2013 August FasTrack

The SEB has released the minutes from the August FasTrack call and it contains some very important information pertaining to this car build.  For those who don't know, several of us S197 autocrossers have been writing to move these cars to STU where the wider wheels/tires will help the cars out tremendously.  Of course, with that move comes added competition.  STU is a faster class by a fairly large margin so it will take MORE for these cars to be competitive.  Will 285's fill that gap? I doubt it but we will try anyway.  Anyway, the SEB has agreed to move us from STX to STU so we are now out of the frying pan and into the fire in regards to classing.  That takes effect January 1, 2014.

Also, a clarification was issued pertaining to the live axle rule that allows replacement of the upper control arm (UCA) for the rear suspension that says that spherical bearings are good to go on the arm ONLY and not the differential bushing.  How this is acceptable in a class claiming to have the most streetable cars outside of stock is beyond me but it's good news for those who wish to go that route as a poly/poly setup is bad news in regards to suspension bind.

It looks like the Watts link diff cover clarification from earlier this year that made the likes of Whiteline, Cortex and Griggs Racing watts links illegal has been turned into a rule that allows replacement of the differential cover.  While this doesn't effect those of us with frame mounted Watts linkages, it's good news for those wishing to run those company's watts linkages.

It also has an added side effect of allowing me to attach a torque arm to the correct differential cover.  What I mean is that the Cortex Racing Torque Arm setup that I am looking into having for Nationals this year will not have to have a custom differential attachment made for it.  Filip was kind enough to offer, but he stated that without proper testing, he wasn't confident in higher HP cars using that diff cover for mounting a torque arm.  That is out the window, at least for next year.  What does this mean for Nationals this year?  Well, it means I'm going to run with the diff cover which technically isn't legal until 2014 under a full disclosure policy.  I highly doubt I'll be pecking at trophies (although I'm going to try my damndest to not be dead last!) for it to matter but it will be public knowledge for those who chose to protest.  Should a protest be filed, I will forfeit my runs voluntarily.

Finally, there are some other cars being thrown into STU to "breathe life into a dying class" but it seems more to kill off the class.  Two cars of concern come up: the Nissan 350Z (and I'm assuming the heavier and more powerful 370Z will be following it shortly) and the C5 Corvette (non FRC/Z06).  The Vette makes no sense and has the potential to be a clear overdog in the class.  The 350Z and the 370Z enjoy a lighter chassis, better suspension and similar power to the current pony cars.  A 350Z currently running in STR on 255 wide tires and 9" wide wheels is currently beating some very capable cars there and his times are almost fast enough to raw time STU with 30mm less tire per corner and a non-ideal wheel width.  What will these cars be like with 285's and wider wheels that they can easily fit?  I imagine they will be pretty damn fast!

13/14 July 2013 Nebraskhana and Solo event - Lincoln Air Park

Time for another Project Tilty Update!

This weekend was a two day weekend for autocross joy. Saturday was our "Nebraskhana" event which is a lot like Mirrorkhana or "Amerikhana" (Not allowed to use that name since it's supposedly trade marked by the Kansas region or Salina or, I don't know)... The second day was a regular solo event.

Car setup got changed a touch, the rear end of the car was dropped down a touch over a half inch to level out the car. Basically at autocross weight the car sits level (it's an eighth of an inch higher in the rear with no driver) now as apposed to the massive rake I had before. I will be the first to admit that with NO rebound dialed into the shocks/struts the car feels stupid weird. Daily driving it had this weird rubber band like effect but with everything turned up it was not noticed anywhere except a little more reluctance to slaloming (a touch more rear rebound helped here) and a near complete removal of wheel HOP on launch but still copious amounts of wheel SPIN. A 2000 RPM launch without a good feather resulted in instant spinning of the tires...

Anyway, the event recaps:

13 July 2013 - Nebraskhana

If you are not familiar with the Mirrorkhana concept, you basically set up one course with two start lines in it. Imagine having two start lines on a roadcourse but in an autocross size. The goal is to get back to your start line before the other guy does. There are NO timers for two cars running head to head on course, just a line judge. Thankfully all of the decision making process was pretty straight forward. The cars that were the closest usually had some "error" that made one win. Such is the challenge of Mirrorkhana! When/if a two driver car ends up facing each other the victor is determined by times. Our Nebraskhana was a double elimination bracket style. If you lose you fight your way up from the losers bracket and if you win you go through that bracket. There were also practice runs the morning of and the competition happens in the afternoon. The other crazy thing is that you were allowed 3 free cones but if you hit a fourth or had a course error DNF, you DNFed your run. Of course it is possible that both drivers could DNF, then it was "they who had DNFed less bad".

The course ran clockwise from either of the two starting locations and had plenty of places to hit cones.
1 is a two cone wallom
2 is just the apex to a 360º turn around (well it turns and comes back onto itself, no loop around the cones)
3 is the chicane before the start 2 straight
4 is a 3 cone slalom start with eyebrows following it
5 is the chicane before the start 1 straight

STX had like 4 cars IIRC. An E30 BMW (not prepped to the limits, yet) an Integra Type R (prepped to the rules but in need of wider tires), myself, and my co-driver. That's right, someone was actually stupid enough to volunteer to co-drive my car. My Co-Driver is a local instructor and obviously no slouch as a driver. He's been to Nationals several times and is currently running a SN95 Cobra (mid 90's, with the live axle but with the 4.6L 4V) in ESP with that car's owner. He was upper mid pack at Spring Nationals this year in that car and is no stranger to Mustangs.

Run #1 I was up against the E30 BMW. Why is beyond me since the Integra Type R and I are ALWAYS back and fourth on times. By virtue of tires alone I had to really screw up to not win. The driver is a nice enough guy but I'm not sure he was all that up to snuff on driving that car (used to Miatas) and it isn't very far along in the STX prep level. He's getting there and I look forward to his competition at a later date but the end of this first match up was "obvious" to everyone. I won by about 6 car lengths.

Wins: 1, Losses: 0

Run #2 I ran against an STR S2000 on Star Specs. The only mods I'm aware of that he had were swaybars and I think CAI/Exhaust/Tune. This was a little more concerning to me as the S2000 is a pretty capable car in stock form and being that the driver was no slouch and the car is very capable he represented the first true competitor I had to face. If there was one thing going for me it was that there was a rather long 200' straight mid way through the course and another 100' long straight at the start and finish. I will admit that this was far closer than I was comfortable so it took some solid driving to prevail. After talking with him after the run was over he said he had some mistakes that really caught him up. I don't remember having too many mistakes. I ended up crossing the line about 3 car lengths ahead of him which was plenty close for comfort!!!

Wins: 2, Losses: 0

Sadly, no run #2 video... I forgot to turn it on...

Run #3 I ran against the Integra Type R with whom I have gone back and fourth all year with. The driver had fought his way up from the losers bracket (losing to my co-driver then beating the E30) to face me in the winners bracket. This was going to be a serious challenge that could have NO errors on my part. Coming through the halfway point (his start/finish line) we were neck and neck at the start of our respective straights. Coming through the second part of the course though he made a grievous error and scrubbed off a ton of speed in the most critical corner for him right before the straight. I managed to win by 2 car lengths... About half way through this run though the "50 miles till empty warning" came up on the display and by the end of the run it was at 45 miles till empty.

Wins: 3, Losses: 0

Sadly, no run #3 video... the GoPro shut off shortly after starting for this run... no idea why? Enjoy a pretty picture instead:

Run #4 complicated things. Having come from 3 solid victories and having a co-driver who also came from 3 solid victories meant that we were facing off against the clock. At this point the other positions had been filled and the STX lineup hinged on my co-driver and I competing for 2nd and 1st. This run would be a bit of an eye opener for me as my co-driver laid down a SMOKING run. My run was 1 full second off his pace, a 58.8XX IIRC). By the time we were done the fuel warning came down to 32 miles till empty.

Wins: 3, Losses: 1

Sadly, no run #4 video. At this point we were hot lapping the car so video took a back seat to swapping drivers.

Run #5 was the "do or die" run as failure to win on this round meant I was done for the day and would get second place in STX. I wasn't about to let my co-driver get the best of me so I ran out there and really hammered out a solid run. I ended up running a very fast run. This run was 0.4 seconds faster than my co-driver's previous run so I felt extremely pleased with the time but fully expected to lose this round. Turns out my co-driver didn't improve his time! I won this one but had to do it again the next time to secure first place. 18 miles till empty...

Wins: 4, Losses: 1

The sixth and final run would determine who was first and who was second and really meant working to earn the spot! This is the type of competition I love as it makes for a good challenge. I would run first, the co-driver would run second. I came in with a run I felt was pretty good. 11 miles till empty... I stood by and cheered my co-driver on in the spirit of competition and listened for the cone calls, 1... then right at the end 2 and 3. As he came in from the run the announcer proclaimed over the speakers "And it looks like Chris has won STX!" <awkward pause> "Ohh, looks like I was wrong, Jon (co-driver) took the win by, it looks like six tenths of a second!" 5 miles till empty...

Wins: 4, Losses: 2...

Through a hard fought fight I managed to get beat my Co-Driver in a close battle. Looking at the raw times from our 6 runs against each other, my fastest raw time was actually faster than his fastest raw time it's just the way the Nebraskhana works I didn't beat him because he ran faster than me on his other two runs... That was the reason for the confusion on who won STX.

While victory would have been nice there are a few things that are important gleaned from this entire experience:

First: Driver check. While it is easy to "compare" myself through PAX to other top drivers it is far clearer than to put someone fast in your own car. Either my car is hard to drive fast (unlikely judging by what my co-driver was saying to me), my co-driver isn't as fast as he seems, or I'm a better driver than I originally thought. I don't like tooting my own horn so I'll let the conclusions be drawn by others.

Second: Car setup check. This goes hand in hand with the first point simply because it is difficult for me to judge where the car is setup wise when I'm the only one driving it. Jon was very straight forward with his response on the car setup. The car is reasonably neutral. It will push if you gently apply throttle but it will step out if you are more aggressive with the throttle. Kinda how the car should be setup. He was very adamant that the car was "too soft" and while I would agree with him that it might need a bit more spring rate, I'm hesitant to add spring rate to the car as the car is nearly out of rebound adjustment on the dampers and I don't want to give up what streetability is left on the car. Maybe when I have a second car and this one can be a "dedicated" autocross car that only gets driven to and from events, but right now, I'm not overly interested in running some higher spring rates without a better set of dampers to make the ride tolerable for daily driving. I would probably bump the rates up to 550 front and 275 rear. That is up from 440 front and 200 rear. He also mentioned that the shocks could probably use a bit more compression as well.

The photos that I took of Jon driving show that -3.0º of camber is pretty close to spot on. There is still some negative camber fully loaded up in a corner but I'm willing to bet that a touch more would really make the tires work better.

The body roll is there but it's not noticeable from the driver's seat, or at least from my perspective it isn't noticeable or a detriment. Of course stiffer springs with better dampers would guarantee a more aggressive direction changing. I don't know... I could always take the front swaybar all the way stiff... I think paired up with Sam's rear bar it would be possible to keep the car balanced with a little more roll stiffness. I should probably call Sam (finally... lol) and get replacement bushings so I can reinstall it. The watts link can't go up any higher...

14 July 2013 – Regular Solo Event

This started off like any normal solo event. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of car setup.. More fuel obviously.  I left everything as it was since it felt so good on Saturday and that turned out to simplify things greatly.

The course was the same course as we ran for the Nebraskhana but in reverse and with a few changes to accomidate a dedicated start and finish line. The ending became extremely tight and rather annoying considering how the rest of the course felt but it was necessary to keep speeds down as the end ran right in line with the start and we needed to be shut down to avoid hitting cars coming on course. There was 6 STX drivers, the E30 and the Type R from the Nebraskhana and myself obviously. There was also an E36 BMW an E46 330i, and a Cobalt SS.

We received 4 runs and I will admit that it was not as much fun this direction as it was the other direction and the added tightness into the finish really ruined what was otherwise a fun course. It was challenging and challenging is GOOD in the long run. You'll never know how you'd do on these "challenging" courses otherwise.

1 is a chicane

2 is the eyebrows (the 3 cone triangle near the top should be another eyebrow in this case, that was a change they made)

3 is a chicane

4 is that turn around

5 is the back wallom which has the line drawn through it the opposite of what it should be (lazyness FTW!)

My first run involved a bit of "learning" the good ole hard way... it involved 3, very, very ugly cones at the kink going into the finish that I... erm... "hit on purpose" <cough*understeered into*cough> thinking we got 3 for free... a 62.897 but with 3 cones it came out to a 68.897. Somehow this was good for first place still. I don't believe that was possible and I don't think my 3 cones got called in despite clearly plowing them. It wouldn't be my fastest run anyway.

My second run involved cleaning up my act. I ran a good and solid 62.XXX without much fuss. The car was rotating beautifully under power and would just follow your commands like a well trained dog. This was just fast enough to put me into first place and keep me there.

The third run WAS going well up until the final kink. Coming out of the slalom as I was setting up for the turn around I noticed a corner working wearing a green shirt standing at the three cones I plowed on my other runs. I mean litterally at the edge of the course in a place where cars were known to go off. He wasn't even a foot off those cones. I slammed on the brakes and got stopped before running him down (I probably wouldn't have anyway but just in case). He had a very perplexed look on his face and after finishing up slowly I was given a re-run for managing to stop before someone got KILLED. No red flag, NOTHING. Needless to say he found a different place to stand after that incident and I hope he learned his lesson. He was still in a bad spot but better than where he was.

My fourth run was the re-run and to be honest I don't think (or remember) I improved any on this run. I was so close to a 61 second time that I was shooting for that but didn't quite get it. I was still in first place after this run so the next run needed to be faster or I needed to rely on luck to keep the others from improving enough to kick me out of first! :)

My fifth and final run I decided to try a little different tactic. It's quite easy to go out there and run balls to the wall and really hammer out good runs but it's a little more difficult to tighten the line up so I tried to do that while still being fast. It was just enough to break into the 61 seconds mark. It ended up being a 61.976 or just barely into the 61's. It was enough to retain the lead as no one improved and it was enough to accomplish my goal! I ended up taking first place again.

In terms of benchmarks, there was really only one of my benchmarks there and he was the guy in the Type R. In the last event he clobbered my times and that really peaked my curiosity since I added wider wheels and tires which should have turned our constant back and forth into a slam dunk win for me. Our time differential this time was close to .8 seconds off from each other which is about what I'd expect when adding 20mm of tire per corner, half inch of wheel width and dropping 35lbs of unsprung (and total) weight.

I did get to add another benchmark for this event though. Doug Hitchcock's old E30 STX BMW was purchased by a Nebraska Region member and resident ALIEN and was playing in the STX Pro PAX. It's a damn good thing he was in the Pro Pax because he completely destroyed my times. His fastest run was in the 58's... Fifty fucking eights... He straight timed one of our local CP drivers who is a mid packer in CP at Nationals... seriously, what... the... hell... Anyway, OUCH! Time to find some time and channel my inner alien and stop sucking!

Alright, what's next for Project Tilty? Well, August 5 I sign for my house and can purcahse the new differential (and all the associated material to completely rebuild the rear end of the car except axles) which will be a Torsen T2R. I will also be ordering the Torque Arm. With the exception of poly bushings everywhere, that will complete the suspension components on the car. The Watts link will need rebuilt (rod ends are loosening up enough to cause some minor noise) but will otherwise remain unchanged in its adjustment.

Aside from that the next event is the Midwest Divisional Championship here in Lincoln. Two more days, 6 more runs to get some seat time. Hopefully the Torsen and Torque arm will be in by then (if not we will have problems) to give me seat time for Nats. We then have our solo event on the 25^th. There is a test'n'tune on the 24^th that I can't go to (well, am choosing not to go to) and then we have the Evo Test'n'Tune during Nationals and then Nationals itself. The last 3 weeks of August is a huge amount of runs and it will all hopefully be worth it! :)

Anyway, I'll post any pictures I find online as well as the results when they are officially posted.

June 23 2013 – NRSCCA Autocross – LAP N

It started out like Spring Nationals, frighteningly like Spring Nationals.  With rain.  Thankfully STX ran in the second of 3 heats, 96 in attendance and 9 of us in STX.  Two of those drivers were National Level guys in a E36 328i, another was Shawn in the Integra Type R and a few other locals who are not-so-serious.  Heat 1 ran in the drying but wet conditions, heats 2 and 3 ran in dry conditions.  Temperature was upper 80's, low 90's which is about as perfect as you can get for the new RS3's.

The course was the day 2 course from Spring Nationals run in reverse with a small change towards the end.  The course didn't drive any differently in this direction and it actually ran faster in this direction which is why I'm sure the change was made at the end.  It was still very much a case of "accelerate until you see God then brake and pray you made the corner!" which always makes for an exciting time!

The basic car setup remained the same as previous so nothing major there.  The only change was to RS3s vs the Star Specs.  I have been daily driving on these tires to get them scrubbed in and it did seem to make a decent difference in how they drove compared to on the street.  That said, I like the RS3's for their lateral grip.  Longitudinal grip is actually good as well which I'm sure is a product of the taller sidewalls compared to other 265s.  Transitionally they are a little sloppy compared to the Star Specs but not enough that a touch more rebound in the dampers couldn't fix.

Sadly though, not all is cheery and rosey.  Of course there will be a learning curve when you make large setup changes so this might be the steepest portion of said curve or at least I hope it is.  :)  If nothing else, I proved I can be reasonably consistent in times.

Here are my runs:
Run #1: 64.976 (with one cone)
Run #2: 62.593
Run #3: 62.653
Run #4: 62.748

Shawn and I continue to battle back and forth despite the changes I've made to the car and I would hope that 20mm more tire would have yielded better results.  His fastest was a 62.228.

Of course Shawn and I are still pretty far back on serious competitors and Bob Buxbaum and Doug Hitchcock in their 328is  Their fastest times were 60.704 (STX winner) and 60.875 (second place).  Upside, the gap between solid drivers in prepped cars and myself have dropped from 3.5 seconds to only 1.889 seconds.  Of course 1.889 seconds is an ETERNITY in an autocross course.

During run #3 I asked our local instructor to ride along and see if there is any place I can find time.  He made some suggestions on line and braking points and I think had he been in my run #1 I could have broken into the low 62's high 61's for time.  He was actually shocked at how much grip the car has and wanted to drive the car in any fun runs but sadly we didn't have any.  That's similar to what my friend in his Evo said on Star Specs so either the car DOES have the grip (and is slow because of some other reason) or their perception is skewed somehow.  He did mention that I'm looking ahead well and I can place the car where I want at the exit of a sweeper (which he said is usually in the correct place) but I'm driving gate to gate at the entrance of the sweeper.

So what is next for Project Tilty? Well, I'll be honest not much is going to change unless something starts to concern me.  The rear end of my car has started to produce a good amount of noise which I'm sure can be attributed to a number of factors.  I've consulted with my buddy who rebuilt my differential last year under power train to find out how long I have left on the power train warranty.  I have until next January on it which is a blessing because replacing the stock 2 piece driveshaft with another one is more expensive than buying a 1 piece driveshaft which is unbelievably stupid.  However, it IS covered under the power train warranty! :)  As is the rear differential!

I also am leaving my apartment for a town house that I just purchased and until I have closed on that, I was advised to stop spending money on things!  How sad because I'd absolutely LOVE to get the torque arm and have the rearend rebuilt before too long here!

The next event is July 13 and 14.  The event on the 13 is an "Amerikhana" event which I guess is two mirrored courses, no timers just line judges and you start in the same place and end in the same place.  He who gets to the finish twice moves on to the next challenger.  The next day is just a standard solo event.  From there, in August we have 3 events, the Midwest Divisional championship here at LAP-N on the 17 and 18 of August.  On the 25 of August we have a standard Solo and on the 31 starts Nationals off with the Pro Solo finale and then to the tour.

Speaking of, I've signed up for Nationals! :)  Ohh Joy!  I also plan on participating in the Evo School as well because lets face it, it's 12+ runs for $80 with an instructor who is extremely talented as a driver.  I wont be doing the Pro Solo since it is more expensive for 12 runs, where with the Evo school I will be getting more, and instruction.

The videos are still on the GoPro, I haven't pulled them yet so that will take some time to get edited and hopefully I'll get it done tomorrow.

Overall the results were a tad disappointing for me.  Fourth isn't the finish I was hoping for.  I was hoping for better than that but I'll go ahead and blame it on learning curve of new tires! :)  That excuse wont work at Nationals!

Here are the videos from this weekend.  Run #3 was with the instructor and had two bone head understeer moments.  Run #4 had a better line but I ended up going slower.

Run #1

Run #2

Run #3

Run #4

I really think the Evo abbreviated school at Nationals will be a good learning experience!

I'm open to criticism of lines and technique... sorry the audio isn't any better, GoPro SD has awful sound quality, I MEAN AWFUL!

Well, it seems that only one person managed to capture my car at this event and thankfully the picture tells quite a lot, but it is a tad on the small side.

From that picture, it looks like there is a decent amount of body roll.  Now, there was a passenger on that run (and run #2) so that might even be minimizing the roll that I do see.  Judging by the camera location on the car it had to be Run #3 and where J. Doctor was taking this photo it was in a touch of understeer (one of the two places you can see in run #3 in the video) which was driver induced.

I'm sure the ride height could come down a little but I'm hesitant to lower the car any until I figure out how low I can make it and still get into the new driveway! :)