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Autox and track are 2 completely different animals. I'm a newbie to both (2 autox completed, no track yet but planning on soon) but as far as I can tell the driving skills/styles/expectations are very different for both.
Track:
Higher speeds >100mph.
Much more driving time.
Different skill set.
Greater chance of serious damage.
"need" mods, competition brakes and tires.
More gearing, you'll run through most of your gears, so Heel&toe/Rev matching is an important skill.
More expensive ~$200/day.
Generally not local events.
Autox:
Speeds generally <60mph, street kind of speeds.
Daily Driver is good to go, or beater or modded fixer upper.
Shorter course.
Very little chance of damage (cone kisses are about as bad as you'll get).
At lower speeds/gear 2/3 gear you can push the car and experience drifts/spinouts etc with little chance of damage.
You can push your limits because mistakes are not that costly.
Heel & Toe/rev matching not so critical, most autox courses can be done completely in 2nd gear with maybe some short trips to 3rd.
Some "Similar" skills to track racing but not the same as speed << less.
Cheap $40-60/day.
Local event.
Track work involved (when you're not driving you're resetting cones for other groups).
Social event, generally takes all day and a good time to chat with fellow enthusiasts.
I'd say that autox style is closer to road rally driving and track is closer to nascar/raceway.
For example, I did autox last weekend, was on site from 8AM to 3PM and got 10 laps at about 2 mins each, total 20 minutes driving time. I spent about 3 hours working the track. The rest of the time was meetings,prep,lunch etc. Very lopsided. But it was fun and a social day out.
I compare the two to fishing on your local lake all day with a few bites, versus going down to Cabo for some serious deep sea fishing.
Both are good as long as you have the correct expectations.
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