SCCA Solo C Street Discussion

[7thgear]

would anyone here choose to go down to a 16X7 rim for a gearing advantage in 2014?

[jprice130]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

would anyone here choose to go down to a 16X7 rim for a gearing advantage in 2014?

I have seriously considered this. The Z2s come in a 225/45/16 size which is even shorter than the 235/40/17. If I was running smaller lots or courses with a lot of low speed turns that needed acceleration over top-speed, I'd definitely consider it. Oh and 16" wheels and 16" tires are usually cheaper!

[G_Ride]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

would anyone here choose to go down to a 16X7 rim for a gearing advantage in 2014?

My friend and I are trying 16x7 right now with 225/50/16 (I know, A LOT OF SIDEWALL)Rivals. We've done one autox with them so far, so there's not much to say yet. We still need to tweak the konis settings and tire pressures.

[Kido1986]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

would anyone here choose to go down to a 16X7 rim for a gearing advantage in 2014?

Problem with that is the rev limiter is already too low on this car. 59mph is too low speed to continue 2nd gear but just quick enough that 3rd is a hard choice on most lots (since downshifting has a good chance of upsetting the car).

For shorter gearing, people are using the 235/40/17 Z2s.

I myself am looking for TALLER gearing next year. Trying to source something to (legally) help with that I need Japanese parts brokers though

[des]

Originally Posted by jprice130

I have seriously considered this. The Z2s come in a 225/45/16 size which is even shorter than the 235/40/17. If I was running smaller lots or courses with a lot of low speed turns that needed acceleration over top-speed, I'd definitely consider it. Oh and 16" wheels and 16" tires are usually cheaper!

Some Bay Area folks with a new BRZ tried this last weekend, two good drivers on 16-inch Rivals. Maybe he can fill us in ...

[jprice130]

Originally Posted by des

Some Bay Area folks with a new BRZ tried this last weekend, two good drivers on 16-inch Rivals. Maybe he can fill us in ...

Would that be G_Ride who just posted above? If so, he said they were using 225/50/16 which is actually a taller than stock diameter and about the same as a 225/45/17 Rival. I was assuming "7thGear" was asking about the 16x7 wheels as a means for reducing overall tire diameter, but maybe I interpreted his question wrong?

[G_Ride]

Originally Posted by des

Some Bay Area folks with a new BRZ tried this last weekend, two good drivers on 16-inch Rivals. Maybe he can fill us in ...

That was my car Des. This was the first autox with the car, so my codriver and I are still trying to dail in the konis settings and tire pressures. On a surface like the Oakland Coliseum, the extra sidewall of the 225/50/16 Rivals helped with the bumpy areas. I do think that sidewall is affecting turn in response a bit.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by Kido1986

Problem with that is the rev limiter is already too low on this car. 59mph is too low speed to continue 2nd gear but just quick enough that 3rd is a hard choice on most lots (since downshifting has a good chance of upsetting the car).

For shorter gearing, people are using the 235/40/17 Z2s.

I myself am looking for TALLER gearing next year. Trying to source something to (legally) help with that I need Japanese parts brokers though

different lots

around here you're either comfortably in 3rd with natural 2nd gear corners, (which you wouldn't be able to elminiate from a wheel size change)
or it's a flat out 2nd gear track with occasional 1st gear corners

and it's those 1st gear corners i want to eliminate by getting shorter gearing.

but i may just not bother and go the cheapest route and just get tires for OEM wheels. Not optimizing but ohh well.

[ViperASR]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

different lots

around here you're either comfortably in 3rd with natural 2nd gear corners, (which you wouldn't be able to elminiate from a wheel size change)
or it's a flat out 2nd gear track with occasional 1st gear corners

and it's those 1st gear corners i want to eliminate by getting shorter gearing.

but i may just not bother and go the cheapest route and just get tires for OEM wheels. Not optimizing but ohh well.

I think the idea here though is to optimize the car setup for nationals level courses. At nationals, you will easily see the rev limiter in the twins, as was proven in 2013. I was on the limiter in an s2000 multiple times on both courses.

[Kido1986]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

different lots

around here you're either comfortably in 3rd with natural 2nd gear corners, (which you wouldn't be able to elminiate from a wheel size change)
or it's a flat out 2nd gear track with occasional 1st gear corners

and it's those 1st gear corners i want to eliminate by getting shorter gearing.

but i may just not bother and go the cheapest route and just get tires for OEM wheels. Not optimizing but ohh well.

As ViperASR put it, I'm worried about national courses. Locally only, I would run 16s all day with the slightly lighter set and much cheaper tires.

FL. State Championship had low third gear slaloms lead QUICKLY into mid 2nd gear slaloms with no room to downshift safely into 2nd, so I rode it out on the limiter. I lost by .03 seconds :/ S2000 gearing way too good for me

[7thgear]

yeah i don't think i'd be making a trip to Lincoln from Canada in the next few years.

i'm mainly concerned about locla competition, which is why i'm debating investing anything beyond camber bolts and just new rubber.

but we have some quick guys (a small contignent even showed up at your nationals this year), so it's never a cake awalk.

[Kido1986]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

yeah i don't think i'd be making a trip to Lincoln from Canada in the next few years.

i'm mainly concerned about locla competition, which is why i'm debating investing anything beyond camber bolts and just new rubber.

but we have some quick guys (a small contignent even showed up at your nationals this year), so it's never a cake awalk.

If you're going the cheap, easy, almost-prepped route, consider the Strano front sway as well. $150 (plus whatever S/H is to Canuckland) and it will make a very nice improvement in the front end of the car.

[des]

Originally Posted by jprice130

Would that be G_Ride who just posted above? If so, he said they were using 225/50/16 which is actually a taller than stock diameter and about the same as a 225/45/17 Rival. I was assuming "7thGear" was asking about the 16x7 wheels as a means for reducing overall tire diameter, but maybe I interpreted his question wrong?

Yep, looks like we crossed wires, just wanted to point out that someone was experimenting w/ 16s. Hi Erik!

Regarding gearing in general, the difference between 45s and 40s was quite noticeable to me, and because we don't have many big fast courses, the choice to go for low-speed grunt was easy.

At Nats (in 2012) I was on the limiter for most of the east course. It's not just that you hit the limit, it's that you lose the ability to control the attitude of the car with more gas through sweepers, slaloms, etc.

At the few big-venue events I've been to this year (El Toro, Crow's, SD) I've been trying to shift to third much earlier rather than risk hitting the rev limiter mid-corner. Of course the car doesn't respond as crisply in third, and then you have to find the right place to downshift. I don't think it worked especially well, but it might for someone else.

On 16s with shorter tires, you'd have to get very good at dealing with both those things.

[Guff]

Sub'd. I have started AutoX'ing my FRS and I really want to stay in RTR/CS. Lots of info on this particular thread, and I can't wait to see everyones setups for the coming season!