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On Youtube you mentioned that you should've left the RB rear bar on, instead of swapping for the stock bar. What front bar do you have? It looks like you are dealing with a little bit of understeer, which would make you want the RB bar on the back (to increase oversteer). However, this is actually making one end of the car handle worse, in order to get better overall handling.
What you really want to shoot for is getting more grip on the front end, rather than less on the rear.
From what I can see in the video, it looks like you would really benefit from some camber plates. You already have good tires (888's, right?).
Other than that, better setup before the corner would help. Concentrate on slow in, fast out. The majority of your understeer issue could be handled by simply going into the corner more slowly. I know it hurts to hear that, but your overall times will improve because you will exit the corner faster, and obtain a higher speed on the interval before the next turn. This is especially important on a turn right before any kind of a straight section.
But overall, looked like some great driving and you seemed to handle the handling shortcomings quite well. Nice car from what I could see.
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One more thing to add here. This spring I added turn in spacers (used to correct steering geometry on lowered cars). No more understeer, MUCH faster through the corners, and less tendency for the rear end to come around on me. If I'd known they'd actually make this much of a difference, I'd have added them years ago. The difference is simply unbelievable.
Here's my latest video hope the link works... event took place this past saturday... glad to be back autocrossing after nearly last video post on here, lol... Enjoy!
I took her out for some excersize. March of Dimes autocross for charity. Here's a clip of my best run (still sloppy though). Out of 60+ cars, I came in 56th overall. those 4 that beat me had turbos and an excess of power though. Not too shabby for my little workhorse.
One more thing to add here. This spring I added turn in spacers (used to correct steering geometry on lowered cars). No more understeer, MUCH faster through the corners, and less tendency for the rear end to come around on me. If I'd known they'd actually make this much of a difference, I'd have added them years ago. The difference is simply unbelievable.
Now for the rear.....if you keep the 4 link and replace the wats with the panhard bar you won't regret it.
You may also want to think about a smaller steering wheel, it feals way better to me.
Ps. I love watching your vids it has helped keep me motivated to finish the car this last year of upgrades.
Thanks man. I'm really hesitant at this point to make any major changes to the car. I honestly can't imagine it handling any better for autocross than it does now. I've had a trilink/panhard sitting on the shelf for years, just never felt the need for it.
Also took these pics:
My can and my buddy's STS Neon
My car and the Z-Car that was running behind me
Said Z-Car
It was a great time, and if you haven't tried autocross yet, make sure you do. As an aside, the older gentleman who was starter was there running an E-Prepared RX3.
Not autocross, but enjoyable nonetheless. This is Palmer Motorsports Park in Massachusetts. It's a 2.3 mile club-style road course with some tight hairpins and 190 feet of elevation change. It's hard to see the elevation in the video but it climbs steeply from turn 2 all the way to the summit after the double switchback, drops back down into a left hand bowl, climbs again, then drops down into a right hand bowl.
My FB is set up with Racing beat (red) springs and front sway bar, stock rear sway bar, Tokico Blue shocks, and Yokohama S.Drive tires (300 tread wear). The only drivetrain mod is a racing beat long primary exhaust. Stock brakes with Hawke HP+ pads.
I'm very close to extracting the best lap time out of this setup and in the video I'm running about 9/10ths of my comfort zone and ability of the car. I'm not lifting unless I have to, but I do most of my braking in a straight line to keep the car pointed in the right direction. I can run a 2:01.7 and I think there is possibly a high 2:00 if I pushed the car to 10/10ths. However, you can see the granite rock faces, those have a greater impact on your psyche than you can imagine in the video.
I know that spec-IT7 SCCA cars can run a 1:58-1:59 on Nitto NT01s (100 tread wear), stripped interiors, coilovers, free flowing exhaust, and upgrades to the ignition. They also don't have power steering and A/C, rats nest, etc etc. They do still run the stockport with nikki per rules. The spec-SM miatas run much faster lap times.
Anyway, this session was a hoot and I caught up to a Miata who was running some fast laps of his own. Because this is a low-key track night (pass by point by only) I kept my distance into the braking zones but as soon as I saw him on the gas i was punching it. He got loose a few times in front of me so you can see how hard we were running.
Great video! That camera system, track position overlay and stats setup is pretty cool. Is it a package or did you assemble a set of components yourself?
Yeah, Harry's does it all. You link your GoPro (I've got a Hero3 white edition, nothing fancy) and it combines that video with your phone mounted to the windshield. You can also connect more sophisticated GPS sensors but the phone works OK. When I analyze the data you can see some odd spikes where the GPS was a bit off but lap times are pretty much dead on. It was about $20 for the app and another $10 to add on the picture-in-picture.
Have been alternating between daily driving the '81 (stock 12A) and this, an '06 S60R (boost buggy Barcalounger, aka 0th-gen Focus RS, aka Swedish R33), which since this video was made has received a looser converter and a 9:1 2.4l engine to replace the stock 8.5:1 2.5l (it's a Volvo thing, the late 2.4 is a stronger engine and more power, we're up to 340hp/350ft-lb) and it is a culture shock every time. With the RX-7 it's like, oh, I have to go over 2000rpm, and watch for the mid corner oversteer. With the Volvo it's like, HOLYCRAPBOOST and HAHAHA ACTIVE HANDLING I AM GOD HERE
06-30-12 | 03:55 PM
Glad to be Back!
