Well, it's that time of year again! I'm not sure how much I'll get to run this season considering the lack of a "real job" but I did scrounge up the funds to run last Sunday and I'm pretty happy with how it went. As a bonus several NT people showed up with us.

I ran in Street Tire with a FSP index and I knew full well I wouldn't be competitive no matter how I did against the cars and drivers that run in that class here in the NWR-SCCA. I was happy to not get last place in T, and I think that's pretty good for zero suspension mods really. I was slaughtering cones though, for some reason I kept clipping the second cone in one slalom and I took out more before getting my rhythym back.

My runs were:
62.8X +2 cones
61.9X clean
60.5X +4 cones

My clean run indexed a 51.492.

Fastest straight time of the day was a 2006 ASP Lotus Exige S with a 48.620 (42.105 indexed) running in OPAX.
Fastest indexed time was a 2008 DS Cobalt SS (turbo) with a 41.632 (50.833 straight time) also running in OPAX.

 

Oh, and video of the second half of one of my runs:

[youtube]zQLenDhnCCk[/youtube]

 

Those times aren't bad at all considering your mods. Ive always wanted to do something like this but I would be very confused about where to go. Even if I walk the track it would not be pretty.

 

I've gotten lost on course a couple of times. Someone got VERY lost on course on Sunday, they went through a cone wall and accelerated for the end of the runway like there was a quarter mile drag strip in the middle of their autox course. With walking the course you would probably remember it better than you think, most courses are not too confusing. This course was so easy that I wouldn't have gotten lost even if I had skipped the course walk. I highly recommend that you give it a try. I was pretty nervous going to my first one but it's a blast.

Yeah, I'm satisfied with the times. I was going to sink money into my suspension setup, but thought I should try to max out the car's potential first before throwing money at it. IMO I'm getting close to that point and I think with Koni inserts and some good stiff springs (or a set of coilovers) I could expect to run a full second faster on a course like that one. Adding sway bars might get me another second or half a second on top of that too. Honestly a good driver could probably get 3-5 seconds more out of my car as it sits also. I never get a run where I nail all the elements. I might nail them all once but never all on the same run.

 

pics look great! you are pushing those tires to their limit! if your car is your daily driver don't get coilovers, that is what i would say anyways. i love driving my car on the track and hate driving it on the street. it is really uncomfortable. if you want to keep your wife away from your car coilovers will do it! my wife won't ride in my accent anymore, it makes her nauseous. eck06.gif
i can't wait for autox to start here, may 15 is our first event. i'll try to get some pics!
here is the only vid i have, i think it is from 2 years ago

 

I just want to be able to have fun with my car (legally) If I were to get into AutoX could I do it with the Beta swap and still be competitive or would that throw me in a class with like Evos and SH*T? I mean I really really want to do like a road course with other cars.

 

here is a list of Northeast Autocross Clubs, i don't know if any are close to you. http://www.autocross.com/autoc/neclub.shtml
the first thing i would do instead of swapping motors is buy some r-compound tires or something like the falken rt-615's. that would probably do more for your times then a motor swap!

 

You would be eligible to run in Street Mod. SM is a competitive class, but a lot of things fall into the SM category that really aren't that fast they just can't go into an easier class. At the event I was at last, I would have placed 7th of 10 in SM if I would have been in that class.

Top time was 53.878
3rd place trophy time was 55.722
last place time was 64.296
My best clean time was 61.9

I would have beat: 2006 Mazdaspeed 6, 2002 BMW M3, 1965 Chevrolet Corvair
I would have been beaten by: 1988 Mazda 323 GTX, 1966 Chevrolet Corvair, 2004 Dodge SRT-4, 1990 Ford Mustang, 2000 Ford Focus ZX3, 1996 Honda Civic

Most of those cars were obviously heavily modified as is allowed by the SM classing, but few were built specifically for autox. The Mustang for example appeared to be built for road course racing. In my opinion it's hard to win SM, but it's not too hard to be competitive, at least in my region. Your region might be different.

Don't let the other cars you're competing against scare you. I'm way more intimidated by a great driver in a 2002 Corolla than a new driver in a 2008 Evo X. You won't believe how many cars you'll beat once you get to be a decent driver. Just look through the results here and see what I mean. I was faster than several EVO's, STi's, M3's, etc.

 

I wish we had something like you had in the video. An actual road like that would at least feel somewhat familiar to me.

Yeah, even the Azenis RT-615's were begging for mercy. I need to upgrade my brakes before R-comps will do me much good. As it is with the RT-615's up to temp I can plant the pedal going straight without getting any front lockup. My brakes aren't overheating, just not powerful enough to lock the tires anymore. I'm not sure what pads I want to get though.

As far as coilovers go, I probably won't do that to the poor Accent. It's just enough cheaper than the Whiteline springs and Koni yellows that I want that it's tempting.

I can't wait to get the 87 Cougar going. I think it'll be an autox beast. I plan on building it for SM, but not right away.

 

i signed up for this today! can't wait, it should be fun! banana.gif