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1987 244 DL Autocrosser

If you feel slow, stop working on the car, and drive it. It seems like you guys are changing something every month, which can be fun, but you lose your consistency in the car, because it will react differently at every event. You need to do your changes in the off season, use the test n tune to get it where it's comfortable, and leave it for the season.

You're basically jumping into a different car at each event, which will really throw you for a loop(BNE) every time. Nail down the mods you want for the season, and stick to it. You'll be surprised how much faster you'll get when you don't change something every week. Our SM bmw guys were doing what you're doing for a while, and they finally chilled out, and are now getting faster and faster, and much much MUCH more consistent.
 
kahlua240 said:
If you feel slow, stop working on the car, and drive it. It seems like you guys are changing something every month, which can be fun, but you lose your consistency in the car, because it will react differently at every event. You need to do your changes in the off season, use the test n tune to get it where it's comfortable, and leave it for the season.

You're basically jumping into a different car at each event, which will really throw you for a loop(BNE) every time. Nail down the mods you want for the season, and stick to it. You'll be surprised how much faster you'll get when you don't change something every week. Our SM bmw guys were doing what you're doing for a while, and they finally chilled out, and are now getting faster and faster, and much much MUCH more consistent.
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That is some horrible advice. Just about as bad as street tires being slower the R- Comps.

Every event the car has been GAINING PACE. We are moving in the right direction. A lot of the stuff I have been trying to convince towery to do is stuff that I already tried on my wagon and know that it works and is an improvement from where he is/was.

Tweaking and changing things in season IS the way to go. Its called development, ever hear of a little sport called F1? Those cars are continually being improved and changed throughout the season. The best part about in season tweaks is you actually get data on how the car performs with the changes compared to the rest of the field.

His car was fairly dialed in but he was on dead/slow tires. When switched to new tires it threw alot of stuff that worked fine... completely off.
 
First off, f1 and autocross cannot be compared, aside from racing things with an engine and 4 wheels.

Secondly, how is that bad advice? Autocross is a drivers sport and seat time will give you more gains than anything else, but all seat time is not equal. If you get into a car that changes every event, you're not learning control, you're learning around the changes. If you get into a static car, you have the opportunity to actually improve youself, instead of fight against the newest change.

Autocross is 90% driver, 10% car. Focusing on driving will always be more important than the car.
 
LOL at no development during the season. If you're not going forward, you're going backward. Fine for Stock class and you're just making small tweaks to tire pressure or shock settings for conditions, but that only scratches the surface.

I agree that just because I CAN change a lot of things, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. I had someone telling me to put stiffer springs on the front before this event, but I only wanted to change the rear. I did put a bigger bar on the front, but that really was meant to help the rear. And it did. The car doesn't step out in slaloms and doesn't one-wheel-peel like it did last event. Took first in class, and unlike last event, no one in class beat my raw time. I beat ASP this time by a few tenths, where before I got beat by a few tenths. Before, I was 1.3 sec off a VERY good BStock driver in a Solstice, and this event I was .1 off his best clean run and .5 off his best raw time. I'm still getting beat by B Stock, so I've got work to do!

I'm not guessing at what might make the car better. I'm addressing MAJOR issues. Things like the inside rear tire coming off the ground. And the car (tires) getting slower as they warm up and as I learn the course. The car still has a lot of faults, and I'm addressing them as fast as I can.

So far I did short struts, higher spring rate in front, quicker steering, raised the roll center, new tires, softer rear springs w/tender springs, lower rear height, three front bar changes...and more? The car is better, faster, and easier to drive.

The off-season is cold and dark, so I do my work in the on-season.
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I'm hoping to get to a point where I just focus on driving and I don't have to babysit the car. Last event, I had a tire rub filling the car with smoke once per run. Major distraction. I want to be able to go out and drive 100% on the limit with nothing holding me back, like wheel spin, balance, noises, knocks, rev limiters, etc. We're getting there...
 
I wish you the best of luck, I alway love keeping up with this thread, it makes me happy. I guess we're kinda lucky down here that the off season is 50* and dry most of the time.
Wheel spin is something you embrace, balance is also something you embrace. Everything else needs to be fixed.

My go to story about this kind of stuff is a guy in our region named Chris, drives an 89 integra, bought it brand new, put some konis on it, and some azenis (nobody brings rcomps any more, our pavement eats em way too fast) and drove it... forever... He would come to an event in the car, slap on his HS magnets, and be 10ths away from the top times, all the time lifting one, maybe two wheels, rolling all over the place, sliding around, lookin ridiculous. But the guy uses the car to his advantage, because he's learned the thing so well. He can use the body roll to assist him on turn in, and his ability to lift a rear wheel to pivot around a cone, I mean, its ridiculous watching him drive. But in the end, a majority of the people out there's goal for every event, was to beat him. And it barely ever happened.

He doesn't autocross anymore because he got bit by the dirt bug, but his story just goes to show my idea of what autocross is about.

Keep up the good work, and maybe some day I'll make a trip up there, stay with my cousin, and convince him to take out his 911.
 
kahlua240 said:
Autocross is 90% driver, 10% car. Focusing on driving will always be more important than the car.
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That is such a cliche saying, if you consider the difference between us Paxing in the top 10 of the event and where we are is 6%.

Making improvements to a car makes the driving easier for the driver
 
you guys are fighting about driving around cones in a parking lot....I consider kart racing more serious...
 
kahlua240 said:
Just because it's a cliche saying doesn't mean it's not true.
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I agree that the driver is more important then the car but the car is still important.. you listed 10%. The gap in time between first place via pax is less then 10%. So the saying is true but doesn't mean jack **** when everything is so close
 
kahlua240 said:
My go to story about this kind of stuff is a guy in our region named Chris, drives an 89 integra, bought it brand new, put some konis on it, and some azenis...
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Reminds me of one of my friends from my days in STS...drove an Integra on the baldest Azenis ever, and usually did well. They had zero tread, slicker than slick, not even a tread inspecting dimple.

I'm going to try to get another driver into my car before the end of the season. There are some non-SCCA events offering 8 runs a day, so I'd like to see what someone faster than me can do in my car.
 
towerymt said:
Reminds me of one of my friends from my days in STS...drove an Integra on the baldest Azenis ever, and usually did well. They had zero tread, slicker than slick, not even a tread inspecting dimple.

I'm going to try to get another driver into my car before the end of the season. There are some non-SCCA events offering 8 runs a day, so I'd like to see what someone faster than me can do in my car.
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ICE BURN... you should try to get Pete to drive it. hes pretty quick.
 
I always like to have other people run my car to get their feedback. It's almost as much fun as besting the times of others in their cars.
 
blkaplan said:
ICE BURN... you should try to get Pete to drive it. hes pretty quick.
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Rather Peter than Pete, Pete is faster, but Peter won't smoke my tires. And then there's Pete, RACE TEAM'S fastest driver.

Found one tiny flat spot (scuff) on one tire. Found that the right rear has some cuts from rubbing on that seatbelt anchor plate...grinder time. It also rubbed the support bar above the tire, so I'll probably hammer that or just cut it out.
 
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