SCCA Solo C Street Discussion

[Briankbot]

Originally Posted by 86_Freak

After Spring Nationals at Lincoln this past weekend, I'm unsure if I'll stay with the FR-S this year or go back to the kart. I'm getting impatient with myself as I was always battling for the top 3 positions in KM but am struggling to even get into the trophies in CS. I'm sure more seat time in the FR-S will help, but it's hard to break the driving style I had developed while in the kart.

Although, I did have a light bulb moment after day 1 at the Tour. I had been running 28 psi front and 25 psi rear all year, but after talking to a couple other FR-S competitors, I realized I was way too low. I raised the pressures to 35 psi front and 32 psi rear and it completely changed the car, it was actually driveable now.

On day 1 of the Tour where I ran 28 psi front/25 psi rear, I was 8th and was 1.126 seconds off the fastest time. On day 2 where I ran 35 psi front/32 psi rear, I moved up to 5th and was only 0.510 seconds off the fastest time.

The winning car at the Pro and Tour was an RX-8. The driver owns an ND but doesn't want to risk breaking the transmission, so he is driving somebodies RX-8 and almost dominated the field. After talking to him, he said he wasn't sure if he could of gone faster in the ND over the RX-8 for the type of course. The courses had a lot of sweepers with the majority of them being decreasing radius and only a couple of offset transitions. I'll upload videos tonight or tomorrow.

Hey Jared, it was nice to meet you. You are welcome for the tire pressure tip, even if it helped you bump me back a trophy spot on day 2 of the tour! The little bit of Scion money coming my way from the Pro helps make up for it though.

Give the FR-S some time and get the TRD bars. Maybe run the Strano on the front with the TRD rear or go even stiffer on one end. Anything to speed up the weight transfer on the car will probably work well with your kart driving habits. Dan sure was fast in that RX-8 and there was something about the tour courses that threw a lot of people off. It made me realize I still have a lot to learn about certain elements on National type courses. I am looking forward to your videos to see what you were doing with your car. See you next time!

[SeanRTR]

The guy at spring nationals in the RX-8 can wheel, no doubt about that. On the right course, the RX-8 is still a force...although everyone has ditched these cars because they're kind of shitty/impractical/weird.


As mentioned, I got my 16's back on the car, with a discounted set of 225/50/16 RE71R's. The event went well, with some very competitive C-street competition, I was able to take the win on the new tires, by a very slight margin. The car felt great, very responsive, balanced, easy to drive. New tires didn't seem to have the same grip as my 'worn-in' 225-47-17's, but that was to be expected. I'm anxiously awaiting to get more runs on these tires to see their true potential. I'll be another local event this Sunday to see how it goes. My last set of Bridgestones was much better on the second heat cycle, but really not up to full speed until well after 40-60 runs...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCjO3lzNbls"]Sean Grogan May 29th 2016 - YouTube[/ame]
(this finish resulted in a few 'incidents' into the grass, when the timing lights were actually placed 50 feet down the long road at the end)
Results:
http://www.nworscca.com/attachments/...e3_results.htm
(10th on index out of like 100~)


16's



On the drive home from the event I ended up in downtown Toledo looking for a bar, and was reminded how screwed up my front suspension is, making all kinds of clunking in the front end over low speed pot holes, substantial bumps. I just couldn't take it any more, so removed the 22mm perrin bar and tried out my TRD 21mm bar, hoping the sway bar bushings were the root of my problem. 100% problem fixed. It's amazing how much the slightest of front sway bar free-play can result in the most horrendous and obnoxious sounds from the front end. The bushings 'looked' okay, but after 65,000 miles, with never being re-lubricated, they were toast. They were really toast about 30k miles ago. Advice, if you have poly front sway bushings (and everyone in this thread probably does) don't be lazy like me and let them go un-lubricated. Grease them every 20-30k miles at least. Turn in response seems improved in the round-abouts with the 21mm front bar, and balance seems much better. Hopefully I'm not giving up too much in the slaloms. We'll see how Sunday goes.

[Biggins]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

New tires didn't seem to have the same grip as my 'worn-in' 225-47-17's, but that was to be expected.

How many runs do you have on yours? I flipped mine after 75 runs since they were near cording on the shoulder and have ~95 on them now and are still fast. My Kumhos have over 50 runs on them now and look brand new.

Grease them every 20-30k miles at least. Turn in response seems improved in the round-abouts with the 21mm front bar, and balance seems much better. Hopefully I'm not giving up too much in the slaloms. We'll see how Sunday goes.

Thanks for the heads up on the bushings. Is the Perrin 22 you have adjustable?

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by Biggins

How many runs do you have on yours? I flipped mine after 75 runs since they were near cording on the shoulder and have ~95 on them now and are still fast. My Kumhos have over 50 runs on them now and look brand new.


Thanks for the heads up on the bushings. Is the Perrin 22 you have adjustable?

I don't really count, but I assume 60-80 runs on my 225 45 17's....I've not yet needed to flip tires on this car for any set of tires I've gone through yet. Very minimal sidewall wear if you rotate tires front to rear often enough, and they always wear flat across the tread for me.


The 22mm Perrin is adjustable, and I ran mine on soft.

[Locust]

After reading someone else's post about what pressures they run on their Bridgestones I'm curious now what are you guys running? Someone said they tried running higher at 35/32 and it worked well for them but I've found that 29/27 gives me the best results. Am I way off from what everyone else is doing? A bit hesitant to test it right now since I don't have any non-comptition runs in the next three events.

[86_Freak]

Here are my videos from Spring Nationals. Like I said, I had low air pressures on day 1 and it felt like crap, raised them up for day 2 and felt much better.

[klittl06]

What's everyone's thoughts on 2017 changes in regards to c street? This includes a tad more hp/torque, bbk, gearing changes, and damper (and spring?) changes.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Locust

After reading someone else's post about what pressures they run on their Bridgestones I'm curious now what are you guys running? Someone said they tried running higher at 35/32 and it worked well for them but I've found that 29/27 gives me the best results. Am I way off from what everyone else is doing? A bit hesitant to test it right now since I don't have any non-comptition runs in the next three events.

I'd say both those numbers are spot on for the Bridgestones I've been running (and coincidentally my old ZIISS), although not directly comparable as they're not 215/45/17. I set them ~30 psi in the morning and they end up around 34 hot, bleed off as necessary to keep the tire from ballooning depending on what tire gets worked the hardest.

A pyrometer has been well worth the money to take the guesswork out of tire pressures.

[AlanLGuy]

Originally Posted by klittl06

What's everyone's thoughts on 2017 changes in regards to c street? This includes a tad more hp/torque, bbk, gearing changes, and damper (and spring?) changes.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Not worried about 5 hp/tq peak, more interested to see a dyno to see if they worked on that torque dip.

The bbk is just extra weight with no real benefit for autocross imo.

Gearing is going to be... interesting... Not sure how I feel about it. We have options to tweak with wheel diameter and tire height, so it might not matter much

Damper changes.. Who cares
Spring changes... good for BRZ, irrelevant for FRS unless they move the non-TRD to DS.

More worried about how the CS/DS thing shakes out. If given the option I'll take off the TRD parts and go to DS... I think the ND is an overdog, like my chances against the WRX better

[86_Freak]

Originally Posted by AlanLGuy

Not worried about 5 hp/tq peak, more interested to see a dyno to see if they worked on that torque dip.

The bbk is just extra weight with no real benefit for autocross imo.

Gearing is going to be... interesting... Not sure how I feel about it. We have options to tweak with wheel diameter and tire height, so it might not matter much

Damper changes.. Who cares
Spring changes... good for BRZ, irrelevant for FRS unless they move the non-TRD to DS.

More worried about how the CS/DS thing shakes out. If given the option I'll take off the TRD parts and go to DS... I think the ND is an overdog, like my chances against the WRX better

Agreed about the CS/DS. If the non-TRD is moved to DS, I'll be taking my springs off to go against the WRX.

[Locust]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

I'd say both those numbers are spot on for the Bridgestones I've been running (and coincidentally my old ZIISS), although not directly comparable as they're not 215/45/17. I set them ~30 psi in the morning and they end up around 34 hot, bleed off as necessary to keep the tire from ballooning depending on what tire gets worked the hardest.

A pyrometer has been well worth the money to take the guesswork out of tire pressures.

Ya I used a pyrometer to get to 29/27. Checked for tire temps on all 4 corners for 6 events to confirm.

[TEAMETR]

The stock FRS can not compete with the so called PORT installed TRD springs and sway bar cars in autocross. Some claim they were PORT installed but were self installed parts. I have sent in my letter to SEB to change the rules like many have done already. To move NON TRD cars to DS. Send in your request SEB for rule change at https://www.crbscca.com/index.php?page=submitLetter

[AlanLGuy]

Originally Posted by TEAMETR

The bone stock FRS can not compete with the so called PORT installed TRD springs and sway bar cars in autocross. I have sent in my letter to SEB to change the rules like many have done already. If you support this rule then send in your request for rule change at https://www.crbscca.com/index.php?page=submitLetter

The SEB did receive many letters and already responded that the TRD springs and swaybars are legal for Street class. They aren't going to change their mind about that. The best thing you can do is write a letter in support of the move of the non-TRD cars to DS.

The parts are legal, there is no question about that as far as the SEB is concerned. The options are to move TRD or non TRD cars to a different class or somehow convince the SEB to re-write the rules to allow the BRZ to equip the TRD parts.

It's a raw deal for the BRZ, but we are talking a tenth or two of a second, which by no means puts them out of contention for a win with a good driver.

[NJ10]

I think someone mentioned this at Toledo too, I'm really looking forward to see a twin compete in both CS/DS if that happens. It is totally plausible to switch out the strut assemblies and swaybar between CS and DS with a good pit crew.