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This show features Danny Kao who was your 2012 Johnson Spirit of the Sport Award Winner.
It was a lot of fun to learn more about Danny who is another of the great people in our autocross community!
Danny started autocrossing at the end of 2006 and I bet he has autocrossed as much as anyone since then. He thinks he 450 runs per year (59 autocrosses). He makes every test and tune in the DC area.
I totally forgot to ask him about his theory that relates the PSI it takes to seat a tire to how fast it will be compared to other tires. Danny has a tire mounting machine in his house.
Danny did lots of tire testing last year and shared all of his findings and experiences to help the rest of us who use street tires the time and expense of testing. He is very active on forums and Facebook.
If you think you have a car addiction maybe not once you compare your purchases to his before starting autocross in 2006 he thinks he owned 55 or 60 cars.
He started in CSP kind of by accident and he is once again in CSP for 2016 and has been building a Miata from the ground up – he shared lots of photos on Facebook. Danny shares a lot, a lot of fun which explains him winning the Spirit of the Sport Award Winner.
Classes Danny Kao has run: CSP, GS, STX, STU, SS, F125 (KM)
Started autocrossing at the end of 2006 – before that he was a hobby guy – basketball, golf, motorcyles then he started fixing cars.
His first autocross car was a Miata he found for $1300 thought he would road race it but was told he should try autocross.
After the Miata, he showed up with a new Evo in STU.
Fun first more than anything else – it’s not about competing or doing well, fun is the number one priority. “If I get there, I want everyone to have fun or have a good time. I don’t want to go to an event where everyone is miserable.”
Jokes around and let people loosen up. Keep everybody happy.
At least 450 runs a year on average.
Played too much golf between 1996-98, at least 500 rounds a year.
“I don’t focus on the bad. I can remember the good part, the fun part. The first 5-6 years, I didn’t really learn a lot.”
Majority, on the places I thought I did good, I did poorly. Now, I can go back to the data and evaluate and say, confirm that I didn’t do well.
When I first started, I tried to conserve distance by making everything into a triangle.
Right or left foot braker? Initially a left. Every time I get nervous, my left foot just constantly hovers the brake.
Modulating the throttle – that’s when I started driving the car the way it should be driven. That’s how I got faster.
Knowing what your limitations.
The last three years he can actually feel what the car is doing.