

 
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I went out and did some more heel-toe practice.. I was a bit low on gas so I didn't go out for too long but I'm still having the issue of hitting the gas pedal with my heel. It's just not long enough, and when I do try to get my heel up high enough I end up hitting the brake pedal wayy to hard with the ball of my foot. Practice makes perfect I guess lol

 
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takes time!
Still much easier than some GM that have the throttle lower than the gas by a LOT...
And in the miata there is not enough space, so i need to use the other side of the foot... much trickier than the heel...
If you use only thicker sole shoes (DD only), putting some wider pedal covers (the ones that are bolted and braces around) works good, but i prefer not to have them when driving in the autoX or track.