Yea likewise, I'll be there for sure. Are you going to make it?

I hoping to be able to make it. I'll know more for sure in a couple weeks.

New exhaust is on. Went from really loud and light, to really quiet and a bit heavier.

Blitz Nur-SPEC VSR dual exit exhaust

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQP1YXCU3UA"]Blitz Nur-Spec VSR exhaust install for 2017 BRZ - YouTube[/ame]

Damn, Lincoln Mid-Div race this past weekend sure was a stressful mess.

Went in using virtually the same setup that I used at Spring Pro/Nats. We put 80+ runs on the car at those events, over 3 drivers, with no complaints of grip problems.

Day 1 I go out and the car is on ice...then I DNF 'cause the car plowed off course trying to brake, then I spin big on my 3rd and 4th runs, barely even pushing the car. WTF. I could not keep the car straight to save my life, it was all over the place. Felt like driving it off a cliff as I could not believe how different it was than just a few months earlier.

Luckily we had fun runs afterwards and I stayed out there testing things until they closed it. 7 runs later and drastically changed bump/rebound settings, the car was working mostly good again.

Day 2 I continued my testing from fun runs. I was able to get a 54.8 out of it, for my fastest time, next fastest was 55.1. Both runs with noticeable time lost due to mistakes. Craig did a best of 54.1, so I felt better about the car at that point. Last years fast time on that course (it was the 2016 Nats courses) was 54.6. So, give or a take a couple tenths for course differences/weather/setup/etc, I felt my time was ok. Now I just need to drive it with as little mistakes as possible.

Now I am wondering if I have had my suspension setup all wrong this whole time. Even going back to my FRS, as I had serious grip issues at Nats last year too. Weird thing is, it has seemed to work good enough at some National events this year. Hopefully I turned a corner though this weekend...

Now I just have to see which BRZ shows up at Nats in a few weeks. Hopefully the one that works and has grip, so I can actually drive it.

Man, that sounds frustrating. Are you still running the fairly high spring rates?

See you in a few weeks, my Focus is gone though I'll be driving one in the Pro Finale... Driving a FiST for nats.

You had issues in Texas too though, another concrete site.

I switched to the 400's from the 450's I had on my FRS (all around).

Cool, see you then! I don't think I will make the Pro, not enough points :(

Right. I was also on different tires and bars then as well though. That event is what prompted me to change both bars, alignment, and tires.

One thing I have never really changed much (from the RCE base shock setup) is the compression. I have changed the rear a bit trying to fix the grip, but never the front (always about 75% soft).

My theory now, is that I have just been way too soft with compression, especially in the front, all this time. It works good enough at home where we have no power and less grip, and also at sites that are not concrete (like Min Wells, although I also had 2 unexpected spins in the same spot there as well). Once on concrete, the grip is just too high for the bump settings. I am either bottoming the suspension, or it is too soft to get any load into the tires initially, not allowing the shocks/tires to do their thing. However, this does not explain why the car seemed to have grip in the spring :iono: Although, I do remember it having some of the same bad behaviors, just not snap oversteer or sudden loss of grip.

This is the best I can come up with after analyzing all my setup logs back to last year including the FRS. Like I said, hopefully I have turned a corner and started to finally figure this car out (I am slow...) as I am growing tired of fighting the car and setup :(

FWIW, my car worked wonderful during the Spring Pro, then it turned into a dumpster fire pile of garbage during the Tour.

I definitely think you're missing out on not playing with bump, especially at Lincoln. But that's just me

Yea, I agree on the bump. My thinking has always been to try and fix the problem on the end that is troublesome. But, that obviously has not worked out too well.

Ah the interesting parts of developing a racecar. This is the stuff I love reading and why I jumped straight into STX. But goddamn is it frustrating when all you want to do is drive but you're just plain stuck! Keep it up and hope you figure it out!

:cheers:

Thanks. Yep, so true. I hate when I cannot drive the car because it is not working good. It's one thing if I just suck and am slow at driving, but I hate not even having a chance to do that lol. I guess that is part of the challenge though, being able to put together the whole package from car, to setup, to driving and execution.

On my 128 I rarely if ever touched a damper setting.

This year with the FRS. About every single event I've twisted 3-4 knobs on the car to make it work. Knowledge over damper settings and when/how to change them is key.

I made the wrong change first day of Spring Nats Tour and it killed me. I completely reversed the change for Day 2 and was right back on pace.

That's funny 'cause I never changed a thing on my e36 either, and it worked great the couple times I had it at Lincoln :bellyroll:

I have never felt like my FRS or BRZ ever worked very well. Good enough sometimes, but never very well. I think like you said, I just need to get used to changing shock settings as needed, depending on how the car behaves. It seems there is no "set it and forget it" type of settings for these cars, which is what I have kind of been trying to find.

I feel like a get within 2 clicks of a "set it and forget it" depending on surface. And then just adjust driving style a bit. I always ask myself if it was Driver error or car error first. Was I looking ahead?

Y'all on RCE/KW's or something else?

MCS 2-way External


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RCE T2's.

RCE T2's

Interesting, I recently saw a post from Chris @ Redshift saying how much he likes to add compression.

I only had single adjustable Ohlins (and the silly comp/rebound blend too...) so my only experience playing with damper knobs is in iRacing.... so I'll just be a sponge :)

If you talk to Bryan @ JRZ, his answer to (almost) every question is "add compression." :lol:

Seriously though, 2 ways can be tricky. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

- Andrew

Thanks! I've always noticed more change in car behavior with compression adjustments. I would be curious what you guys baseline F/R bump at for autocross cars (I am a lot stiffer now than your general baseline setup). But, I assume that depends largely on the spring/bar setup too.

My e36 has TC Kline DA's and it has always been good just making minor bump adjustments. They do not have nearly as much range of adjustment as the T2's however. Don't know why it took me so long to mess with front compression on my BRZ/FRS, but that seems to have been a good change.

High speed or low speed? ;)

Video is up from the frustrating Lincoln Mid-Div event...At least car is working better now. PAX'd 3rd out of ~115 at our local event over the weekend (usually in top 10 or 20, this was my best ever). Finally felt like the car could be pushed without having to fight it everywhere.

Next stop, Solo Nats!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsuN91j6ofI[/ame]

2017 Solo Nats is in the books! Had a good time as usual. Did not quite have my head in it for the first day, so under drove pretty badly. Second day was better, made a couple minor suspension changes and had more confidence in the car to push harder.

I'll be putting together a full video for my normal YouTube channel that will probably go up next week.

119 STX

East course - 56.7
West course - 60.9

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqaMjOP_nV4[/ame]

2017 Solo Nationals full video, posting here to keep my timeline going.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsA8GWsMeh8"]The Mental Game and 2017 Solo Nationals - YouTube[/ame]

Congrats on the solid finish, Justin. Look forward to seeing you in a couple weekends at HPR!

Thanks! But wait, it is this weekend right? haha

I'll be getting the BMW ready the next couple days.

Oh crap, it is! My mind is all outta what. i've been in South America the last three weeks so my mental schedule isn't quite right now.

Preparation for next season has begun xD Still need some springs and rear shock mounts, forgot that the stock ones will not fit MCS (without drilling).

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfFVvyWN-C8[/ame]

Took me a while to get all the parts together, but the MCS setup is finally installed!

Getting it aligned and balanced tomorrow with an autox event this Saturday.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh3cfXpYWag[/ame]

Yay the nightmare of the install is over!

Let me know how those rear top hats are. I’m looking to change mine up this winter


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I wouldn't say it was a nightmare. Some confusion and minor frustrations, yes 😂

Will do on the top hat's. They were simple install and everything fit 😁

How do you like the RacerX front endlinks? One of the things I like about RacerX is they are spherical. I currently have Whiteline.

I like them a LOT better than the Whiteline end-links that I removed. Much better fitment and much easier to tighten down.

They had a crazy black friday sale, even cheaper than the sale I got them on a little while back.

2 autocross events on the MCS and some street driving. Liking them so far, still need some seat time to dial things in. Also, might be testing another set of springs.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv4DuxywirY[/ame]

What rates you on vs what do you think you're going to?

Lol that steering wheel cover

I have been trying out the 5k/9k setup these past 2 events. Going to try 9k/11k next. Mostly an experiment to see how the car feel changes when making drastic spring rate changes. MCS recommends the really stiff springs, even going up to 11kF & 13kR.

I'm hoping to get the 9k/11k setup on before our next event on Feb. 18th. Running out of time though as I've been laid up this past week after surgery :(

I would strongly suggest doing it after Fontana...

:) Yea, I have been leaning in that direction too. It would be a stretch to get things switched by the 18th anyways.