Smoothness - when I started autocrossing, I came from doing 2 Street Schools @ Thunderhill.  In road racing, smoothness is key to stay on the line.  My first few autocrosses, my times were terrible but I was hitting the apexes & running a good line.  In fact, my instructor said I was being too smooth and not aggresive enough.  I'd like to ammend all the books with a little quote Vernon Head gave to my dad at the auto-x school -- "Don't surprise the tires".  I found this to be extremely true on Sunday -- The car will go where you put it if you feed in small smooth inputs [quickly!], but the moment you twitch to yank it back into position, and quickly let off the throttle because you're scared, the rear WILL come around on you!  On the video my [hose-less] grandma took, you can see my brother doing exactly that right before the finish line!!! It's amazingly clear!

Brake Control: Renee Eady said it in SportsCar, "Learn to squeeze the brakes".  That doesn't mean hit them hard.  Panic causes spins. If you know you have to break, ease the pedal down but go all the way.  There's no point in half breaking.  Find where the brakes lock up and stop just short of that -- there is no loss in being that deep.  A note that my instructor at the NASA school told me, if you lock up the tires and are going straight, ease off the brakes a tiny bit.  Brakes and Tires only slow you down when they are rolling! Rob Luis tried to convince me to left-foot brake.  Boy do I wish I had listened to him.  Driving the F440 is all about left foot brakeing! (Mainly because it's really hard to reach your right foot over in that cramped body :) Practice this skill while you can and don't worry when people laugh at you or try to discredit it as a valid theory.  Try it on for size....

Throttle Control: When you get enough horsepower in a rear-wheel drive car, you have to be careful of power-on oversteer around turns. When you are straight however, you should pretty much always be using full throttle.  I know a lot of newbies are scared but again, there is no purpose in going half out.  The sooner you are at full throttle, the sooner you will get to the end of the straight.  And in case you haven't read the books, the long straight is the easiest place to gain the most time.  The corner before the straight is the most important corner [slow in, fast out].  The biggest difference in letting Rob & Josh drive my Integra at the school were how hard they hit the gas and then instantly on the brakes then back on the gas again (especially through slaloms).  On Sundays course there wasn't exactly 1 big straight, but there were several places where you could bury the throttle for a second before getting back on the brakes!

Taking & Giving Rides: At any opportunity (!), take a ride with someone who is beating you.  The more varied rides you get, the more you can figure a pattern that works.  Offer to give those people rides in your car later in the day.  If you want, offer to let other people drive you car.  This proves if you can prepare the car properly or if you should work on preparing the driver first.  Eventually, borrow different types of cars.  If you drive an Integra, borrow a Miata.  If you drive a Prepared Corvette, try a wimpy stock FWDer like a Probe (sorry Charlie Ahern, I couldn't resist :).  The difference in the cars will force you to analyze your style for what is right for the course, not what is the right way to get your car around the course. [getting the feeling that statement won't hold up in the court of the ba-autox mailing list].  You pay $20 not just for your four runs.  I think of it as $20 tuition to all day school and then you get to go practice while you leave the parking lot :)  Be there all day and watch, listen & learn!!!