Glad to see you are going out there and using the car for what it loves. As Wedge and others have said, tires and suspension make a lot bigger difference in AutoX than anything else, although brakes are extremely important as well.

The biggest thing I would pass along, from experience, is LEARN THE COURSE. I always do several walk throughs and mentally 'drive' the course in my mind setting up every turn long before I even get in the car. This gives you the confidence to attack all the other aspects of racing you need be thinking about and the course is simply second nature. I had a hard time with this at first, because I could only get to events after the track walk, but getting there early and memorizing the track IMHO is more important than anything else. As you said, it is too much car for you, between the small track and inexperience, but you will only improve, glad you are having fun. I am not extremely competitive either, but I do like beating friends I can get to go out with me....