John's CS BRZ progression

[Wepeel]

Originally Posted by Biggins

I drove home on the RS3v2 this weekend and noticed they are annoyingly loud, is this common for these tires? I had to turn my radio way up to drown it out.

Yeah, the RS3v2 are really, really loud on the highway. Full tread RS3v2 were far louder than the 2/32 Rivals they replaced. And they are getting louder, fast.

[AustinTX]

Originally Posted by piknockout

Let me rephrase that for you: "I'm so much better than all of you that you can have all of my setup notes and information...and I'll still beat your @ss."

:p

I'm not so sure about that, but I intend to try

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by piknockout

Let me rephrase that for you: "I'm so much better than all of you that you can have all of my setup notes and information...and I'll still beat your @ss."

:p

as someone that shares all his datalogging stuff with the local guys, I look at it differently


I would like everyone to be on the same technical level as me so that there is no doubt when I win or lose.

[AustinTX]

Originally Posted by renfield90

There is a decent argument to move the twins out based purely on registration numbers - I think it's almost half the class. Hell, they carved out a brand new AS for cars that couldn't cut it in SS, and there are roughly as many twins entries as there are AS entries (that's a good line, I'll put that in my letter).

There is a strong argument to change nothing if the Miata wins. And there's a strong argument to move the 370 out if it wins and locks out most of the trophies.

I'm hoping for the last of these scenarios as it's realistically the best shot we'll have for next year - if you look at the Prosolo points standings, it's a little depressing. It's going to be rare that a Miata beats a twin.

I like the variety of the class, and I think they are actually pretty well matched. The 370 is just such an underperformer for it's spec sheet. The RX8 will be fast as well.

My opinions
Twins: Great DD. Everyone and their uncle's wife have them, fun, affordable, reliable, seemingly competitive. Mostly owned by people that either have money and rice them out or don't have money and AX/DD them on a shoestring budget
370Z: Not a great DD, $$ tires, needs a trailer, plenty of reported issues/concerns, competitive
MX5: Great DD, cheap to own, needs a trailer. Not as much interest nationally due to assumptions of non-competitiveness and becoming MUCH faster/more fun in STR trim. Competitive with an alien driving.
RX8: Horrible mileage, unreliable, not many people want to deal with it for DD, but can be competitive (and will be with McCelvey driving)

[Kido1986]

I see it the same EXCEPT if you can afford the Z's issues, it's faster on many courses

[AustinTX]

I'm finally back online after an awesome week at nationals! I finished up 10th, and I'll take it. I don't think I came in with the correct setup. If I had to do it again, I would have driven the 370 (haha). If I had to drive the BRZ, I'd probably have ordered 225's and got a pair of DA front shocks. I think the twins would benefit from having that known good setup that most other competitive cars have. We're all doing different stuff still, so we're probably giving up a small amount of pace.

Practice
My car felt great on the practice course, but times weren't as fast as I would have liked compared to others (40.9 was my best). I stuck with my setup, but dropped rear pressures from 38 to 36. Grip here was MUCH higher than at local events, and the car's balance was improved a bit from normal. Definitely caused the tires to squirm around more than expected in the slalom. More on that later.

Day 1
Pretty warm day, plenty of sun. Huge congrats to Sean and Ricardo for throwing down those fast times on their first runs of the transition heavy west course! I got no time on my first run that day, so missed out on what seems to be the fastest run on the V2's (shades of BFG Rivals last year...). My rerun was on warm tires, so not fast. I kept them ice cold after that, and times started dropping. I coned a reasonable run away on run 3, but I just didn't get everything out of the car on day 1. My thoughts were that the car was just not doing well in transition. It felt loose and unpredictable, so I was driving below the limits into each transition (very little tire noise in the vid). I believe that this can be attributed to my choice of 245 tires, but this combined with the softness of the RS3 sidewall may be a more accurate assumption. Pressures were 38F, 36R. I did go to 3rd for the offset walls, but it probably didn't make much difference in time.

Video of the 3rd, +1 run (popped a cone in the back wallom, 52 seconds in):
[ame]http://youtu.be/T3cROWWUeMI[/ame]


Day 2
Cool, cloudy, windy. I only sprayed the shoulders to ensure the tires were back down to nearly ambient by the next run. East course was more sweeping with less transitions. I picked up 0.4 on each run to finish the day with a respectable time, but I was not too happy with it. On my last run, I dropped the rear tire pressure to 32 to attempt an aggressive run. I drove angry, and you can hear it in the video.

Video of 3rd run. Parental advisory - explicit content (incomplete, camera started late into the run):
[ame]http://youtu.be/VXtlpuZ6xa4[/ame]

[7thgear]

so you think 245 front for stock is a bit much?

[renfield90]

Originally Posted by AustinTX

I think the twins would benefit from having that known good setup that most other competitive cars have. We're all doing different stuff still, so we're probably giving up a small amount of pace.

This. If you have an NA Miata in ES you can call up a shop in California to get your Bilsteins with the "fastmike" valving (yes that's literally what you say on the phone) and for most people that's the hot ticket.

It's worth noting those Bilsteins aren't adjustable. 30 clicks of adjustment means 29 of those settings are wrong!

[AustinTX]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

so you think 245 front for stock is a bit much?

I do now, but I felt like I had to try - Finding the fastest setup takes time. Of course, I haven't been able to swap wheels with anyone to test narrow vs. wide yet. I suspect that the majority of comparison would need to be done on a grippy site, since my car felt a good bit different at nationals. I wish it felt like that all the time...

[bimmer635csi]

Originally Posted by AustinTX

I do now, but I felt like I had to try - Finding the fastest setup takes time. Of course, I haven't been able to swap wheels with anyone to test narrow vs. wide yet. I suspect that the majority of comparison would need to be done on a grippy site, since my car felt a good bit different at nationals. I wish it felt like that all the time...

Was the practice at Texas A&M not as grippy as the Nationals? I thought it was supposed to be very similar.

[AustinTX]

Chris,
A&M is close, but not as grippy as Lincoln. That, plus the fact that I had more cars to compare to in Lincoln.

[DylanFRS]

Thanks for posting up the videos from Nationals, John. I didn't get the chance to come by and say hi but I love the yellow/green wheels. Thinking of doing something similar but greener to match my numbers. Hopefully I'll make it out to Texas for a Tour next year and I'll say hi then.

[vroom4]

Originally Posted by renfield90

This. If you have an NA Miata in ES you can call up a shop in California to get your Bilsteins with the "fastmike" valving (yes that's literally what you say on the phone) and for most people that's the hot ticket.

It's worth noting those Bilsteins aren't adjustable. 30 clicks of adjustment means 29 of those settings are wrong!

Just dont order a real fast mike, one of him is enough.

[AustinTX]

Originally Posted by DylanFRS

Thanks for posting up the videos from Nationals, John. I didn't get the chance to come by and say hi but I love the yellow/green wheels. Thinking of doing something similar but greener to match my numbers. Hopefully I'll make it out to Texas for a Tour next year and I'll say hi then.

Thanks! The plastidip is holding up astonishingly well. Many people came up and looked at/asked about them. Most thought it was paint