Autocross this past Sunday

[HRH]

So I went to my first autocross after running the very last event last season, my one and only. Pretty much been gone from the autocross scene for about a year. No time, no money, just finally starting to get back into it.

 

Got my ass kicked! :D But it was fun. Had a couple things going against me. One was how I had to add another spacer in the rear to get the ride height correct and slight negative if not neutral camber. Well, imagine my surprise when I removed the spare tire, jack, all other miscellaneous crap, and put the race tires on. At static I had positive camber because I cleaned out the car!

 

Not good, but oh well. The other problem was I have a Street Mod pax time, which means engine swap, and of course they assume you've swapped in something that makes 350 horse. Not so with just a high strung carbed L20b. I came in second to last in Vintage with the pax index I'm running. All the other vintage cars are b or c stock or street prepared pax indexes which are much lower.

 

But the real problem was, I didn't go fast enough. I did start getting a better feel for the car, and she performed well enough to not be embarrassing, just not enough to hang with the big dogs. In raw times, I was 33 out of 72 people.

 

Afterwards I went by my Datsun guru's shop with the idea of building a bigger 2.4 motor to compete and fortunately he talked some sense into me, saying build the car for what you want to race. You can't have a great rally car and a great autocross car in the same package. He reminded me I could go race rally with the car right now if I had a cage/suit/safety gear, etc. And of course he's right. So I think I'll lower the rear to get correct camber, and then just concentrate on learning the car better.

 

I've been changing the 510 so much, I'm really not that comfortable with it's limits. I'm better at driving the hardbody because I had one for so long and never changed much, then ran it for two years, including at autocross. I could drive that pickup better than most could drive their sports cars, but then, seat time is important. So with the 510.

 

Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend. Not too spectacular, but something to steer you away from threads with "douche" in the title! :D

 

 

 

 

 

Raw times from Sunday:

 

http://www.mattalbertson.net/autocross1resultsraw.xls

 

And this is why it's annoying: Check C Street Prepared class. Came close, not quite. Had the Miata then. You'll notice Woodbury walloped me good this Sunday. 3+ seconds. I'll get him with a few tweaks and a little more seat time.

 

http://www.autosportsnorthwest.org/2007champ.php

http://www.autosportsnorthwest.org/2006champ.php

[paradoxx]

are you running stock suspension? nice pics!!

[HRH]

Nope, coilovers, 175# front 500#ish rear, 280zx brakes, rear 200sx discs.

[ariascarlos1990]

Do you have any sway bars on it?

[HRH]

Just the front stock swaybar. Really didn't want any as I need articulation for rally, hence another reason it's not as good for autocross, though the stiffer spring definitely help.

[SHADY280]

i found tires to be one of the most beneficial at autox. if you can bring slicks, you kick some without any other mod. i had a stock 280zx compete my time and i have 100hp over and upgraded suspension!!

[sssr20det510]

Holy body roll Batman :lol:

[Spedie]

Looks like a ton of fun! Nice Job

 

:]

[HRH]

Looks like a ton of fun! Nice Job

 

:]

 

Hey Sam, thanks, doesn't look quite as nice as yours bodywise, though!

 

Shady: Those are slicks! :) They're older R3S04s though, and they take a bit to get warmed up. Better for track days and they're almost too old now. But it's what I have and they have tread left, so oh well.

 

sssr: Yeah, you should have seen it when I raced the hardbody! I actually am glad it has body roll as it's supposed to be a rally car, need the flexibility. Even the 175 pound springs in the front made a huge difference in roll. The 150s made it roll way worse than that.

 

Of course if we compare to my old Miata, well, there's not much comparison for track driving. Dirt vs. pavement.

13" V710s and 4 inches off the ground work well.