Koni Yellow Sports - Paragon has best prices.

 

Adrial and I AutoX his 951. We are definetely hooked. Definetely get the feel of everything before you start modding, the majority ofthe mods won't really make much of a difference unless you get seat time. 12 events so far this season. Here is a pic from an NNJR event a few weeks ago... left hand turn.. full steering lock. lots of fun..


And another... somehow I almost got it on 3 wheels. This is with m030 sways.

Definetely get as much seat time as possible. Go to all the different clubs, find the one you like. Tight courses are challenging, open courses are fast. See what you like, experience it all. gluck!

 

Thanks for the comments. I agree with the comments to upgrade slowly, when you have a clue what it will do. And I intend to stay in stock class, because my budget is not ready for an equipment war.

I used to sail boats competitively, and the rule of thumb in one-design racing (think stock classes) was that you shouldn't buy new sails until you were consistently in the top 10-20% of the fleet, every race. If you were all over the map, then a uniform boost in speed wouldn't help. Tires are like sails - they add speed if you are going in the right direction.

In the last two autox's, my times were fairly consistent at the same 7 secs/m ~ 10% slower. My question was to see if I am now at:

6 secs of equipment and 1 second of skill behind
or
3 secs of tires and 4 seconds of skill.

If I'm in the first, then its time to start with the tires, and look to the rest as it makes sense. If its the second, the equipment won't help, only practice will.

I'm still curious to see some discussion from the experienced autoxers - when I upgraded the bars, my times improved x vs a benchmark car, etc.

thanks
Dave

 

Skip; What wheels are you running those 225/45-15 Hoosiers on ? It seems like an 8" width would be the least that would work, and 8" early offset Fuchs are getting hard to find. <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

 

You'll never know how much difference the sticky tires make until you try them. Stock tire classes are excellent for learning car control though...to go quickly, there's a lot more sliding involved, which can be highly entertaining! By sliding, I don't mean that you're in a huge, opposite-lock drift around every turn, but you should always seek to apply power as early as possible on corner exit and at least get the tires to make some noise. If I don't get a slight touch of oversteer somewhere in the corner (usually at or near the exit), I don't feel like I'm taking maximum advantage of the chassis.
I don't advocate this for a complete rookie, but as you gain experience, there's value in over-driving the course a little (stress that "a little" part!) Where I auto-X, in San Diego with the PCA, we get 12 runs so there's plenty of time to experiment. So the first couple are just to get familiar with the course...then I get real aggressive with deeper braking, higher speeds threading through slalom sections, earlier throttle application, etc. That way, I find the problem areas of the course, so when the timed runs roll around, I can be really aggressive, with just a bit of caution at the tricky parts.

With my car, I have enjoyed the step-by-step modification process, feeling each incremental gain.

Great info in this thread. As for tips, let me restate the importance of looking ahead toward the apex, or even farther down the course into the next turn. It's almost magical how your hands will steer the car in the direction you're looking, almost without conscious effort. "Eyes up" is a good mantra. Also, in the early runs, try late-apexing all the corners. Some corners will profit from an earlier apex, but most will reward this sort of patience (and you'll mow down fewer cones too!).

Have a blast!!!

 

Isn't an untimed run a waste of time? Why don't you time all your runs?

 

A lot of guys have the "Hot Lap" in-car timers so they can see their times for every run. Personally, I don't care what the times are until the last runs...I can just feel whether I've put in a good one or I've screwed up. Kinda adds to the suspense!

Our club "sort of" times the practice runs, but with 5-6 cars on the course at once (they're big courses!), you've got cars spinning, getting out of sequence, etc., so the times aren't really reliable...so I just ignore them!

 

[quote]Originally posted by Mark Parker:
<strong>Skip; What wheels are you running those 225/45-15 Hoosiers on ? It seems like an 8" width would be the least that would work, and 8" early offset Fuchs are getting hard to find. <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>

7" cookies or PD's right now - on the prowl for 7" Fuchs. Can't run 8" wheels in ITS/CSP. I run 16x7/8 in PCA.

15x7" Fuch = 14lbs, 225/45-15 Hoosier = 15lbs, TOTAL = 29lbs! That's a spicy meatball <img src="graemlins/bigok.gif" border="0" alt="[thumbsup]" />

Skip