April 4th, Autocross Impressions
04-06-2004, 01:40 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 1,987
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wow, that was a fun course, and very glad to be back after a couple months off. I don't know if my skills are rusty or that everyone else kicked it up a notch, but a lot of the cars were going too fast for my eyes!
The theme for this month's autocross was "How to get beat in your own car by your co-driver".
Team S2000's attendance was cut a bit short when Joey had other commitments to attend to, but hats off to him for showing up in the morning! :thumbsup: So it was up to the rest of us to take up the slack and keep on revving.
Our current ace Stephen drove his best, despite not knowing what to expect from his newly acquired Tein RS suspension to 8th overall. Definitely not bad considering not having an opportunity to test and tune the car's settings to his liking. It was quite easy to see that his car doesn't roll or lift anywhere like before (as seen in the in-car video), plus the car turns sharper and is quick to shift the weight around the twisty sections. This new mod is like taking a saber tooth tiger and giving it Wolverine's adamantium claws! If Steve was hard to beat before, it's a heck of a lot harder now.
The theme for this month's autocross was "How to get beat in your own car by your co-driver".
Team S2000's attendance was cut a bit short when Joey had other commitments to attend to, but hats off to him for showing up in the morning! :thumbsup: So it was up to the rest of us to take up the slack and keep on revving.
Our current ace Stephen drove his best, despite not knowing what to expect from his newly acquired Tein RS suspension to 8th overall. Definitely not bad considering not having an opportunity to test and tune the car's settings to his liking. It was quite easy to see that his car doesn't roll or lift anywhere like before (as seen in the in-car video), plus the car turns sharper and is quick to shift the weight around the twisty sections. This new mod is like taking a saber tooth tiger and giving it Wolverine's adamantium claws! If Steve was hard to beat before, it's a heck of a lot harder now.
04-06-2004, 01:41 AM
#2
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 1,987
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The highlight goes to Yoda himself, outdoing the young Padawan in his own car and pushes to 4th overall over a boosted 2nd gen Miata! Colin showed up with a purpose to show the female National SCCA champ that this was his house! It was clear that Colin was exploring the limits of the newly equipped car, and soon discovered "Jimmy territory" with a flashy 180 degree spinout just a couple of backhairs away from the finish line. Watching the in-car video at his house displayed a car with alarming acceleration speed, very steady footwork and smooth lines. It was so perfect looking, it was almost boring. (just kidding)
New for this month was my curiosity of what my car was able to do. Although quite boring compared to the above, the car ran UK alignment settings, differing tire pressure settings (a lesson learned from January's folly) and the V2 intake from AEM. I had 3 drivers for this month in my red, and it started off at the registration booth when a top Subaru driver asked me if he could drive my car in a joking manner. Since I knew how good he was, I agreed to have him drive the 1st heat, in hopes that I could observe what the car was capable of. Francis Lining didn't take it easy in the S, as he went from fast to beyond my reach in 4 runs! From his remarks, he said he really liked the car and had a lot of fun. He'd rev away to 10th overall standing... wow!
Elton Fujii (former Toyota Camry driver in STS) retired the car and agreed to be my permanent co-driver from now on, adding to the Team S2000 roster. He has a lot more experience, but was a lot more conservative in his approach since driving standard wasn't his forte. Driving a VTEC equipped car proved to be a challenge, and the footwork was twitchy plus the active rear end added to the difficulty. Moving from a FWD 115hp Camry to a RWD S2000's a big jump, and I observed how he used the engine braking in 1st gear, instead of staying on the throttle longer and then using the brakes to slow down. Kind of reminds me of my 1st event when I lost to him. I'm certain that he'll catch onto the basics soon enough, I just hope he learns to trust the car the way I do. (I don't think my car trusts me as much though...) He placed 3rd in ASP, right behind me and bested a 911 on aging R1 race rubber, and a M3 roadster... not bad IMHO. He placed 34th overall.
New for this month was my curiosity of what my car was able to do. Although quite boring compared to the above, the car ran UK alignment settings, differing tire pressure settings (a lesson learned from January's folly) and the V2 intake from AEM. I had 3 drivers for this month in my red, and it started off at the registration booth when a top Subaru driver asked me if he could drive my car in a joking manner. Since I knew how good he was, I agreed to have him drive the 1st heat, in hopes that I could observe what the car was capable of. Francis Lining didn't take it easy in the S, as he went from fast to beyond my reach in 4 runs! From his remarks, he said he really liked the car and had a lot of fun. He'd rev away to 10th overall standing... wow!
Elton Fujii (former Toyota Camry driver in STS) retired the car and agreed to be my permanent co-driver from now on, adding to the Team S2000 roster. He has a lot more experience, but was a lot more conservative in his approach since driving standard wasn't his forte. Driving a VTEC equipped car proved to be a challenge, and the footwork was twitchy plus the active rear end added to the difficulty. Moving from a FWD 115hp Camry to a RWD S2000's a big jump, and I observed how he used the engine braking in 1st gear, instead of staying on the throttle longer and then using the brakes to slow down. Kind of reminds me of my 1st event when I lost to him. I'm certain that he'll catch onto the basics soon enough, I just hope he learns to trust the car the way I do. (I don't think my car trusts me as much though...) He placed 3rd in ASP, right behind me and bested a 911 on aging R1 race rubber, and a M3 roadster... not bad IMHO. He placed 34th overall.
04-06-2004, 01:44 AM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 1,987
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I drove in the last heat, worried about the conditions of the tires, heat soak and whether the car was holding together nicely. I immediately changed the tire pressures to my planned start point at 31psi all around (versus the mad understeer from 33f/28r due to the Comptech sways set to 102%). It was still a bit loose, so I took out more to make it 30psi all around. The resulting effect with the UK alignment was suprisingly similar to stock... a bit loose in the back, but with improved, tighter steering up front. Colin tells me afterwards that I may need to run pressures in the mid to high 20's. I think he's right since I did my trademark 180 stall/spin during my 2nd run. Spinning's not scary for me since I push it hard only when I know I have the room to do it, and it benefits me by informing me of what the limit is. Until my 3rd run, Andy Barnes in his suspension modded Z3 was in the 60's while I made my best at 59.734... I wished him good luck, maybe too much and he took me out in his last run for the leader of our class. That was a good race.
I have no regrets on how I drove since that's the best I could do that day (which wasn't too good in general). Having 3 drivers for my car was something else, since the new alignment settings, sway bar stiffness and CAI were all untested until this event. It was awesome to see Francis take my car out and outdo me in 4 runs and place 10th overall... while I was lumbering around placing 21. It's a relief to know that the car is far more capable than I what I'm able to do... the car's good, I'm not. The 58-59 second range was very competitive. If my car could talk back to me after having Francis Lining drive it, it'd say in the words of Will Smith c/o Bad Boys the Movie... "that's how you drive... from now on, that's how you drive!"
I have no regrets on how I drove since that's the best I could do that day (which wasn't too good in general). Having 3 drivers for my car was something else, since the new alignment settings, sway bar stiffness and CAI were all untested until this event. It was awesome to see Francis take my car out and outdo me in 4 runs and place 10th overall... while I was lumbering around placing 21. It's a relief to know that the car is far more capable than I what I'm able to do... the car's good, I'm not. The 58-59 second range was very competitive. If my car could talk back to me after having Francis Lining drive it, it'd say in the words of Will Smith c/o Bad Boys the Movie... "that's how you drive... from now on, that's how you drive!"
04-06-2004, 04:35 PM
#4
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Honolulu
Posts: 3,653
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hyper-X
The highlight goes to Yoda himself, outdoing the young Padawan in his own car and pushes to 4th overall over a boosted 2nd gen Miata!
The highlight goes to Yoda himself, outdoing the young Padawan in his own car and pushes to 4th overall over a boosted 2nd gen Miata!
------
oh no.... Autocross geeks!
