http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets.html

I have no idea who this guy is as I've only been autocrossing for about 4 years.
It seems that lots of folks on scca forums know him and are praising the info he's publishing.

I think it'll be interesting to hear some feedback from some of you folks....

Scott

Dennis Grant IIRC is considered the "father" of street mod from what I know...the article is a good read and has a lot of good information from years of autoXing.

This is by far the most useful section to awd autocrossers on his site: POWER (http://www.wincom.net/trog/autocross_secrets15.html)

Scott,
Thanks for posting link, read couple chapters. Appears to be good information for all, IMHO.

Some good info, if you can skip over the ego.

Some good info, if you can skip over the ego.
I noted that as well - especially noticeable in the launch control article! :p

The ego part is just the way he is. Those who've autocrossed with him know what kind of personality he has and it shows in his articles. The info is still very good though.

Jay Storm

Good stuff :) He seems to confirm what many have said- the Koni yellow is a pretty good off the shelf choice.

I thought his comment about lowering very thoughtful as well- lower as much as you can while keeping camber curves "sane", when in doubt go w/ the higher cog and the better curves- something many have been saying for some time as well.

The ego part is just the way he is. Those who've autocrossed with him know what kind of personality he has and it shows in his articles.Bingo! :) That's not a rip on Dennis at all, I like him a lot. But he does have a Hoppe-sized ego. :)

Too bad most of the time when it was crunch time, his car went crunch. ;)

Now, me on the other hand, if I hadn't coned against him in the '03 Finale Honda Challenge...

--kC

He told me how awesome and smart he was over breakfast at the Atlanta Pro Solo in '05. A lot of people on the internet don't like him, but they aren't very smart. He told me that, too. Essentially, he said that I wasn't very smart. ;)

He never introduced himself, but I had an easy time figuring out who he was.

Dennis Grant IIRC is considered the "father" of street mod from what I know...the article is a good read and has a lot of good information from years of autoXing.

Dennis wrote and proposed the SM class to the SEB after getting frustrated with the anti-turbo restrictions in SP (as they were implemented until recently)

Nice info there, guess I should hang on to my Bilstein struts. :)

Thats all really interesting info. Especially his idea about NF for spring rates and not using damping to tune the transitional response. Seems there are two schools of thought in regards to this. Some people say to forget about NF for springs and tune the springs to make midcorner ideal, then use the dampers to calm the transitional response down to a confidence inspiring level. Then some people say to set your springs and dampers to some mathmatical formula and leave em.

I definately have my opinion. I'm curious, what do all of you guys and gals think. Tune springs and shocks for feel, or tune springs and shocks for a frequency?????

JB

I wished you were coming to Atwater so we could cuddle.

Chris H.

I wished you were coming to Atwater so we could cuddle.

Chris H.


:p

Hey Chris..

I wish I was going to Atwater as well. My car needs some TLC. Center Diff gone, rear diff gone. Need to replace my front wheel bearings and I am getting Axle Backlash. So... I need to cuddle with my car for a bit ;)

I will bet that Max will take care of you. It's funny too. He has been really giddy lately, I think he's excited to be sharing a room with ya.

You guys kick some ass up there and have a guiness for me.

JB

Thats all really interesting info. Especially his idea about NF for spring rates and not using damping to tune the transitional response....
Good stuff :) He seems to confirm what many have said- the Koni yellow is a pretty good off the shelf choice.
I agree: good reading and some interesting thoughts with respect to springs and especially struts. After reading the strut write-up, I was curious which shop/vender he worked for and if I could order a dyno-matched set of Koni yellows from him.

He was working for ATI in Michigan.....I dunno where's he's workin now.

Last I heard he was working for the Canadian Forces, don't know if his tour is up though.

I like that a lot of his setup was based on data logging and shock dynoing, not just seat of the pants or assumption or tradition like some people stick with.

played around w/ frequencies here- neat stuff :)

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1240738

Ok, now get the natural frequency of the outside front at 1g as well as inside front, outside rear and outside front....

Natural frequency is a great starting point, but a starting point is all that it is.

Ok, now get the natural frequency of the outside front at 1g as well as inside front, outside rear and outside front....

Natural frequency is a great starting point, but a starting point is all that it is.

I did the easy one- was hoping you'd tackle that one :D

He told me how awesome and smart he was over breakfast at the Atlanta Pro Solo in '05.

That wasn't me. I don't eat breakfast at events.

DG

That wasn't me. I don't eat breakfast at events.

DG


Hahahaha...

Cool.

Hey Dennis, I would like to have a conversation with you. You think I can give ya a call?

JB

It's true; I tend to get wound up before events and my appetite goes out the window - some coffee and Red Bull would last me all day.

So I don't know who he was talking to, but it wasn't me.

[quote]Hey Dennis, I would like to have a conversation with you. You think I can give ya a call?

This week sucks; I've got a big exercise this weekend and I'm up to my armpits in alligators trying to get the squadron sorted out. Next week should be fine.

By the by, a Google of this site has proved.... informative. I'm tempted to set the record straight about a whole host of disinformation that I've turned up...

DG

Dennis- welcome aboard- I found your site very informative :) I know folks here would enjoy a rousing dsicussion of dampers (among many other topics).

By the by, a Google of this site has proved.... informative. I'm tempted to set the record straight about a whole host of disinformation that I've turned up...

DG
I think you just found all the posts by J Toby.....:p


Jay Storm

I know folks here would enjoy a rousing discussion of dampers

I'm not opposed to the idea in principle, but it's difficult for me to really participate. Autocross to Win, even in its incomplete state, is currently being linked and discussed on ~100 different message boards, most of whom want me to join in their rousing discussions. When I do so, that results in information being scattered around the Internet that is better off being incorporated back in the main text where everyone can see it.

Questions and criticisms have a way of winding up answered in site updates.

I think you just found all the posts by J Toby

No, I'm not talking about that nutball - I know all about him; he has been stalking me since the days of the Talon Digest. No, I'm talking about some other stuff I found - some by people I thought of as friends.

You know, it's funny. I bust my ass to do the best job I can on my own car, I worked thousands of thankless and uncompensated hours building Street Modified (with the best interests of the competitor base always forefront - not ONCE did I ever make a decision in my own interests ahead of those of the class) and I share all the knowledge I ever learned, and what do I get? Grief.

Such is human nature I guess. I don't regret my decision to retire from the sport and go back to the Regiment the slightest little bit - life is much happier outside of Solo.

DG

Well you know how it is Mr. Grant, opinions are like a**holes.....and there are certainly a lot of opinions in the solo community.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I found your online article very informative and have been able to take some
great information to help me start to set up my car properly. Thank you for your contribution to our community.