roman944

I've heard of people not "liking" a-x'ing without power steering; I've tried 944 with power steering, and honestly, I liked mine better; it only seemed to make a difference when the car was going really slow (as in parking or something like that)

the wheels are 16x* and I'll try to get the * measurement by/this weekend

the winter is coming, so hopefully there will be a couple things for me to tweak on this winter!

adwolfe12

I had the same problem as you, I was worried about doing it without power steering, my dad talked me into it and it was the best time ever, I am not hooked and want to go to more events.
Alex

NCporsche

As in the novice class, which club are you wanting to run with? PCA or SCCA?

I started AXing and DEing the 944 with my street set up and 15" phonies. After a couple of events, I decided AX was the route I was going to take.

Instead of investing thousands of $ in suspension upgrades, I bought a spare set of phone dials and some VictoRacers V700 (225/50ZR15). As the 944 is a weekend toy, I've been keeping the VRs on the car and the street tires in the garage.

With just the tires and no upgrades, I placed second in Parade-Charlotte AX in the P03 men's division and Becca took 3rd in the ladies class.

Go ahead and drive the 944 in a couple of AXs and see if you enjoy it. Try inflating the tires to 40 PSI hot and see if this helps with the front scrubbing.

roman944

NC - thanks!

I think I'm going to like it.

any pointers though? sure it will be different from track-to-track, but in general?

NCporsche

AX pointers, hmmm, that's a thread in itself.

When you walk the course, walk it with someone else driving a 924/944. You will have different turn ins than a 911 driver. Talk about the turn ins, apexs, and turn outs. With the turn ins, try to identify a cone that is cleaner or more beat up as the turn in cone.

If your club allows a drive through, by all means do it - but, when you drive through do not just follow the car in front of you. Hang back a bit (or be the first or last car to drive through in your group) and drive the course. If you follow the car in front of you, you will be surprised when you make your first run and find the car is not there anymore for you to follow.

There are a couple of different philosophies in how to drive the first run.

My philosophy is to drive the first run as fast as I can. This typically ends up in a DNF (Did Not Finish) because I either ran off course or they just got tired of counting the cones I knocked over. By driving the first run fast, I know which corners I can hopefully take faster and which turns I need to change my turn in or just slow down.

Becca starts slow and builds speed during each successive run. I've tried that and found out that my seconds are coming down each run and if I only had one more run, I could do it even faster.

Work the course and try to get your worker position at the corner that you think will give you the most problems. Watch the line the other cars are using. If you work the course a second shift, move to another position.

Take out the spare tire, take off the sunroof, and show up with less than a half a tank of gas. With the rear seat down, four tires and a floor jack will fit in the back of a 944.

roman944

well I was thining of loosing teh spare and all those tools because I don't really need them; I was thinking of taking the roof out; and this weekend my project was to put in a weltmeister throttle cam, and take out the top of back seat

then just go and drive around a couple of times to see how much I like it

racer

I know you are just going for fun, but depending on the club/region, removing the rear seat could be consider "lightening" the car.. which could put you in a modified class. My guess is the odds are better for you to keep the car as stock as possible, try AX and then come back for more

For 16" wheels I would recommend a 225-50-16 on all 4 corners. Easy way to economize as you can move wheels front/rear/left/right to even out tire wear.

ritzblitz

You might love or might hate the throttle cam.

I bought one because I hated the oem cam. Liked it for a little while then switched back to the oem cam and absolutely love it.

PedalFaster

Changing the throttle cam will also change your class.

Slantnose!

Seriously, just get rid of those rear tires...
The correct size will make your car much quicker & more fun to drive.

roman944

didn't know that throttle cam would do this? so it's considered something like a chip? I'm not going there to "race-race", or be on podium, or get a score, I'm not even registered with anyone yet - I mean, even if I was, it doesn't really matter, as long as I get to go around the track a couple of times with someone to get a better/good feel of the car

yes on the tires - will get rid of them soon, but not yet;

I hope the 944 can go into garage for the winter so I won't have to drive it, but because I am not sure yet, I can't really put summer tires on it

btw, for anyone that wonders - I drove with these during winter, and it was great; I only spun out twice - and both times weren't my fault and I didn't hit anything!

roman944

Allright. So I ran at the Autocross event.

LOVED it! No power steering made NO difference for me.

I was EXTREMELY limited by my tires though! They rubed like crazy when doing a u-turn.

The 1st run I did, I was just getting to know the track. Trying it out for the first time. Going VERY slow, taking my time. Finished with 88sec run.

2nd run I decided I will go a little faster then the 1st time, but still relatively slow. Once I passed the first slalom, I missed the 2nd slalom (picked it up on the way back though). But once I got to real twisties, my tires started rubbing like crazy! I couldn't take a fast turn in it at all! For the fear of shredding my tires, I decided to go slow(er) again. Finished with a 83 sec run and off course because I missed the 2nd small slalom.

Now, I am working on getting the pictures up. I'll show you guys some shots of me going around. But I DEFINETLY felt limited by my tires. The 1st instructor was very nice, and he just let me go slow to get to know the road, where the turns are, going around the cones etc. Very nice. At the end he just said that I need to be a little more agressive/go faster next time.

So the 2nd time I went, I tried to go faster, but at the 1st u-turn tires rubbed like hell.

So I am definetly registering with PCA and SCCA. And going to try and attend more A-X events. For the whole event, there was another 1986 944 N/A with 15" phone dials, broken/no power steering, and 215/55/15 tires. He did great! The rear of the car slid around perfect. I loved to watch him go around.

I loved the feel of MY car around the track. I liked sliding rear end and staying in control (on the 2nd run), the only thing I really hated was that I couldn't try any more because of my front tires!

The event was stopped when 1 of instructors was coming to the finish line in an STi on slicks, and spun out towards the crowd => caused a little stompede of people trying to get away and not get hit by a car, and a woman got hurt. While I was right at the starting line (was supposed to go). But it's cool. I got out of the event exactly what I wanted.

Now I really want some tire suggestions. Or anything else that might help. Bigger sways?

The brakes felt great, just enough braking power. And they are stock. I think I am going to take some interior stuff out that I don't use (like the back seat, upper portion), take out the stock spare and those tools. Get a light weight battery (the 10lbs one). Get some smaller/faster tires. Maybe update the brakes? Maybe new pads? Rotors?

But as it is. I think my first attempt was a success. The other 944 was running way faster. Obviously because he wasn't a first timer, and he wasn't limited by anything on/in his car like me. But I missed his times (not sure what he ran), and he left early.

At one point both of our cars were on the track. So all there were just 2 944's going the same way on the opposite sides of the track! And then going "towards each other" the same way! I'm supposed to get the pictures in my e-mail from those guys!

But to anyone who is wondering to do this or not, DEFINETLY do it! Totally worth it! I can't wait for next season!

ritzblitz

Pads and a brake fluid flush will help you a lot. Put good fluid in.

Tires are a big upgrade too, especially in your case. It sucks you had such trouble with rubbing. What wheel/tire combo are you using again?

roman944

225/50/16 F and 225/60/16 R

but yeah, 2nd time trying to go faster, and the first u-turn after the slalol "khhhhhhhhhhhh ... God damn it!"

thewerxracing

AWESOME!

Im glad you had fun and did it the right way. I suggest keeping your tires for the street and picking up a set of autocross tires (even something like RT-615s) with a cheap set of wheels for the weekend. Thats the best bang for your buck if you like it as much as you say, and plan on continuing.

I just won my E-Stock class here this weekend, it seems like we all had fun!