SCCA Solo C Street Discussion

[xwd]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

I'm going to say it's ALL of that 7/8 tenths from the 40 second course I ran last Sunday running back to back. The watch actually showed 1.4 seconds, but I feel I left half a second out there on the Rivals. I actually hate these new Bridgestone tires, and feel they've fucked up street tire classes, but I'll save most of this rant for my build thread that I'll update this week with video of each tire being run on the same course. All in all, I'm very disappointed on how this car 'drives' on R Comps (yes, I'm calling the RE-71 an R comp). It's just not fun. I feel like I need to make miracles happen to come in with fast times on Rivals and it's an awesome feeling when you get it right. On Bridgestones I feel any swinging **** can put down a fast time.

Tire tech is always going to progress. If they were more expensive than other tires you'd probably hear screaming, but with the current rebate they are cheaper than almost anything else. Really it just comes down to people being on equal tires in the end, the better driver will always win out. Race tires can certainly make up for crappy driving, but only to an extent.

[coneracer30]

Took some photos showing available front bump travel with oem vs. TRD springs. I used 14 7/16's center of hub to fender for the OEM and 13 3/16's (as measured on my car after TRD/koni install) for the TRD. TRD bumpstops are approx 1/4 inch shorter than OEM.

Oem height and bumpstop.


TRD height and bumpstop.


Thuoght others might be interested.

[xwd]

Wow, that's like Miata territory. Riding on the bumpstops all the time I would imagine.

[Jawnathin]

Sorry for the cross post, this conversation sorta got mixed up with the C Street stuff, so I'll chime in on both.

Really tough competition out there this weekend. Mike and Sean drove their FRS really well for the 2-3. First one I've seen with TRD parts or MCS shocks and it was not slow at all. Hard to tell where a BRZ/non-TRD FRS sits versus a TRD FRS. There was some time left out there on my BRZ and I might have been able to steal 3rd with a mistake-free run on the left course but I did not see myself catching 2nd place. Maybe a better driver can, but even with a dozen more runs, I still don't think I could have caught him. The one thing that is clear is that a TRD FRS has a lot of potential, especially when well driven like it was this weekend.

They did get pretty close to the RX8 but not enough. I think they are still tuning it so maybe they didn't get 100% out of it yet. I hear they compete against each other at locals, so it'll be interesting to see how the rest of their season progresses and if they can catch Adrian and his RX8. I think on a tighter and more transition heavy course, a 86 could keep up but on most courses and in general, an RX8 is going to be really tough to beat.

RX8 was on Bridgestones the whole time, he didn't swap. It rained the morning of Saturday, not much, but enough to effect grip with small puddles and damp sections of the course when we ran in Heat 2. It didn't seem bad, but less grip than the afternoon or Sunday. Maybe he overreacted to the damp conditions, maybe he was still tuning the car, but he definitely picked up the pace on the afternoon and laid down some really impressive times. Adrian is a great driver, very talented. He won the El Toro pro too. RX8 had better gearing for the course as there was two 60+ mph sections on course. 86s had to shift for both while I think the RX8 got away with only one shift.

The MR2 Turbo was no joke too. Driver is local-ish and he is also very good. Walked away with 3rd at El Toro. He is laying down some 1.8 60 foots vs the 86s 2.3~. Losing a half second before the first corner on a short course is not easy thing to overcome. In the videos when we lined up against the MR2, it was interesting to watch him just pull away from the start. Our cars really suck at launches, haha. No 86 seemed to do better than a 2.3ish. CS, STX, (Turbo) SM...

Regarding the tires, we brought both sets of tires with us. The plan for my codriver and I was to head out on the Hankooks first, see where we sit, and make adjustments. After the first heat, we didn't see ourselves making up the time we had to in order to catch up so we switched to the Bridgestones. Still not good enough, but we did find time on the Bridgestones that brought us up a few spots. Hankooks weren't bad, lateral grip was about the same through the sweeper and such. Turn in on the RE71s is much sharper and its easier to put the car where you want it. Bridgestones are faster, no doubt about it. In addition to the speed, I think the biggest advantage for most people is that they don't punish you when you do something dumb. The car on Kooks is a lot harder to recover. On Bridgestones I feel like you can throw the car hard into anything and as long as you aren't an idiot it is easily catchable.

Anyway, had a blast, it was nice meeting Sean and Mike. Also another great event driving with Rich and Dennis. I'll get up some videos later.

[Jawnathin]

A few mistakes on both sides. Very fun course. A little basic, but high risk and high reward, my favorite kind of course. Gotta preserve every MPH you can out of these transitions if you want to be quick. But if you go off,you go off big time.

The car felt great, very balanced. The front is super sharp, the car's turn in is awesome. I would have liked the rear end to hook up a little quicker on the higher speed transitions. Feels like I'm waiting for the rear of the car to catch up a little before I can turn in for the next part.

Left - [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVvekTUpZHI"]Crows Pro 2015 - CS BRZ - Jonathan Left - YouTube[/ame]

Right - [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XxcViSY5HE"]Crows Pro 2015 - CS BRZ - Jonathan Right - YouTube[/ame]

[Laloosh]

We essentially had a practice session for the NJ PRO, but it was labeled as Event #2 for our NNJR SCCA region lol. 173 entries, it looked like a national event in the pits. It was my first time trying the bridgestones and I love them. Hot pressures were 35f 30r and the tires never missed a beat. Long story short I ended up winning the class by .01x and paxing 35/173. Top 4 C-street cars were all on the stones. 2nd place was a RX-8, 3rd and 4th was a 350z. Top 3 were within .1x of each other. Can't wait for the PRO
Got a little excited at the end as I was the last C-street car to run, and got the win on the last run.



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJH7Sgsoec"]NNJR SCCA 042615 - YouTube[/ame]

[simpleisbest]

Originally Posted by Jawnathin

Sorry for the cross post, this conversation sorta got mixed up with the C Street stuff, so I'll chime in on both.

Really tough competition out there this weekend. Mike and Sean drove their FRS really well for the 2-3. First one I've seen with TRD parts or MCS shocks and it was not slow at all. Hard to tell where a BRZ/non-TRD FRS sits versus a TRD FRS. There was some time left out there on my BRZ and I might have been able to steal 3rd with a mistake-free run on the left course but I did not see myself catching 2nd place. Maybe a better driver can, but even with a dozen more runs, I still don't think I could have caught him. The one thing that is clear is that a TRD FRS has a lot of potential, especially when well driven like it was this weekend.

They did get pretty close to the RX8 but not enough. I think they are still tuning it so maybe they didn't get 100% out of it yet. I hear they compete against each other at locals, so it'll be interesting to see how the rest of their season progresses and if they can catch Adrian and his RX8. I think on a tighter and more transition heavy course, a 86 could keep up but on most courses and in general, an RX8 is going to be really tough to beat.

RX8 was on Bridgestones the whole time, he didn't swap. It rained the morning of Saturday, not much, but enough to effect grip with small puddles and damp sections of the course when we ran in Heat 2. It didn't seem bad, but less grip than the afternoon or Sunday. Maybe he overreacted to the damp conditions, maybe he was still tuning the car, but he definitely picked up the pace on the afternoon and laid down some really impressive times. Adrian is a great driver, very talented. He won the El Toro pro too. RX8 had better gearing for the course as there was two 60+ mph sections on course. 86s had to shift for both while I think the RX8 got away with only one shift.

The MR2 Turbo was no joke too. Driver is local-ish and he is also very good. Walked away with 3rd at El Toro. He is laying down some 1.8 60 foots vs the 86s 2.3~. Losing a half second before the first corner on a short course is not easy thing to overcome. In the videos when we lined up against the MR2, it was interesting to watch him just pull away from the start. Our cars really suck at launches, haha. No 86 seemed to do better than a 2.3ish. CS, STX, (Turbo) SM...

Regarding the tires, we brought both sets of tires with us. The plan for my codriver and I was to head out on the Hankooks first, see where we sit, and make adjustments. After the first heat, we didn't see ourselves making up the time we had to in order to catch up so we switched to the Bridgestones. Still not good enough, but we did find time on the Bridgestones that brought us up a few spots. Hankooks weren't bad, lateral grip was about the same through the sweeper and such. Turn in on the RE71s is much sharper and its easier to put the car where you want it. Bridgestones are faster, no doubt about it. In addition to the speed, I think the biggest advantage for most people is that they don't punish you when you do something dumb. The car on Kooks is a lot harder to recover. On Bridgestones I feel like you can throw the car hard into anything and as long as you aren't an idiot it is easily catchable.

Anyway, had a blast, it was nice meeting Sean and Mike. Also another great event driving with Rich and Dennis. I'll get up some videos later.

Great meeting you guys, too! Yeah, I am still trying to dial in the MCS shock settings to work with the new springs. We made some changes early Sunday morning, as we were determined to make the car feel more planted for the 3rd gear slalom at the end so we could try to accelerate through it.

I think our car had mid-32's in it for both sides. Winning was a possibility, but you really need to drive near perfect to get it done. I think with the new TRD package and the shocks, it's been easier to drive the car to near the limit. Getting that last 9/10ths or 10/10ths out of the car is still tough.

As said, this course really favored the RX-8's top end power and gearing.
Their 2nd gear seems to top out at around 67mph, which would be an incredible advantage on this course. 245s on an 8" wheel also help with lateral grip, too!!

The RX-8 driver (Adrian) is a very good driver and is continually getting better. I feel really fortunate to have him in my region to motivate me to really focus on improving my driving. Keeping up with him is going to be a challenge.

[7thgear]

very interesting indeed!


can you confirm your method for leveling the car since obviously the spring is missing.

did you just use a jack to maintain a level?

Originally Posted by coneracer30

Took some photos showing available front bump travel with oem vs. TRD springs. I used 14 7/16's center of hub to fender for the OEM and 13 3/16's (as measured on my car after TRD/koni install) for the TRD. TRD bumpstops are approx 1/4 inch shorter than OEM.

Oem height and bumpstop.


TRD height and bumpstop.


Thuoght others might be interested.

[Locust]

What wheels is everyone running in C-Street these days? I just tried to buy RPF1s but apparently Enkei has discontinued the 17x7 5x100 size.

[cjd]

Originally Posted by Locust

What wheels is everyone running in C-Street these days? I just tried to buy RPF1s but apparently Enkei has discontinued the 17x7 5x100 size.

Word is Tire Rack has 40 on the way. Not listed yet.

[xwd]

Originally Posted by Locust

What wheels is everyone running in C-Street these days? I just tried to buy RPF1s but apparently Enkei has discontinued the 17x7 5x100 size.

I just noticed that, the only 17x7 Tirerack has now are the black ones. I have a set of Velox forsale. (Shameless plug)

[bholliday]

Originally Posted by Locust

What wheels is everyone running in C-Street these days? I just tried to buy RPF1s but apparently Enkei has discontinued the 17x7 5x100 size.

I have Kosei K4R's.

[coneracer30]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

very interesting indeed!


can you confirm your method for leveling the car since obviously the spring is missing.

did you just use a jack to maintain a level?

Yep, just a jack under the lower control arm.

[Kido1986]

I have K1 TS with 235/40 Z2s with a lot of life left for sale in Florida if anyone cares. Not listed, but PM me if interested.