Next Subaru article - due Aug 18

[dknv]

Update: article due Aug. 18th. Any other contributors?
I'm thinking the next Subaru-related idea for the reno scca newsletter is themed around "things I'm doing to get faster in autocross".

For example:

In May I replaced the stock exhaust with a 3" crushbent pipe, catback (looked for a local mandrel bender but couldn't find one) and a Dynomax bullet muffler - installed by Sid's Alignment & Brake. I don't know that it's made me faster on course, but it sounds cool. I also had the Kuhmos swapped onto the stock wheels, after learning the Fox wheels were 21lbs.

So, bring it on -- I want your experiences to build the article.

[Dean]

Use the whole track
Be smoother with Hands and Feet.
Buy an accurate tire guage, some sidewalk chalk/shoe polish, buy or borrow a Pyromerter and learn how to use them.
Run in tha afternoon for no points if possible.
Use above to work on skills as well as tire pressures, suspnsion settings, etc.
Use a stop watch and have someone do interval timing between specific cones to determine which line is actually faster for a specific type of turn.
Have one or more experienced drivers drive the car to see what they think of the car setup, and make possible suggestions.
Watch fast drivers, and look at line, braking, and listen for power changes etc.
Walk the course again, and again. At least once alone. What are you lookig for and focusing on during your walk? Don't know, ask one or more experienced driver what they do/look for during a walk.
Have soemone ride with you and be open to critique.
Ride with someone else. Help them.
Go to the library, or book store and get a book on performance driving, and read it.
Watch Speed Channel Road course events, or video tape, and see how they use the track.
There are probably many more, but spending more money on Go Fast Parts is probaly less effective than any of the above.
Shut up and drive!

[Theo]

Things I'm doing to get faster at autocross.

After frying the outside edges of my RE92's I purchased camber/caster plates. This helped my turn in and changed the wear pattern from the outside to the inside of the tires. I can get a much better autocross alignment now.

I purchased better tires, Falken Azinas 215-45 16, and they work great. I'm trying to get the one set to last all season. I will probably be showing cord by the end of the season. I run RE92's when not racing. I've also played with tire pressure a lot. On hot days I have good luck spraying my tires with water. This has helped me get faster with each run where before I would get slower with each run.

The rear sway bar made a huge difference in the WRX under steer problem. The STI motor and transmission mounts helped reduce the slop in the drive train and also smoothed the shifting out. I can reliably shift into first gear now. The throttle response is much better also.

For additional power I have an SIT up-pipe (no catalytic converter) and a Turboxs turbo back exhaust with a high flow cat. This really helped my bottom end torque and made my car sound like my old built up air-cooled VW motor.

Now I could be really really fast if I could upgrade the driver!

[Dean]

Sorry, I guess I read it wrong, I thought you wanted ideas for how to be faster, not what individuals were doing to go faster.

Probably sounds like I was on a soap box... And technically, I am not racing my WRX, so do I even count? Tough, yoiu are stuck with me...

Well, I actually try to do some of the stuff I wrote every time to try and be faster.

Mostly I focus on myself, the driver. I conciously remind myself to do things to prevent things I have been known to do in the past, or did wrong on a previous run. i do not dwell on what I did wrong, just reinforce what i should do to do it right. Hit my turn in, apexes, and exits, be smooth, stay on the gas..

I also do a lot of critical watching of other drivers. What are they doing where and is it working for them?

Is that better?

[dknv]

Originally Posted by Dean

Is that better?

That's alot better!
But also - you already have a number of mods for the stealth. Is there something you've done specifically this season that you believe helped you be faster this season?

And on the other thread - soapbox or not, alot of valuable tips and 'secrets' in there.

[dknv]

Theo, your comment about the Falken's reminded me that I also shopped for lighter wheels - and learned the Fox2 I wheels had been using for racing are supposedly 21 lbs! So, I switched back to my stock wheels for the Hoosiers, I mean, Kuhmos.

What wheels r u using?

[Theo]

I'm using WRX stock wheels. I purchased them through ebay cheap and was going to run them in DS. they are light and with the 45's I get a little lower gearing.

Now that I'm in STX I would rather have 17x7.5 rims. It seems that Matt and Scott are getting better tire wear with their 17's. My tires look cooked and the sidewalls are rough from rolling over. I don't know if it is my driving style or the smaller tire patch but the 16's seem hard pressed to hold up.

Since I have lowered my tire pressure and attempted to be smooth in the transitions it has been easier on my tires(and faster). My driving style is from off road racing and the technique does not transfer to tarmac well.

Be smooth, be smooth, and be smooth. and all the other stuff Dean said.

Theo

[sperry]

Well, I started writing up my spcheal, but it got *really* long, and it has illustrations...

I'll write a short version of it for your article Debbie, hopefully by tomorrow!

[dknv]

Updated - see 1st post.

[sperry]

crap... you need that article today, eh? I wish I wasn't so busy right now, how late can you hold off submitting...? I can hopfully have something for you by 1 or 2pm... but I don't want your article to be late, so feel free to blow off my submission if you run out of time.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by Theo

Things I'm doing to get faster at autocross.

After frying the outside edges of my RE92's I purchased camber/caster plates. This helped my turn in and changed the wear pattern from the outside to the inside of the tires. I can get a much better autocross alignment now.

I purchased better tires, Falken Azinas 215-45 16, and they work great. I'm trying to get the one set to last all season. I will probably be showing cord by the end of the season. I run RE92's when not racing. I've also played with tire pressure a lot. On hot days I have good luck spraying my tires with water. This has helped me get faster with each run where before I would get slower with each run.

Caster/camber plates make a big difference, on any car with a strut-type suspension. This can allow you to have a fairly normal alignment for the street, and also adjust the plates at the track for a very aggressive setting. It only takes a couple of minutes to loosen the bolts on the adjusting plates, slide it to where you want, and re-torque the bolts... and voila, instant handling change. I did my own front wheel alignment in my garage a couple weeks ago with a caster/camber gauge, plumb bob & string - I marked the camber slots on the plates for my street setting of -1.75 degrees camber and adjusted the toe to 1/4" in, and when I get to the track and slide the camber all the way in I have ~ -3.5 degrees and ~ 1/4" toe out (due to the ~1/2" change in toe I get that occurs through my range of camber adjustment). Helps a lot to get a car to turn in, especially a nose-heavy beast like mine.

Getting an IR pyrometer is also a relatively cheap way ($79-$99, http://www.raytek-northamerica.com/c...ekNorthAmerica) to check what effect your chassis setup adjustments are having and what tire pressures you should be running, rather than just guessing at it. I personally like to set tire pressures to see a proper temperature distribution across the tire (ideally you would have the inside 5-10 degrees F hotter than outside, and a linear spread from inside to outside), and then adjust the rest of the suspension (swaybars, springs, shocks, etc.) to compensate for any handling deficencies, rather than changing pressures to try and correct the handling.

[sperry]

Okay Debbie, I hope this isn't too late!

Originally Posted by Scott Perry

The biggest tool I use for going faster in autocross racing is mental preparation. I used to go out on course with the usual catch phrases like "look ahead" and "slower is faster" in my head, and then just end up reacting to the course instead of being able to really attack it. This season, I've adopted a methodology for visualizing the course, in order to better attack the track and improve my times.

To better build a mental map of the course, I attempt to break it down into 5 or 6 distinct sections. I associate each section with a feature of the course, or notable way point or transition. For example, I might use a long straightaway as a marker that separates two sections, or a particularly hard turn combination would qualify as a section by itself. The benefit of breaking the course into sections is that it relieves the burden of trying to remember each and every turn, each and every braking point, and each and every apex cone. It's much easier to think of the course in terms of "a long straight, into the esses, into a short straight, into a hairpin", etc.

Breaking the course into sections begins with a review of the course map, followed by a careful walkthru before the event. When walking I try to pick out the transitions between the sections, and build a mental map of the course, associating each section with its defining elements.

Before each run, I sit in the driver's seat and attempt to visualize a run through the course. I imagine driving through each section, attempting to string them all together. After my initial run, I try to visualize which sections I made errors in during my previous run. For example, I might remember that I turned in too early in one section, or that I got on the brake a little too late in another. By visualizing my errors, and by having a clear mental image of the course, on my next run I am able to more easily remember just how hard I can push the car in each section, and eliminate my gross mistakes.

The end result is that by my final run, I have been able to eliminate all of my big mistakes, and I have the confidence of knowing the layout of the course. I know I where really push the car, and how to string each section into a fast, clean run!

Mental preparation has been the biggest thing that has lowered my autocross times. Being heads up and confident lowers my times far more than any modification to my car.

[dknv]

Editing in progress -- in the following would someone please confirm for me:

SIT should be STi?
and Turboxs is TurboXS, correct?

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Theo

.. For additional power I have an SIT up-pipe (no catalytic converter) and a Turboxs turbo back exhaust with a high flow cat. This really helped my bottom end torque and made my car sound like my old built up air-cooled VW motor...

[dknv]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

..Caster/camber plates make a big difference, on any car with a strut-type suspension. This can allow you to have a fairly normal alignment for the street, and also adjust the plates at the track for a very aggressive setting. It only takes a couple of minutes to loosen the bolts on the adjusting plates, slide it to where you want, and re-torque the bolts... and voila, instant handling change...

I was going to include this in the draft, if Jim our newsletter editor includes it, I'd like to add Austin's name, but what else?
" - Austin (Bay Area seccs.org member; Mustang_____ )"
year, or something else description about the vehicle?
Thanks.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by dknv

I was going to include this in the draft, if Jim our newsletter editor includes it, I'd like to add Austin's name, but what else?
" - Austin (Bay Area seccs.org member; Mustang_____ )"
year, or something else description about the vehicle?
Thanks.

Debbie - it's a 1995 Ford Mustang GT.

[dknv]

Thanks! (I actually found it in your profile earlier, so I used it.)

[dknv]

Ok, so the editor didn't use it -- nevertheless, Austin's story made it in, Dean's didn't (sorry!)....

Check out page 5:
http://www.renoscca.com/newsletter/A...20&%20Tach.pdf

[AtomicLabMonkey]

I like how I'm a Subaru driver/WRX enthusiast now...

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

I like how I'm a Subaru driver/WRX enthusiast now...

You are, you just don't know it yet!

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by sperry

You are, you just don't know it yet!

WRX enthusiast maybe, but I'm never gonna be a driver of one unless I get a magic lotto ticket and can afford to have a garage full of sweet cars. I also don't know if I could make myself own/drive a car with less than 4.0L of engine displacement.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

WRX enthusiast maybe, but I'm never gonna be a driver of one unless I get a magic lotto ticket and can afford to have a garage full of sweet cars. I also don't know if I could make myself own/drive a car with less than 4.0L of engine displacement.

Well then! While you're pushin almost 200hp in that 4.0L Jeep, my 2.0L motor's putting out like 300hp!

Actually, when that Jeep dies, take a look at the new Forester XT... it's about the same size as the Jeep, but it's faster than a WRX... 2.5L Turbo!

Oh, and it's really ugly too!

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by sperry

Well then! While you're pushin almost 200hp in that 4.0L Jeep, my 2.0L motor's putting out like 300hp!

Actually, when that Jeep dies, take a look at the new Forester XT... it's about the same size as the Jeep, but it's faster than a WRX... 2.5L Turbo!

Oh, and it's really ugly too!

Never! Jeep until I die! Hehe... well, that WRX may have 100 more hp, but that 4.0L engine means I can crawl up like a 40 degree slope over rocks at 5 mph and have plenty of torque at those low RPMs. Cause I really have need of that often...

Oh and BTW the Jeep is being resurrected as we speak so we can sell Laura's car and she can drive the Jeep for school... I've already fixed the sticking throttle, replaced the rear liftgate gas springs, replaced the front brakes, new shocks all around... now it needs the rear brakes replaced & the steering column repaired this week... The beast slowly comes back to life... 160,000+ miles and counting.

And forget the Forester... when we finally get rid of this old Jeep we're probably gonna get a Grand Cherokee with a V8 so we can trailer the Mustang to auto-x events.

[STIwish]

Atomic, I used to do that in a 1.3l powered Samurai ... whats torque? ofcourse it was way geared down and running on 31"s (and for a while 33") but still.. I could go places most Jeeps usually feared

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by STIwish

Atomic, I used to do that in a 1.3l powered Samurai ... whats torque? ofcourse it was way geared down and running on 31"s (and for a while 33") but still.. I could go places most Jeeps usually feared

Don't those things only weigh like 10 ounces? That's why it didn't need any engine torque...