First autox in new WRX; prep questions

I spent years with older cars, running a stock Rabbit, a stock A1 GTI, a couple of FSP 2002s, and a SM E30.

Never anything modern or AWD, and it's leaving me with a few questions I'd like to have some notion of before I finally find time in the schedule to go run...

• Traction control. On? Off? I'm kinda inclined to think I'm more likely to want the WRX to do something the electronics won't like than have it save me from myself. If it were a track day, I'd absolutely at least be starting with it on, but for autocross, will I just be throwing a run away?

• Gearing. Nothing I can really do about this, but in all my autocrossing history, I only ever ran a couple of courses where I wanted to go back to first, and a couple where third was even a temptation. I ran one or two where the E30 hit the rev limiter, but so late in a straight that it was a no-brainer to just leave it. The WRX, OTOH, has a tall first in which it will hit I think close to 40mph, and a 2nd which is reasonably spaced above that. So... Seems like it's kind of a tweener for autocross; it'll be too fast to leave it in first on almost any course, but 2nd will be too tall for any reasonably tight bits. If I have to shift I have to shift, I guess I'm just wondering how awkwardly geared a WRX ends up being in actual practice.

• Just in case anyone's got some firsthand experience; tire pressure. I'm just running the stock 280-treadwear Dunlops (I think that's what's on there). If figured I'd probably just start at 40psi in lieu of other info and perhaps back it off til there are signs of rolling the tire a bit much. This is definitely the heaviest car I've ever run...

What year is your WRX? I have an 02, which is pretty much the same car up until 07, but since yours has traction control I'm guessing its a 08+

D'oh, yes, I should've mentioned that... It's a 2012.

In reply to ransom:

This probably goes without saying, but compared to the rwd cars you've had, your main task will be managing the understeer. I had a 2006 gd wrx, but adding the spt springs and getting a good alignment helped drastically reduce the understeer. But no matter what its a slow in, fast out kind of car.

I've read and heard that the gr wrx's have lousy brakes that eat up pads on a track. I wouldn't be surprised if you get fade while autoxing.

How do you like the gr wrx overall?

From what I've seen and heard, expect understeer like a stock FWD car.

Left foot brake in a straight line, get it pointed and rotated, while workIng the gas pedal to bring the boost up before hammering it.

Removing the front bar and/or adding a rear might help if simple alignment tweaks and tire pressure adjustments aren't quite enough after the first session.

If you can manually control the center diff, then try to bias it towards the rear to help reduce the tendency to understeer, but it is still a bit. OSS heavy and designed for understeer (for safety)

Thanks, guys!

Grinch337: I like it pretty well, but after just a few months I feel like I've scratched the new-high-perf-car itch. Sure, it's way more fun to drive than the 2000 Civic EX that was the prior household appliance, but for me, I think any new car like this would hit the unhappy medium of having neither the focus and charisma of the older, modified cars I had, nor the mileage of a more appliancey appliance. The Civic I found really actively unpleasant to drive for its lack of torque and nasty, rubbery steering feel.

I may be the wrong person to ask, though. I drive like someone's grandma on the street 90% of the time at least. I've enjoyed trying it out, but I've learned that I'm definitely of the camp who wants to have an appliance on hand for boring drives, and a slow car to drive fast without flouting the laws too badly. The WRX is really, really, good. One of the upshots is that you are really going too fast for public roads by the time you're giving it some stick.

Turboswede: There's enough to keep me busy right there! I've never learned left-food braking. To be honest, I'm not sure where to practice. Sure, I've poked at it for fun on the street, but never when I might actually need to brake. I'm dubious about managing to get good enough in a day of autocrossing to overcome the lack of practice with the advantages it produces. Funny, I don't have any real trouble with left-foot-braking in karts...

Probably won't have time to play with bars between sessions. I'm not going to buy any go-fast parts for this car, as it was really an experiment, so my job is to keep it stone stock and babied for when the diesel CX-5 comes out or whatever and I get to sell an actual, stock, unmolested WRX and not get hit worse than necessary on depreciation for my dalliance with the factory hot rod. If it's really, really bad I might contemplate pulling the front bar for a subsequent event, but given that I'll be running 280 treadwear tires in STU, this is mostly for fun; I don't expect to be competitive and would probably put the time into working on the garage so I can get back to building the 2002 and autocrossing a car I love.

All the above being said, I suppose it's possible that an autocross will make me fall in love with it, but I wouldn't expect that to actually be a WRX's forte without a lot of firming up.