KicKa$$

 

I know I am itching for our season to start the first weekend of May! Azenis will be on the spare wheels soon and I will be tweaking the alignment a bit before the first event.

 

i wish i could still get excited about autoX. after spending hours on different race tracks for lapping events, running the 5 or 6 laps in a parking lot just doesnt do it for me anymore. but hopefully in the next few years i will scrape up enough cash to run the scca's improved touring road racing series.

 

Well, it isnt really a comparison of the two. Autox and track racing take different sets of skills, and the car handles differently in the two environments. That is why you see road racers struggling to place well in autox at first and vice versa. So I can see the fun in both.

 

its not the challenge im talking about...its time behind the wheel. unfortunatly with autoX you spend a whole lot of time working and prepping for maybe 15 mins total seat time. which was plenty until the first time i spent 4 hours on a track. its like going from dialup to broadband...i cant go back.

 

Actually went to autocross today.

Ran STS with my little work-in-progress. Still have a long way to go! (Damn medschool gets in the way.)

CAI / S-pipe / PM rear section / TRD sway / 225-40/18's with Fuzion ZRi rubber, 35psi front- 50psi rear.

Finished 31st / 44 (PAX). I was the only STS car. I ran novice, since I hadn't done it in over a year, and placed 3rd out of the novices (9 total). Time improved from 85.9 on the first run to 82.3 on the last, and I know how I screwed up on the last run. Very long course. Not too bad, considering I'm near stock suspension-wise, and this was my 4th run ever after a 1 year hiatus. I don't plan to go TOO crazy with this car, since my next will probably be something stock on race tires. A B-stock RX8 looks tastier every day.

Next event - Late april. Will add the following parts/changes that will be arriving soon --- DME rear strut bar, Dezod endlinks, and adjust camber with crashbolts.

Near future: TRD springs, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE, others as they come along.
Farther future: Lightweight 16's with R-comps in the 140-200 treadwear range. Switch out for raceday.

In all, a great hobby that's pretty easy to pick up, but takes years to master. The winner was an old guy in a GS mini on race tires that was pretty much unstoppable, running much better RAW times than the A street prepared guys in HEAVILY modified corvettes. I just want to be fairly competitive, making very few sacrifices for daily driveability or day-to-day comfort.

 

50 psi !? Doesn't that seem like a lot?

 

Sounds like he was trying to get it to rotate more. But that is a bit on the high side. I was running 44F/41R last season, but am running Azenis this season so it will probably be considerably lower based upon what I have seen for others with those tires. I am going to start with 40 all around and then adjust from there at the first event.

 

anyone using nitrogen in their tires?

 

How badly do your tires get worn doing this if your not out there burning tires through every turn?

 

Yeah, it's a lot. Tires are rated for 55 psi maximum, and I was running 50 psi at hottest operating temperature. It's probably mid-40's as it's sitting outside right now.

Yup, trying to get the back end to rotate more. It seemed to do the trick. Of course, as I stiffen up the rear end, and when I get new tires, that'll have to change.


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How badly do your tires get worn ?

Well, a 300 treadwear set might get worn down a bit faster than its road-going brothers, but I had these tires at the last event a year ago. So, 2 events and about 12000 miles, and I'd say I've got about 60% tread left. Then again, these aren't truly autocross tires.... and it shows in my time

If I were on a 140 treadwear tire, then I wouldn't expect it to last a single year and full autocross season. Someone with personal experience might need to chime in.

Pure race tires that get swapped out on track day last a little more than a season, season and a half. Depends on technique, car weight, car power, temperatures... all kinds of factors.

 

I autocrossed on my all season daily drivers last season (and it showed in my times as well :D ). Those tires would have probably been a 25,000 - 30,000 mile tire normally. I had put about 4000 on them before the season started, and they were over 60% gone after 9 events and one test n tune... they were dead at about 12,000 miles.

Since I will be running Azenis on a set of rims used only for autox this season, I expect to get probably this season (again, 9 - 12 events and 1 - 2 test n tunes) and a good part of next years season on them. Test n tunes are really hard on them since we typically get about 25 runs or more in a day at those.. and it is in july when it is hot.

Autox is hard on tires. You will see the outer edge go fairly quick. It is a pretty cheap sport, but a set of tires a season or 1.5 seasons is about all you can ask for, especially if you live where it is warm and you autox more of the year, or hit more events.

 

I just got a SCCA membership for my 18th birthday! I'm psyched for some real track time! :D

 

See, the weird thing about tire pressures is that the only guys/girls that told me to run ridiculously high rear pressures are the Mini people. Everyone else says to drop the tire pressures to about 28 and put the front up as high as they can go.

The back end comes out very neatly and I'm using up all the tire width (225mm BFG g-Force KDW's) going with 27/28psi, but I'm still getting marks on my sidewalls up front, even at 40psi!

That all being said, at my third autox event ever (and my first actual competitive one) last Sunday, I came 6th of 10 in STS and 92nd of 135 on the PAX. It'll be interesting to see how much the DC Sports tower strut bar (assuming I can find one and have it in my hands before Friday) and playing with the tire pressures more helps me out in shooting for 5th/not last.

 

Tower bar does almost nothing on this car, so dont expect much.

I ahve never heard anyone at our events (including the nationals level guys) say to lower tire pressure. Actually, most warn against it since you can roll a bead right off the rim, dig a rim in and cause all sorts of bad damage that way. The common rec. from just about everyone I have talked to is to start over 40psi and use the chalk line mark like I described before to see where to go from there. On the tC, with Avons, it was 45F, 42R or so most of the time. With the Azenis this season, it should be lower, but still in the high 30's. If you have marks on your sidewalls you are WAY to low with the pressure and you will run the risk of popping a bead off.

 

TRD springs installed today.

So, now I get an alignment with the progress alignment bolts, and I'm pretty much done with my setup

Ready for next event, which is Apr 27th.

Pics will follow of drop eventually.

 

Hey hey!

4th of 11 in STS, 29th of about 100 in PAX. First trophy ever. I'll chalk it up to inflating the rears. I'll also chalk it up to my tires performing superbly in sleet (yes, sleet).

 

Congrats ! It's great to prove that we can be competitive, in the world of minis

 

Mini's and CRX's!

Or, in the St. Louis STS scene: a Sentra, a Mirage, and an Impreza RS. Heh.

 

It's all good... there's pretty much no one else down here in STS. So, it's a PAX war for us every event.