This was my first event ever with R-compound tires. Hoosiers S04's 225F and 245R.

Last year I run 5 events with the car stock, street tires, stealth box subwoofer, 2 amplifiers and the spare. My times were always within 2 seconds of the class winner (s2000 in B Stock).

This year I did an autocross alignment, and went to an Evolution school, beating my instructors' times on Phase 1 and Phase 4. Phase 2 isn't timed.

And for this autocross event (average 1 minute run on asphalt) got the Hoosiers. They were brand new and still with stickers on them. Not even heat cycled.

Ordered the Comptech Sway Bar but it's on back order so I run with stock sways. Got rid of the spare tire and stereo setup (made them quick connect, so I now can take them off in 3 minutes).

Bottom line, car is stock but with Hoosiers as the only mod.

On the first run, I drove like I did with the streets, and almost spun on the slaloms (caught me by surprise, and I wasn't even pushing it). On the second run, I DNF'd because I had to go back on the throttle to keep the car from spinning when I lifted for a turn and ended up missing a pointer. The 3rd to 5th runs were a second faster (and within 2 tenths of each other) but I had to totally change my driving style.

The car was oversteering like a maniac. It only took a minor lift for the car to be willing to swap ends. I had to brake way before pointer cones and go through them with the gas on to keep some weight in the rear. And on the tight turns, it was wheelspin gallore. Initially I thought I was suffering from fuel starvation on exit (due to the hesitation), but then I noticed I was hitting the rev limiter (in 2nd gear!!). A second later the car would "land" and launch me forward. Weird feeling. It kept me from putting the foot down early and had to wait for the car to "land". I never felt I could really push the car without spinning it.

Overall, I was within 2 tenths of my previous baseline, the class winner for the B Stock class (which means I was probably faster that I would've been on street rubber), but 2 seconds off my class winner (AS).

Would a stiffer front sway bar make that much of a difference? Or was it the lack of breaking-in of the brand-new tires? Of course I'm responsible in part, but to tell you the in truth, I really felt I was driving a totally different car.

 

You nailed your problem on the head. You need to run a LFSB on the car with r compounds. I ran my first autocross on r compounds a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I just had to quit driving the car like it was on street tires. Once I did that I was puting down some fast times. But not as fast as my co driver. But once you get the LFSB on you will be able to tell the difference.
Bryan

 

Wider front tires without a swaybar = wheelspin and/or oversteer. Get a bar. It makes a BIG difference.

 

Hey Brian, forgive my ignorance. What's LFSB? I suppose it has to do with Front Sway Bar but I don't know what the "L" stands for.

Thanks for your advise guys. That's going to make my wait even more painful. According to GoFastLabs the Comptech sway is on back order until the end of June.

 

The L in LFSB stands for Larger. Also check nopi.com and see if they have it on back order. I know that they have it on there site it just depends on if they have it in stock.
Bryan

 

I agree with the above assessments that the larger front swaybar will improve your handling immensely. I would also add that: using brand new, non-heat cycled, non-scrubbed Hoosiers doesn't help either. New tires that haven't been scrubbed in tend to be "greasy" for several runs.

 

Tell me about it!!! They were slippery as ice!!! I thought it was the surface and me probably carrying too much speed, but I don't think that was the case since I wasn't really pushing it. It felt more like I was driving in the rain.

Regarding the bar, I tried other online stores and they all say the Comptech Bar is made after it's been ordered, and shipped directly from Comptech. Therefore, it takes 3 to 4 weeks to get one. Sucks!!!!

I'll see at next event what heat cycled, scrubbed (5-runs) Hoosiers can do without a bar. Should I try removing/loosening the rear bar?

 

Have you looked into the Gendron bar? Last I knew it was cheaper and you might be able to get it faster.

 

Gendron Bar

http://www.smallfortuneracing.com/s2k-ARB.html

Comptech

http://www.comptechusa.com/store/140235.html

I've been impressed with the quality of the Gendron bar. It clunks occasionally under specific conditions (reverse turn left) but other than that it has performed like a champ.

 

That would take you out of stock class...