I've been looking at this site for a long time and finally became a member back in March when I got my 2005 WRX Wagon in WRB. I've already learned quite a bit, but wouldn't mind some direct feedback, so I thought I'd put up what I plan to do to prep for some autocrossing.

Fair warning: this will be a long post.

Goals: Daily driver and autocross. I'm going to go for the STX class, since this seems to be a good balance of cost, streetability, and making a fun car. This car will be used for commuting and several long road trips, so I can't compromise comfort. A monster car that is uncomfortable is, by definition, not fun. I won't be using the super-hard setups used by National winners. Instead, I just want the driver to be the limiting factor, not the car. This means as skills increase, mods will increase. For example, I've already learned the magic formula for tuning with tire pressures on the RE92's. I've done an autocross school and three or four events, and I feel like I've learned all I can on them, so I feel ready for sticky rubber.

Mods already completed: I've done some small stuff, such as Kartboy SS and shifter bushings, CG Lock, and a K and N panel filter.

Future mods in order:
Tires - probably Hankook RS2-Z212 for their low cost and apparent longevity
Goodridge SS braided brake lines/appropriate fluid/speed bleeders
Hawk HPS pads
IPD swaybar set - Less roll, a new, fairly simple tuning tool, and IPD has almost the complete package... might add front endlinks
EBay rear strut tower bar with Whiteline quick-release
Whiteline STX-legal offset bushing
Koni inserts and Prodrive springs EDIT: Probably Crucial Racing springs
-or-
Whiteline Group 4 coilovers - I'll need more data as to whether these are worth an extra thousand over a Koni/Prodrive setup... I'd pay it if it increased both comfort and performance
Camber/Caster plates and Grp N rear strut tops - either sometime before the strut/springs or at the same time
Gram Lights 57C in 16x7 - I want a 16 inch wheel to reduce tire expenses. These look awfully good in gold. I'll time buying these with the next set of tires.

At this point, the suspension will be pretty much done. There might be a few other bushings, etc, I'd throw in there, but that's about it. There are no extreme spring rates or overly huge swaybars, so it should remain usable on the street and in low-grip conditions (well, maybe swap on snow tires as appropriate).

With a proper suspension and sticky tires, it's time for power.

Cobb Accessport - It seems like a simple plug and play solution that still allows good flexibility. I can have multiple maps, and if I ever want to get a professional tune, I just need to find a shop.
Gauges - I'd prefer to keep it to just boost and EGT so I don't need a triple pod blocking my clock and my field of vision
UP/DP - I'm doing exhaust after the engine management to avoid the OL/CL fuelling problem. I'll get the cheapest UP I can find. I want to use a shorty DP and the stock third cat to minimize expense. I'm willing to give up a few ponies for that.
Turbo inlet hose - Should be safe on the Cobb STX map, hopefully improve spool-up

With all this, I should have a pretty sweet street car that can put me in the running at a local autocross and serve my daily needs for $6,000 to $7,000. It should not be significantly less reliable than stock, but it will be significantly more fun. I'll do all the installation work myself (plus NASIOC friends, of course). I think I've got a good balance of street use, autocross use, and cost.


Beyond....
I might dip my toe into the Street Mod class. The main reason I would do this is if I could make the car more fun on the street. If I really want to, I can switch between Stage 2 and the STX map to see what I like better. If I'm hankering for Stage 2 and beyond, I'll get some cheap Rota Slipstream 16x8's, put one of the newbie/high wear R-compound tires on 'em, and see how that feels. I'm betting with the Private For Sale forum I could get back half my money if I don't want to continue down this path. The last step would be a cheap but effective for autocross turbo upgrade: Deadbolt Monster TD04 and a Protune. This turbo doesn't absolutely require the supporting mods of bigger turbos and seems like one of the cheapest ways to get a fast spooling turbo. I don't mind leaving the same top end as stock. This will be useful both for digging out of corners on the autocross course and make the car more streetable. Low-end torque is the name of the game. This would be the last step to SM, since it's a little harder to reverse (in terms of vehicle downtime). Total cost: $2000, plus replacing more expensive tires.

Thanks to many knowledgeable people who have posted information, but especially Unabomber, Arnie, Myles, and BIGSKYWRX. In a way, this is the summation of what I've learned so far from this board. How does the plan sound?

I would love to hear the answers. I was looking at doing something similar in the nearby future.

Bump.

I'm going to keep this thread going as I complete upgrades and compete in events.

I put on a Prodrive oval-tip this week. It does sound quite lovely. This still fits into my "fun" mods category. When I move on to my next duty station, tires should be coming on pretty quickly.

My preference would be to move the camber/caster adjustments and sway bars much higher in the order, probably just under tires. Those will probably be my first mods when I jump into STX. (Currently running stock/street-tire class with front sway bar and Hankooks.)

I just started really tuning my WRX for STX class, but I'm not very tech-saavy, but I'll toss in my 2 cents from someone that has driven it bone stock up to this point.
As for sway bars - well, we did wheels and tires (made the mistake of getting some Eagle F1 DSG3's as tires ... they practically melted in the first run) and next are the COBB swaybar set (front and adjustable rear) and I'll let you know how that goes ;).
Watch out on the AccessPORT - there are class-legality questions I hear a lot of people raising about that type of tuning right now.
Just my 2 (make that 10, with the length) cents.
I'll probably get an AccessPort next year and have it professionally tuned at a close AWD performance shop and get a few maps - both for the street and the track.

I've already bought the Hawk pads, just too chicken to mess with my brake system just yet :-D. The order is still fairly flexible. Sways will be the next $300-$400 dollar item to go on the car after tires. Some of the stuff between just makes more sense budget-wise. I can do little stuff and save up for a few months for the big stuff.

I'm thinking of leaving off camber/caster until I can install it right along with my new strut and spring combination. This is to save a little install time. Oh, and I'm also leaning strongly toward Crucial springs instead of the Prodrive after reading some good stuff about them. If I'm wrong and feel like something softer would be better for a daily driver, I'm betting I can sell 'em off with minimal loss.

As for the Accessport, I doubt I'll be hitting national events. It should be close enough for most locals, I think. If the bitching continues, I'll get myself a Protune, or just run street tires and Stage 2 in SM.

Finally installed the Hawk HPS pads. I didn't need to reuse the shims or shields from the OEM pads. There is a very, very slight improvement in pedal feel. I haven't gotten a chance to check fade resistance or anything like that. Far more important is it increased my confidence in modifying a critical system (i.e., could kill me) of the car. The ease of access in working in the fender wells is particularly enjoyable. Every time I wrench, it seems like I'm getting a little better.

Continuing on with the project, I might be doing things a little out of order. Right now I've got a lot of time on my hands, so I'm looking to spend money on a few things that I'll be doing the installation for myself before I get sticky tires. I've also got a long road trip north coming up that precludes putting on summer rubber. It's likely the swaybars will be on the car before the tires.

I haven't gotten a chance to check fade resistance or anything like that.
Don't worry they're better!

Sweet. Good to know.

Oh, and I love the username. Very good Simpsons reference.

More parts should be coming shortly. I saw an excellent deal on some Rota Attacks with Bridgestone Potenza S-03 tires, so I decided to go for 17's, even though that wasn't part of the original plan. They're 225/45, which seems like a good starting place. Looks like I'll have to add rolling the fenders to my to-do list.

Regarding swaybars when you get them: I'd recommend the Whiteline adjustable front bar, in the stiff position I think it's the stiffest bar available for the wagon.

Regarding swaybars when you get them: I'd recommend the Whiteline adjustable front bar, in the stiff position I think it's the stiffest bar available for the wagon.

I've already ordered the iPd bar set, 22 mm front with 20 to 24 mm adjustable rear. I understand the potential benefits of a really thick front bar. I'll see if it's what I really want, or if 22 mm is enough. I'm trying not to go too extreme with any of my spring rates (or bar equivalents). Are there any conditions where a huge front swaybar would be detrimental?

Only cases where a really big bar is detrimental is when going over a big bump with only one wheel. You'd have to go a lot bigger than 22mm to notice.

Either way, the 22mm front is a good improvement over stock. Start the rear bar at the softest setting (holes nearest the end of the bar) and work your way up from there.

This means as skills increase, mods will increase.
One problem with this strategy (constantly f*ing with the car) is that you will be constantly re-learning how the car handles. If you definitely want to do some of this stuff, you may want to consider doing the major stuff (i.e. springs/struts/plates, wheels/tires, sways) upfront (tho I see you already have the wheels/tires). Easier to add power than add suspension, but you are already on top of that.

Anyhoo, I wish I had just put the good stuff on the car between 03 and 04 and left it the hell alone for two seasons, instead of running 4 different sets of tires, two suspensions, two rear bars, etc etc. over the same period of time. If you are like me and not an expert suspension tuner it's easier to learn to drive if you don't have to deal with dialing in the suspension at the same time.

Just imho :)

john

One problem with this strategy (constantly f*ing with the car) is that you will be constantly re-learning how the car handles. If you definitely want to do some of this stuff, you may want to consider doing the major stuff (i.e. springs/struts/plates, wheels/tires, sways) upfront (tho I see you already have the wheels/tires). Easier to add power than add suspension, but you are already on top of that.

Anyhoo, I wish I had just put the good stuff on the car between 03 and 04 and left it the hell alone for two seasons, instead of running 4 different sets of tires, two suspensions, two rear bars, etc etc. over the same period of time. If you are like me and not an expert suspension tuner it's easier to learn to drive if you don't have to deal with dialing in the suspension at the same time.

Just imho :)

john

Aah, I guess I didn't really make the timeline particularly clear here. Things are going to be done in stages. Sways f/r and wheels/tires look like they'll be first. Then I'll get on the strut/spring/top hats/camber plates and get it aligned. I don't know how many events or how much time I'll have between doing these two things. I've got a lot of time on my hands right now, so I want to install as much as I possibly can. Unfortunately, I don't think I can buy every little piece all at once. Luckily, for the Koni inserts solution, I can space out buying various pieces and still have stuff to work on.

I look at the swaybars and the struts to be the two major components to the suspension that I'll be addressing. Any other incidental stuff, like stainless steel brake lines and hardened bushings, should not change the fundamental characteristics of the car, so there shouldn't be too much relearning from doing this. I also don't intend to change the components I selected here unless something is just way, way unworkable. I haven't ridden in any other types of suspensions, but I think with the high-quality Koni shocks and Crucial springs, the daily ride is very likely to be tolerable.

Definitely get upgraded endlinks for the front when you do the swaybar. The stock wagon ones suck.

Also consider camber plates for the front. The Hankooks (get 235/40/17) like camber. With camber you run 36/36 tire pressures for best grip. Adjustable rear sway as noted above and start on the softest setting.

That with the Koni/Prodrive setup should be an excellent start. The problem with the Whiteline G4's is that they are designed for the sedan, so you lose camber over the stock wagon struts although the Whitelines do this the least over other coilovers.

Don't forget an alignment when you get that all fitted:)

Definitely get upgraded endlinks for the front when you do the swaybar. The stock wagon ones suck.

Also consider camber plates for the front. The Hankooks (get 235/40/17) like camber. With camber you run 36/36 tire pressures for best grip. Adjustable rear sway as noted above and start on the softest setting.

That with the Koni/Prodrive setup should be an excellent start. The problem with the Whiteline G4's is that they are designed for the sedan, so you lose camber over the stock wagon struts although the Whitelines do this the least over other coilovers.

Don't forget an alignment when you get that all fitted:)

Thanks for the info. I actually do already have front endlinks coming in, as well as camber/caster plates. It turns out that my deal on the wheels includes Bridgestone S-03 tires, so I'm starting on those instead of the 'Kooks. Also, after reading good things about the Crucial Racing springs, I want to try those out.

The G4 camber issue is another good point. My main reasoning for skipping the G4's was that I think I will have plenty to play with just by adjusting damping, swaybar, and alignment, not to mention tire pressure. I do not believe height adjustment and corner weighting will get me anything around the cones for a good long while. Oh yeah, and I always appreciate the increased damping of a cool extra thousand dollars in my wallet ;)

I managed to get the rear sway bar and endlinks from the iPd kit installed. It was way more time-consuming than I would have liked. The stock mounts wouldn't fit the new bar, so I had to go ahead and replace them with the new iPd mounts. The problem area was under the passenger side of the car. Access behind the fuel filler neck and the charcoal box was extremely tight. I finally got the mount buttoned up and the swaybar on the mount when I noticed that there was no way I could attach the endlinks to the swaybar.

WHEN DOING THIS INSTALL, MAKE SURE THE SWAYBAR ENDS ARE ABOVE THE TRAILING LINKS BEFORE TIGHTENING THE SWAYBAR IN ITS BRACKETS!

Okay, caveats like that aside, things went okay. I still feel like my wrenching skills are improving. I would've been completely stumped at a couple of points not a few months ago. I set the bar to the 20 mm equivalent and went for a drive. I couldn't feel a difference doing anything legal on the streets. Of course, Florida doesn't exactly offer the greatest number of twisty roads I've ever seen. Hopefully, I'll be getting out to an autocross this weekend to give it a shot.

I'm probably going to wait for next week for the FSB and endlinks. The idea of taking off the subframe is kind of intimidating. Is this supposed to be done with weight on the wheels? I've read it both ways, and it seems like you'd have to take the swaybar out through the wheel-well.

Best FSB instructions can be found on www.cobbtuning.com and yes, put the car on ramps. Subframe is easy - just put the bolts down in the order they came out because they are different lengths!

I got out to the Allies v. Axis autocross hosted by the Dixie Region SCCA this weekend. I'm going to try to make a nice format for recording my autocross results. This might be a long post.

Event: Dixie Region "Allies v. Axis"
Date: 4 Dec 2005
Location: South Georgia Motorsports Park
Suspension Mods: iPd rear sway bar on middle setting
Wheels/Tires: Rota Attack 17x7.5 with Bridgestone Potenza S-03 in 225/45/17 at about half tread
Pressures f/r in psi: 35/33 hot
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 40.06x on 5th run
Class results: 3 of 4
Class win time: 38.0xx
Pax results: x of x
FTD: xxxxx

Course description: The parking lot was pretty wide, but since it was parallel to a drag strip it had much more length. The course wound up being a giant up-and-back. Going away from the start, it was a series of offsets with one proper corner thrown in for good measure. It finished with a lange-change maneuver, then a wide 180 degree turnaround. After the turnaround was a non-specified direction slalom with 5 cones. It was better to take the first slalom cone down the portside of the car to make the last slalom cone irrelevant as you swung out to the right for the next gate. It finished off with some nice open s-turns through the finish.

Course management: I found a good line through the tricky corner in the middle of the offsets. I also had good flow through the slaloms, lane-change, and s-turns. My problem was getting greedy on the 180 degree turnaround. It was wide, but not as wide as I was trying to make it, especially with trying to get to the right of the first slalom cone. My best run I finally slowed down for this corner. I treated the turnaround almost like two 90 degree right turns, but didn't really have the space to straighten out my wheel and brake for the second right-hander. I think I could've gotten more time by giving up a little bit at the end of the lane-change and finding a nice wide arc all the way through the turnaround.

Equipment management: I had put my tires to 35 f and 33 r in the paddock, but did not check them near my first run. I nearly spun through the slalom. I got back and found out the rears had crept up to almost 35 psi. Once I put the rears back down to 33, the car balanced well. The tires got greasy after three runs, so I borrowed a sprayer from a nice fellow running an A-stock STi. I'll have to get one for myself, I think.

Setup notes: The new wheel/tire combo reacts faster to input than the stock setup. I can input the steering later. Less steering angle is needed. The "driving on ball bearings" feeling is gone :banana: However, there is less warning about approaching the limit. I'll need more time exploring the tire's envelope. It's doubtless faster and more fun, but it's also less forgiving. Compared to my last event on the stockers, I couldn't focus on specific parts of the course where I could go faster because I was focusing on the equipment.

Competition notes: The class winner was in a Honda Civic that had STS equipment that the two drivers described as "not dialed-in." They were just checking out the class while they wait for their limited slip differential to come in. Both drivers got into the 38's. The guy behind me was in a V-6 Mustang with some unspecified suspension work. He was on the Hankook sport tires, K104, I think. I got him by about a second, but it looks like I had an equipment advantage. I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. With the stock setup, I was used to bringing a toothpick to a gunfight. Now, I felt more like it was a knife at a gunfight. I was behind, but not hopelessly so.

Other comments: Allies won, in spite of the fearless Banzai! charge led by a Prepared class Nissan 200SX.







If you can read this, you don't need glasses.

So far everyone seems to be really surprised with the ride quality of our springs considering the relatively high spring rates. So... we're very happy all-around :). We know they're extremely high quality and we're glad the day-2-day ride backs it up!

If you have any questions that aren't on the site or on here, don't hesitate to PM or e-mail (crucialracing@gmail.com)! ...thanks for thinking of us :cool: ...

Jeremy

So far everyone seems to be really surprised with the ride quality of our springs considering the relatively high spring rates. So... we're very happy all-around :). We know they're extremely high quality and we're glad the day-2-day ride backs it up!

If you have any questions that aren't on the site or on here, don't hesitate to PM or e-mail (crucialracing@gmail.com)! ...thanks for thinking of us :cool: ...

Jeremy


Oh, don't worry, I'll be thinking of you guys for a lot of stuff :D :D

An enthusiast and his money are soon parted... but unfortunately sometimes parted out.

I installed the iPd front swaybar and Noltec endlinks this week. It was a little rough. The subframe didn't slide out the way I expected. Instead, the left and right subframe braces were connected around the front of the car. I wound up just bending it enough to get a socket in on the swaybar clamps.

Things really aren't to my satisfaction yet down there. I've posted elsewhere about my front endlinks being canted in. I'll try to get some pics and resolve it.

Event: Middle Georgia Event #1
Date: 11 Dec 2005
Location: Watermelon Speedway
Suspension Mods: iPd rear sway bar on 23.5 mm, rear endlinks
iPd front swaybar, Noltec endlinks
Wheels/Tires: Rota Attack 17x7.5 with Bridgestone Potenza S-03 in 225/45/17 at about half tread
Pressures f/r in psi: 35/33 hot
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6 plus 2 fun runs
Best time: 36.77 on 6th run
Class results: 2 of 4
Class win time: PAX class
Pax results: 6 of 30
FTD: 31.619

Course description: The course was in the infield of a 1/8 mile circle track. There was about a 100 ft drag-race start parallel to the main straight. Then there was a wide turn to the right followed by a chicago box. The next gate curled the whole thing back like a fishhook towards the drag-race start. Then the course swung sharply back left in a tight hairpin. A gate shot you out to the right, then it was a straight shot to a tight teardrop turnaround. It went back through the entrance gate to the turnaround, did another tight 180 back left reusing one of the approach gates, and then a small straight to the finish.

Course management: The first half of the course was very fast. I figured out the line pretty well. It was all about turning it into one giant sweeper. I gave up just enough throttle to let me open up a few of the potentially tight corners. Things were set up so that even with some power-on understeer at the end of the hairpin I could still make the next gate. I was pretty good for the most part right from the get-go on the open, fast section. The tough part was convincing myself that yes, slowing down way before getting to that super-tight turnaround was a good idea. Once I wasn't overcooking it, I could get up some momentum coming out of the exit.

Equipment management: The RSB was at "23.5 mm" instead of the full 24 mm equivalent strength because I had managed to strip some threads in the left endlink-to-swaybar bolt. I didn't have a good replacement around, so I cranked up the right endlink to the "full strong" position. iPd claims you can run assymetric like that and have no ill effects. I would agree. On the last tight autocross I did, turbo lag was absolutely killing me. Thanks to the greater confidence in the new tires and greater experience, it was a much less annoying issue. I had the turbo spool timed very well. Power came on just as I was ready for it coming out of the tight corners. I still wasn't doing any Camaro-style tire roasting, of course, but the painful, sheer frustration was gone. Even the tight stuff was fun. The only dynamic problem with the car was ABS-glide mode in hard braking. I'm going to have to find that fusebox, methinks.

Setup notes: The same air pressures as last event worked well here. I'm still exploring the limits of the new tires, which I think is affecting how I think of the balance of the car. It's still understeering slightly at the very limit, but I believe that is mostly a case of me coming into a corner too hot. There is no on-brake rotation. I like this relatively safe setup for exploring the new traction limits. What's the old saying? "That which instills the greatest confidence is the fastest setup."


Competition notes: I was the only STX car at the event, so for trophy purposes I was put into a PAX class with ASP and CSP. The CSP guys were in a couple of Miatas. I believe I beat them. The ASP entry was an FD RX-7. He had intake, exhaust, tuning, suspension, and insane skill. I think our PAX'ed times were about a second apart. He ran a 34 something. Insane car, insane driver. Oh yeah, and PAX or not, I still say it ain't fair to have a WRX with bars, wheels, and tires against a well-prepped RX-7 :- p My overall PAX result was pretty good. I've never been in the top 20 percent of a run day before. But, there were a lot of true novices and a number of HS cars on 4 season tires. (Oh, I felt their pain every time I heard those tires howl.) Still, I really feel like I've turned a corner with my driving and with my vehicle preparation.

Other comments: I managed a 36.44 during my fun-runs. I hit all my marks spot on just like my best competition run, but the difference was I had more bravery in terms of not giving up throttle when I wasn't quite in the position I wanted to be in. I didn't care about cones, so I had just a shade more guts. Right now, I'm at the point where I can get the right line and the right speed running at about 9/10ths. Making a smooth, clean run has always been my top priority. I didn't quite understand when people told me "if you don't cone every once in awhile, you aren't trying hard enough." I think I caught a glimpse today of what they meant by that. It's all about finding that hairy edge and staying just a smidge on the safe side. It's going to take a lot more runs before I really squeeze in on that.

And that's exciting.

Also, today was the first time I've gotten violently thrown around in the seat. I thought to myself, "Aha, this is why everyone complains about the lack of shoulder-bolstering in these seats!" Man, I love my S-03's.

Harness's are an excellant, relatively inexpensive addition for any AX'er ... a lot of us like the Schroth Rally3 ... one of the few DOT approved harness's (standarized orange release button) ... and anti-submarining feature ...

Harness's are an excellant, relatively inexpensive addition for any AX'er ... a lot of us like the Schroth Rally3 ... one of the few DOT approved harness's (standarized orange release button) ... and anti-submarining feature ...

Yeah, I'm going to have to research this a little more. I've already got a CG-Lock, which is doing a great job on the lower body. I'm also looking at a torso harness to pair with it. Is that basically a strap that you tie around your torso and the seat? It seems awfully simple, but it's also quite cheap...

I threw the stock wheels and tires back on the car last week for my drive home. On the way, I had the chance to drive the Tail of the Dragon at Deal's Gap. It's between the North Carolina and Tennessee border south of Knoxville. This road is absolutely insane. It was kind of like an autocross. I was always turning and barely got to 60 mph. A Mini was going in my direction at about ten miles per hour, but he graciously waved me by. I also spotted a group of three running the other direction. It was an Audi TT, a Golf R32 or GTI, and an STi. We were both a little busy to wave at each other. I also exchanged waves with a regular WRX about to make a run.

I did not get to use one of my most important upgrades, the wheels and tires. It would have been nice to wring out those S-03's on the road, but the RE 92's didn't work all that bad. Their squishy sidewalls did not impart a great amount of confidence, and they did not have as much grip as a lot of other tires, but they have one excellent characteristic. Going over the limit of adhesion is a non-event. They give up their grip in an extremely progressive manner. Just because the tires are squealing doesn't mean things are out of control. If I entered a turn a little too hot, the RE 92's would gently scrub off the speed and I'd find myself back on the line. They simply will not surprise me by giving me no warning before losing grip.

My Hawk brake pads were finally put to good use. My rotors got egg-frying hot, but I experienced no fade. Good fun all around.

Nice thread flyboymike. Makes me want to start my own. :cool: Have you seen Santa flying around up there? ;)

Nice thread flyboymike. Makes me want to start my own. :cool: Have you seen Santa flying around up there? ;)

Well, being Jewish, I never really believed in the guy. If a fat man in a red suit came down my chimney, I'd call the cops.

I got a blue trunkmonkey over the holidays :disco:

I was at a zoo with my fiancee, saw it in the gift shop, and said "Why not?" Of course, the former girlfriend/current fiancee got the ring mod over the holidays. We'll be reflashing to Stage 2 sometime next year.

nice thread, i read all of it just now. your goals sound very similar to me and your reasoning matches mine (although my pocketbook probably doesnt match yours as i pretty much have no permormance mods right now). I am just getting into autocross, i have run only one SCCA event but a number of very minor autocross events at a local church that sets up a simple course in their parking lot from time to time. I am not so sure about class qualifications, so i am waiting to mod till i figure out what i can/cant do to keep a relatively competitive car. currently i am running D-stock with Pirelli PZero Neros (the all season variety) in stock size (205/55R16). I also got a FRAM air hog panel filter (which i feel doesnt do anything). currently (on the street) i run with an intake silencer hack, but for my one event i reinstalled to silencer to stay in DS. i believe the removal moves a stock WRX to ESP (???)

i would like to do a similar suspension to you, only not so much... i was thinking either the perrin, prodrive, or crucial springs on the stock struts. I dont know if I will need camber or caster plates with that, but i just want to keep the car streetable with good tire-wear characteristics.

I bought a second set of OEM rims recently that still have the RE92s on them that are in decent condition. i plan to autocross on those tires (may be a bad idea, i dont know) so i can save my now badly worn pirellis for day to day driving... once i get rid of the RE92s, i will likely use the hankook rs2-z212 in the 225/50/16 size or maybe 225/45/16 size to make the overall diameter smaller (if that tire size is available) and to reduce possible rubbing issues, especially if i am lowered.

power wise i am limited as exhaust louder than stock is illegal here... i actually got a ticket for my exhaust while it was stock. so i will probably just do uppipe and pulley to get the low end torque (any other ideas you have for torque down low... i know you mentioned the turbo inlet hose and mentioned that you hated the low end turbo lag...) i got around that issue in my last auto-x by using only 1st gear (whereas most others used 2nd for most of the course and downshifted in the two tightest corners on the course). i of course had issues downshifting with the WRX's bad 1st gear syncro issues (what do you do for this?) I would rather run in 2nd gear and have more torque down low to pull out of those corners.

i think the next thing on my to buy list will be springs, as my 02 wagon looks great but the annoying wheel gap makes it look TERRIBLE. so once i get that fixed i will finally be happy with the way the car looks and can focus on the rest of suspension, like RSB and FSB, followed by strut bars (front and rear).

Thanks! Removing your intake snorkus would bump you into Street Touring X, just so you know. Autocrossing on RE92's is fine for learning how to drive and learning the car. I did a couple of seasons in my old Honda Accord, so I started this project with the basics. Try getting out there and driving for awhile without buying any parts. You'll appreciate upgrades much more when you know how to drive and know what you want to fix.

After you've gotten a taste of the sport, have good basic driving skills, and know what you want to fix in the car, start throwing cash around.

When it does come time to spend money, tires and wider wheels are definitely the best bang for the buck. Next priority is suspension, and power last. Oh, and you can do a stealthback or shorty downpipe, keep your stock axleback, and you shouldn't gain too much noise.

Stuff about shifting: I don't try to downshift on-course. It'll just make me blow the line. Once you get to second, generally you want to keep it there. Also, upgrading tires and suspension will mean you carry more speed through corners, keeping you in a better part of the powerband.

All right, sorry if I sound all preachy... there's a lot to learn, and these boards have a whole lot of knowledge. Absorb as much as you can.

yeah, i think you are right. STX huh? that doesnt sound too great, i should probably put that back on to stay in DS unless i wanna get destroyed :D

as for wider wheels, i am kind of already screwed on that as I bought OEM rims, so i am stuck with something smaller than 225 width (i was told 225 would work on stock rim). but i chose this as I dont have all that much $$$ and it was the best choice to make if i wanted to stay in the sport and go to lots of events :)

I think maybe DS this first season... hopefully i will make 5+ events (to qualify for the championship, if applicable). Then after that perhaps i will move to STX and start modding the car.

Sounds like a plan. Good luck and have fun. It's the point of the whole exercise, after all. :-D

is there a document out there that helps you determine class allowances? I saw the set of rules in the SCCA Solo II handbook, but its pretty overwhelming... it will tell you what you can have done to your stock car or to your STX car, etc... but it seems a bit vague... I mean there are so many classes out there besides stock... theres the _SP classes and the STU, STX, etc... i have seen WRXs in STU and STX, and i am just a bit confused as to what exactly places them in those classes... where did you figure that all out?

Durmiente, there's a sticky thread in Motorsports that has a link to the NASIOC master autox-rules thread. The first post of that thread has a decent breakdown of what's allowed in more of a "list" format.

Durmiente, there's a sticky thread in Motorsports that has a link to the NASIOC master autox-rules thread. The first post of that thread has a decent breakdown of what's allowed in more of a "list" format.

thanks, thats exactly what i was looking for. but there is still a breakdown listed for STS, STU, and STX. are they all still the same? Also curious that they let you debadge for the ST_ classes but not for ESP...

From the looks of it it hasn't been updated since March 2005, so it's a little out of date.

I've been working on the Koni struts/Crucial springs install for the past three days. I had a spare set of stockers to hack up. Things went pretty smoothly overall. I also put in Noltec camber/caster plates up front and Group N tops in the rear. I'll give the springs about a week to settle, then get an alignment. I've got an autocross next Sunday. Can't wait to try out the new combo :-D

Oh, and ButtDyno, your new tagline is hilarious.

I played with my damper setup a little this week. I found a couple of speed bumps and rolled over them at about 25 mph. These bumps were about half a foot tall and a couple feet across, so they were not too abrupt. Tire pressures were 40 psi front and 38 psi rear cold, which bumped to 43 psi and 40 psi warm.

I started off full soft all around and cranked up the rear stiffness 1/4 turn at a time 'til I got to 1 and 1/4 turns. It felt like it was getting harsh at that point, so I left it there and started cranking the front. I got up to 1 turn up front and felt like I was getting a little harsh. With a little more fiddling, I came up with 1 turn front, 3/4 turn rear for my street setting. I'll keep this for at least my first couple of autocross runs, then crank to full stiff (minus about 10 degrees for the safety of the shock) and see what happens.

Alignment should be this Friday. It's going to be quite straightforward: max negative camber and max positive caster up front, zero toe all around.

How does it feel/drive/corner? :)

I posted a little review in the Car Part Review forum, but basically it's pretty comfy. I don't really have impressions of how it corners, since I'm in Florida, but I've got an autocross this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes :-)

By the way, what settings were you using on the Konis for your wagon?

Event: Middle Georgia Event #2
Date: 5 Feb 2006
Location: Watermelon Speedway
Suspension Mods: iPd rear sway bar on 24 mm, rear endlinks
iPd front swaybar, Noltec endlinks, Kon inserts, Crucial Racing springs
Wheels/Tires: Rota Attack 17x7.5 with Bridgestone Potenza S-03 in 225/45/17 at about half tread
Pressures f/r in psi: 37/35 hot
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 48.774 on 2nd run
Class results: 2 of 4
Class win time: PAX class with CSP, 38.343
Pax results: 39.214, 19 of 47
FTD: 38.730

Course description: The course was similar to the December setup. It started with a drag race and went into a right sweeper. The right sweeper dumped into a Chicago box right. You had to go around a nasty "gotcha" cone before juking off to a gate on the left. Then it was around to the right through a cramped right hander and back through the sweeper. This time through, after the gate on the left, there was a four cone slalom. After the slalom, it was a straight shot until the wider right-hand 180 turnaround, which put you from on-camber to off-camber in a big hurry. A quick shot to the narrower left-hand 180 turnaround sent you towards the finish.

Course management: In a word, bad. I got pinched by all the tight sections in the first sweeper section. I found an okay line through a couple of times, but I think that's where I snagged a few of my cones. With my first time through the right-hand 180 turnaround, I got caught out by the camber change and ran into wicked understeer. After that, I consistently braked too early coming into it. I also missed out on a few tenths by coning a quicker run with an inside tire on the left 180 turnaround. This course was tailor-made for Mini's and Miatas, which is to say, tight as hell with no flow. I just couldn't figure out how to drive it well.

Equipment management: This was my first autocross with the Koni inserts and Crucial springs. I simply cranked the Konis to full stiff. I also corrected my previous rear swaybar problem, so I was running full stiff, 24 mm. I also had a higher pressure on my tires, 37f/35r. My alignment was borked all to hell. -0.6 degrees camber front left, -1.8 degrees camber front right, and -1.2 in the back. That should be fixed for next time, though. In terms of powertrain, I just couldn't launch well for the life of me. I think I was just letting the clutch out too abruptly. I also had trouble timing the turbo lag coming through the turnarounds. One good thing is I used my left foot for the big braking zone. This wasn't to monkey with weight transfer mid corner, just to decrease my reaction time, probably part of why I was braking too early.

Setup notes: I've finally got light on-brake rotation. That was probably the high point of the weekend through the sweeper, tightening my line for the Chicago box. My tire pressure bump was arbitrary and quite useless. I feel like I lost grip because of it. The dampers did a good job of minimizing left/right weight transfer during the slalom, giving a good, connected feel with the front end. Definitely can't wait to get the camber right on this thing. We were continuously turning right, putting all the car's weight on the weak side.


Competition notes: Second in a bump class with CSP Miatas on a day when I was driving like crap isn't too bad, I reckon. I don't know much about the driver or car that got me, but he got me by about 2.7 seconds real time. More embarassing to me was that four STS cars got into the 47's. The winner of the novice class got me by a couple hundredth's on the PAX. I would've won SM by nearly a second. I'm a little sick of being the lone wolf in STX. It's tempting to run SM with these guys. But, part of my motivation is that the class is way, way underprepped and it would be a shot at a trophy. Not quite noble.

Other comments: I met Paul Fenner and his son Chris, who got 13th in the GRM $2004 challenge in an SVX. They ran an HS old school OBS on all-seasons, but they ran quite well. It was nice to have another Subie wagon there. We also talked about their future plans for the Challenge, which might include a 3.3 L H6 with a TD04 on each cylinder bank... :disco:

At last, my alignment is sorted. -2.75 degrees camber front, -1.2 degrees camber rear, about +5.8 caster, and zero toe all around. The ride height with Noltec plates and Crucial Racing springs is 14.5 inches front and 13 inches rear.

I took her around a few corners, and I'm pretty amazed. I really feel like the alignment here was the last missing piece. There was a definite improvement in front grip. I felt like I could just hang the car on that outside front tire. I can't wait for the next autocross.

I am not sure how I missed this, but oh well.

I am currently prepped to the limit of STX, with the exception of coilovers (corner wieghting being the big advantage)

2004 WRX Wagon
STi Struts w/ Tanabe GF210's
Cusco Camber Plates
Front: -2.5ish camber (max), 1/8 toe out estimated (adjusted every event, run -1.5 w/ 0 toe on the street)
Rear: need to get camber bolts, or coilovers :devil:
Cusco rear bar set at 24mm, Kartboy endlinks
Whiteline Front 22mm bar with Noltec Endlinks (wagon specific)
Front (worthless mod) and Rear Strut Tower Bars
Accessport with STX map (for events)
Custom TBE (BPM Rustomatic downpipe, HF 3" Cat, Bosal TT axleback)
Gutted UP
Air filter

215/45R16 RT215 Azeni's on RS wheels (best mod of all IMO, great gearing difference)


That's all I can think of right now...

Car feels waaay balanced, although I haven't autoxed it since addition of the front bar, now it feels even better, esp in the transitions.

Coilovers might come this spring. Tanabe Flex is so.

Well, my updates are a little sporadic. Sounds like you've got a sweet setup on your wagon.

It isn't too bad. If anything I wish STX allowed some more street friendly mods (TMIC, Hoodscoop).

Also I envy sedan's ability to run 245 or 255 on oilcovers.

But oh well. My favorite part of STX locally is I get to run against Chang Ho Kim and Nate Whipple, who provide me a good reference point of how fast I need to be. I also have some good competition with Byron Flagg.

You should come up for the National Tour Event @ Devens on 6/10-11 !

Hey, why not? Only a couple thousand miles. :lol:

Hey, why not? Only a couple thousand miles. :lol:

I'll give you $5 towards gas :lol:

>>>Also I envy sedan's ability to run 245 or 255 on oilcovers.<<<

? I was running 245 Hoosier and Kuhmo R tires ... which are oversized ... more like 275's on my Wagon with Tein coilovers.

http://images15.fotki.com/v230/photos/4/43793/2687469/MakobyAlbert8_05-vi.jpg

>>>Also I envy sedan's ability to run 245 or 255 on oilcovers.<<<

? I was running 245 Hoosier and Kuhmo R tires ... which are oversized ... more like 275's on my Wagon with Tein coilovers.



Any spacers? Spring rates?

Also, today was the first time I've gotten violently thrown around in the seat. I thought to myself, "Aha, this is why everyone complains about the lack of shoulder-bolstering in these seats!" Man, I love my S-03's.

you need bugeye seats! ;)

you need bugeye seats! ;)

Do they come with side airbags?

Do they come with side airbags?


iirc some do, some don't.

Racing seats has been on my list for sometime.

fwiw, mine have side airbags. dunno if they all do.

when i get into my04 and later seats i feel like i'm going to fall out of the car in a corner!

I'm pretty sure that the bugeye seats should all have airbags, but not positive.

We just bought an '03 for my wife and it really makes me miss the seats in my old '03. I had fogotten how well they used to fit me.

Mako - I'm assuming that you had to roll your fenders to get that kind of meat under there.

-Bryce

Good thread, I bought an '02 wagon in November and have similar goals, phased approach based on time, money, and class restriction differences between SCCA and local road series:

Base: mechanically stock with the exception of Kartboy short throw shifter & bushings, Prodrive springs, and 20mm sedan RSB

Phase I (already purchased): Whiteline heavy duty endlinks front & rear (not yet installed), 16x7 SSR Comps with Toyo T1S 205/50/16 (will go on in the spring)
Phase I (looking to buy): SS lines, slotted stock size rotors (originals are looking pretty sorry at 41k), Carbotech Bobcat pads (based on reviews), swaybar mounts (to reduce slop), 3/16 mod (maybe, mixed reviews), cooler thermostat, Uncle Scotty's trans fluid mixture, stiffer trans mounts (this is the only car that I have missed redline 2-3 shifts on - I think because of trans movement), steering rack bushings

Phase II: Koni inserts, camber plates front, Group N tophats rear, rear strut brace, slightly wider 225/50/16 tires when Toyo's wear out, motor mounts, differential bushings, 22mm or Whiteline adjustable FSB, 20-24mm adjustable RSB

Phase III: This is the point where the car is a solid platform for power and would start getting into exhaust and Accessport. Not too concerned with this stage yet.

So, I'm throwing all this out there since this excellent thread has already been started, and it looks like we share common objectives. I realize that the order of these things might seem a little backwards. Phase I is basically everything I can do to run "stock" at the local road race series. Phase II puts me in prepared for the same series, and pretty much everything keeps me in STX at SCCA. Note - I could do the Koni inserts sooner, but would just as soon do the camber plates at the same time which are a point into the next class.

Any input on these choices above is welcome - If I'm missing anything, If anything here is worthless, or your $.02 towards specific products.

I'm pretty sure that the bugeye seats should all have airbags, but not positive.

We just bought an '03 for my wife and it really makes me miss the seats in my old '03. I had fogotten how well they used to fit me.

Mako - I'm assuming that you had to roll your fenders to get that kind of meat under there.

-Bryce
Bryce: Awesome on the dueling wagons bit! :D

Interesting plan. I guess with track prep those brakes need to come up way higher on the priority list.

Is the 3/16th mod fiddling with the wastegate arm? I think that's not STX legal.

Oh, and I've got some 05 swaybar mounts if you're interested in buying. :D

Is the 3/16th mod fiddling with the wastegate arm?


No, but it's also not worth doing at all IMHO. Unless you like your boost oscillating. It's fiddling with an inline restrictor in your boost control setup.

3/16th mod: Not legal. You're replacing a factory part.
Fiddling with the wastegate arm: You can do it, but it's not terribly beneficial. It seems to make the boost come on a couple hundred RPM quicker, at the expense of having it spike and pull timing right afterwards so beware.

Nobody mentions this mod because the last thing the NA camp needs in STX is protest fodder, but there is no way that a factory adjustment can be considered illegal as far as I know. :)

-Biggly

supermarkus and Biggly, thanks for the info.

I'm not terribly inclined to mess around with that kind of thing. I haven't spent much time learning about making power, but it seems like the hack mods you can do to some turbocharged cars lead to trouble with the WRX. I'll just stick to exhaust and appropriate EM.

supermarkus and Biggly, thanks for the info.

I'm not terribly inclined to mess around with that kind of thing. I haven't spent much time learning about making power, but it seems like the hack mods you can do to some turbocharged cars lead to trouble with the WRX. I'll just stick to exhaust and appropriate EM.
Which is all you need to do to be honest. You can make up so much more time with a good suspension setup than you could ever gain with trying to find that last 1-2hp by fiddling with everything else. :)

-Biggly

supermarkus and Biggly, thanks for the info.

I'm not terribly inclined to mess around with that kind of thing. I haven't spent much time learning about making power, but it seems like the hack mods you can do to some turbocharged cars lead to trouble with the WRX. I'll just stick to exhaust and appropriate EM.


Based on this feedback, I'll go with the "not worth the time" route. From what I understand, if you are using EM you need to get rid of all "free" mods, since EM is not tuned for stuff like that. I suppose gettting a custom tune would account for it, but not pre-packaged Accessport maps.

Event: Wiregrass Region Event #1, Valentine's Day Cone Massacre
Date: 12 Feb 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield
Suspension Mods: iPd rear sway bar on 24 mm, rear endlinks
iPd front swaybar, Noltec endlinks, Kon inserts, Crucial Racing springs
Wheels/Tires: Rota Attack 17x7.5 with Bridgestone Potenza S-03 in 225/45/17 at about half tread
Pressures f/r in psi: 35/33 hot
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 3, plus 3 fun
Best time: 67.xxx on second run
Class results: UNK
Class win time: 62.xxx
Pax results: UNK
FTD: UNK

My usual categories don't really apply for this autocross. It might be one of the biggest solid gold charlie foxtrots I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. They couldn't set up the course where they wanted to because an OH-58 Kiowa was parked in the way. They laid something out on the runway, and things got started real late. The runway course was mostly slaloms and offsets. After my first run, there was so much debris on the racing line that keeping the pointy end forward was almost impossible. I spun or got very sideways three times, in spite of cranking the rear damping down by half a turn and going 36f/33r on tire pressure. Pretty miserable.

The helicopter departed just as we were about to start running, so the event organizer started setting up another course. The plan was three runs on the first course for both run groups, then three runs on the second course. Well, the timing equipment stopped working for the second run group (replaced by my stopwatch), so it devolved into fun runs on the second course only. I was so fed up that I almost left, but I'm glad I stuck around. This course had such a wide variety of elements in it and flowed so well... lots of fun. It's great to be able to lay out a course in a more square setting. It had lots of corners with slaloms in between and finished off with these meandering gates, kind of like an offset, but different enough to be very interesting. Also, it took a lot of guts to get good speed out of it all.

That second course finally gave me the chance to evaluate the new strut/spring setup a little bit. I had the Konis on full stiff up front but kept that 1/2 turn to soft in the rear. This worked well on this relatively open course. It was stable in transitions without a tendency to loop. But, I'm really not driving it at 100%.

I had nearly adjusted to the new speed and grip of the wheels/tires and sways within a couple of events, but the springs/struts have moved it just a hair past that point. Things are definitely coming up faster on-course. I haven't adjusted to the speed at all. I think the harder springs and stiffer damping also make it less forgiving. All the squish has been taken out of my setup. I believe the solution is to start turning sooner, but much more gradually. I could really use a school or a ride-along. It's like learning to drive all over again.

I've also got a question on suspension setup. I think I'm going to keep these damper settings except on the very tightest of autocross courses. My other option for keeping a stable rear end would be to set my rear bar to a softer setting and keep rear damping at full stiff. The first option makes more sense to me. I've got springs and swaybars that are relatively soft, so I wouldn't want to give up any of that roll reduction if I didn't have to. Also, transitions are where things seemed hairiest. Aren't damper changes better for trying to control transition characteristics? Am I following sound logic here?

Aren't damper changes better for trying to control transition characteristics? Am I following sound logic here?

While I don't claim to be an expert, I ran across this pretty good article that offers some answers:
http://www.tsscc.org/images/handling.pdf

While I don't claim to be an expert, I ran across this pretty good article that offers some answers:
http://www.tsscc.org/images/handling.pdf

Thanks for the link. Good read.

Here's another article about how the different shock adjustments affect different parts of the corner:
http://www.smithees-racetech.com.au/theory/shocktune1.html

I found the Evolution school to be incredibly useful in adapting to new mods. I plan on having everything set for the season (except pressures) for this years Evo school, and leaving that way all year if possible.

In terms of the rear, you seem you use varing pressures lot. I have found I get the least amount of throttle-off oversteer when I use even F/R pressures.

What are the sizes of the F/R sways?

The pressures are probably going to stay 35/33 now... that was really a one-event experiment that didn't turn out great. Of course, that's just a baseline to start from. You've got to change them if course conditions warrant.

Sways are 22 mm front, 24 mm rear. I'm getting nice rotation in sweepers, so I'm not inclined to mess with that if I don't have to. From doing a little reading, I think I was right in my notion to reduce rebound damping in the rear. That makes the weight transfer from one side to the other more gradual. On course, it sure seemed to reduce the looping tendency in slaloms.

I'm going to take this opportunity to summarize a baseline for my tuning variables.

Front:
Tires- 35 psi
Shocks- full stiff
Springs- 257 lb/in progressive
Swaybar- 22 mm fixed

Rear:
Tires- 33 psi
Shocks- 1/2 turn from stiff
Springs- 217 lb/in progressive
Swaybar- 24 mm adjustable

I am still curious as to the use of such low pressures and offsetting pressures. Just for ****s and giggles I suggest you try 38/38 or 42/42 next event for a run or two. I find 42/42 to be the best starting point and then I adjust from there.

Are we running on concrete or asphalt for your events? (we run all apshalt up here)

Nobody mentions this mod because the last thing the NA camp needs in STX is protest fodder, but there is no way that a factory adjustment can be considered illegal as far as I know. :)Actually, Biggly, I disagree - I think a factory adjustment COULD be illegal. It all depends on whether the given factory adjustment is listed in the owners manual or the factory service manual. If it is, legal. If it's not (and not listed as an allowable mod in the SCCA rules for the given class), then illegal. All IMO of course.

My favorite part of STX locally is I get to run against Chang Ho Kim and Nate WhippleIs Nate running STX this year??

Actually, Biggly, I disagree - I think a factory adjustment COULD be illegal. It all depends on whether the given factory adjustment is listed in the owners manual or the factory service manual. If it is, legal. If it's not (and not listed as an allowable mod in the SCCA rules for the given class), then illegal. All IMO of course.


IMO that would be like saying tightening a loose header bolt is illegal. It is an adjusted used to ensure the wastegate is properly operating, not to change performance. The wastegate arm being improperly adjusted can only hurt your cars performance. If properly adjusted you should get a very minor spike followed by even tapering. When mine was off (too far to the tight side iirc), I would get a quick and early spike followed by the ECU freaking out, pulling timing, then by about 4k rpm's everything was back to normal. If it is too far to the other side, boost comes on late and doesnt reach peak factory boost.

Is Nate running STX this year??

Locally he runs STX, and STS nationally iirc. Yes he is whooping my ass in a under-prepped honda.

I am still curious as to the use of such low pressures and offsetting pressures. Just for ****s and giggles I suggest you try 38/38 or 42/42 next event for a run or two. I find 42/42 to be the best starting point and then I adjust from there.

Are we running on concrete or asphalt for your events? (we run all apshalt up here)

I definitely need a pressure differential. With equal pressures, the car was pure evil. I'll double check my sidewalls, but I don't think I'm getting rollover. My understanding was that you want as low a pressure as possible that prevents sidewll rollover. Handling is crisp at that pressure. I run on both asphalt and concrete. What kind of tires do you have? I'm running Bridgestone S-03's.

IMO that would be like saying tightening a loose header bolt is illegal.I stand behind my argument. I'm quite sure that a factory service manual has instructions that would cover tightening of every bolt. :)

When was the last setup you tried even pressures?

Old style Azeni's. I usually am between 38 and 42, although other WRX wagon owners here in NER liked 46 or 44 with similar setups.

I also just got RS-2's (235/40R17) for street tires, so I will run an event or two with them and report back on the difference and what pressures I liked.

I stand behind my argument. I'm quite sure that a factory service manual has instructions that would cover tightening of every bolt. :)
I understand your argument, but I'm pretty sure it's covered in the Service Manual as a factory adjustment, thus making it legal. I'll see if I can look that up later on.

However, if there is not a specification for it then one can't say what the "factory" adjustment is for the device, thus rendering the argument worthless. :)

edit: Ok, I went through the Factory Service Manual pretty extensively and here is what I found: There are not specifications for every bolt and there are none for the wastegate arm. More specifically, the FSM never really mentions that this piece is anything other than an input for the turbocharger itself and thus considers it part of the turbocharger unit as a whole. It's ability to be adjustable is ignored in whole because if one looks through the troubleshooting sections, the focus is on the valve controlling the arm, which is an electrical piece.

-Biggly

When was the last setup you tried even pressures?

Old style Azeni's. I usually am between 38 and 42, although other WRX wagon owners here in NER liked 46 or 44 with similar setups.

I also just got RS-2's (235/40R17) for street tires, so I will run an event or two with them and report back on the difference and what pressures I liked.
I like about 35f/38r in the Kooks for hot pressures. Granted I needed a full degree more camber to utilize the tire at such a low pressure, but the grip just kept getting better as I dropped the pressure down to 35psi. Once I had enough camber though the tires really did notably better. :)

-Biggly

Yeah, I am outta camber at roughly -2.75 in my current trim (stupid STi Struts on a wagon)

Yeah, I am outta camber at roughly -2.75 in my current trim (stupid STi Struts on a wagon)
Honestly, to get what you can out of the RS2s you are going to need more than that. :(

Good thing they are my road tires :p

Once I go oilcover I hope to get more cambers.

Bean-

Last setup for even tire pressures was 22 mm front swaybar, 23.5 mm rear swaybar.

Bean-

Last setup for even tire pressures was 22 mm front swaybar, 23.5 mm rear swaybar.

With the same suspension and everything else as well?

I still want you to try it. If you spin, then that just means you were trying too hard :p

With the same suspension and everything else as well?

I still want you to try it. If you spin, then that just means you were trying too hard :p

Nope, swaybars only. Struts and springs were stock.

From what I have read and what I've felt on-course so far, I think I'm better off sticking to the baseline I've figured out and learning to drive it. I'm lucky to get four sixty second glimpses at my car's handling in a given weekend. I've got a better understanding of what damping adjustments will do to the car and a setup that feels good. It's time to tune the nut behind the wheel for a few events.

I agree, it's just that in my experience with a prepped STX car, even pressures were easier to drive.

I noticed some rubbage issues after my last autocross. So, I hit up www.rollyourfender.com and rented their equipment. Things went pretty well. I didn't damage the paint, and it looks like I've got a lot more tire clearance. Shweet. Now I've bent metal.

Event: SE Divisional Event #2
Date: 25-26 Feb 2006
Location: Cecil Motorsports Park
Suspension Setup: 17 Feb baseline
Tire pressure: 36f/33r
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 3 each day
Best time day 1: 63.439 on 1st run
Best time day 2: 52.917 on 1st run
Total time: 116.356
Class results: 8 of 8
Class win time: 106.640
Pax results: 93.550, 77 of 101
FTW: 97.088, F125

Course description: The courses were fairly similar each day. The first day started with big offsets, followed by a fairly wide 180 turnaround, then a very tight and difficult transition section, a left 180 turnaround, through a very wide box, then a sweeper right. After the sweeper were a few offsets, then a conventional slalom.

Day two started with a tighter offset slaloms than the day before, then a 180 turnaround right followed quickly by a turnaround to the left. There was time to build up speed before a 60 degree left, and a good amount of space before coming back right 60 degrees. This led into a fairly tight slalom, then a right 90 degree turn. The next turn was a sweeper to the right, which led into an s-curve section. This then led to a finish slalom that added a cone at each slalom gate.


Course management: Overall, I think I'm still too timid on-course. It's worst in transitions. I especially just couldn't push hard in the slaloms. I also felt very behind on day 1's transitions after the first turnaround.


Equipment management: I didn't make much in the way of adjustments. I did get some pyrometer data, but I'm not sure how much I believe it. I took the readings immediately after getting back to grid. I took temps for the front tires on the outside edge, the middle, and the inside edge. I took the left-front first, which showed a low temp on the inside. This side also had the sun on it, for what that's worth. The right front showed a low temp in the middle. The pressures again were 36f/33r, with no rollover as shown by chalk marking.

Setup notes: No significant changes were made through the weekend. The car is difficult to drive at the limit in transition sections.

Competition notes: These guys were a whole lot better than me. I did not expect to win, but I did not expect to be five seconds a day behind. I believe the car has enough mods to be within a couple of seconds maximum given the right driver. The only consolation is I think I was going up against some pretty solid drivers who had their cars dialed-in.

Other comments: This is the first time I've really had a shot at a large group of very capable STX cars. I know where I stack up a lot better. The Middle Georgia stuff has been fun, but I've been mostly comparing apples to oranges. I did not realize I had quite that far to go. I'm also still not sure how much of my problem is the loose nut and how much is car setup. I can say for certain that right now I am not fast in this car setup. I might try some big changes this weekend for the Wiregrass event, just to see what happens.

I'm thinking of either trying out 35f/38r tire pressure, dropping the damping from full stiff front, 1 turn stiff rear to 1 turn stiff front, 1/2 turn stiff rear, or taking the rear swaybar from 24 mm to 23 mm. If there are enough runs on Sunday, I might try just pressures for the first three, then go for the damper change. This isn't completely random change for the sake of change. I still believe in a pressure differential for the tires, and higher rear might give up grip more progressively. Softer damping will hopefully reduce the abruptness of loss of grip. Rear swaybar is obviously just a grip balance shift, but ideally I'd keep all my roll stiffness maximized.

I also installed the Schroth Quick-Fit harness before Divisionals. Pretty easy install. It worked pretty well for the event. My shoulders didn't slide completely out of the seat like with the CG-Lock, but there was still a hair of wiggle room. It's also very easy to get out of quickly, which is a definite bonus. It's less than ideal than a racing seat/6-pt/rollbar, but it'll work.

I still think you should give even pressures a whole event ;)


Oh yeah, I am too busy to read back and remember what mods you have and havent done, but for the transistions, the biggest FSB you can find will be in order. My car feels amazingly steady in the change overs now that I have the whiteline 22mm and Noltec endlinks in. I cant wait to try it at an autoX and on summer tires.

flyboymike,
Are you looking for suggestions on things to improve for car setup?

-Biggly

flyboymike,
Are you looking for suggestions on things to improve for car setup?

-Biggly

I'm always open to suggestions, even if I don't always take them. :) But, I'm happy with what I've got now. I did the 35f/38r for my last event, and I couldn't believe how much more progressive the loss of grip was. I could catch any oversteer moments and push the car. Now that it's finally predictable, I'd like to focus on my driving. I got a good ride-along at the last event. I realized just how many bad habits I had when driving, but I fixed a lot of it by my last run.

Still, if you've got some idears, please share.

Well I looked back at your previous setup and can't see anywhere what the alignment was (or I missed it badly.) Could you give a quick synapsis of:
-springrates
-Bar sizes
-Alignment

Also, how did the car feel in sweepers? In transitions? Confident? Loose? not enough grip somewhere? :)

-Biggly

Well, my hardware will probably stay pretty fixed until I get the loose screw tightened down more.

Front:
22mm swaybar, endlinks
257 lb/in springs
-2.75 degrees camber
+5.8 caster
0 toe
Noltec camber/caster plates

Rear:
22 mm adjustable swaybar, set to 24 mm, endlinks
217 lb/in springs
-1.2 degree camber
0 toe
Grp N rear tops

Konis all around, usually set to full stiff front, one turn stiff rear.
I'm on Bridgestone S-03 tires until they wear out, then looking at 'Kooks or Falkens.

Sweepers, I get a hair of understeer on corner exit. Transitions, it can get loose if I'm not smooth, but it's pretty easy to catch. Frankly, this is more of an aggressive street setup than a national-winning autocross setup. I don't want a higher springrate, since this is my daily driver. I know a thicker front sway could get me more grip, especially after seeing how much roll up front I still have in a picture, but right now I feel like something I can really learn on.

I put up some info back on 17 February... I think the subject was "Baseline" or something like that.

I drove a Mk V Golf GTI today. The differences between it and the wagon were interesting. The Golf gets lots of torque down low, can spin its front tires, and has torque steer. The clutch is very finnicky. Most interesting was the electric steering. It was too light and artificial. The suspension absorbed bumps, but with good damping.

I mention this only because coming back into my own car, I realized just how much I actually like what I've done with it so far. I didn't realize how nicely weighted my steering was or how sharp the suspension felt until I got behind the wheel of something else.

After driving a vehicle with the Strano bar this past weekend, I can definitely recommend it. It seriously gave me turn-in response like I didn't think was possible in a Subaru. I absolutely threw it into a slalom and it just took it. (RT-215s didn't hurt, but they weren't dialed up with that much camber.) I also drove an SE-R SpecV (fun!) and a G35 coupe (sport setup with the 19" wheels.) Had a lot of fun comparing those; having to get a nice smooth run in as an instructor for the novice school.

flyboy: At your stage in the game your camber is good and really all I can recommend with your setup is to turn down the front struts a hair, raise the rear a bit, and then go with a bigger front bar. This advice is all only with the goal of keeping the springrates that you have now. :)

-Biggly

Biggly-

I guess I'll have to wait for Strano to come out with that wagon specific bar. I'll play with the dampers some, but having just finally figured out where I want the tire pressure, and with nothing "broken" in how it handles, I might give it one more event with the same settings. I'm not a consistent enough driver to make changes too quickly, especially if I'm focusing on the course, etc.

Speaking of G35's, I went up against a well-prepped one in STX last weekend. He had Tokico shocks on 350Z springs, I think 350Z swaybars, and intake/header/exhaust. He was also a damned good driver. More on him when I do my full event update.

Thanks for the tips.

I'll edit this thing with proper times once they're posted on the internet.
CN: I learned a whole lot and got a lot better this weekend. Looking ahead == very good, 35 psi front/38 psi rear == very good

Event: Wiregrass Event #2
Date: 12 Mar 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Dothan, AL
Suspension Setup: 17 Feb baseline
Tire pressure: 35f/38r
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 66.220 on rerun
Class results: 3 of 3
Class win time: 62.891
Pax results:
FTD: 57.038, F125

Course description: The course was an absolute blast. It started out with an extended left-right-left sequence. This led into a two cone offset slalom, taking the first cone down the right side. After this was a fairly wide U-shaped sweeper to the left, leading to a couple of slalom cones. Next was the tightest hairpin on the course. It went right, and was almost shaped like a triangle. After this was a lane change out to the right and back onto the original path. Then there was a long, 45 to 50 degree right turn, a couple of slalom cones, and the figure 8 crossover. There was a gentle left after the crossover, then a hairpin left. This led back through the crossover and a pick your own direction 5 cone slalom. The slalom led to a standard gate, then sort of jinked right for another few slalom cones. A sweeper right went right through the finish.

Course management: In the end, I managed the course well. Initially, I just didn’t look far enough ahead. I was trying to find my braking points and got target fixation on the entrance of corners. I also didn’t look through the slaloms well enough, resulting in one off-course. I was just trying to go too fast there. But, I improved my habits a bit and managed to find a lot of time in the turn after the lane change. I could go almost flat out if I looked ahead to the exit of the corner. My runs were about 70, 68 DNF, 68, 67, 66. Just from looking.

Equipment management: I came to a revelation that I was not, in fact, backsiding slalom cones like I thought I was. I figured out I needed to turn in just a hair sooner. I also really improved my technique on the pedals on my last run. I’ve been guilty of binary brake and throttle inputs for a long time, but I really smoothed things out for my last run. I hope I can keep the feeling.

Setup notes: 35f/38r on previous swaybar and damper settings just flat works. I got a hair of oversteer on the first offset slalom. The back end gave up its grip in a more progressive manner. I was able to just let it slide without really getting panicked. I’ve got a hair of understeer on corner exit, but not bad. It stuck really well through all the conventional slaloms.

Competition notes: I got help from the class winner, a guy running a G35. He had intake/header/exhaust, Tokico struts, and 350Z springs and swaybars. He ran on Falken 615’s. He was also fast as nuts. His first couple of runs got him into the 65’s, but he went into the 63’s and 62’s pretty quickly. There were a couple other STX guys, but I’m not sure how they did compared to me.

Other comments: Honestly, it doesn’t matter if anyone else got me. I don’t feel bad losing this week. I was consistent and had some serious revelations about technique. I’m hoping this event is my springboard to really getting fast. Looking ahead properly for my last couple of runs, it was like I was seeing the course for the first time. It just opened up, and I couldn’t help but find the right line. You really are only as fast as your eyes.

Kaylee is now a year old. I've put 20,000 miles on her so far. Still putting a huge smile on my face every time I get in her.

:lol:

My wagon recently crossed 50k :)

BTW, for front bar. hoppe put the Rustline X3003 (25-28mm iirc) on the wagon, and I am gonna buy one soon.

:lol:

My wagon recently crossed 50k :)

BTW, for front bar. hoppe put the Rustline X3003 (25-28mm iirc) on the wagon, and I am gonna buy one soon.

If Strano comes out with that monster 30mm wagon bar, I might get it eventually.

Oh yeah, I recently turned down my Konis for street use from 1 turn front, 1/2 turn rear to 1/2 turn front, 1/4 turn rear. It definitely takes the edge off a few more bumps, but I can also feel the slowed response of the car. I might play around with it a little more, give 3/4 turn up front a shot. I almost felt like I was back on the stock suspension tonight. The range that Konis give you is kinda nice.

This has been a great read. I have subscribed since day one.

It's like a great car mag. If I feel like I was there then its' a good read. Keep it up!

Some of us are older with small kids and wife that 'demand' most of our time. If I get to a canyon run once a year it's a big deal. I'm hoping to start tracking my WRX wgn some time 'this' summer :). No Autox for me yet. Winning the lotto for me will be one run at Laguna Seca. Some day

Again I really enjoy the updates!

Thanks for sharing,

Wow, thanks Drew! I'm glad someone's enjoying this.

Laguna Seca is probably my favorite track of all time. Even in the videogames, I swear I can feel the car unweighting under me as I wind down the Corkscrew. Getting there in real life is definitely something I've got to do, even if I've got to make the run in a Chevy Astro Van.

Yup...

I'd be happy borrowing my kids scooter :D

:lol:

Rustline X3003 (25-28mm iirc) on the wagon,
um, info on this thing please?? :)

CN: I applied the skills I learned from the last event successfully, coming within two seconds of the same driver who got me by three seconds last time on a shorter course.

Event: Wiregrass Event #3
Date: 9 Apr 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Dothan, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13038279&postcount=97
Tire pressure: 35f/38r
Damper settings: full stiff front/1 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 77.931 on fourth run
Class results: 4 of 5
Class win time: 75.9
Pax results:
FTD: 70.594 from an SM2 Corvette

Course description: This was a wild and woolly course. It was mostly sweepers and long medium speed corners with only a couple of slaloms. The start was a two-cone slalom, taking the first column down your starboard side. That kicked into a very quick left-right-left sequence, which brought you around to a 135 degree hairpin left. This one was actually pretty open. It was followed by a hairpin right and a short straight that led to a long right-left turn sequence. You wanted to get as much speed as possible through the left turn, because it was a long straight through a crossover gate. A full 180 hairpin right and another quick right brought you back through the crossover. After a little straight, a couple gates took you ninety degrees right, then into the course's tightest hairpin, a triangular-shaped 180 degree turnaround left. Up next was a wide 45 degree turn left with a little space to pick up speed before the very wide 180 sweeper to the right. You navigated through a 90 degree left that went straight into a u-choose-it five cone slalom. Staying outside was best for this corner, as the exit was a tight left hand hairpin. It finished by taking you immediately back hard right around a single cone, then through the finish.

Course management: I flubbed it pretty bad on my first run. On the long right-left turn sequence, I pushed too hard and got loose as I came back left. Luckily, there was plenty of space, so I was able to just let it stabilize on its own. Unfortunately, I did not keep moving my eyes ahead, so I had a first on an autocross course. I got lost. But, I knew where and why it happened, so that was the only time. I got a comment from a fellow Subie owner that I looked like I was hesitating through this part of the course, so I focused on pushing through the exit onto the long straight as hard as possible. Other than that, things were okay. For a few corners, notably the first hairpin left, I was actually playing a game of inches instead of feet in terms of finding the apex. I need to figure out braking points a little better. For the most part, I'm either chickening out and leaving too much on the table, or engaging ABS and completely blowing the corner. I also coned my last run after the second time through the crossover. I tried to carry too much speed and it drifted wide, taking out a couple cones. The good news was that I kept my head down and finished the run solidly.

Equipment management: This was a really long course with a lot of steady-state cornering. My tire pressures jumped a good three psi. They got distinctly greasy by the third run of the heat. I borrowed a sprayer again for the second heat and didn't notice a significant loss of grip. I'm thinking about switching to braking with my left foot. Now, I don't mean trying to use braking mid-corner for weight transfer, just using it for regular braking. Part of my problems engaging ABS are with my foot on the gas, I tend to go "Oh frack!" as I get to my braking zone and just go from full gas to mash brake. I tried using the left foot after the long straight through the crossover. It's definitely easier to be smooth and not panic with it when I've already got a foot on top of it. The potential of overlapping gas and brake inputs is there, but I've got a lot of other stuff to worry about before that's going to make me faster.

Setup notes: Same as before. I still feel like it's working pretty well. It still understeers if I go in too fast and/or brake too late, but it's pretty neutral everywhere else.

Competition notes: Mike with the G35 took the class again. My goal for the day was to be within two seconds of him, and I was. I was also right up there with a two-driver effort in another WRX. I wasn't checking their times as vigilantly, but one of them got me by three tenths. If I hadn't coned my last run, we would have tied.

Other comments: I got to ride with Mike in his G35 during the fun runs. I was amazed how deep he was braking into a lot of corners. Some of them I could have matched him, but not all. I definitely need to work on braking technique. The other notable thing about his run was that while I managed to make one or two apexes a game of inches, he made every single corner a game of inches. Very, very enlightening. He's a damned good driver. But, what I learned with looking ahead last time was not a fluke. It was still there a month later. Now it's going to be all about refining my line and improving braking.

Reinforced old lessons, learned some new ones... good day.

good day and as always a good read

um, info on this thing please?? :)


Buy it, put it on. When you mount it, the endlinks mount to the "wrong" side of the bar.

I am broke, so I haven't ordered one yet.

I attended the Walter Mitty Historic Races last weekend. Since this year was their tribute to vintage Japanese cars, they invited all cars of Japanese origin to take a parade lap around Road Atlanta. Even at modest speeds, the course is breathtaking. My favorite parts are the downhill S-turns and the hill right before Turn 12 onto the start/finish straight. When I get the time, I'm definitely going to have to do some HPDE's.

I also got to drive a Lotus Elise on a tiny autocross course. I didn't even adjust to the non-power steering, but I did get a little taste. I'm not sure if it's because you sit so low or if it's something to do with the suspension geometry, but it felt very different in the way it loaded up in a corner. Pretty neat.

Flyboy - hope you don't mind - but I like the way you're doing this thread, I'll throw in some feedback from today's event....
Setup plans laid out in this thread earlier (post 59). Here is where the car is at:
'02 WRX Wagon all stock except - slotted OEM rotors, carbotech bobcat pads, stainless steel lines, ATE Superblue fluid, Prodrive springs, Whitelilne HD endlinks front & rear, 20mm rear swaybar from sedan, SSR Comps 16x7 with Toyo Proxes T1S 205/50/16. Pics from previous owner, some changes made... http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=843565

5/13 - Salt Creek Sports Car Club autocross #1. (note all run times are unofficial, what I remember - official results won't be posted for a while)
The morning started at about 43 degrees and wet asphalt.
Without scanning a drawing of the course, I'll describe best I can. The directional indicators are to indicate what direction the car is travelling after the previous turn described.
Imagine the course area a big box with the starting gate in the SE corner and the finish gate in the SW corner. Then imagine that the basic layout of the course (with some deviations) looks kind of like an "M" within that box. The start had cars starting pointed NW with a 50 ft straightaway into a 90 degree right (NE), 2 cone slalom + turnaround(SW), back through the same gate that started the slalom, 120 degree right (~N) through a series of offset gates, tight left turn 160 degree sweeper (S) into a 4 cone slalom, another 160 degree turn this time to the right (N), through 4 offset gates, into a left increasing radius sweeper that brings the car around 180 degrees (S), 3-4 cone slalom into a Right and left 90 degree turn about 50 feet apart, 3 cone offset slalom and through the finish.

Runs 1-3 Tire pressure front 41, rear 37
Beginning of the day the course was wet. All the street touring classes were slated to be in the first group of 3 runs. AWD was a big advantage!! First run I learned I was braking way late and really pushing through turns. Next two runs I focused on slowing down in the wet. By working on technique, I was able to bring the rear of the car around a little bit in some of the transitions. At the end of these runs I was fastest for the group @ 73.6xx - although the drizzle had stopped by the time we finished, and two more groups were about to run.

Looking at the chalk on the tires I was rolling over front and rear too much.
New tire pressures 43 front, 41 rear
Runs 4-6
Faster! Ground starting to dry, going from run 5 to 6 there were some dramatic improvements for everyone. Braking points were tentatively identified and the car seemed to react better braking earlier with no gas through the sharper transitions. There were a couple corners where by lifting the throttle with the wheel turned the rear end would come around and slide through a box pointed in the right direction. Best times after this run was around 69.xxx, FTD (that I saw) was from a Cobra with a 66.xxx (although that could've been bested when I went for lunch)

With the drying track the tires were gripping better, the car was still pushing pretty severly. Checking the chalk again showed that the front tires were still rolling over pretty dramatically. 41 in the rear seemed perfect (rolling onto the side of the tread block ~.5 inches).
New tire pressure 45 front 41 rear
Runs 7-8
Knowing that these were the last runs everyone was pretty aggressive. Still pushing along, I took out one cone on each of my last two runs. Without the cone best time was 65.xxx. After running on mostly dry asphalt I noticed that I had worn ALL the chalk off the front tires, still rolling over badly! (chalk went down about an inch)

Summary - This is the second time I have autocrossed this car and need to get in better tune with this car, and tune the nut behind the wheel. Best time was 67.xxx. Won STX in a 2 car field against a Mini Cooper S with a rear swaybar. I believe his best time was 69.xxx. STX results were combined with DP and EP for trophies and the top of this class had at least one regional champion. I believe a Focus was fastest at 61.xxx. Don't know how big this combined class was or where these results fell in the scheme of the trophy class, but I believe I got spanked by all the prepared category cars once the track started drying.

I'm looking at the receipts from when I bought the car and see the last alignment was done 3/25/04. Specs (I'm assuming they haven't changed much):
Front Camber (left/right): -1.0/-1.0
Front Caster: 3.1/3.6
Toe: 0/0
Rear Camber: -1.2/-1.5
Toe: 0/0

After doing a little searching on recommended "performance" alignment settings I think these settings should be more like:
Front Camber (left/right): maximum with stock adjustments e.g. -1.5 to -2.0
Front Caster: N/A
Toe: 0/0 - or just a hair of Toe -in
Rear Camber: -0.75
Toe: 0/0

I could search, but maybe someone knows off the top of their head - I'm assuming camber/crash bolts are legal in STX? (since camber plates are) Don't know that I will need them, but just thinking...

Next event will be in about a month, either a track day or another auto-x. Anyone with feedback on the alignment I need? Will need to reduce understeer at auto-x while not oversteering at high speeds on a track! Note that the rear does come around when on the brakes or even lifting from the gas once the front tires have gained traction in a turn.

King- you'll probably get better feedback if you make your own thread.

The deal with camber/caster plates and camber bolts is you can do one or the other, but not both. You really, really want to use them. -1 degree negative camber is about all you'll get out of the stock adjustment range.

I'm not too surprised to hear you need a lot of pressure on those Toyo's. They're supposed to have a very soft sidewall.

Sounds like you've got a good setup going there. I really wouldn't call it "basically stock" myself... in autocross terms, you've got almost all the big items you're allowed to do for the suspension in Street Touring.

king - get some camber plates and some better tires.

Thanks for the feedback (will start a new thread after the next event). I agree that I could use new tires, but finances dictate that the current tires will be used up before replacing. Probably next year will replace with whatever the greatest tire is in a 225/45/16 or 225/40/16 - want to get shorter and wider than the stock tire size.

For the next event I'll go with the "performance" alignment settings mentioned a couple posts up - if I need to go with camber bolts in the front to achieve it I will.

Long term hopefully will see Koni inserts all around and possibly camber plates in the front and Group N top hats in the rear.

Well, I did something really stupid. I neglected to check my air pressure in my tires for about a month. When I was doing my oil change last week, I noticed the insides of my front tires were showing a lot of cord. I had no choice but to throw my stock wheels on while waiting for some new tires to come in. I'm going with the Hankook RS2-Z212. I guess that stuff about underinflation increasing tire wear is a bigger problem with an extreme alignment. I really wanted to get a full autocross season out of the Bridgestones. Oh well.

What was your tire pressure? Doesn't seem like that might have been the real issue. Strange that both front tires would both loose a bunch of pressure? ... and not the rears?

Since we are always bleeding off air pressure when autocrossing, and we forget to add air for the ride home, we might find ourselves low on air the next morning after the tires have cooled off. But, in fact, I don't find this to be the case. Usually the left over air is close to oem tire pressure specs and fine for street driving.

What is your alignment? It could be that you have a lot of toe out, plus neg. camber ... which wears the inside edges of tires.

What we do is have a maxed out neg. camber setting for the track/auto cross that also has toe out. After the event we pull back the negative camber until our toe is zero or better yet, slightly, one mm, toed in. During typical driving your tires go slightly toe out, so the slight toe in pre compensates for it. Because our steering arms attach to the front of our hubs, reducing neg. camber creates toe in.

We mark that position on our camber plates where we have zero toe and use that as our street setting. Once at the track, we go to max camber which automatically creates the toe out setting. Note that you only need a small amount of change in lessening neg. camber with your camber plates in order to go from say 3/16th toe out to zero toe. Probably no more then a 1/4 inch movement, in/out, on the camber plate.

It's toe that eats up tires, not camber. For the street you should not have more then a 1/16th inch toe in/out, ie. about 1.5 mm.

My tire pressures change very little of a month time. Make sure your valve stems are tight. You can buy a little tool at Pep Boys, etc., a multi tool that has a part that allows you to tighten the valve stem. There aren't many things worse then checking your air pressures at a AX and finding you are leaking from a valve stem! Keep that tool handy! Don't use much force ... small threads! And/or between AX's put back your valve stem covers.

It was down to the mid-20's on pressure. The rears were also low. Maybe I'd better double-check my toe settings up front...

Oh yeah, -2.75 degrees front camber, about -1 rear camber, supposedly zero toe all around.

Mid 20's isn't bad ... especially with our fairly stiff sidewalled tires. I had a flat with a S-03 and never knew it until I went somewhat hard around a corner. Just looking at it one couldn't guess it was completely flat.

I ordered some cheap replacement tires for my van. Their sidewalls are so soft that unmounted, they couldn't support their own weight! One realized that with regular tires it really is the air holding up the car!

btw. a lot of use have over -3 neg camber for the street and aren't bothered with excessive tire wear.

When you're Ax'ing ... check the tire tread temp with your hand. If it's uncomfortable hot, it's too hot and should be sprayed down. Kooks get greasy after 2, 3 runs. Usually we spray them down for the 3rd run.

Running neg. camber, the inside edge will always be hotter. The inside edge of the inside tire is getting dragged across the corner. But it shouldn't be much more then about 10 degrees warmer. Get one of those cheap Sears Infrared Thermometers. They aren't the best for measuring tire temps but they can be useful. Make sure you measure right after coming off the course. Needle pyrometers get into the carcass so they are more accurate.

btw. the best way to measure tire temps is just off of a skid pad, typically after three laps, and only measuring the outside tire temps. Run the opposite direction to measure the other tires.

Thanks for the gouge. I could easily spend a hundred bucks on random support equipment I could use right now.

I read the Team Blew thread about measuring toe. Did you just go to Home Depot and have them cut you out a couple of boards with those dimensions? My pocket bandsaw is, well... not effective. :p

They have 23" square 3/4" plywood there, I use that for measuring toe and camber after cutting off the corners so they fit under the fenders.

pre cut shelf boards are only a few dollars and nicely square. 2' length covers most everything. 245/45's like 2'6" boards ... but those boards are a bit long for measuring camber sometimes ... they'll hit the fender.

CN: Shook off the rust and the mold release to win my class..... by default. Also gained a new appreciation for slow, smooth control inputs.

Event: Wiregrass Event #5
Date: 11 Jun 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Dothan, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...79&postcount=97
Except Hankook RS2-Z212 in 225/45/17 vice the S-03's
Tire pressure: 35f/38r
Damper settings: full stiff front/1 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 69.xxx on sixth run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 69.xxx
Pax results:
FTD:

Course description: The course was wide open and fast today, except for the very start. Right after the lights was a tight 90 left, about fifteen feet of straightaway, then another ninety left, all with massive cone walls. The course opened up with a ninety degree turn right. Next was largely a straightaway with a few offsets and into a 135 degree sweeper right. There was a short straight followed by a 90 right, one straightaway gate, and a 90 left. The course then meandered left, tightening into a hairpin left. Then it was a long series of ornery offsets to a right-hand sweeper. This led onto the longest straight. I bounced off the rev limiter in second for maybe two seconds, then had a slight right turn followed by a short straight to set up for the u-choose-it slalom. It was a four-cone slalom with the last cone offset to the left and the following turn to the right, so I took the first one down my right side to avoid getting pinched on exit. (Our course designer really likes to make those slaloms pinch you twice if you pick the wrong side. That's fine by me, then I don't have to choose fast entrance or fast exit). The finish was a sweeper right, then the lights.

Course management: I was a little too focused on shaking the rust off and getting the last of the mold-release off my tires to do much with this in the first few runs. I hit the first sweeper to the right too hot and understeered for a couple runs. It was also tough getting through the ornery offsets. These, of course, were problems with not looking ahead enough, which I was able to correct by my second set of three runs. The first time I hit the sweeper too hot I took out the cone and pointers, but continued without losing focus. With the long back straight, I never bothered with third gear, and I'm sure it was the right call. It took looking ahead and some guts to figure out I only needed a lift to make the slight right bend afterwards, but I was consistently behind by the time I got to the slalom. I think I was fixating on the first cone there instead of looking at the end.

Equipment management: Things felt greasy for the first couple of runs. Now, this could've been the mold-release on the tires or the mold between the ears, I'm not sure. All I know is I did eventually make it go away. I slowed down my hands and made slower changes with the pedals. I'm going to type that out again for my own edification. I slowed down my hands and made slower changes with the pedals. I felt like I could feel the limit approaching because I was working up towards it much more slowly. It's so damned counterintuitive, but even (especially) when going as fast as possible, smooth and slow with the controls wins. Just like a golf swing. I tried switching to full-time left foot braking, but forgot which pedal my foot was on for the 1-2 upshift... hilarity ensued. I only really need that kind of touch for the really tight corners after the long straights, such as the hairpin after the offsets. I might try it more full-time, but not before the 1-2 upshift is complete. Frackin' embarassing.

Setup notes: I used all the same settings as I did for the S-03's. It seems to have worked all right. I'm only going to be able to hit one event a month at the most, so I'm going to need consistency. I'll see if the initial apparent touchiness at the limit was new tires or rust and if adjustments are needed.

Competition notes: The two greatest words in the English language: de-fault. I didn't have my usual yardstick, the G35, or really anyone else in STX. But, a fellow named Steve in a DSP Dodge Neon on Falken Azenis got me by three seconds. Last March, he was also about three seconds ahead of me when the G35 was more like 3.5 seconds ahead. I think I regressed a bit.

Other comments: I think the event was all right considering the new equipment and the time off. Most importantly, I could identify the mistakes and start making corrections. My times improved continually throughout the day.

subscribing finally.. great thread, nicely done.

subscribing finally.. great thread, nicely done.

Thank you. I'm still a little surprised there are folks who not only read all that stuff I write, but seem to enjoy it. :-)

Just an update of my setup to reflect the new 'Kooks.

Front:
22mm swaybar, endlinks
257 lb/in springs
-2.75 degrees camber
+5.8 caster
0 toe
Noltec camber/caster plates

Rear:
22 mm adjustable swaybar, set to 24 mm, endlinks
217 lb/in springs
-1.2 degree camber
0 toe
Grp N rear tops

Konis all around, usually set to full stiff front, one turn stiff rear.
Hankook RS2-Z212 in 225/45/17
Rota Attacks, 17x7.5

With a lot of help from the Auto Hobby Shop mechanics on base, I put these suckers on myself. I don't know if squeezing 235/40's is practical for next time, but if I do, I'll pay someone else to do all the work. :lol:

CN: Good on the brakes, my first heel-toe downshifts on course, still need to work on smoothness on the gas and on the wheel

Event: Wiregrass Event #6
Date: 9 Jul 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Dothan, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14135543&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/39r
Damper settings: full stiff front/1 turn to stiff rear (3/4 turn to stiff for last 3 runs)
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 83.085 on 5th run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 83.0
Raw results: 13th fastest time of 33 drivers
FTD: 71.764, F125

Course description: A police state trooper came to spectate at the event. He pulled out his trusty radar gun and caught one car hitting 74 mph. So, yeah, very very fast. Our site is a big rectangle. The start was a drag race along the short side of the rectangle, followed by a wide left hander that took you all the way down the long side of the rectangle. The gates were offset a little, but no lift was needed. This led into a hairpin left that was shaped like an arrowhead. A jink left and right brought you to the u-choose-it four cone slalom which demanded taking the first cone down the left side to avoid getting pinched on exit. The exit was a gentle sweep to the right into a right hairpin. A short straight took you into a three cone slalom, with the first cone down the port side of the car. It turned left after this slalom into a short straight, followed by a monster sweeper left that went about 140 degrees. This brought you onto a straight just long enough to build up a lot of speed, and then into a left buttonhook hairpin. The entrance to this one was initially wide enough to trick you into carrying far too much speed into the hairpin proper. After a short straight, there was a hairpin back to the right, a normal gate in line with a single cone taken down the left side and another normal gate. This led to a very tight three-cone slalom taking the first cone down the right side. Immediately after this was a half-Chicago box over finish.

Course management: That opening drag race, sweeper, and long straight put me into third gear. I think it was long enough to be worth the shift. Also, the arrowhead shape of the hairpin after lent itself to the heel-toe downshift. As I started to turn the wheel, I gently braked, blipped, and downshifted before the hard braking for the tight part of the hairpin. The practice on the street apparently paid off, because I never flubbed it. That's pretty exciting for me. The u-choose-it slalom was interesting today, because you had to choose whether to pinch yourself at the entrance or exit. When I was doing it right, I slowed down two normal gates before the slalom and treated the righthand cone of the last gate almost like the first cone of the slalom, backsiding it to set up for the rest. I'd say I got this part right only on my second three runs (and the fun runs). The monster sweeper had one gate in the middle that was on a smaller radius of curvature than the rest, so it was interesting trying to negotiate it. I was trying to treat it all as one giant curve, which didn't seem to quite work for this particular geometry. I was pretty good in the buttonhook hairpin, keeping my radius about as wide as it could be. I slowed down a lot for the final three-cone slalom so I could get way wide through the half-Chicago box. I'm not sure if it was the fastest I could've gone through, but I had the most confidence this way.

Equipment management: There were only a few missteps. I damn near spun in the u-choose-it slalom once. This prompted me to try bringing out 1/4 turn of damping in the rear. I slowed down on the entrance when I made this change, but I still think it was a little easier to keep under control with this change. I'll probably keep it like that. I blew through the buttonhook hairpin once, but nailed it every other time. My use of brakes was probably the highlight of the day. My heel-toe downshift worked out well, and through that buttonhook I was doing a bit of trailbraking with my left foot, slowly easing off as the corner tightened. I even got a little on-brake rotation in this fashion. It seemed pretty quick and was a whole lot of fun. I still need to slow down my hands and be more gentle with the gas.

Setup notes: 1/4 turn less damping in the rear made things a smidge less snappy on transitions.

Competition notes: I was the only STX car again. Steve in his DSP Neon got about an 80.1, besting me by three seconds once again, although I did manage an 82.0 during the fun runs. He was nice enough to ride along with me and had a few interesting thoughts. He felt I was putting on too much RPM for launch and then getting bogged down. I'll see if I can go with a lower initial RPM and go slower with the clutch, see if I can keep it in power that way. That's closer to what I try to do at a stoplight, anyway. He brought up my abruptness with the wheel and gas. He suggested "never go in a straight line", i.e., always have the suspension loaded up to help stave this off. I'm going to think about that next time, but I'll add the modifier, "unless you're trying to do some hard braking."

Other comments: I feel like the vision is there and the braking is there. I'm still starting off slow with my first runs and only bringing it in after getting a feel for the car. If I can figure out this whole "slow the hands down" thing, I think I'll find that my car actually has more grip and I can carry more speed. Anybody know some good drills for throttle modulation and smooth steering for, say, a slalom? I'm also still playing a game of feet vice inches in terms of hitting an apex. Interesting day.

Oh yeah, I also got to ride along with a guy in a stock STi with the Yokahama AD07's. It was an interesting comparison to my car. He was entering corners hotter than I was and encountering understeer a lot. I got the sense that the balance of my setup was definitely more towards the rear and I probably could've gotten away with his entry speeds more easily. Theoretically, we've got similar enough tires that we could generate similar amounts of mechanical grip, but I could tell I had more. Nice to know I've done something right with the setup.

Another great write-up. On the understeer, STi's are fat pigs of a car so their weight is even more than your '05 wagon.

I did what is likely to be my only ICE mod today. I ordered the basic auxiliary input kit from Jazzy Engineering.

http://www.jazzyengineering.com/

They provided some of the best instructions I've ever received for an aftermarket part, and the shipping was quick. So, I can use my mp3 player in the car now. I haven't tested it out around the cones yet, but I expect 0.5 seconds on a 60 second course. :lol:

CN: I can taste it. It's on the tip of my tongue, it's just out of reach. I'm so close to making a breakthrough, and I'm going to do it by chair flying the course very thoroughly and remembering slow in, fast out.

Event: Wiregrass Event #7
Date: 13 Aug 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Newton, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 63.652 on 5th run
Class results: 1 of 2
Class win time: 63.652
Pax results: 12 of 40 drivers
FTD: 54.380, SM2 Toyota MR2 with V-6 and wide, wide R-comps

Course description: This was a great rhythm and momentum course. No long straights, no "who's got the cajones" braking zones, no tight hairpins. After the launch, it was a three-cone slalom, first cone down the left. Past the slalom, it was a 45 degree left turn with a cone wall on the right. A single cone made you cheat out right, then come left through a gate into a three cone slalom, first cone on the right. Really, the left cone in the gate was the first slalom cone. After the slalom, it was a large sweeper to the right, about 135 degrees with a huge radius. With at most ten feet of straightaway, it hooked back left ninety degrees. There was just a little more straight, then a 180 degree sweeper right with an increasing radius. After getting way outside from the sweeper and a bit of straight, you came back right for another wide sweeper going about 110 degrees of turn. It was defined by a single cone on the inside and a normal gate, but the real point of interest was the first of two slalom cones that was taken down the right side. The second slalom cone became irrelevant as you swept back left through 130 degrees of turn, but with about half the radius of the monster sweeper. Then, three cone slalom, first cone down the right side, and a turn right about 60 degrees. This let you build some speed through a short straight, then a sweeper 180 degrees back right directly into a sweeper back left 180 straight into a tighter 90 degree turn over finish.

Course management: I've got to start this section out by explaining that I'm currently a student Naval aviator. I soloed the T-34 this week. There's a technique we use called "chair flying" to get us to focus on what each step of the flight is going to feel like and what's coming up next. I've never actually sat down and chair flown an autocross before, but I tried it today. The good news was I found just about the ideal line on my first run, but I had not completed my visualization. I hadn't thought about speed. So, this run was done at almost a constant speed throughout the entire course for a 65. I tried to start chipping away at it. I had the key cones pretty well in my head, but something was missing. In trying to figure out where to push, first I blew the line, and then I spun for a couple of ugly runs, but did manage to get it down to a 64 through brute force. Finally it hit me: slow in, fast out. I gave up just an eensy bit at the start of each corner, then flogged it out. I could feel I was carrying a lot more speed, and the clock agreed. Down to a 63.6. I got just a little excited on the right-left transition after the first big sweeper with only ten foot of straightaway and got loose on my last run, costing me a little time. It was a 63.8, and I swear that moment was more time, so I think I almost had a little more. The other thing I did well was attack the slaloms. I was within inches of each one and backsiding them neatly. The last three-cone slalom, however, I didn't quite think through the exit well, which spun me once and cost me a little time.

Equipment management: It was all about gently loading up the suspension and not losing grip in the meantime today with all the right-left transitions through major turns. I did it pretty well. I think I could've braked more aggressively to make up a bit more time.

Setup notes: As before, played a little with pressures (37 and 40, 36 and 40). I need to stop being a cheapskate and buy a compressor.

Competition notes: The other guy in STX was pretty new and trailed me by a couple of seconds in a Spec V Sentra. Steve in his DSP Neon got into the 61's. Hopefully I'll find out exactly how much later.

Other comments: Timewise, I wound up about where I usually do. Steve with the DSP Neon got a 60.903. But, I think I've finally found out how and why and how to make it better. I have a tendency to emphasize a smooth line over putting on an all-out attack on the course. Now I've got a better understanding of where to attack. To paraphrase a politician, it's the exit, stupid! This reminds me a lot of my run at the Subaru Challenge last year, back on RE 92's. I finally figured out the entrance speed I could get away with and focused on coming out of the corners hot. That's what I need. And I need to chair-fly it beforehand. Goal for next month is to get my two-seconds off my usual benchmark within the first three runs. Then, slowly apply more speed to the entrance until the exit starts getting compromised.

Other cars: A fellow with an STU STi (stock suspension except rear swaybar) was nice enough to let me take a run with his car. The 2.5 definitely hits harder. I also felt like there's a lot of potential speed to be had by using the center differential to rotate the car. It felt easier to take through transitions. I'm not sure if I was feeling that lower steering ratio, or maybe the linearity of his springs versus my Crucials. It was fun, but surprisingly, I didn't feel lacking for not having an STi of my own. Maybe I just like my car. I rode with another buddy in his STi (AS, runs the Yok Advan street tires). This was his second event, and it was great to see him driving much, much better this week. He got down to a 63.5. His STi also seemed less understeer-prone on this ride. I think he's finally slowed it down enough that he can use that center diff to pull himself around.

Well, all this time I thought I was running around with -2.75 degrees camber up front, -1.2 in back, and zero toe all around was not right.

Front before (L--R) -3.4 deg camber, +1/32 in. toe ---- -2.6, 0 toe
Front after: -1.8 street setting and zero toe both sides
Caster unchanged at 5.9 left, 6.0 right

Rear camber is the same before and after, -1.5 degrees left and -2.0 degrees right. The total toe was zero, but I had a thrust angle with plus 5/32 right and minus 5/32 left.

All adjustments to front camber were made strictly with the plates. For events, I'm going to crank it up to my max on the one side, -2.6, and try to match with the other side. I'll see if I can figure out how much toe out that'll give me.

My new set of Hankooks, all kept at a good pressure, showed great wear on the fronts after a couple months with the old alignment. I rotated them and got the alignment done as quickly as I could. Now, all the alignment guys contend my camber was what was doing it, but several members on these boards I greatly respect say they've had normal wear even with extreme settings. The other possible explanation is I was compensating for the thrust angle on the rear tires as I tried to keep the car going straight and unwittingly put a net toe setting on each tire. 5/32 is pretty big, after all, just a tick over 1/8. Well, either way, I've got the plates and the flexibility to have two settings, so I'm going to go with that and try to save some money.

Oh yes, if you're looking for a good alignment shop in Pensacola, check out Raley's. $128 front and rear on what could be described as a "special needs" car. :lol: Oh yeah, and they're real car guys too.

CN: Wound up being smoother with the wheel, looser on the brakes. What about slow in/fast out?

Event: Wiregrass Event #8
Date: 10 Sep 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Newton, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 84.203 on 6th run
Class results: 1 of 2
Class win time: 84.203
Pax results: 8 of 27 drivers
FTD: 78.746, AS STi

Course description: It started from the corner of our rectangular site coming out at 45 degrees. Two slalom cones, first one down the right side, then 45 degrees left, short straight, and into a right hairpin. The straight after the hairpin was offset right. Right after our surface change from concrete to asphalt, sharp hairpin left through 135 degrees of heading change. We ran straight along the asphalt for a bit, then took a very gradual 90 degree turn left back onto concrete. This is where things got really interesting. The course hooked back right 90 degrees in about 1/3 the space of the first sweeper straight into a u-choose-it three cone slalom. The next turn was a 135 degree hairpin right, so it paid to take the first cone down the starboard side, leaving you open for entrance and exit. The transition of hitting all these elements correctly felt just amazing. Anyway, the hairpin right for 135 degrees led onto a straight off the concrete with another hairpin left for 135 degrees. Next was a two-cone slalom, first cone down the right. The course veered left slightly back onto concrete for a 180 sweeper left. From here, it was a short straight into a pair of 90 rights separated by just a whisper of a straightaway, then a triangle-shaped 180 sweeper left. There was a very long three-cone slalom, first cone down the right, followed by a gentle 45 degree left turn. This came back right 45 degrees into a short straight with a right 90 degree turn over finish.

Course management: Times went 87, 85, 84, and stayed right around 84. I did a lot better being cognizent of surface changes and not getting caught out by them. I did figure out how to push through the left-right-slalom sequence. It was visually confusing, but relatively straightforward to drive once you decoded it. I also figured out that I didn't need to lift for the last slalom.

Equipment management: I didn't spin it today. I got to very close to my ultimate time quickly. I've either finally learned how to probe the limits of grip on the car really well, or I'm not pushing enough. I was definitely smoother than I've ever been before with the wheel, maybe the gas as well. I wussed out on braking, though, particularly going off the concrete. I think I was gun-shy from last event.

Setup notes: Full negative camber on both plates, -3.4 left, -2.6 right. Not ideal, but I'm not quite up for another $130 to sort that out just yet. I think I like the toe out. Things felt more natural with the wheel. Maybe there's a little extra grip at smaller wheel deflections with a little more feedback or something. I'm still very concerned about tire wear.

Competition notes: Ran with a guy named Kelly in a G35 that had engine work and wheels/tires. He got down to an 86 in the end, which was great work for the first time out with the car. I get the sense I should've been faster.

Other comments: My fiancee got to ride along for the first time today. She enjoyed it. As for my progress, I felt like I regressed a little and advanced a little. I know the turning grip limit much better now, but I must remember the braking. I didn't get too far into my main thoughts from last time regarding slow in, fast out. It definitely seemed like I was focusing more on carrying speed, which, of course, felt fast. Huh. Maybe I should stop trying to make that an either/or proposition.

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since I started this thread about Kaylee. She is fundamentally different than when I drove her off the dealer’s lot. My driving skills have matured a little bit with the car, from stalling her four or five times on the drive home to regular double-clutch heel-toe downshifts. I have taken her 30,400 miles and she has been a faithful traveling companion, commuter, and autocross vehicle. Here is her current state.

Suspension- complete for the foreseeable future, except rear strut bar
Crucial Racing springs on Koni struts
iPd 22mm front swaybar with Noltec endlinks and 24mm rear swaybar
Noltec front camber/caster plates
Group N rear strut tops

Wheels/tires- Might try Falkens next and go 235/40
Rota Attack 17x7.5
Hankook RS2-Z212 in 225/45/17

Engine- nothing significant done, burning off a little more warranty and saving up cash

Driveline- Will probably add tranny mount, engine mount, and rear diff bushings, plus a little more to make shifting more fun.
Kartboy front and rear shifter bushings and short shifter

Convenience- just some things to make life easier
Fumoto Oil Drain Valve
Jazzy Engineering Aux-In

Driver restraint- not comfortable with seat swapping for this one, so this is done
Schroth Rally 4 harness for autocross
CG-Lock for the street

So far, the damage is $2,976.30 in hard parts, $800.00 in consumables ($690 in one used and one new set of tires, plus $110 for my Hawk brake pads), and $480.89 in installations and tool rentals. That last figure included two alignments, rolling my own fenders, installing a set of tires, and a lot of lift rentals. I’ve sold my stock rear strut tops for $26.40 net profit.

The grand total to this point: $4,230.79

The only thing I would have done differently so far was regarding alignment settings. First, I didn’t find a good shop. Their settings left and right were very definitely off up front, and they left a thrust angle in the rear, although total toe was nearly zero both front and rear. Second, I was just too aggressive for the street. I’ve heard several people on this forum claim no problems with lots of negative camber on the street. Well, not me. I killed my first set of tires within about 5,000 miles with -2.6 and -3.4. The inner edges were rubbed down right to the chord. I rotated my Hankooks before I had to actually dispose of the fronts, but it was obvious the wear was accelerated. I’m in the Florida panhandle. There’s nothing here but long, straight highway, and I’ve got a long commute each day. Maybe guys on city streets and with a lot more curves don’t have this problem, I don’t know. But, I found a good shop and got a street setting using camber plates, which gets changed to a race setting when it’s time to get serious.

Driver development- There’s still a long way to go. I felt like I could drive the car as far as it could go stock before modifying. Only now do I feel like I’m consistent with it. The extra speed and responsiveness was a pretty big learning curve when you only get maybe 6 one minute shots at seeing what’s going on, and that’s only once a month. I just don’t have the option to go far away for multiple days of an Evolution school. I’m consistent, but I’m still not fast, I don’t think. It’s tough not having consistent competition. I’m kind of in no-man’s land as far as autocross here. But, there’s nothing to do for it except to keep plugging on.

Up to this point, I have met my goals. I’ve got a platform I’m happy with that’s already a boatload of fun, and I still haven’t added power yet. I’ve never gotten a complaint from someone that the car was too loud or harsh. I’m still commuting comfortably. It’s not stock-comfy or stock-quiet, but the tradeoff in comparison to the performance gain is very small, exactly what I was going for. Now, if I can just keep her from eating tires, I don’t think I’ll blow my budget either. Many thanks to all the people on this forum who actually know what the frack they’re talking about and share with the rest of us.

Tire Wear ... you say yourself that your front alignment was off. What was your toe? It's toe that wears tire more then camber ... plus perhaps your driving hard on the street, going into corners too hot. Suby oem toe specs are plus or minus 3 mm.

We use up to -5 camber in front for Ax'ing with around 1/4" toe out. We reduce camber until toe is zero or a tiny bit In for the street. Very easy to do with camber plates. You only have to slide the camber about 1/4" out on the slider to reduce toe to zero. We are still left with a lot of neg. camber ... but we don't care about that. Of course with all of our Ax'ing, we don't over do it on the streets. ;)

It's toe that wears tire more then camber ...
+1,000,000

Front toe was 1/32nd inch out on the left, zero on the right. Rear, it was -5/32 left, +5/32 right. I did not get significant wear in the rear. Is it possible I increased net effective toe up front because I was compensating for a poor thrust angle in the rear?

As for craziness on the street, uhm... have you ever been to the panhandle of Florida? I see two real turns each day in my 26 mile commute. I take them quickly when I can, but never, ever to the point of tire squeal. That would be dangerously fast on the street with this setup. Besides, shouldn't that wear the outer edge first?

In any case, I don't have the money to gamble on that. Street settings have been reduced to -1.8 up front.

Very easy to measure toe ... just get two 2" long shelf boards, they're straight and inexpensive. Put them up against your tires and measure the inside of the boards side to side ... front of the boards and back. The difference is your total toe. If the front is longer, you have toe out and vice versa.

Some wheels have "spokes" that stick out past the tire making it difficult to get the board evenly flat across the tire/wheel. You could perhaps add some of those thingies that you nail (some are self adhesive) to the bottom of furniture legs to make "posts" that would go up against the tire or some part of the wheel so that you could get the board even across the tire.

Very easy to measure toe ...

... but I know what the toe was before and what it is now... and if I reset my plates to the marks I made, it'll return to zero for the street... not quite sure where you're going with this. Heck, I even bought a toe gauge, but those bums forgot the screw that connects the two halves of the device together. :lol:

Depends on how bad the thrust was. See this easy set-up for checking thrust: (I just copied and pasted ... check all three links)

http://www.weblumen.com/subaru/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1276

http://www.weblumen.com/subaru/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1267

http://www.weblumen.com/subaru/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1275

Next time flip your tires on the rims, before they cord.

A friend just won at the ProSolo Nationals running his Yok's, which has very similar tread as the Kooks, backwards.

Our messages are out of sync ... sent the one about toe before you said you had very little toe.

I'm just telling you what national level drivers are doing with their front camber and toe.

The -5/32 and +5/32 in the rear led to a thrust angle of 0.31 degrees, according to my alignment printout here. So, any idea if this is significant enough to affect things up front?

Does flipping the tire reduce its hydroplaning resistance?

RS2's are directional, but they're symmetrical. You can flip them on the rim, and still have forwards be forwards, and it shouldn't affect your accel/braking performance or hydroplaning behavior at all.

-Mike

Of course flipping the tires affects it hydroplanning resistance. According to the Tire Rack tech article test ... it was almost 0.1 seconds on a 60 second wet AX course! :lol:

Your thrust doesn't seem that bad ... not enough to effect your front tire wear very much.

Keep us posted if your reduced camber reduces your tire wear significantly.

Hey, thanks guys. Good gouge.

CN: Another great course, a few new things to think about, thanks for the drive Mykl :)

Event: Wiregrass Event #9
Date: 8 Oct 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Newton, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/39r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 71.253 on 6th run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 71.253
Pax results:
FTD: 65.204, old school EP Toyota Celica

Course description: Every month, every single month, Cole comes up with some new and unique course emphasizing something different. This month was all about transitions, or specifically, non-traditional slaloms. It started off with a three-cone slalom, first cone down the right, that curved to the left. There were two closely-spaced conventional gates, then the start of a four cone slalom. First cone was down the left, second cone was offset right to open up the slalom for you. The third cone was offset back left, again helpful, but the last cone was offset left again, pinching you. This last cone went down the right side, and you immediately had a 90 degree right hairpin through a crossover gate. There was a wide sweeper right onto the asphalt where you had to be cognizent of losing grip in the rear to avoid the spin. It came back onto concrete for a 180 degree sweeper right, which led directly to the u-choose-it five cone slalom. It was best to stay outside and take the cone down the right. Next, back through the crossover and into a very wide three cone slalom. This slalom pointed about 45 degrees to the right with the first cone down the right side. The next two gates straightened the line back 45 degrees left, then into a 180 hairpin left. This went to a short straight, a fairly open 90 right, through the second crossover, and then down into mixing bowl. The first part was a sweeper right about 90 degrees. You never really straightened your wheel to continue into the (sneaky) decreasing radius 180 hairpin right. If you slowed down into this one, you could power out back through crossover #2 in time for the last 4 cone slalom. These all had four pointers leading up to each cone. The first cone was down the right side. Second cone was offset left to open up the slalom. Third was offset right, helping again, and pointing the slalom overall to the right. The final cone was offset left enough to not matter as the next two conventional gates again straightened the whole thing out back to the left. This led into a sort of super-wide lane change left-right type of maneuver, then a 90 right over finish.

Course management: I couldn't decide if I wanted to be aggressive or smooth today. With all the transitions, I could definitely push more than dealing just with steady-state cornering, but I think it also made me get greedy on the corners. That made me lose exit speed. I was stuck at 71.9-ish for most of the day, but brought it down with my last run by bumping up my aggression just a hair. I coned on the u-choose-it slalom once, which was fine. Gotta do it every once in awhile, find the size of the car.

Equipment management: I only spun once, through the last 4-cone slalom. I just got greedy with the speed and around I went. I did a great job of feeling out my grip in the right-hand sweeper on the transition from concrete to asphalt. The wheel was relatively straight, so it just started to go slowly. I eased off the gas, got some grip back, and eased back onto it. I was not handling the slow corners well today at all. I got a comment that I was trying to hard in the mid-corner, which I'm usually good with. Maybe next time that should be the one place I'm calm... Braking was okay, nothing to write home about. A lack of smoothness did exacerbate onset of ABS a few times.

Setup notes: As before, feels okay.

Competition notes: I was lone wolf in STX today. Mykl was there in his STi with 225 Hankooks and brand new zzyzx oilcovers, best time of 68.457 A guy in a stock 2005 2.5 RS managed a 73.928. I'm slotted between the two, but I got the sense I really should've gotten under 70.

Other comments: I got a ride-along from a guy from Dixie Region who showed up in time for fun runs. He liked my smoothness, but said I was definitely not aggressive enough in a few places and was giving up time where it was not necessary. He also pointed out to me that I was trying too hard mid-corner. Oh yeah, with his A-Stock STi on KDW-2's, he managed a 67 something. Dang.

Other cars: Mykl was kind enough to do a ride swap. Actually, he was the guy who let me drive his STi a couple months back. Well, what a difference coilovers make. The power seemed more impressive because I was actually able to use it. In 3rd gear, you get more acceleration out of a tight corner than I get in 2nd. He's got around 450 lb/in front and 500 lb/in rear springs, plus the Cobb hollow 25mm swaybars. Now, I'm not sure if it was that increased wheel rate up front or the fewer turns lock to lock, but that thing just felt pointable. Really pointable. I could wrap it up more violently than my WRX without losing grip and understeering. It seemed more forgiving of not being smooth. But, I also wasn't pushing quite as hard with his car as with mine, so it might just have been the slightly lower speed. Still, it's enough compelling evidence to make me think about a monster FSB, since I'm not up for 450 lb/in.

My spring rates are actually 450 front and 400 rear. :D I think you'd actually be surprised to find that the ride isn't too harsh except over the worst of roads. The only place I've found that my car is uncomfortable is over the last mile of I-85 in Montgomery.

You were definitely going easy on my car when you drove it. I thought maybe you were just testing the engine, but there were a few spots on course that you were using third to drive out of corners where 2nd was perfect. Even on the stock engine my car doesn't understeer on throttle, it either goes exactly where you point it or the rear end comes around and then goes where you point it. Something I've found about the STi is that when it's time to accelerate it's best to go full throttle quickly and adjust from there.

I love Cole's courses. They always accomodate some really entertaining high speed (for autocross) sliding in my car. Since it's so wide open going out of control and spinning is no big deal, and it can even be a bit fun. :) A friend of mine actually got a good video of me in a big four wheel drift in third gear at the slippy spot where the surface went from concrete to asphalt.

For next weekend (Birmingham) I'm going to bring up the bump stiffness in the rear another click to see if I can't make my car a little more biased towards oversteer on turn entry. I love how the car feels on steady state cornering with the Cobb bars and spring rates I've got, very smooth transition to oversteer.

I really enjoyed driving your car... spinning it was fun. :D It felt a lot more relaxed than mine... not so highly sprung, a lot smoother. I'd probably be a much better driver if I had started autocrossing before I got my STi. I think if you were to improve anything about the car, it would be to go to bigger swaybars. I like my Cobb's, but I wish I had Whitelines. Overall though, I was surprised at how similar our two cars felt in terms of handling. Your car just felt like a slightly softer version of mine. With my rear sway cranked up to full stiff our swaybar ratio from front to rear is close to the same, and our spring rates are about the same ratio.... and we had the same exact tires.

Can't wait until next month.

Event: Wiregrass Event #10
Date: 12 Nov 2006
Location: Hunt Army Airfield, Newton, AL
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/39r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 70.314 on 3rd run
Class results: 1 of 2
Class win time: 70.314
Pax results: 4 of 23
FTD: 64.973 by a Street Mod Mustang

Course description: Another interesting course. After the start, you snaked left around a single cone, shifted to second, and came back right through a normal gate. Two quick slalom cones, first one down the left side, led across the pavement change from concrete to slick asphalt into a left hand sweeper. Continuing down the asphalt, there were two offset gates spread far apart, followed by a third gate just back on the concrete, then a left-hand 180 hairpin. After a short straightaway, there was a five cone u-choose-it slalom. Putting the first cone down the right side gave you good position for the 180 right hand sweeper. After a short straight, the course buttonhooked right and left, then came into a 180 hairpin left. This led into a modified Chicago box to the left. It worked out like a slalom, since the gate cones were all in a line. The course curved left, then a sweeper right over finish.

Course management: I was a little far off the slalom cones today. I spun it on the transition back to concrete for one run. Braking just didn't seem to get nailed solid. It felt kind of overall mediocre.

Equipment management: It seemed like I had less grip than usual. It was kind of cold early on, but it's also possible my tires have gotten heat-cycled out. They're definitely getting worn.

Setup notes: I played a little with the damping, softening things to see if I could get more grip. I did not like what this did for the car in transitions.

Competition notes: I was about three seconds behind Mykl, and two seconds behind a stock 996 Porsche 911 being driven by a Japanese Sony engineer. I'll take being within two seconds of a Porsche.

Other comments: I must have had one of the early batches of Rota Attacks, because on my second to last run, I heard a big "pop!" on course. I thought it was an endlink, but when those looked okay, I went and did my final run. Only afterwards getting the car secured did I realize I cracked a wheel. I've heard they are very good about warranteeing this wheel, so we shall see.

Other cars: Drove Mykl's STi again today. He had done a Stage 1 reflash, and man! Super powerful. He also had new 245 Falken Azenis. I think I'm going to switch to Falkens next. It just seemed like I could get to much greater slip angles without losing grip. It seemed much more forgiving, which I could definitely use.

Take note: Mykyl's tires were giving him quite the time advantage; brand new Falkens are extremely grippy. :)

-Biggly

Take note: Mykyl's tires were giving him quite the time advantage; brand new Falkens are extremely grippy. :)

-Biggly

Yeah, I was riding in the passenger seat of my car feeling like he was about to whoop my ass in my own car. :lol: If he had another run in it I'm sure he would have either closed the gap, or posted a better time than me. I did learn a few things about my car while riding in it though, it's amazing what a more experienced driver can show you.

His tires were definitely toast... he would have picked up an easy second if he was on new ones.

Yeah, I was riding in the passenger seat of my car feeling like he was about to whoop my ass in my own car. :lol: If he had another run in it I'm sure he would have either closed the gap, or posted a better time than me. I did learn a few things about my car while riding in it though, it's amazing what a more experienced driver can show you.

His tires were definitely toast... he would have picked up an easy second if he was on new ones.

Wow, I was showing somebody else something with the driving? That's awesome!

Wow, I was showing somebody else something with the driving? That's awesome!

Yeah, I learned "you've got torque, third gear is really useful now." :lol:

Yeah, I was riding in the passenger seat of my car feeling like he was about to whoop my ass in my own car. :lol: If he had another run in it I'm sure he would have either closed the gap, or posted a better time than me. I did learn a few things about my car while riding in it though, it's amazing what a more experienced driver can show you.

His tires were definitely toast... he would have picked up an easy second if he was on new ones.

It's tough to compensate for bad tires because deep down you keep thinking "have I suddenly forgotten how to drive? What's wrong with me?" I have run the entire year on busted tires and it is no treat. There were some events that I gave up 2 seconds to the tire problem but typically about a second. Makes even local events difficult to win without really driving well. :)

-Biggly

No competition for me this month. I was too busy moving down to Texas. The good news is that there are autocross and track events pretty close to me. The rutted roads down here were bouncing me around quite a bit, so I backed off the damping tonight to 1/4 from soft all the way around. We'll see if that saves the old backside.

There is a go-kart (not real karts, just go-kart) place in Corpus that I hit with some of my buddies the other night. The most rewarding thing was definitely one of the guys saying "Yeah, your kart was really fast that last race." No, I just know how to late-apex. It was cheap and crude (and fun as hell!), but I found myself able to tell the difference between different karts. I had one that I only lifted twice on the whole track, and another where the back end would come out if I got on the throttle too soon. The track itself was also pretty great. There was a very tight right-left complex leading onto the front straight. It was all about giving up speed on the exit of the first right to set up for a good exit from the left and then keeping that speed on the long front straight. That's where most of the passing happened. :)

First off off let me say, this thread is FTW, and Flyboymike - Welcome to Tejas


My goals: Regionally competitive at DStock class

My setup: Cobb 24mm hollow fsb, Stock 6.5 in wheels with completely wrong size 205/40r16 Azenis 615 (only 16" availiable at the time) Clip in Sabelt harness, one evo school, could only get ~3/4 in - front camber for some reason, 0 toe all around.

My Experiances:
1. I have the wrong tires, the gearing advantage of the 40 series and wet traction do not outweigh the fact that the contact patch is really too skinny and they are not R-comps and I am running in an R-comp class (plus they look positively ridiculous)
2. My driving needs more help then my car, but I can use all the help I can get.
3. Wow the stock suspension on this car allows a lot of body roll for a 'sports' car.
4. I got very lucky and won Texas Region DStock, but now some hotshoes are rejoining the class and I need to get the most bang for the buck to try to stay somewhat competitive

My plans:
Step one - get v710s and try to get as much neg camber as possible
Step two - get Koni yellows (probably 6mos to a year out)
Step it depends - Get big giant FSB as soon as there is one that everyone agrees fits my04 wgn w/o issues
Step optional - learn to autox


Since this thread is awsome, I thought I would srew it up with a question :-)

Would there be any risk of problems from running a larger bar w/ rcomps on the soft stock springs & struts? If so I will wait until I have the konis to upgrade the FSB.

Also is the Whiteline 27 w/ the endlink voodoo worth it compare to waiting to get a custom made or the mythical Strano?

Thanks for the welcome, Shark. I'm down Kingsville way, by the way. Unfortunately, I have no idea on your questions, though. I'm looking at maybe upgrading to the Whiteline 27mm as well. I think it would be worth it. I have a sense that I could use a lot more front wheel rate for the slaloms. I think that's why I like the front Konis cranked full stiff. Especially if you're camber-challenged, it'll keep what you have, too.

Well, after finally getting my new bride down to Texas, I had time to snap a couple pictures of the Rota Attack that unceremoniously cracked.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c232/flyboymike/DSCF0047.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c232/flyboymike/DSCF0046.jpg

Ouch. I don't think I'll be competing again until I get this sorted out.

:lol: I predict a Rota sponsorship in your future ;)

CN: Jet school has been kicking my ass, but I finally got replacement Rotas, got the tires put on 'em, and got out back into competition. Things were a bit on the rusty side, but it's good to be back.

Event: STBR May Autocross
Date: 6 May 2007
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 53.375 on 4th run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 53.371
Pax results: 23 of 53
FTD: 44.93 by an STi running in ASP (don't know why)

Course description: The Corpus Christi SCCA chapter runs out of a very different sort of airfield than Hunt. There's no wide rectangle of concrete. Instead, they form a very organic course that flows with the shape of the taxiways. It started with a straight shot from the gate, then two gates left and back right. It continued right through a long sweeper following the contour of the taxiway. Then, it was a left-right chicane, a little more straightaway, and then onto the runway. The runway section was G-dawfully complex in how it was laid out. Instead of making a cone wall just a cone wall, every other cone in it was a pointer, so every single thing there looked like a damned gate. It got very, very tight, and it was actually pretty simple what you had to do through there once you could see it. Right 90 degree turn followed immediately by a left 90 degree that led around a 180 degree left sweeper defined only by a point cone. You had a good long run back out from the runway and onto the taxiway paralleling the way you came in. There was another chicane set up opposite the incoming one, but this was a simple veer right. Coming out from that, a you-choose-it five cone slalom started by snaking to the left. The final two cones doglegged left further. The turn after continued left, so it was best to start outside. Next was a half-Chicago box to the left that was long on the exit side, which led to a long sweeper right and over finish.

Course management: I got greedy on the first big sweeper right once and had a nice spin. I guess you've got to find the limit somehow. I also coned a bunch of my runs, but my final (and fastest) was clean. Definitely seemed rusty overall, but at least most of the basic skills remain. I had a lot of trouble pushing the limit into the runway section because it was so visually confusing. This, apparently is done on purpose. Fellas, do a cone wall or a line of pointers, none of this half-and-half bullcrap. Please. :D

Equipment management: Old settings all felt immediately familiar, which is good. I forgot how to get my camber plates adjusted in an expeditious manner initially, but it got there eventually. There's a long time between runs here, so there was no loss of grip noted for increased heat.

Setup notes: Still seems to work reasonably well. I'd love an infusion of grip with some new tires, but I'd also love to not spend $600.

Competition notes: I did not have anyone else in STX... I don't think. In general, the fastest guys were getting sub-50 second runs. There was one dude in a stock Legacy GT on Hoosiers who got a 47-something. There were also a bunch of folks from the local "street scene" type internet forums doing an event where they got scored separately against each other. Well, since they had to do the new, cool kid JDM thing, they called it a "time attack." Oh yeah, a lot of them were faster than me... and it pisses me off.

Example: There was a guy in a Mazdaspeed6 running in D-stock with an intake, strut tower brace, and non-OEM size wheels. He had some generic brand summer street tire (NOT in the same class as, say, Falken RT-615's). He was talking about how his 8" wide wheels were slowing him down, he wishes he was on his OEM 7" wide ones. He was going faster through one of the corners when he was drifting through it. The whole physics thing just wasn't quite there. But damnit, he got me by like two seconds. Suck.

Event coordination comments: This region only recently got permission from the Navy to get this site back, and they are extremely paranoid about avoiding an incident. We ran only one car on course at a time. Given how narrow the space between the outgoing and incoming part of the course, this is probably unavoidable. The taxiways are just too narrow. But, the start and finish were in the same section, and before the next car could be launched, the previous car had to slow down, turn around, go back up in front of the timing lights, in front of the car about to start, and exit to the right. There was a gap of 30 seconds between every single car where there was NOBODY on course. Coming from the Washington DC region where a car was released every twenty seconds and you could easily die if you didn't sprint to get your cone back upright and get clear, this was... very different. They need to either rework the start and finish such that everything flows in one direction, or they need a course worker to manage the car that just finished such that the next one can be released earlier. But of course, right now I'm the FNG who might not even make it every month, so I don't know if I'll be able to work on some change there.

Other comments: I might have gotten beat like a red-headed stepchild, but at least I got back in the action and I had a good time. It's been awhile since I've had a lot of other like-minded car guys around me, and it's a good feeling. Also, they will be running the same course for at least the next couple of months. They usually a practice day on Saturday, then the event Sunday. Maybe now that I've seen it once, the other folks won't have such an advantage when I only show up for the one day. Hopefully.

Here's a convenient course diagram of what I ran last month and what I'll be running next month.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c232/flyboymike/CabWhite.jpg

CN: I found three seconds over last month and feel quite vindicated. I could only make the practice day, not the points day.

Event: STBR Event #6 (practice day only)
Date: 2 June 2007
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 50.355 on 4th run
Class results: 1 of 3
Class win time: 50.355
Pax results: 13 of 45
FTD: 43.855 by an STi running in ASP

Course description: This was once again the Cabaniss White course. They threw up one wall before the single cone hairpin left to reduce confusion a bit.

Course management: I think I gained one second just by finding better lines. Specifically, through the big sweeper right, I just put the car in a place more conducive to keeping speed up through the offset. After the slalom at the Chicago-box left, I let the car get all the way out on corner exit and set up for the right over finish with just a lot more speed. I got one more second just for shaking six months of rust off and understanding the stairstep better. Lastly, I didn't drive timidly. I took big risks on my entrance speed to the stairstep and and the slalom that finally paid off.

Equipment management: I did well in managing grip through sweepers, but my brake work has gotten sloppy again. I was getting wicked ABS firing trying to get into the slalom because of a heavy foot. I nearly looped it on my second to last run in there, and on the last run I had to brake between the slalom cones to get the speed under control. If I can max out my braking with better technique, I think I can get into the 49's.

Setup notes: The car remains pretty transparent. I'd like more grip up front in transitions. I'd prefer to solve this just by getting fresh Azenis when the 'Kooks wear out, but I don't think I can rule out a bigger front sway.

Competition notes: I had a buddy driving his G35 in STX. He just put on some swaybars. He did really well, getting a 50.4. FTD only bumped up by a couple of tenths to a 44 flat. Top B-stock RX-8's were getting down to 49's. I actually felt fast today.

Other comments: Today, I felt a glimmer of what I've been missing. Getting the line was experience. Working on braking technique will pay off in time. The big thing that was different today was actually thinking about taking risks on course and how far I could push it. I don't think I've really exceeded my comfort zone on an autocross course in a long time. I did yesterday. There were times when I felt on the verge of running out of control. On my fastest run, I nearly was, but brought it back from the jaws of incipient spin and laid down a smokin' time. That is a powerful feeling.

My goals: Regionally competitive at DStock class

My setup: Cobb 24mm hollow fsb, Stock 6.5 in wheels with completely wrong size 205/40r16 Azenis 615 (only 16" availiable at the time) Clip in Sabelt harness, one evo school, could only get ~3/4 in - front camber for some reason, 0 toe all around.

My Experiances:
1. I have the wrong tires, the gearing advantage of the 40 series and wet traction do not outweigh the fact that the contact patch is really too skinny and they are not R-comps and I am running in an R-comp class (plus they look positively ridiculous)
2. My driving needs more help then my car, but I can use all the help I can get.
3. Wow the stock suspension on this car allows a lot of body roll for a 'sports' car.
4. I got very lucky and won Texas Region DStock, but now some hotshoes are rejoining the class and I need to get the most bang for the buck to try to stay somewhat competitive

My plans:
Step one - get v710s and try to get as much neg camber as possible
Step two - get Koni yellows (probably 6mos to a year out)
Step it depends - Get big giant FSB as soon as there is one that everyone agrees fits my04 wgn w/o issues
Step optional - learn to autox



Glad things are coming together for you Mike!

thought I'd check in since I had posted my setup earlier

Update:
I am on "gently used" 225 V710s and the difference is night and day, this should be everyones first stock class mod
I also have the whiteline 27/29mm front bar with the sperical endlinks and it coupled with the r-comps is like driving a different car.

Take aways:
Car feels good. I am putting off getting the Konis for a while, the car is responding so well as is.
I tanked my last event, ended up 66th out of 120 in pax and last in class, but the car felt great. I guess either I am not used to the r-comps yet (possible), or I just suck (probable). Got beat like 3 seconds :lol:
Regionally It is all driver for me at this point.

One casual aside, Mazdaspeed3 = one hell of a fast DS car

SharkWagon,

Stepping up to the sticky rubber feels great, but it does re-zero your learning curve, so to speak. You've got a whole new set of monkey skills to learn. But you will. :)

CN: One wet corner slowed everyone down, but I slowed down less than most other folks.

Event: STBR Event #7: Cone Clash
Date: 8 July 2007
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/39r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 50.7 on 1st run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 50.7
Pax results: 7 of 41
FTD: 45.12 by an STi running in ASP

Course description: Last run-through of Cabaniss White. The practice day got flooded out, and there was still a huge puddle right before the first big sweeper right. Everybody had to deal with wet tires for the first half of the course. FTD went from 43.855 to 45.12, and the group's average time dropped by about half a second.

Course management: I was battling low grip all day, and only knocked out my fastest run on the first go by virtue of the track being cleanest at that time. I was smoother on the brakes. I finally figured out I could carry a whole lot of speed through the stairstep.

Equipment management: I was trying to push just a little too hard after the first run, so I wound up scrubbing a lot of speed trying to enter elements too quickly. I felt grip leaving me sooner than previous months, so I was able to apply a counter-correction before getting close to spinning. That was a very good feeling, fixing the problem early on.

Setup notes: As before. The car is fairly transparent. I can't wait for new tires and actually going stage 2.

Competition notes: The fast guys lost a lot of time compared to last month, over a second. I only lost 0.4 seconds. Of course, this is all plus or minus half a second, because the timing equipment got flooded, and we were timed with a stopwatch. Looking at the results compared to the previous months, nothing seemed hugely out of whack. I think I can still consider this month for the purposes of analyzing my own performance. I've been keeping a spreadsheet with all my results, plus some derived datapoints that may or may not actually mean anything. I'll talk about what I'm looking at in another update.

Other comments: Next month is a brand new course. I'm a bit disappointed our track got clobbered this time around. I think I could've gotten under the 50 second mark with dry tires. C'est la racing.

I like this thread. Thanks for taking the time to post about your experiences.

I like this thread. Thanks for taking the time to post about your experiences.

:) Thank you for reading.

CN:
Raw time order fraction = my raw finishing order/number of competitors
Pax time order fraction = my pax finishing order/number of competitors
Raw time percent = 100*(my raw time - FTD)/FTD
Pax time percent = 100*(my pax time - fastest pax time)/fastest pax time

Ever since I left the WDCR region, I haven't often had direct competition in STX. It's been a little tricky trying to figure out exactly how my skills are progressing through time. I tried pitting myself against a benchmark driver and seeing how I was doing compared with them, but there'd inevitably be a month or two where they just couldn't make it.

So what to do? I made the assumption that, on average for a given region, the driving talent each month for the entire group would remain constant. If I compared my times to the whole group over a period of several months, I could draw some conclusions about my driving.

Great, compare times, but how? First, I wanted to compare my overall finishing order in raw and pax times. For this problem, I need a variable that takes into account the number of competitors. Putting down the second fastest time is very different if there are two competitors or twenty. So, I use a finishing place fraction. I take the spot I finished and divide by the total number of competitors.

raw order fraction = my raw time's place/number of competitors

For July, I ran the 15th fastest time out of 41 competitors, so
15/41 = 0.3659

pax order fraction= my pax time place/number of competitors

I had the 7th fastest pax in July, so
7/41 = 0.1707

These statistics show how I'm doing compared to the group. I look at both raw and pax because they both show something about the group you run with. I almost always do better on pax than in raw times. I attribute this to being more rigorous about preparing to a specific class than the majority of competitors. It's not uncommon in STBR to see people in a Prepared class who aren't even running R-comps, much less racing slicks. Therefore, looking at single datapoints of one event doesn't tell me much, especially for pax. What I'm looking for is an improving trend from month to month. I'm using all 2006 Pax values, and I haven't seen much class changing from month to month, so the results of the trend over time are valid.

I also wanted to see how I was doing compared to the fastest person there. I made the assumption that the fastest person there, both in raw time and pax, had gone as fast as it was possible to go on the course on that day. Again, I had to come up with some kind of metric that could be compared from event to event. Six seconds behind FTD is very different for a 30 second course and a 2 minute course. I just made it a percentage time difference between my time and the FTD or fastest pax.

FTD time % = 100*(my time - FTD)/FTD

In July,
FTD% = 100*(50.7 - 45.12)/45.12 = 12.37

Pax time % = 100*(my pax time - fastest pax time)/fastest pax time

In July,
Pax% = 100*(40.76-37.57)/37.57 = 8.50

If we don't get a couple of our very fastest folks out for one month, I could show a huge improvement in my time percents without a big change in my finishing order fractions. I think pax might be more relevant in this case, since often the fastest drivers are prepped to the maximum extent their class allows. I can really compare apples to apples there. If Todd Bowland shows up with his AM Shark, there's no way I'd have a better raw time, but a pax comparison could give me some insight. That is, pax becomes more useful when comparing to a specific driver if you know they prep well for their class, not for comparison against the entire group.

I don't know if that's all useful or not, but in general, I've seen an improving trend from month to month once I get a few events under my belt in with the new region. I've also calculated group average times and found their raw and pax time percents to try to get a handle on the skill of the specific group I'm running with, but there could easily be outliers way, way off the standard bell curve throwing that number out of whack. I'd like to find a way to compare the overall difficulty of one region to another, assuming the fastest person there actually put in the fastest time physically possible on that course on that day. With only 40-50 competitors, though, I just don't know if sample sizes are large enough to really make fair comparisons. The comparison would be worthwhile, just so I'd have context when I switch from region to region. I should get three seasons the next place I go, but with jumping all over for the training commands, I just don't get much time in one place.

CN: A distinct and disappointing drop in performance. New brake and power steering fluid will hopefully help.

Event: STBR Event #8
Date: 5 Aug 2007
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/39r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 62.321 on 6th run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 62.321
Pax results: 10 of 32
FTD: 54.145 by an STi running in ASP

Course description: This was the brand new Cabaniss blue course. http://www.stbrscca.com/Cabaniss%20Blue%20Course.jpg

Basically, it has a lot more turns, with much trickier transitions between turns. Once you get around the fairly straightforward sweeper left and straight, you have to always be thinking setup. The course comes back right with a deceptively tight sweeper, a hard left, then the offset back right and left. The long straight after that is after a turn back right, so this is the focus point for setting up your speedy run out. The rest is as it looks, a tight hairpin left, slalom, a tight offset, and sweeper right over finish.

Course management: I found a decent rhythm through the monstrous right-left-right-left again complex. There was just no choice but to give it up for the final corner onto the straight, and it took a lot of patience. I completely blew through the braking zone before the tight hairpin at least three times and had to do a 270 right to keep on course. That was my biggest gotcha all day. I was pulling my hair out. The exact same mistake, three times in a row. I never really bracketed and reeled it in.

Equipment management: I tried a little left foot braking, which might have caused my problem. I got brake fluid boil going into the hairpin, and what would have been a normally workable braking point simply was not. It's a shame, because I feel like using the left foot on the brake through some of those rhythm sections helped me gain a measure of control. My brake fluid is extremely old. I need to stop being a lazy arse and actually change it. I figure some Valvoline Synpower 5.1 should do the trick.

I've also had my power steering start to go out toward the ends of my runs. I believe this is also a case of old fluid no longer able to deal with the heat.

Setup notes: As before.

Competition notes: I had a buddy in an FS Camaro on street tires get down to a 60.971. I was flat slow this month.

Other comments: I still had fun. This course is very, very interesting. I hope I get the chance to run it again.

CN: So, does getting beaten by H Stock cars on street tires in the wet mean I'm down to seppuku?

Event: STBR Event #9
Date: 2 Sep 2007
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 36f/39r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 67.403 on 5th run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 67.403
Pax results: 15 of 29
FTD: 61.082 FSP Mazdaspeed6

Course description: Cabaniss Blue again, but this time, in the wet

Course management: I was leaving time on the table up until my very last run, when I went into "autocross kill mode" and spun out. The second really tight hairpin seems to be on a very, very low grip surface. I think I might have been getting ABS firing last month driving into it, not so much brake fade. I was more careful about it and didn't blow through the corner, but I still had a lot of understeer at exit and didn't really hit a good apex. I found a better flow through the right-left-right-left-right complex, compromising each corner exit to set up for the next. We had a river (okay, just a big puddle) right before the finish which would get you loose as you rounded the sweeper. Squaring it off a little allowed you to keep your foot in the gas all the way through.

Equipment management: No feelings of brake fade today. I managed the grip under braking as best I could. I like using the left foot, just to reduce overlap time. I wonder if it's making me use the brakes more often than necessary. Generally, I have not been constantly switching between gas and brake prior to this. I was usually finding a speed that worked and letting the car roll, adding gas when possible, braking for the big elements. If I'm only adding more braking without thinking of where acceleration could happen, am I taking time off? Damn I need a school.


Setup notes: Tires are getting more worn by the minute.

Competition notes: A few very interesting things happened with the rain. First, our usual benchmark STi didn't show up. Second, the car and driver disparity shrank. Powerful cars couldn't put it down as well as normal. I also believe even our good drivers don't have that much wet experience, so they were not as fast, relatively speaking to the group, as normal. In August, the group average time was 16% slower than the FTD. In September, that dropped to 11%.

This is the first time I've been in the bottom half of the field on PAX in a long time. An experienced HS driver got me by 2 seconds, and a not-so-experienced one by about a second. Ugh. At least I got to give rides to a bunch of new people. Hopefully they'll be back next month. I'll have to miss it for some training.

Maybe you should pull your ABS fuse. However it will force you to learn threshold braking. The problem with ABS on AWD cars is that when the ABS sensor detects one wheel locked up, it activates on all 4.

Maybe you should pull your ABS fuse. However it will force you to learn threshold braking. The problem with ABS on AWD cars is that when the ABS sensor detects one wheel locked up, it activates on all 4.

Something to think about. When I brake correctly, it's almost like threshold braking, slowing the car as quickly as possible without getting ABS to fire. I was ham-footed two months ago, but smoothed things out a bit again this month.

CN: Back to my usual spot.

Event: STBR Event #11
Date: 4 Nov 2007
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 69.334 on 3rd run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 69.334
Pax results: 8 of 36
FTD: 64.631 by EM Birkin (Lotus 7 clone)

Course description: Cabaniss Red course.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c232/flyboymike/cabanissred.jpg

I love the flow of this one. It's a lot more wide open than most STBR courses. Even the box of four corners on the runway is surprisingly wide.


Course management: Things went well until they went very, very badly. In my first set of three runs (plus a rerun for timing trouble), I was slowly pushing the car until I just found the edge of adhesion. Brake points, turn-in points, everything was coming together. I was balancing out braking and turning forces perfectly into the first right hairpin and had my foot on the gas all the way through the offsets that followed. I was setting the car up early for the high speed left and catching the right-left transition well. I didn't lose too much time through the boxes and was able to get on the gas pretty early over finish. So then I go work for a couple of hours, and I think the sun got into my brain. My last two runs are just abysmal, with massive overshots in the high speed left and then the second set of box turns out on the runway. My one good run from the first group was the run that didn't get counted for time, and I'm pretty sure I coned the next one that felt like it would've been the same time. But, it's not noted on the results page online, so I'm taking my clean 69-something. No pun intended. :lol:

Equipment management: By the time I hit the slaloms, left foot braking would eat up the braking effectiveness. Being a little smoother and easier with it before this long stretch helped.

Setup notes: I think the slightly higher tire pressures were good for road feel. It seemed like I could detect tire slip pretty early on.

Competition notes: I'm right back in my average finishing position on PAX. In spite of the crappy last two runs, I really enjoyed what I was able to do today. The learning curve is definitely flatter than I'd like, but I don't think I'll be finding the time for a school anytime soon, which is a definite shame. As much as I'd love grippier tires and to finally get my uppipe/downpipe install done, they really aren't the limiting factor.

FlyboyMike...very informative thread. Hopefully I'll have the chance to run similar courses in a year or so. I'm a LTJG here in Charleston, SC and will be putting a lateral transfer package to aviation in the spring. Just waiting on my flight physical since I just got PRK eye surgery to qualify me medically for flight.

Have you gone to the Accessport yet? Cobb has specific STX legal maps so that shouldn't be an issue. I saw one of your very early posts that said you planned on an UP and DP. The downpipe is legal in STX but not the uppipe. You also are allowed to remove the two post turbo catalytic converters as long as the replacement DP has one cat.

My car has won a few events in STX with my college roomate driving. He had many years experience and it helped me to learn to have him co-drive my car at a few autoxes.

For reference, my current setup:

Suspension: STi suspension with Cusco front adjustable camber plates; Whiteline front swaybar, Progress rear swaybar with Cobb Endlinks, Whiteline front strut tower brace.

Brakes: Goodridge stainless lines, EBC red pads

Power: Cobb catted downpipe, SPT catback, Cobb Accessport.

Others: Always Mobil One, Redline MT-90 in the tranny; and 75W90 in the rear diff.

Hey Iceman, hope you can come on over to the flight side.

I haven't gone stage 2 yet. I've got all the hard parts sitting in my garage waiting to be installed, and I'll either do the Accessport or possibly some open source tuning. As long as your OBD system is in a "ready" status without a CEL defeat, you are STX legal. Someone on here has found that there are ways to have an aftermarket uppipe with the EGT gauge still set up to be class legal. I'm not going to Nats, so I'm going to just go with what every person has known the class was supposed to be from the beginning, pipes + a tune with one cat in place.

I must be a little behind in rules. Its been over a year since I have done many autoxes because there are very few events reasonably close to Charleston. Back in 2005, when I did most of the mods to my car you were not allowed to modify anything between the throttle body and turbo. Since I haven't done many major mods since I haven't bothered poking into the newest rulebooks. Good info to get though.

The uppipe is between the exhaust exit and the turbine portion of the turbo, NOT between the compressor section and the throttle body. That rule prohibits the use of BOV's, which, of course, is much more important for DSM's/Evo's than it is for us. Uppipes are pretty much an extension of the exhaust manifold and can definitely be changed based on those rules.

There was a massive clarification of the Street Touring rules in a few recent FastTrack's... and by clarification, I mean clusterf@ck. There's a big, angry discussion about it here in the motorsports forum. It's a complex issue that won't matter in the least for local events.

Gotcha, thanks for the info. I guess back when I was doing some mods I understood it as anything from the compressor inlet to turbine outlet was untouchable. Thats why I never looked at uppipes or headers.

By virtue of being the only competitor showing up regularly, I won the STX championship for the South Texas Border Region for 2007. I got a pretty nice hat out of it. All in all, my driving didn't advance much last year. I should get to do a few events with STBR this year, but I'll be off to Virginia pretty shortly. In the meanwhile, I'll get a few extra visits to our event site (a Navy airfield) in the left seat of a T-44. Should be a good time.

^
Where are you heading to in VA? I'm a dual member of two SCCA regions - Blue Ridge & Washington DC.

If you want to stiffest competition possible, come to the DC region events at Fedex stadium. Blue Ridge events are more laid back (not as many people), and our largest/best site is the Danville Airport.

Chike

^
Where are you heading to in VA? I'm a dual member of two SCCA regions - Blue Ridge & Washington DC.

If you want to stiffest competition possible, come to the DC region events at Fedex stadium. Blue Ridge events are more laid back (not as many people), and our largest/best site is the Danville Airport.

Chike

I'm heading to Norfolk. I did WDCR back while I was at the Academy, so I know the score up there. Things are definitely way more laid back down here. They still turning 200+ drivers a day? FedEx is definitely the most awesome event site I've ever been to.

Most likely I'll do Blue Ridge most of the time and get up to do WDCR every once in awhile.

subscribe! thanks for the insight!

subscribe! thanks for the insight!

No problem. :) Nearly two and a half years after starting this thread, I am still humbled by how many people actually enjoy it.

CN: Retorque all your bolts

I was swapping my autocross wheels on this evening when I noticed a teensy little problem: my front swaybar was no longer connected in any way to my front endlink. The bolt was missing. I have no idea when it disappeared. I hadn't noticed any handling issues in daily driving. I'm not sure if it failed completely or if the nut backed out (which I suspect because the nut on the other side was loose), but thank G-d it didn't happen midcorner.

Fortunately, I had the original hardware from my stock links that looked like they'd fit. Of course, I don't have ramps, so I didn't know how in the world I was going to get the bolt in. But, with the car sitting safely on a jackstand, I seized upon inspiration and compressed the suspension with my jack. That seemed to work. Does this do anything weird like put a preload on the sway? My right side was on the ground and the left side was in the air.

Torque down stuff often!

CN: Well, at least I got to turn a wheel in anger.

Event: STBR Event #2
Date: 3 Feb 2008
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 3/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 67.176
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 67.176
Pax results: x of x
FTD: 59.726 by EM Birkin (Lotus 7 clone)

Course description: Cabaniss Orange course, very similar to the Red course. The first hairpin back to the right was moved up to just after the initial left sweeper. Out of the hairpin, the right-left transition was more abrupt. It led into a you-choose-it five cone slalom. The slalom fed into a tight right-left that went up the left side of a long straightaway. This led into a hard braking zone to get out on runway 13/31 for the multiple corner box. Out of the box, you accelerate down the opposite side of the straightaway. Next, there was a three cone slalom, first cone down the left side, with walls designating the no-go side of the cone. One quick slightly offset gate led the way to the left sweeper with one jink-back gate before acceleration through the finish.

Course management: Summed up simply, I pussed out or pushed way, way too hard. That applies pretty globally.

My participation this past year has been really inconsistent, and it's been showing. In spite of the fact that I've been seeing the same or similar courses multiple months in a row, I just haven't been able to make any leaps forward. I think I even went backwards a couple of notches this month. But you know what? That's okay. With cord just starting to peak up out of my RS2's and an extra couple hundred bucks burning a hole in my bank account, I now have some Falken RT-615 in 235/40/17. Is it a replacement for a school or seat time? No. Is it a psychological boost? Oh yes. Are they better than Yokes or Bridgestones? No. Is that the reason I won't be winning at Topeka this year? Heck no. Bottom line, I can't wait to try 'em.

CN: Fresh Falkens and apparently I actually CAN drive! :disco:

Event: STBR Event #3
Date: 2 Mar 2008
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 64.8xx on 2nd run
Class results: 1 of 1
Class win time: 64.8xx
Pax results: x of x
FTD: 58.xxx by SS Corvette Z06

Course description: Cabaniss Orange course, as before.

Course management: My first run I drove like I was on my old tires. Simply turning up the wick everywhere got me my best time on the next run. I took up the runs pretty much just getting used to the extra grip and recalibrating everything. One thing I realized is I'm way, way far off all my apexes. But, now I have the confidence to attack the course and fix that. There's one more month for the new orange course down here, so hopefully I'll get a shot at it one more time.

Equipment management: I didn't experience any heat soak with the Falkens because we take so very, very long to knock out a run group that it wasn't a factor. My braking problems seemed to vanish with the sticky tires. I guess Steve Ruiz and all the other brake gurus are right. I still managed to overwhelm the power steering a little bit a couple of times, but the reduction of desperation braking seemed to mitigate it a lot.

Competition notes: I went from the slow half to the fast half. I think I beat a Viper.

Other vehicles and drivers: A 289 Shelby Cobra that as near as I can tell was an original showed up to spectate. I gave a ride to a former WRX owner who was running a Suzuka Blue S2000 with gold wheels (go figure). Apparently, his WRX did not handle as well when he had it with stock suspension. I remember what that was like. Not so much "body roll" as "listing to starboard, set studsails and mainsails."

Then there was the fellow who had been building on his E30 M3 for three months, including a swap to the 6 cylinder motor from the E36 M3. With his mods, he figures it's good for 270 hp. The inside was stripped, with a solid roll bar, race seats, and a harness. He did all the work, including the paint and powdercoating a set of BMW 540 wheels black. Unfortunately, he only got two runs before he broke the bead on one of his tires. That car was absolutely inspirational. I hope he gets things sorted for next month.

I also spent all my working time with an older gentleman who was getting back into the sport with a Nissan NX2000 on Falken RT-215's. He also used to own a Piper Comanche and is former Navy, so between talking about cars and airplanes, we managed to make the time on course go quickly. He working the 68 second bracket, really very good all things considered.

Basically, this event reminded me why I keep risking sunburn and dehydration for four to six fleeting minutes of expeditious velocity. There was good driving, good friends, and cool cars. And in the end, isn't that most of what life should be all about?

So, I've only had the parts sitting around for like six months, and it only took me nearly two full days to do it, so what? :lol: I've got a Crucial uppipe and a used Crucial downpipe in place on Kaylee. I used the Tactrix cable to reflash the ECU with a free stage 2 map from osecuroms.

Thus far, nothing has gone done blowed up (knock on wood). I still need to get my turbo heatshield back on. I took her out for a drive this evening. It definitely feels like she's less choked off. Part throttle pre-boost is a lot smoother. It feels like the engine hits harder as boost does come on. It didn't feel insanely fast to me, but it was distinctly quicker.

I'll probably buy the XPT STX legal map before my next event (or just run ESP until I do).

The install was tough, although I was my own worst enemy in a few cases. I used the best damn up/dp install thread from Scoobymods and brought my car to the auto hobby shop on base. It was a good resource. My intercooler was a pain in the butt both coming off and going back on. The O2 sensor didn't seem to want to budge and there was no space for my socket (22mm open wrench eventually fixed that problem).

The bolt for the motor mount was directly beneath my swaybar, and there was just no space to get a tool up there. I wound up detaching one part of the block itself from the motor mount and got just barely enough wiggle room to get out the UP. Of course, I'd stripped the everlovin' crap out of the threads in the block. The shop only had a few taps available, but we found a bolt and locking washer that would work. I got the uppipe and manifold in place, but not torqued, when the shop closed on the first day.

Day 2 was a bit smoother. When the downpipe gasket wouldn't slip past the uppipe studs, I freaked out and thought I wouldn't be able to get the downpipe past it. I actually bought a Dremel to cut them down a bit, but while waiting for it to fully charge, I got everything on.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm sick of wrenching. Ah well, job complete.

CN: At last, able to work on details to eke out another 1.3 seconds on the same course.

Event: STBR Event #4
Date: 6 Apr 2008
Location: Naval Air Landing Field (NALF) Cabaniss
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, free Stage 2 tune
Number of runs: 6
Best time: 63.502 on 6th run
Class results: 3 of 4 (ESP for this event)
Class win time: 62.072, Mustang Cobra on R-comps
Pax results: x of x
FTD: 61.904, Chevy Camaro (3rd gen) on NT01's

Course description: Cabaniss Orange course, as before.

Course management: I actually managed the course today, for what seems like the first time since Alabama. I had one run where my brake point for the tight hairpin left onto the runway was far too early. I overshot and went a hair deep on the same corner on a few runs. The first actual tight 180 on the runway I tried too hard for a couple of runs, but was able to correct. I also used a smidge of trail braking to get the car loose to carry more speed through the slaloms. With more focus on getting close to the cones, I pulled off quite a bit of time.

Equipment management: I haven't gotten an STX legal tune yet, so I ran in ESP with a free tune from openecu. I didn't really notice the extra power, but I don't think I have a particularly sensitive butt dyno. What I really liked was just the intimate knowledge of how to drive the Falkens. It let me focus on course management.

Competition notes: I wasn't too worried about catching the Mustang Cobra on R-comps, but I thought I could get the Mazdaspeed6. He got me by three hundredths. It was the first time I've really been in a one-on-one fight quite like that. In spite of the extra pressure, I was able to stay consistent and give him a run for his money with this setup.

Edit: I did beat the Mazda by 0.4 seconds according to the online results!

In other news, that will most likely be my last autocross with STBR. I got winged last week and am headed to my platform's Fleet Replacement Squadron. Unfortunately, I think the local SCCA just lost their site.

Well, I've finally gotten good and settled in Hampton Roads. Doing a big mod right before a long road trip might not be the brightest idea. I had the plug for the wideband O2 bung pop out in the middle of Nowhere, Mississippi. But, the Autozone employee was able to figure out it was just an NPT fitting. I also had to track down an exhaust leak. We got things figured out before any carbon monoxide troubles.

So, new command, a bunch of TAD duty, and buying a house interfered a bit with the car hobby. Last weekend I managed to complete the H6 rear upgrade, along with EBC Redstuff pads and el-cheapo Advance Auto rotors. The pedal is high and hard again, which is very nice. It's tough to do a fair comparison (fresh versus old 'n busted) between this and the Hawk HPS setup, but I am liking the EBC's pedal feel characteristics. We'll see if the bigger rear rotor makes a difference on the autocross course, hopefully tomorrow. I can't hardly wait.

Oh yeah, finally buggered up a wheel stud. I actually used air on the wheels. I'm sure it can be done safely, but I'm not doing it again. Installing the new one wasn't too painful.

CN: Power steering is kind of important. Love the new venue.

Event: TSCC #6
Date: 17 Aug 2008
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, free Stage 2 tune
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 52.057
Class results: 5 of 7 (ESP for this event)
Class win time: 46.641, G35 coupe on R comps
Pax results: 73 of 128
FTD: 43.580, CM Formula car

Site description: ACU-4 is the home of the east coast LCAC fleet. (http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/lcac.htm) We were up on their ramp that leads to the ocean. There's plenty of paddock and grid space. The course is on a giant concrete square in between two large dunes. From the paddock side, it goes downhill towards the ocean. It's truly breathtaking. There's also a nice air conditioned building with restrooms, a water fountain, and a bunch of chairs. It is the best site I've had the pleasure of using so far.

Course description: The start was in the center of the ramp facing out toward the ocean. After a straight drag start with just enough time to get into second, there was a 90 right turn. The exit gate was skewed slightly right. After a quick straight, it went into a 90 left that went straight into a four cone slalom down the hill towards the sea. The first cone went down the left. The second and third cones were closer together than any other intervals, and the final cone (down the right side) was offset left. At the bottom of the hill, it was a 90 degree left turn slightly off camber. There was an option gate where you could either stay tight and left or go wide right. The next turn was a jink right, so you got pinched really badly if you went wide. After the jink, it ran straight at the dune, followed by a big 200 degree sweeper left. This linked immediately to a wide right 90 degree turn, a short straight, and a tight slightly over 90 degree right. Another short straight took you into a left hairpin defined by a single cone. The course snaked right with a sort of three cone offset slalom, first cone on the left, and then left into the straight finish box.

Course management: First run I carried too much speed in the left after the slalom and had to take the wide option, but I fixed it after that. I couldn't really gnat's ass the course due to some equipment problems. I think I left some time in the final offsets since I didn't set up well off the hairpin.

Equipment management: I remember watching Marcus Gronholm in a Peugot 307 complaining that he had no power steering to a reporter. How in the hell he could drive as hard as he did on a gravel road on the side of a mountain without it I'll never know. I hadn't noticed my problem in the last few events, but it came back. It was all I could do to hit an apex. I did what I thought was a decent job of driving around it. Start turn-in sooner, get the wheel over hard. But, I think my time suffered. I spent more time driving around that than actually working the course.

Competition notes: I still haven't ponied up for an STX tune, so I ran ESP. The winner was a G35 on r-comps, a full six seconds ahead of me, and three seconds ahead of the next fastest guy. He ran at a different time, so I got to watch, but I didn't actually meet him. If I had run STX, I would have been 3 of 4, with a Golf GTI winning with a 51.1. Next time, Gadget.

I'm pretty happy how things went considering the equipment trouble. I also had a whole boatload (hovercraft-load?) of fun. I got to give a guy from my unit (and fellow WRX owner) his first autocross ride. He was having a whole lot of fun, which was really infectious. I worked while he ran, and he made good progress through the day.

CN: Car still needs a little fixing, driver remains cautiously optimistic.

Event: TSCC #7
Date: 21 September 2008
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 58.190 on 4th run
Class results: 3 of 6
Class win time: 56.890, 2008 Golf GTI
Pax results: 71 of 111
FTD: 46.837, CM Caldwell D9

Course description: This course started out pointing towards the exit gate 90 degrees right off of last month near the rightmost edge of the ramp. After the start, it was only three feet to the 90 degree left turn. This was the first proper straight on the course, which then jinked right 45 degrees around a single cone, then back left 45 degrees into a five cone slalom down towards the beach, first cone down the right side. At the bottom of the hill, it went 90 left with a kind of wide s-turn a little right, then a big 180 sweeper left. Out of the sweeper, it was an almost straight line two cone offset with the first one on the right. Then, a 90 degree right turn, an extremely wide Chicago box maybe 30 degrees left, a big 90 sweeper right, and then it tightened into another 90 right. A short straight, then onto the tightest hairpin left on the course. Blasting out of there, there was a single cone on the right and a funnel into a gate that eased you left to get to a 90 right, then a 45 left with the timing lights right at the apex.

Course management: Out of the tight hairpin, I found I could keep the power down through the funnel, but got greedy and didn't brake early enough to make the 90 right a couple of times. My second and fourth runs were nearly the same time, but the way I got those times was very different. Second run I drove like I was wielding a sledgehammer. My left front tire jumped five psi after that run. Fourth run I was much, much smoother. The tire only gained two psi. It's the first time I've ever seen my driving style make that kind of a change.

Equipment management: Power steering started to fade on the third and the fourth run. Keeping the car running longer after run 3 definitely helped. Fresh fluid is better than old fluid, but I need a power steering cooler (have to double check the rules) or better fluid than what you find at Autozone. My front endlink bottom bushings are completely crumpled. I think it cost me some front grip, but more importantly, it clunks like hell over bumps. I'll get the stockers back on, then consider upgrade possibilities (spherical? bigger front bar while I'm at it?) :devil: Oh yeah, I love the XPT tune. Definitely some better throttle response than their free map.

Competition notes: I've actually got some competition! I didn't meet the winner because he ran in the morning, but the second place guy in an E30 325 says he's a good driver and wasn't particularly happy with his time. It was definitely a good time. I can't wait to start giving these guys a real run at it.

Keep an eye out for Michael Schnekser in a Mini S - he was pretty fast when I went down there for the June event. I realy love that lot :)

Keep an eye out for Michael Schnekser in a Mini S - he was pretty fast when I went down there for the June event. I realy love that lot :)

Will do. I wanted to see an LCAC run. Figure it should be in HM - hovercraft mod. :p

I've had good success with the Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF for the PS. It might be overkill, but I figure it couldn't hurt if I'm going to be doing so much turning.

I've had good success with the Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF for the PS. It might be overkill, but I figure it couldn't hurt if I'm going to be doing so much turning.

Yeah, I checked the rulebook last night, and there's nothing that says you're allowed to add a power steering cooler, so SCCA logic says you cannot. Where do you get the stuff?

This is what I use: http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Other_Products/Mobil_1_Synthetic_ATF.aspx

I think it was like $6 - $7 at the local Autozone/Advance Auto Parts. If you want to be less spendy, the manual calls for any ATF fluid that meets DEXRON II/DEXRON II E/DEXRON III.

This is what I use: http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Other_Products/Mobil_1_Synthetic_ATF.aspx

I think it was like $6 - $7 at the local Autozone/Advance Auto Parts. If you want to be less spendy, the manual calls for any ATF fluid that meets DEXRON II/DEXRON II E/DEXRON III.

If I can grab it at Advance Auto(zone), that's plenty cheap enough. I just didn't want to have to special order Redline or something like that.

Got these on the car on Sunday. Pretty straightforward install, but it is definitely smart to break loose the hard line fitting, the banjo fitting, and then popping the hard line clip before loosening anything. Then, get your mise en place (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_place) sorted before loosening anything enough to have brake fluid start spilling. Specifically, get the screw through the banjo fitting on the new line with at least the inside washer in place. Also, once you hook the new line up to the hard line, that's where it'll start leaking from before you get the banjo in place. I didn't fully tighten it on the hard line until the banjo fitting was snug. YMMV. I also had to bleed the brakes before I could put enough pressure on them to check the fittings. There was a whole lot more air than what I'm used to for a regular bleeding.

The pedal feel is a bit more consistent. I mostly don't notice it except on hard stops, but when I was first driving around, the pedal was distinctly harder than I remembered when squeezing on it at a stoplight. Not a bad mod.

CN: Last event of the season, trying to counter bad habits.

Event: TSCC #8
Date: 16 Nov 2008
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=128
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 69.287 on 3rd run
Class results: 6 of 7
Class win time: 63.902, Bugeye WRX
Pax results: 53 of 97
FTD: 58.013, EM Porsche 914

Course description: The start faced the ocean slightly to the left of center lot. After a short shift into second, it took a right 90 degree turn into a six cone slalom, first cone down the right. The course turned 90 degrees left straight into another six cone slalom down the hill, first cone down the right again. It went into a wide left hammerhead for a total of about 210 degrees of turn, then jinked right and left for a lane change. Quickly after the lane change, the course swept right for a good 230 degrees. Reversing back left maybe 45 degrees, you were led into a series of lane changes, the second one offset left and the third offset right. Then it went into a tight 90 left, a short straight, and a 90 sweeper left into a four segment long slalom, first slalom segment down the left side. It was like a normal offset slalom where all the cones were on a line going left, but after each lead cone were three more. After the final long slalom down the right side, there was a simple gate then a 90 sweeper right. This went into a regular gate, then into a left 45 sweeper, and then over finish. It was flippin' sweet.

Course management: The initial transition of hammerhead to lane change caught me out on the first run, adding three to my cone kill count. I realized I was staring close in. It was an easy fix for that corner, whereupon I found myself going into the monster 230 right too quickly. I fixed that problem as well. I also never quite got the really tight 90 left correct, again coming in too hot and kind of squaring off the corner. I started really attacking the slaloms well on my third run, and that's where I really made some money. I just couldn't progress from there.

Biggest change through the day was trying to not look at the element I was driving through and just trusting my peripheral vision. I think I've developed a few bad habits since that WDCR school three years ago.

Equipment management: I thought with the colder weather, I could get away without switching to all synth fluid, but I still ran into the power steering issues. It'll be fixed for next season.

Competition notes: Buttdyno and all his co-driver buddies came down here and kicked all our rear ends :mad::diaf: ;) It was nice to finally put a face to the username. I did better in PAX than normal, and I got within 0.1 seconds of a BMW that got me by a full second in September. Maybe I did run a little better today.

Off-Season: Well, that was the final event for 2008. With a little luck, I'll have more than six months here next year. In the meanwhile, my biggest projects will be more about fixing some of what I've got than any major upgrades. I've been needing an alignment for awhile, so I'm going to give the saggy butt shims a try and adding some camber bolts in the back while I'm at it. Up front, I'm thinking of lopping off one lobe from the bumpstop since it appears I've only got 0.5 inches of bump travel. I definitely need some new front endlinks since my stockers will eventually get warped. We don't get much snow down here, so I'm thinking of trying out spherical bearings. Then, if I can get a signoff from CINCSINK, time for Whiteline 27mm. Maybe I'll get real lucky on timing and I'll be able to attend an Evolution school.

earispe is selling a 27mm Whiteline in the MAIC classifieds as we speak :) I ripped the video earlier today, still working on getting it all prettied up though. Good meeting you!

earispe is selling a 27mm Whiteline in the MAIC classifieds as we speak :) I ripped the video earlier today, still working on getting it all prettied up though. Good meeting you!

I wound up buying this (thanks Eduardo!) as my birthday present back on Thanksgiving. It came with Poltec endlinks from a sedan. It turns out that by switching the bottom bolt to an M8 and a little careful washer-ology, it'll fit on a wagon. I put the endlinks on a couple days ago just to make sure they'd work. Today, I finally got the bar itself on there. It was much easier than the first time I put on a FSB. I actually got the subframe all the way off this time. I also was a lot more careful to center the bar and keep the endlinks even.

I haven't gotten much stick time with the new bar yet. However, I have tried out a couple of on-ramps. My initial impressions: HOLY FLIPPIN' CRAP THIS ROCKS! There is zero body roll at the front end. The limits are much, much higher, and confidence in approaching that limit is greater as well. At the limit, she does understeer, but only a smidge before the back end loses grip. No mod other than wheels/tires has made such a big improvement all at once.

The tradeoff is I'm getting a little bit of popping over some bumps and slow turns. It's no louder than my Noltec endlinks were on the 22mm bar. The Noltecs, by the way, had crumbled on the old bar, so I wound up running the stockers for a few months. This might have been due to installer error leaving the bushings stretched out, but I'd still recommend another brand.

In case you couldn't tell, all in all I'm pretty flippin' happy. We'll see how things go with more seat time. I believe the first autocross this year is in March. I can't wait!

Yeah, mine pops like hell over the winter. Then again, I'm not sure I remembered to go back in and torque the endlinks right...

Yeah, mine pops like hell over the winter. Then again, I'm not sure I remembered to go back in and torque the endlinks right...

Yeah, I'll give it a few days of normal driving, then see if things have loosened up on me.

This install actually got finished last week. I dialed in about -1 degrees camber in the back and tried to zero out the toe. I've still got some work to do back there to get it squared up. The shims were purely for cosmetics, although I think I also got back a little high speed stability going down the highway. I went with the 1/4 inch model. It didn't dramatically change the rake, but it does look a little better. I no longer look like I'm "tucking" in the back, so that's a definite improvement. The camber bolts are definitely working as advertised.

The lever pivot bushings were a pretty straightforward install, even though I couldn't get my shifter knob off. (I'll have to try a strap wrench or something the next time I need to get down there.) I thought initially I had the wrong bushings, because these are a whole lot bigger than stock and a much tighter squeeze. When TiC says don't overtorque the bolt in there, believe it. I could hardly move the shifter like that. Just barely snug with a baby wrench seemed to do the trick. The shifter definitely feels more connected, although I think I need to get back in there and retorque the bolt. I'd call it worthwhile for twenty bucks, especially if you're going in there anyway to do a short shifter.

I had the first autocross of the year today. Since I went through the trouble of increasing the stiffness of my setup, naturally it was cold, rainy, and miserable. I'll post up results once they hit the streets.

FYI on that shifter bushing: Try adding some lube like anti-seize or white lithium grease to it and you can tighten it down just a little more without the 'inability to move'. That way you don't feel as if you are leaving it sort of loose in order to be able just to not seize the thing up. :)

-Biggly

FYI on that shifter bushing: Try adding some lube like anti-seize or white lithium grease to it and you can tighten it down just a little more without the 'inability to move'. That way you don't feel as if you are leaving it sort of loose in order to be able just to not seize the thing up. :)

-Biggly

I used some lithium grease in there on the initial install, possibly not enough.

CN: A wet and wild, but ultimately satisfying start to the season.

Event: TSCC #1
Date: 15 Mar 2009
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25980157&postcount=209
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: full stiff front/ 1/4 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 60.212 on 4th run
Class results: 3 of 7
Class win time: 55.045, Mini Cooper S
Pax results: 13 of 76
FTD: 55.045, STX Mini Cooper S
Raw place fraction (my place/number of competitors) = 0.211
Pax place fraction (my PAX place/number of competitors) = 0.171
Raw time percent (% time off FTD) = 9.39%
Pax time percent (% time off fastest PAX)= 9.39%

Course description: Conditions were soaking wet and wicked cold. The start was in the right corner of the lot. A short straight led into a left 90. It slalomed slightly back right. After that was a 180 right. This led into a four cone slalom out at a slight angle with the first cone down the left side. Out of the slalom, the course went 90 left with a long straightaway down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, it went 90 left again. It transitioned back right after a quick straight, making room for the massive 180 degree skidpad left. Out of the skidpad, the fastest part of the course was a lane change to the left. After building up all the speed for a lane change, you slowed down for a 135 hairpin right. Post hairpin, there was a two cone slalom with the first cone down the left. The course then snaked left, did a 90 right, then a 90 left over finish.

Course management: The monkey skills for wet driving came back to a degree. I really used a normal dry line the whole time. There was only one corner where there was some standing water, but it didn't seem to make a difference. My biggest trouble spot was the 135 hairpin right. I had to start braking just after the first part of the lane change in order to slow down enough. I didn't turn in quickly enough and wound up far off the apex cone. The fact that it was on the passenger side of the car was definitely a factor for this. My first run was my slowest at a 62. I realized I could push harder everywhere for my subsequent runs, which were all in the 60's. Somehow, my final run was the fastest, even though it felt like I pushed too hard and lost speed in a few corners. But, it was my best effort through the hairpin, which might have made all the difference.

Equipment management: I accidentally left my rear damping at 1/4 turn instead of 1/2. The car was a bit pushy, which could also be down to the new bar. Besides that oversight, I decided to not try and chase a wet setup. Most surprising was the slow reaction time of the steering through the slaloms. I wasn't expecting that, especially after putting on a mongo front bar. The net result was I was behind in the slaloms pretty much every run.

Competition notes: Today, I was comfortably the best of the rest. :lol: It didn't help that FTD was set by the guy in my class. But, I beat the guy in the E30 325 that I was close to at the end of last year. The group overall was smaller than normal, but I am still ecstatic over having the 13th fastest PAX and 16th fastest raw time. It is a MASSIVE improvement over how I did the last time I ran in the rain. It's also the first time I've been in the top half since I started running with Tidwater. Hopefully the next event will be dry and I'll be able to keep the momentum going.

I also got to meet Duncan (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1648288) and check out his beast. "Wow" does not begin to cover it. It is a sick car. But, it doesn't change the fact that I beat him! (With the PAX correction factor, and he didn't bother to mount his rain tires. Details, details. :p) Seriously, I was happy to get within a couple of seconds raw time of this monster.

Notes for the next rain event: I'm thinking my usual dry settings are too stiff up front, costing me some much needed grip. I have a hunch that backing down the damping will let the front bite a little more and perhaps work better in the slaloms. As for modifying the driving, I just need to remember that you have to set up the car for the slalom earlier. The actual corners were less of an issue for the most part. In general, especially now that I've made the first significant change to my suspension in several years, I'm going to need to be more willing to experiment with setup. In the dry, I hope the mongo front bar will give me some of the responsiveness I need in the slalom without relying on absurdly high rebound damping.

I haven't updated the suspension setup post in awhile. Here's what we've got so far. Alignment numbers might change, since I basically used the Tom Hoppe/Sears Racing home camber gauge and a string alignment for the back, and I haven't messed with the front yet.


Front:
27mm swaybar, spherical endlinks (Whiteline and Poltec)
257 lb/in springs (Crucial Racing)
-2.75 degrees camber
+5.8 caster
0 toe
Noltec camber/caster plates

Rear:
22 mm adjustable swaybar, set to 24 mm, endlinks (IPD)
217 lb/in springs (Crucial)
-1 degree camber
0 toe
Grp N rear tops
TiC Saggy Butt Shims

Koni single adjustable dampers
Falken Azeni RT-615 in 235/40/17
Rota Attacks, 17x7.5

This has been a huge weekend for autocross. Saturday Tidewater put on a school, and today was a regular event. The school started off with three stations, one all about offsets, a slalom station, and a sweeper station. They linked everything together to make a full course after lunch.

Offset Station: This was a simple looking lane change followed by a quick left-right combination, then a short straight and left over finish. The big learning point for me was thinking about different lines. The left-right was a classic "compromise corner." When I late-apexed the left but was patient before turning back right, it magically became a straight line. The instructor was initially trying to get me to trail brake/flick myself around the right hander. He drove it and realized I needed a geometry change. That was easily the most magical learning moment of the day. It's hard to substitute having the right line.

Slalom station: This was a straight five cone slalom. Our instructors encouraged us to focus on constant throttle and the rhythm of setting the car up. There were no huge "aha" moments, but it was excellent coordination practice. It paid off nicely on the day of actual competition.

Sweeper station: Big 180 degrees of a left sweeper followed by a shot 90 degrees back right. This was another good monkey skill drill to help calibrate the throttle foot in relation to over/understeer.

The course in the afternoon started with the slalom, then shot 90 left through some offsets into the sweeper. After the sweeper, it went right 90, through an open 180 degree Chicago box, then into the offset section with a slightly wider lane change. My big learning point was thinking of the Chicago box as pivoting around a single cone with the bare minimum control input required.

I had a friend with an Evo drive my car at the sweeper station. He felt like his car (with suspension work) had less body roll, but my car was looser. This is true for high speed, but low speed and/or mismanaging the braking still brings understeer. Overall, I'm very happy with my suspension changes in the off-season. I'll make an event update once the results are online.

I haven't updated the suspension setup post in awhile. Here's what we've got so far. Alignment numbers might change, since I basically used the Tom Hoppe/Sears Racing home camber gauge and a string alignment for the back, and I haven't messed with the front yet.


Since I am running a similar setup I'd like to see your up to date ride heights as well. Thanks!

Notes for the next rain event: I'm thinking my usual dry settings are too stiff up front, costing me some much needed grip. I have a hunch that backing down the damping will let the front bite a little more and perhaps work better in the slaloms. As for modifying the driving, I just need to remember that you have to set up the car for the slalom earlier. The actual corners were less of an issue for the most part. In general, especially now that I've made the first significant change to my suspension in several years, I'm going to need to be more willing to experiment with setup. In the dry, I hope the mongo front bar will give me some of the responsiveness I need in the slalom without relying on absurdly high rebound damping.

I am a little late to see your post but you're getting it with needing softer rebound settings on the Koni's with 257in/lb springs. I think the Koni's are valved to handle a much higher spring rate, so keeping them softer produce better results. I have the Prodrive springs and they are close to your spring rates and I have found a setup that produced a very neutral handling car for my liking.

Front: 2/3 turn from full soft
Rear: 1 1/4 turn from full soft (2 turns being full stiff)

I also have 22/24mm IPD sways, PDE camber plates and Dunlop Spec Stars. Tire pressures were 40 psi front, 38 rear. I am happy with the balance of the car now. I ended up winning STX, but the main competition was a convertible 325 - no WRXs.

I am a little late to see your post but you're getting it with needing softer rebound settings on the Koni's with 257in/lb springs. I think the Koni's are valved to handle a much higher spring rate, so keeping them softer produce better results. I have the Prodrive springs and they are close to your spring rates and I have found a setup that produced a very neutral handling car for my liking.

Front: 2/3 turn from full soft
Rear: 1 1/4 turn from full soft (2 turns being full stiff)

I also have 22/24mm IPD sways, PDE camber plates and Dunlop Spec Stars. Tire pressures were 40 psi front, 38 rear. I am happy with the balance of the car now. I ended up winning STX, but the main competition was a convertible 325 - no WRXs.

Oh yeah, the IPD setup really was a great deal back in the day. I've still go their 24 in the back, but now I've got a Whiteline 27mm up front. I liked the rebound cranked to maximum up front on the old setup to help with quick transitions. It was a band-aid kind of solution. With the big bar in the wet, that clearly didn't work. This weekend in the dry, I set rebound one turn from full soft, or about half of what I used to run. I had the same confidence in transitions this way as I did with full stiff and a 22mm front bar.

It's funny how many ways there are to skin a cat. I've got softer rebound rear than front, but more tire pressure back there. I was lucky that I guessed right with my off-season changes. I think the key to keeping a good balance was reducing camber in the rear at the same time as the front bar going in. I'm a "set it until it feels good, then forget it" kind of guy, so I think that's all for substantial changes for this season.

softening the front rebound also help w/ reduce understeer in corner exit :)

I prefer to run more rebound rear than front, but as you say lots of ways to skin the same cat

I am firmly in the big front sway bar camp after last season (this season I have no choice to be in that camp as I'll be running DS :D)

I think the key to keeping a good balance was reducing camber in the rear at the same time as the front bar going in.

Careful with this too. I run -.4 rear camber and after this 2 events I have an unused portion of tire that just happens to be in the inside. I think I need more rear camber and a pyrometer.

^ -1.0 is about as low as I'd go- the rears need static neg to grip as well (just not as much :))

CN: Can't beat a school.

Event: TSCC #2
Date: 19 Apr 2009
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...&postcount=209
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: 1 turn to stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 5
Best time: 32.050 on 5th run
Class results: 3 of 9
Class win time: 30.353, Mini Cooper S
Pax results: 31 of 121
FTD: 28.159, Corvette
Raw place fraction (my place/number of competitors) = 0.339
Pax place fraction (my PAX place/number of competitors) = 0.256
Raw time percent (% time off FTD) = 13.8%
Pax time percent (% time off fastest PAX)= 9.29%

Course description: Construction on the lot reduced our available space. The course wound up quite a bit shorter than typical. From the upper right corner of the lot, we started with a funky four-cone slalom towards the ocean. The first cone went down the right side. The third station was actually two cones wide offset to the left. The second and fourth stations were three wide, but on the off-side of the slalom. After the slalom, the course went 90 left into a two cone long slalom, first cone down the left side. After a short straight, the course swept left with a couple of cones defining the outer portion on the right. From here, it went into an immediate hairpin left, then back right opening to a 180 degree Chicago box. Out of the box, the course wound back right about 70 degrees with a bit of distance to a single cone down the right side. After another bit of distance, it went back left 70 degrees, then right 90 over finish.

Course management: I was fairly happy with my learning curve and consistency on course. I initially ran a 34 with one cone right before the hairpin. I also figured out the 90 left after the slalom was a fast, fast corner, so on my next run I got a 34 clean, even though I went way too deep into the hairpin. I knew I had good speed on the fast sections and I just needed to reduce the screwing up on the slow parts. My last three runs were low 33, high 32, low 32. I still never got the hairpin quite right and might have left something on the table after the funky slalom. It was definitely easier to focus on problem areas with such a short course.

Equipment management: I had good indications last month, but my first official dry and warm autocross confirms the power steering is back on track. Mobil synthetic ATF did the trick. The balance is pretty good, with slight oversteer in quick transitions and understeer in the slow corners.

Competition notes: The official online results were kind of funky. I might be a full 2.6 seconds behind the Mini's codriver, but I know I was 1.3 behind the owner (and instructor from Saturday). They had me down for a 30-something, but unless there was a glitch in the space-time continuum, there's no way that happened. Either way, I'm officially chasing the leaders in the class. It's a good feeling.

Edit: Apparently I was 1.7 seconds off the winner and 0.4 off my instructor. Sweet.

Since I am running a similar setup I'd like to see your up to date ride heights as well. Thanks!

I'll grab 'em when I get the chance.

I ran Hawk HPS pads for my first couple of events, well I'm only a freshman in college, but I experienced some brake fade, I have an 02 wrx. After going to a porsche club autox event, I found that EBC yellowstuff front brake pads had the response I needed, maybe because their more heat resistant? but the yellowstuff have incredible stopping power, check them out or their reviews!

Yellowstuffs are definitely a more track-oriented pad. I went from HPS to Redstuff. I've hit ABS ice mode a few times on the autocross course. When the HPS wore down, I did have some fade. So far, the Redstuffs are working pretty well. The really awesome pedal feel from right after installation went away after a few months, so now they feel a lot more like HPS.

CN: A lurid spin and just not enough runs to really do some damage.

Event: TSCC #4
Date: 21 JUN 2009
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...&postcount=209
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: 1 turn to stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 61.688 on run 3
Class results: 3 of 6
Class win time: 59.354, Mini Cooper S
Pax results: 27 of 82
FTD: 52.996 SS Corvette FRC
Raw place fraction (my place/number of competitors) = 0.476
Pax place fraction (my PAX place/number of competitors) = 0.329
Raw time percent (% time off FTD) = 16.4%
Pax time percent (% time off fastest PAX)= 11.8%

Course description: This course had a couple of elements I'd never seen before. It started in the center of the lot facing the ocean. After a very short straight, it shot 90 degrees right through a Chicago box. Next was a lane change, which led into a 90 left turn in between two walls of cones shaped like a capital T with a gap between the horizontal and vertical part. You went right to left through the T, then around the left side of the T. The next element was also a pair of walls with a gap, but this one was like a capital L. You went through it left to right, and continued further right to get around the first cone of a five cone slalom, which had to go down the left side. As usual, this went down the hill towards the sea. At the bottom, the course swept about 120 degrees left, then back right 30 degrees, straightened out for about five feet, then continued right 90 degrees. The course continued in a big sweep left for nearly 180 degrees to launch back up the hill. This was the longest straight on the course. It led into an open Chicago-box that went left about 45 degrees. This spilled into a three-wall wallom, first wall down the left. After this very high speed portion, the course hit its tightest hairpin, a 135 degree right hander. Patience on exit was key. It led into a three-cone slalom, first cone down the right. Then, it turned left for maybe 70 degrees, then led into an open 180 degree Chicago box with the pivot cone offset right. This was on a 45 degree angle to the final three 90 degree turns. It was a simple left, right, left over finish.

Course management: My first run was red flagged. I put down a 62 on the next one, which was a decent exploratory lap kind of time. Looking for time, I pushed too hard and spun it going into the wallom. I came into this event after sitting out last month, and I was pretty distracted in general. It took some serious effort to refocus and put down that 61.688. Unfortunately, with my rerun, I couldn't make any more improvements with a 61.9.

Equipment management: My first timed run bumped my tire pressures up a solid 5 psi. My best run only made them come up 2 psi. It's easy to go too far with slip angle and ultimately hurt your times. I'm hoping for an honest five runs next month to help re-dial the monkey skills back in place.

Competition notes: The Mini got me by 2.3 seconds this month. Two months ago, on a course half the size, the gap was 1.7 seconds. Not bad, especially considering he designed the flippin' course, but not enthralling. The big difference between this and last event was I couldn't focus enough on individual parts of the course to consider time improvement. The low number of runs, the lurid spin, and just being mentally out of the game kept me from getting where I want to be.

CN: Strong performance on a fast and fun course. I'm pretty flippin' happy.

Event: TSCC #5
Date: 26 JUL 2009
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...&postcount=209
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: 1 turn to stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 48.008 on run 4
Class results: 2 of 6
Class win time: 47.105, Mini Cooper S (0.903 ahead)
Pax results: 24 of 98
FTD: 41.555, CM Formula Ford
Raw place fraction (my place/number of competitors) = 0.367
Pax place fraction (my PAX place/number of competitors) = 0.245
Raw time percent (% time off FTD) = 15.5%
Pax time percent (% time off fastest PAX)= 6.84%

Course description: The course started in the back left corner of the lot where we typically finish. The start pointed towards the water with a quick 45 degree left turn around a single cone. It came back right 45 degrees with a little straight between two walls. The exit gate offset slightly left and led to a somewhat open combo of 60 degree right, slight (maybe 15 degrees) back left, and finally finishing off right 45 degrees into a straight. After the straight, you had an offset right into a round hairpin left for 180 degrees. Out of the hairpin, there was a short straight, then the course really opened up with a 45 right down towards the beach, then a gradual 90 sweeper right. This was the fastest part of the course. From here, you could keep a lot of momentum through a turn 45 right, past a single cone left, then 45 degrees right around a wall. The short straight gave you the chance to set up for another 45 right, then back left through kind of an open bracket with your left limit defined by two widely spaced cones and the right covered by a wall. Out of the bracket, you went 45 left followed by a short straight into a sweep back right about 135 degrees. This turn put you on the left of the first cone in a three-cone slalom. Momentum here got you good speed for the final straightaway over finish.

Course management: I started out with two 51's, then a high 48, then my 48 flat. My first run, I tried too hard in the first 45 right-left-right sequence. Slowing down just a little and starting the turn sooner helped open that up. I was also way, way off the first slalom cone, which hurt my momentum over finish. The key was guts through the fast sweeper right. I'm actually not entirely sure how I sped up through the runs. I just went faster everywhere except that initial tight section.

Equipment management: I didn't have the guts to keep my foot on the floor for the fast sweeper right. I'd feel just a smidge loose and kind of keep my speed there. Just breathing on the brake set the car up for the 45 afterwards. By my last run, I handled the tight hairpin just about perfectly. I got just into understeer with throttle application and let that push me out from the apex.

Competition notes: This is as close as I've gotten to our local STX hotshoe. There was still some time out there for me to get, but I got most of it, and I got it comfortably. It's also the first time I've beaten the remainder of the class. PAXing in the top quarter feels pretty good too. I feel like if that Mini has a bad day and I have an exceptional day, I could beat him. That's a first.

Nice! Did you change anything setupwise?

congrats- nothing feels as nice as a job well done :)

have you gotten to a EVO school yet? I took in a EVO 2 school this year (1 last year) and it really ended giving me a whole new insight into looking at a course and how to attack it- really one of those aha moments :D

How many summers/winters have you driven on the Noltecs? How have they held up?

Nice! Did you change anything setupwise?

Nope, all as before. I still feel that I'm better off getting the car set up to where I can use it comfortably and just driving it. I've still got a lot to learn just about driving and consistency, so fewer variables still seems like the thing for me. But, I'm still in love with the big bar up front solution.

congrats- nothing feels as nice as a job well done :)

have you gotten to a EVO school yet? I took in a EVO 2 school this year (1 last year) and it really ended giving me a whole new insight into looking at a course and how to attack it- really one of those aha moments :D

Thanks! I haven't done an EVO school, but the local club put on a pretty solid one back in April. Hopefully the schedule will work out for me sometime.

How many summers/winters have you driven on the Noltecs? How have they held up?

If you mean my camber plates, they've been on since January 2006. This was my first actual winter on them, since I've spent the last few years in the South. They could use a cleaning, but I've been lucky in that I haven't seen the bearing failure (knock on wood) that Uncle Scotty experienced after a large number of miles. I love the added caster and easy adjustment between street and track alignment settings. I wish they didn't raise my nose and eat up my bump travel. If/when I need to upgrade this suspension, I'm strongly thinking about a Ground Control setup just so I can use their plates. With the separate camber and caster adjustment and added bump travel, they seem like the best solution for my needs.

CN: The fast guy didn't show up, so I won!

Event: TSCC #6
Date: 16 AUG 2009
Location: ACU-4, Little Creek Naval Base
Suspension Setup: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...&postcount=209
Tire pressure: 37f/40r
Damper settings: 1 turn to stiff front/ 1/2 turn to stiff rear (drop to 1/4 turn rear after 2 runs)
Engine Mods: K and N drop-in filter, Prodrive axle-back, Crucial up/dp, XPT STX tune
Number of runs: 4
Best time: 64.644 on run 2
Class results: 1 of 5
Class win time: 64.644
Pax results: 31 of 91
FTD: 56.661, DSP E30 BMW 325is
Raw place fraction (my place/number of competitors) = 0.363
Pax place fraction (my PAX place/number of competitors) = 0.341
Raw time percent (% time off FTD) = 14.1%
Pax time percent (% time off fastest PAX)= 11.0%

Course description: Once again, we started in the back left corner of the lot. With a very brief straight towards the water, it went 90 left through the start lights. One slalom cone went down the left side. The course turned back right 90 degrees with a little straight, one gate offset slightly left, and then a sweep right of 90 degrees. Out of the sweeper, the next gate offset right, leading into the first of three lane changes. After the right-left-right through the lane change, the course swept about 150 degrees left. From there, it was a short straight that jinked back left 45 degrees. Then, it went 90 right into the downhill five cone slalom, with the first cone down the right side and offset away from the main line through the middle three cones. The last slalom cone was also a throwaway as you went straight towards the beach and swept right 90 degrees. Out of this turn was a five-wall wallom. Each wall was three cones wide, first wall down the left side. It was fairly open, then swept right 180 degrees. Out of the sweeper, the gate offset slightly left, which led into a 90 left with a short straight. This led to a Chicago box left for 90 degrees, then another Chicago box left for about 45 degrees to make it through the gate that came back right 45. Immediately after this gate was a hairpin 90 left. After one slalom cone down the left side, it was straight over finish.

Course management: I ran an aggressive 65 out of the box. I needed more patience through the dual Chicago boxes and the slalom over finish. With that fix, I got my 64.6. I both reduced my rear rebound a hair and tried to focus on smoothness for run three. This slowed me to a lower 65. I way over-braked out of the wallom into the sweeper right. With the class pretty well in hand, I decided to take a guy for a ride on my last run and pretty much threw it away with a 66. Overall, I think I could've gotten more speed through the downhill slalom and the wallom.

Equipment management: With the relatively high speed of the courses the last couple of months, I looked at settling the rear today. The lane change was particularly treacherous. This move boosted my confidence a little bit, but it did not show up on the time sheet. I often overemphasize smooth to the detriment of aggressive. I noticed I was using way too much steering input for a lot of the course, but backing off here kept me from pushing the speed up. I also didn't make the best use of the friction circle today. The braking zones were not well-defined, so I wound up still trying to slow the car mid-corner. Trail-braking is not something that's actually in the toolbox just yet, so this probably cost me time.

Competition notes: Without the hotshoe there, I won the class by two seconds. However, my PAX positioning slipped quite a bit. I definitely lost some focus without someone to chase. Maybe I need to think less about technique and more about finding the speed for each section. Maybe less thinking overall is the best idea. Unfortunately, I won't get a chance to do anything but think until October. In any case, a win's a win. :disco:

The Tidewater guys made the call to run this as a fun event only. Thirty knots of wind meant they couldn't set up timers and the course would migrate several feet at a time. Initially, everyone queued up and ran without workers. They weren't comfortable doing more than one at a time, and after one run-through they realized they needed to split the group. With workers to make sure the slaloms didn't disappear (although that was a fun run :devil:) and a couple of cars on course at a time, I got in three runs. We got some precipitation for my second and third runs, which made it quite a bit more interesting.

With that much wind and temps hovering in the high 40's, a lot of folks worked the course wearing their helmets. I'm glad I had a closed face and didn't remove my facemask. It did nicely keeping the sand out of my eyes while I ran after cones pretending I was The Stig. Between that and the sea foam blowing up the beach and covering part of one corner, it was the most surreal autocross experience of my life. Unfortunately, this is probably my last autocross of the season. I guess if you can't go out with a bang, there's always going out with a weird.