Next CDC Autocross Saturday June 1st BaySox Stadium, Bowie, MD

[v1ru5]

Sorry for double posting this, but would like to get in before it fills up..

The sign up form for June 16th says I have to be the guest of a member. Who can I be the guest of?

[kanundrum]

Originally Posted by v1ru5

Sorry for double posting this, but would like to get in before it fills up..

The sign up form for June 16th says I have to be the guest of a member. Who can I be the guest of?

use my name

kanundrum

[v1ru5]

Originally Posted by kanundrum

use my name

kanundrum

Thanks, I registered.

[warman]

Originally Posted by ja1217

Josh here. Here's a video of my second fastest run (43.01). My battery died in between the morning and afternoon runs so I didn't get my best on video.

This run would have been well under 43 if I hadn't nearly forgotten about the last cone in the slalom going downhill.

Also, all you guys need to compete with Fred and I are a good set of tires and a heavy foot.

I have good tires, so I just need to work on making my foot heavier

[ja1217]

Here's the few tips I can give

1. When walking the course, I try to make a note of all the places where I can really brake late and hard. Typically, these are after the longer straights on the course where you have the most speed. You want to brake as hard as you can (without hitting abs) but make sure you don't brake for too long and kill more speed than you need to make the turn.

2. When braking for a turn, I try to make sure that I already have the car partially turned in and use the weight transfer from braking to help rotate the car into the turn. I believe this is typically called trail braking.

3. During turns, especially long sweeping turns, I try to balance the car on the throttle to generate a little oversteer which I use to rotate the car and turn more quickly. Once the car is pointed toward the next cone after the turn, I correct the oversteer. If done well, you won't have to correct very much on most turns.

As for car setup, I haven't done anything special for autocross really. I have 17x8 Enkei RPF-1's wearing 235R40 Dunlop ZII's. I tend to run the pressure a little higher in the front (38psi F 35psi R). I have also added the Essex AP Racing Sprint brake kit, but that is mainly preparation for track days later this summer. I don't think any one is going to get brake fade from a 45 second autox course.

Disclaimer:
I've only been autocrossing since last summer, when I got my FR-S so some of this may not be good advice. This is mainly just what feels natural to me and it seems to be working well for me at least.

[kuhlka]

Originally Posted by ja1217

Josh here. Here's a video of my second fastest run (43.01). My battery died in between the morning and afternoon runs so I didn't get my best on video.

This run would have been well under 43 if I hadn't nearly forgotten about the last cone in the slalom going downhill.

Also, all you guys need to compete with Fred and I are a good set of tires and a heavy foot.

Tires clearly make a HUGE difference. It looks like I was following similar lines with my BRZ in the afternoon, but with the crappy stock tires and I was pushing like crazy in the tighter turns. The taller gearing of the automatic also makes my take-offs from the start much slower. Anyone know if Ecutek has some kind of launch control for automatics?

I had a ton of fun. The first half of the day I was off course for all three runs because I didn't notice the last zig-zag at the very end and was going all around the outside.

Sloppy drifty run from the morning.
[ame]http://youtu.be/KarSyoSYA3c[/ame]

At least I have a much better idea of how far I have to push the car to break the rear end loose. I liked this course much better than Harry Grove. I just wish I'd gotten more runs to see if I could shave off more time with smoother driving and higher revs in manual mode. My best was around 47.88, which I suppose isn't horrible considering it was my second AutoX in this car with an auto trans and crap tires.

Fastest run once I was feeling the course and had better control over the slides.
[ame]http://youtu.be/8LfpFwHuCjw[/ame]

[warman]

Originally Posted by ja1217

Here's the few tips I can give

1. When walking the course, I try to make a note of all the places where I can really brake late and hard. Typically, these are after the longer straights on the course where you have the most speed. You want to brake as hard as you can (without hitting abs) but make sure you don't brake for too long and kill more speed than you need to make the turn.

2. When braking for a turn, I try to make sure that I already have the car partially turned in and use the weight transfer from braking to help rotate the car into the turn. I believe this is typically called trail braking.

3. During turns, especially long sweeping turns, I try to balance the car on the throttle to generate a little oversteer which I use to rotate the car and turn more quickly. Once the car is pointed toward the next cone after the turn, I correct the oversteer. If done well, you won't have to correct very much on most turns.

As for car setup, I haven't done anything special for autocross really. I have 17x8 Enkei RPF-1's wearing 235R40 Dunlop ZII's. I tend to run the pressure a little higher in the front (38psi F 35psi R). I have also added the Essex AP Racing Sprint brake kit, but that is mainly preparation for track days later this summer. I don't think any one is going to get brake fade from a 45 second autox course.

Disclaimer:
I've only been autocrossing since last summer, when I got my FR-S so some of this may not be good advice. This is mainly just what feels natural to me and it seems to be working well for me at least.

Do you have a front sway bar?

I think your tips are good based on the things I've read. I know I don't trail-brake enough, I think that's probably something I should focus on improving.

I'm glad we have guys like you and Fred to show us how much room there is to improve. I think it's really easy to assume you're fast and without better competition you'd never realize how much faster these cars can be.

[ja1217]

Originally Posted by warman

Do you have a front sway bar?

I think your tips are good based on the things I've read. I know I don't trail-brake enough, I think that's probably something I should focus on improving.

I'm glad we have guys like you and Fred to show us how much room there is to improve. I think it's really easy to assume you're fast and without better competition you'd never realize how much faster these cars can be.

No, I don't have a sway bar. The wheels and tires are the only things I have that will really effect performance @ autocross. As far as I know, Fred has the Strano front sway bar and someone told me he had Koni dampers with stock springs. I plan on doing full coilover suspension next year and I think that should put me on equal footing with the really fast miatas.