Dang, glad I asked. What about an ic water sprayer?

I'm also curious if boost controllers and boost solenoids can effect your class.

You just have to be sure your sprayer is turned off. I think that actually goes to an overall rule that you aren't allowed to drip fluids of any kind on the course or on grid. Boost changes are allowed this year in everything but Stock, so you're okay with any of that.

If you really are staying totally stock you are better off in A-stock (TAS). An STi can do very well in A-stock, just look at last year's Hawthorne results.

The 275/35 Hoosiers helped a little. ;)

I may be off base but if I remember correctly, unless it's factory equipment, waterspray systems are illegal in all classes. And I believe if you're using your OEM waterspray system and getting the track wet, you can probably be protested. :(

Okay...what about running Torco or race fuel?

Legal but not worthwhile if you aren't mapped for it.

Fixed...

I've never autoX'd so maybe you know somthing I don't, but raising the octane of your fuel a couple points will protect against knock and the resulting power loss. On a hot day I'd think it would protect the engine and keep the power where it should be.

It is good protection but unleaded race gas is at least 100 octane, so it's more than just a "couple" points. You could potentially lose some power due to the decreased volatility of the fuel, although race gas is typically more pure than pump gas since it doesn't have oxygenates or other emissions additives blended in with it... so the power issue is a toss-up. Just something to think about.

Yah, I wouldn't run 100% race gas. Thats good to know that it doesn't have the emission additives though. Maybe that makes it slightly more desireable than using Torco?

Shouldn't your custom tune be able to do that? Granted, there are power gains to be made by mapping for higher octane, but safe is safe.

Regardless of my tune, if the IC is heat soaked, once I get into boost, the ECU will see knock and the ECU will pull timing as a result. Filling up with 93 or 95 would help prevent this a lot.

You're car won't pull enough timing for it to matter. Maybe 5 peak hp or so, but if I've learned anything about auto-x, its that driver skill is much more important then 5 hp at the top end.

I think you stand to lose a lot more than 5hp given a thoroughly heat soaked IC and high ambient temps. I hope to do the driver skill mod as well. :P

But you're still only really going to see the losses at the top end. You won't even be getting out of 2nd gear at 90% of the events, top end really isn't an issue.

As far as heat soak, bring a spray bottle and cool the intercooler before each run. It helps for the 1st 9 maybe 10 seconds of the run. :lol:

When you are moving, though, its not really an issue since you'll have plenty of airflow. The biggest problem for heatsoak is after you stop the car between runs and you just sit there.

What you can do, and a lot of us do, is grab a 1 gallon pesticide sprayer from Lowes or Home Depot. You can use that to mist your intercooler between runs. That should help quite a bit with the heat soak. If you don't pick one up in time, mine should have enough volume for the two cars if you want to use it also.

Actually, I meant to ask, can I do that? What about a big bag of ice on the ic? Once the car gets moving, heat soak isn't as much of an issue. It's when the car sits for 10-20 minutes between runs. How long between runs in an autox typically?

Cool, I'll definately bring a mister. Do you guys ever mist your tires if they get too hot?

Ice is probably overkill... plus, if the session gets moving you can have as little as 5 minutes between runs, which isn't enough time for a bag of ice to really make a difference.

You really should run a few events before worring about minutia like this... the things you're talking about will gain you hundreths per run, whereas seat time alone will gain you seconds per run.

Water on the tire is a double edge sword unless you've got a pirometer to know exactly where your temps are at.

Wow, 5 minutes. That's not much time. I can see why you guys use sprayers.

I'm not worried about my time as much as I just want a happy car. Just trying to get a feel for things, that's all. I wish I could do a larger hoodscoop and an IC sprayer, but I like the low budget method of using a mister since it's free! :)

You can do these things, you will just be in a higher class. Unless of course you run the season in Novice, then modifications don't matter.

I will be running in novice, but I'm trying to plan ahead so I can run ESP. :)