Driver of the Month March 2023 – Chris Laprus

 

Name: Christopher Laprus
Age: 39
City/State: Fairfield, NJ
Daily Profession: Project Manager
Daily Driver: 2020 BMW M2C
Current AutoX Car/Class: 2020 BMW M2C B-Street
Family: Married with two little girls (8 & 6).
What was your first car? 1991 Mitsubishi Galant, crashed it into a lake 2 weeks after I got my
license.

What was your favorite subject in school? Didn’t have any favorites, just went along with the flow
to get to the next stage in life.

Did you get any tickets as a teenager? Too many, surprised I didn’t lose my license or worse.
What was your first exposure to motorsports, and at what age? 17, I started drag racing my 2002
Sentra SE-R SpecV

How did you get started in Autox? I was at a Drag TNT at Englishtown (2004ish) and saw a bunch
of cars driving around cones, decided to walk up and sign up. I did maybe 3-4 events and realized
I’m too poor lol. Restarted in 2014ish.

What did you drive during your first AutoX season? 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R SpecV
What do you wish someone had told you when you started? Don’t be shy, get fast drivers in your
car.

What AutoX cars have you owned, Make Model? 2002 Spec V, 2007 MS3, 2014 1Le, 2014 BRZ, 2015
WRX, 2014 Evo, 2002 C5Z, 2018 M4, 2020 M2

What made you choose your current autox car? Good all-around daily driver that can autox and
do track days without worry.

Who is your biggest influence in the sport? From a driver perspective, Mark Daddio is always fun
to watch and talk to. The friends you make certainly make this hobby fun. (Shout-out to ZFG and
“Mean Bros”.

Funniest autox story, if any? Watching someone (cough Gary cough) run after a car that they left
in neutral by accident. The image of him being dragged by the car at 3 mph was hilarious,
thankfully the only damage done that day was to his self-esteem lol.

What was your scariest moment as a driver? Missed a pole at MetLife by about 6 inches.
In the past year or so, what have you learned to help improve yourself as a driver and car prep?
Adapting to what the car is doing and focusing on not forcing elements. Set-up in street classes
can only change behavior to a certain point, majority of the run will need to be focused on guiding
the car through the elements with as little resistance as possible.

Do you left foot brake? Only if I am in a car that has a bucket seat.

Do you use a data logger/Video, if so how has it helped you? I use Racecapture/Solostorm, when
co-driving it can be useful to compare different lines and approaches to elements. Video is a big
help to spot mistakes, data can be used to figure out why that mistake happened.

Best autox advice you ever received? Calm down! There are places to get aggressive and places
that require patience. Finding that balance is the hard part.

Best advice you would tell a Novice coming to their first event ever? Make sure to take your time
and figure out where the course goes next, you can’t attack a course if you are second guessing
where you are going.

How do you critique yourself after a run? I focus on the first section that didn’t feel right and try to
correct it on the next run. Rinse and repeat onto the next section.

What is your primary goal for the 2023 season? Focus on the minute details of why the car did
what it did through an element.

What is the most fun autocross car you’ve ever driven? 2014 EvoX in STU

What is the least fun car you’ve autocrossed? 2015 WRX, too much understeer.

If you could pick anyone’s AutoX car to run at Nationals? I need to make friends with GT4 owners
:):)

What would be your ultimate car build for AutoX? A GT4 in SS.

Do you play any online racing sims? Do you feel this helps in the real world? Iracing is extremely
helpful in understanding why something you did was faster or slower.

Websites/Forums/Podcast you check daily? Not really into any of that, I’ll browse random Youtube
videos with no real purpose or goals.

What trophies or titles have you achieved? A couple of tours and prosolo trophies, most recent
accomplishment was a trophy at Nationals in B-Street.

Favorite:
Food? Anything with Shrimp.
Drink (alcoholic)? Vodka Cranberry (I’m basic)
Vacation Spot? Aruba
AutoX Site? MetLife