Z06-KILLR

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jzr

Driving is a skill, so is setup.

vroom

If you're here (well there) in NJ and competing locally, i.e; with PA or South NJ in Camden/Atco or with NNJ/Mclub/NASA in Etown/Giants Stadium, then tires and talent will do it. A bar wouldn't hurt - but that doesn't make the car unstreetable at all. NJTom2000 won our class with a bar, Konis and Khumos and trophied in DC just by adding Hoosiers to that mix. Bottom line is locally, you can have a class winning car if you have the talent with minimum sacrifices on the street. Nat's is something else. I hear that the custom big dollar shocks will only net you a 10th or so - but that may be all it takes to win.

jzr

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Z06-KILLR

David NJ

Vroom is in the same neighborhood as I am. Tires are a must. But what I'm hearing is the bar doesn't make that big a difference and taking the edge of the rear shocks is all that's needed.

payneinthe

Maybe you shouldn't talk so loud! The bar does make a huge difference. Have you talked to anyone that's tried the high-$$$ shocks without a bar? I'd be surprised if they didn't have insane amounts of wheelspin.

To stop wheelspin, you have two options. You can soften the end of the car having the problem or you can stiffen the opposite end. With the bar, you stiffen the front end (helping with wheelspin), but you also help tame the oversteer inherent in the tire sizes we have available.

David NJ

Since I've had the S2k (Sept 99) I've only run 8-10 autocrosses. Always on the S02s. Always a couple of seconds back.

I've never purchased the tires, not because of the cost of the tires, but because of: 1. the cost of the wheels; 2. difficulty in transporting them to the track; 3. need for the front bar with the 225/245 setup.

The easiest time I've ever had at autocrosses was in the '70s when I raced Showroom Stock Sedan. I had lots of shaved tires before the days of DOT race tires and common tire shaving.

vroom

Yeah - I have a bar - it makes a BIG difference at the autocross. What I meant was that it doesn't do any harm on the street. Maybe a little more understeer, but it doesn't ruin the ride.

I only have local level talent, so I bought a saner bar - $209 shipped last year. Thats it. R comps, saner bar and off I go. With more talent I could win at many events locally with just that setup, however i was > TWO SECONDS slower than last years SCCA National Tour event winner in DC last year at the one event we both competed in. He had Hoosiers and I don't know what else. I had Victos and the Saner bar ( we didn't actually compete, I ran Bs and he ran the Pro category - but I checked his times).

If $$ allows, I'm going to try to get Konis for this year. From what I've heard - heard - it's hard on the fronts and full soft on the rear. NNJSCCA has a test and tune April 3rd (i believe), if you show up, you can try my car to see what it feels like. If I decide to buy the Konis I'll definitely have them by then but I will be on old poorly stored dot r tires. We get a lot of runs at the T&T and my new tires have to last for ~20 events or so this year.

David NJ

Mr. Vroom, do you drive to the track on the race tires?

vroom

Nah - I put 'em in the car. It's not as hard as you think. I put them in heavy duty garbage bags, three in the passenger seat and 1 in the trunk. I'm going to dump the garbage bags this year and just put a towel on the seat.


Once you get the extra wheels it's not that expensive really. When I bought my wheels last year, I had the option of buying another pair of oem wheels or ASA 17" wheels for about the same price. The ASA's come in at virtually the same weight as the stockers so I bought those (my S02's were shot at 14K so I needed new tires anyway).

I've driven in on them (Khumos) a few times - but with the # of events I do a year, I usually just chuck them in the car.

I get a full-size race jack (Harbor Freight), my cordless torque wrench, tools, and a duffel bag, and a tarp, helmet and extra shoes in the car along with the tires. Pretty amazing how much you can stuff in there.

Warren is about equidistant to Etown as Staten Island - you should come out, Tom and I would love to see more competitors (though you're in AS with the 04). The M club events aren't that far away either.

Mrsideways

I choose not to drive mine on the street for many reasons. None of them being that it's a poor street car. Probably the biggest reason for not driving it on the street I just plain don't trust other drivers. I don't want to Destroy my autox car because someone didn't stop for a red light. I think the car is alot less likely to get damaged as a race car then as a street car. I can't afford the depreciation if that car gets some dents and dings in it. Reason 2 is the Alighnment will burn up the street tires pretty quickly. Reason 3 God knows what Pot holes and the rest will do to the cars suspension. In the 4000 miles I've owned mine it rides and sounds just as nice as the day I got it. I'm Anal about service on it. It's yet to get more then about 800 miles to an oil change. After every event The wheels come off and it sits on jack stands and I go though and clean the suspension (ever since Jason Sani made fun of my Dirty shocks) I really am just anal about it and driving it on the street would be to much cleaning..... No with that said since the car is not being autoxed any more it's been getting alot more street use. When I tore my ACL back in november I con'ed people into carting me around town by offering to let them drive the S2K. And this weekend it's getting a road trip to atlanta for the Pro Solo there. Even though i'm driving a 300hp miata I'm to broke to afford gas in the truck to get there. I love the car and I wish I drove it on the street more often but hey I've got this....

My Neighbors LOVE me!