Autocross Thread: Reading this thread just bumped you up a class.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Autocross Thread: Reading this thread just bumped you up a class.

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Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

^^^ There are different classes that you can be eligible for. There's Stock Open classes where you can expect fairly stock cars, fairly fast drivers and R-Comps. Some clubs have a Tire class which you compete against other people with street tires and you use the PAX for your regularly classed car. Then there's stuff like ST, STX and now STR then the whole Modified classes. SCCA has a good break down as to what is and isn't legal for most classes.

FatCow posted:

This year we only had one incident, a s2k broke a sway bar link in the middle of a slalom, or tore the mount off the control arm and went into some brush.

To add to this, the year before (2009?) the only other thing that really happened was that an M3 decided to jettison a rear control arm and the owner got some made tyte 20 degrees of camber.

And the sister club in our state had a novice in a 2010 Sentra roll because the dude decided to be a hero and try to save it.

Phone fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Mar 13, 2011

# ¿ Mar 13, 2011 16:57

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 03:50

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Yeah. Stock classes allow a front sway bar. The rear automatically puts you into a ST or SP class.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2011 01:07

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

leica posted:

My excuse is manual steering. I have a feeling it wouldn't be very fun a on an auto x course

This is like saying your panties are bunched up.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2011 17:22

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Basically a huge gently caress-off front sway bar acts as a pivot point for the steering. Running with no rear sway at autocross removes some understeer, but at the track it's loving terminally bad. The biggest people have found you want to run in the rear is the Mazdaspeed Miata 14mm sway and a lot of SoCal shops are a big fan of the no rear sway option.

Also, a lot of national guys and gals have found that just pushing through runs actually nets you a faster time. Understeer is not desirable, but you can get away with more than you think in autocross.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2011 23:11

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

LISTEN BRO IF YOU AREN'T AT LEAST SPENDING 2K A YEAR ON HOOSIERS YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG

Fatcow's NA has a depowered rack and it's obnoxious doing 3 point turns, but it's fine after once you're above 10mph.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2011 23:28

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Go for an SA2005 rated one if you have any interest doing track. If you want to keep it cheap and only for autox, check your local car club's/clubs' rules and see what type of motorcycle helmets they allow (should be Snell M or DOT).

# ¿ Mar 16, 2011 04:06

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

I've been autocrossing for 4 years now and I just got back from the most ridiculous one in a long while. 158 people and a 45-55 second overlap.

Long day is longgggggggggggggggggg

# ¿ Mar 21, 2011 02:05

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

deratomicdog posted:

Sup thscc buddy. THat was totally awful. I was in the fourth run group and didn't get home until 8 that night.

Please tell me you're the guy with the turbo 993 :swoon:

# ¿ Mar 21, 2011 16:54

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

^^^ - The helical LSD is similar (or is) a Torsen so you'd have to play in something else, iirc.

TrueChaos posted:

How badly am I going to be laughed at if I show up with a 97 sunfire gt? It's a beater, but stick shift and for the most part in good working order. Slave cylinder is leaky, but thats really the only problem.

I rode in a J-body yesterday and it was so hilariously bad. I'm not sure what rolled more: the body or the tires.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2011 23:00

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

The fast track Solo II notes are hilariously bad. They're going to evacuate the current CSP class and move it to DSP so that CSP can become a class where "popular 2 and 4 seat sports cars" reside.

They should have just renamed CSP the MX5 class instead for gently caress's sake.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2011 06:41

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

It isn't permanent, but the GoPro HD is a phenomenal deal for what you get.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2011 23:48

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

King-Kong posted:

Someone please teach me how to launch a '95 Miata.

Hold at 3.5-4K, dump the clutch and go full throttle. Works everytime.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2011 01:53

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Nothing. I drove my car at autocross for 2 full seasons before I pulled the clutch due to a seized pilot bearing; the friction material was only slightly smaller than the new one I was putting in. The flywheel was blued a bit, but I think that's because I had somebody slipping the clutch at 6k the day before. :stare:

3.5-4K will get the rears rolling and you'll stop spinning them in plenty time for your shift into 2nd.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2011 01:59

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Pm0mUkU-I

Do the HDs.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2011 04:12

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Yeah... NCCAR is literally nothing but sweepers.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2011 04:58

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

nm posted:

Get bigger wings -- problem solved.

Also flip them upside down.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2011 00:23

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

It's kind of funny when you see mods people at autocross. In the top 3 raw times this past weekend, #2 was a CS Miata and #3 was a GS Civic Si. It's all about the driver and to a lesser extent the tires.

That said, I need to buy a 1500 dollar titanium exhaust because that's where I'm losing that tenth of a second.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2011 04:42

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

You don't want to know what the perennial 2nd place guy in CSP has spent on his car. I do know that they're managing to squeeze 180whp out of the stock motor and that it's CSP legal.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2011 04:50

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

This isn't the thread for it, but going to the track is phenomenal coming from an autocross perspective. Yes it is "more risky" than autocross, but you literally get to drive at your own pace and you have an instructor keeping you in check the entire time.

More autocross BS: Fatcow just said that in the past event there were only 5 people in TIR class. Last year we literally had 20+ people in TIR every single event. I guess the economy is doing better.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2011 21:13

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

How wide are the wheels?

I'm on 15x7s with the R-S3s and I dropped the pressure from 38 to 34 on all four corners and picked up 1.5 seconds. (brand new car to me though)

# ¿ Apr 24, 2011 00:04

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Slow is Fast posted:

I did an autocross today.

Oops.

Congrats on doing the impossible

# ¿ May 2, 2011 00:50

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

TrueChaos posted:

Everyone else there had significantly better vehicles than I did

Wrong. You're a poo poo driver. Get over it.

# ¿ May 8, 2011 02:50

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Having fun is the biggest aspect of it, but please don't blame your car for the reason why you're slow.

# ¿ May 8, 2011 03:37

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Stock Miatas are all over the bumpstops. The spring rates are 150 inch-pounds in the front and 90 in the rear. Soft but not sloppy.

# ¿ May 17, 2011 03:44

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Don't worry about your PAX, just get out there. You'll probably wind up in STX.

Stock classes are limited to a front sway bar, shocks/struts, and r-comps.

# ¿ May 24, 2011 16:41

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

I know you made a thread about wanting more power in your TDI via a supercharger, but if you're serious about gaining some speed, lay off the engine mods and make sure that your maintenance items are under control.

If your suspension is feeling off, new shocks will definitely help. Koni Yellows are pretty much the drug of choice in terms of an upgrade. A bigger front sway bar will also help with the body roll, but keep in mind that if you go too big, it will literally act as a pivot point mid-turn (autox bullshit where pushing = faster).

Hands: 9 and 3. My most recent ex-girlfriend couldn't fathom how I drove all of the time with my hands at 9 and 3; it feels comfortable for me, I know what the car is doing, and I can move the wheel a lot without moving my hands off of the wheel. When out at autocross and the track, you don't want to be moving your hands all over the place. Less and smooth inputs will gain you speed and confidence in your car.

Brakes: upgrade that poo poo. Don't worry about rotors just yet and just buy a set of NAPA blanks. Get a good synthetic fluid, the cheap choice is ATE Superblue or their 200 fluid, it's better than DOT4 specs and manages to not boil over unless if you really are hauling the mail. For pads (track), get a good street pad that bites hard and can stand some heat. I've been using Hawk HP+ pads for years and will be using the HT-10s on the track in the future. The downside to the HP+ pads are that they are noisy and dust like a motherfucker, but the trade-off is that you get some decent braking power that's good for 800F.

Just to mention it again since you seem dead set on power mods: don't worry about power just yet. The way that you get fast is by keeping momentum around the course, but the true way to be fast through braking.

# ¿ May 25, 2011 04:38

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

I know that the HD has a mode for spot metering and it makes it possible to have decent footage of shooting from inside the car to outside of the car.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2011 02:01

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

The idea of it is fun and I'd love to go, but a guy locally drove his ITR a few years ago and brought 21 wheels with A6s on them. gently caress that.

That and he got DQ'd along with half of the ITRs on the field due to some gasket around the airbox missing.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2011 23:34

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

From what I can remember, there was a gasket that goes around a part of the box that holds the air filter and this was all pre-MAF. I'll see if I can dig up some articles about it.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2011 02:40

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Texas and NC both have prescribed insurance policies that don't have exclusions for HPDEs. The insurance company might (read: will) give you a hassle, but they are required to cover it.

For my R-S3s I found 36psi on my 15x7s to be the sweet spot. 40psi was way too high and loose and 34psi was absolutely a dog in a mildly prepped CSP Miata. I'm actually surprised as to how well the R-S3s hold up compared to R-comps; I know I can't beat 275 A6s but I'm not like 4 seconds down.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 04:31

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

1. Most likely a variant of SM or some level of prepared.

2. You'll want to buy your own immediately after you go to an event that's in the rain and you're using a loaner. You can get SA2005 helmets for cheap now due to 2010s being out.

3. Depends on the state, but autocross IS a timed event. States like NC and TX don't have exclusions for things like track days because it falls under driver education. Racing against the clock is racing and therefore would not be covered in 99% of situations.

4. Bolt that poo poo down or lose it. If the thing is flying around in your trunk, you can do damage to the body panels from the inside. This doesn't cover the situation where poo poo goes really bad and it winds up hitting you inside of the car.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2011 04:02

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

How do you like the NSX? :aaa:

# ¿ Nov 23, 2011 06:39

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Just keep it super simple and don't go into details. Mention that cars are classed by a governing body, the SCCA, with an index that is supposed to level the playing field. For example, it wouldn't be fair to compare apples-to-apples an economy car (mention Nissan Versa, Honda Fit/Civic, whatever) against a Corvette or a 911.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2011 03:32

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

If it's your first time, go find a novice coordinator (if there is one) and ask them to put you in a car with a more experienced person. Seeing the course at speed will give you an idea about what it's going to look like on the other side of the car. But your first few times out, you're going to be absolutely atrocious time-wise, so get as many ride alongs as you can and definitely have more experienced people in the passenger seat to give you pointers.

You get the hang of it after a few events.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2011 03:08

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

What turbo kit are you running on the egg?

# ¿ Jan 9, 2012 17:38

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

The Locator posted:

Really need to watch the course designers more in the future, with the lower turnouts we've been having, the launch intervals have been getting longer as they've tried to maximize the length of the courses on our small lot. The event yesterday had about a 40 second interval, and we were there far too long because of it. Could have shaved 2-2.5 hours off the event time with a 25 second launch interval course.

Lesson one, learned.

My club had this happen last year for our first event. All of the event chairs after that literally had everybody in their cars and off the site by 3pm for the rest of the events. :v:

# ¿ Jan 17, 2012 04:01

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

For autox you can get away with a Snell M, so swing by a motorcycle shop and have at it.

kimbo305 posted:

Hmmm, since Z-Max is in Concord, there's gotta be a speed shop around there somewhere, right?

There's a NASCAR oval in Concord.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2012 23:53

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

NinjaTech posted:

If you're going to just get an M rated helmet I would just get something off motorcyclegear.com (formerly newenough.com) I've gotten all of my motorcycle gear from them and they have big discounts on stuff. SafeRacer is also a good place from my experience. I've gotten all of my gear for racing in lemons from them and never had any issues.

On another note. Are strut tower bars legal in Stock classes? I was thinking of getting one for my Miata to stop it from shimmying when I hit bumps on the road. You can see the dash shake a bit when it happens. It also happened in my friends miata so it seems like it's a 90-93 problem from the lack of stiffening braces.

Nope. In Stock you get either a front OR rear (not both) sway bar, minor spacers, and shocks/struts.

# ¿ Feb 29, 2012 03:13

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

Front. It'll make the car push, but it's a lot faster.

If you have a 1.6L, look into STS.

# ¿ Feb 29, 2012 04:41

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 03:50

Phone: Jul 30, 2005; 親子丼をほしい。

I would say screw it and put urethane bushings. It sounded like you weren't going to goto Nationals, so you shouldn't have issues of people going underneath your car to protest your hella illegal urethane bushings on your 30 year old car.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 02:09

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Autocross Thread: Reading this thread just bumped you up a class.

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