Did some autocrossing the other day

[Leland]

http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/

The local SCCA chapter ran a weekday novice school on Monday, and they needed one more person to help set up cones (and chase them down when they got knocked over). Part of the deal is that I would get lunch, listen in on advice, walk the course with the instructor, and get at least a couple hours of driving time of my own.

Hmmm... a couple HOURS, when an autocross racer sees four one-minute-long runs in an entire event? Count me in!

I got to learn a LOT about autocross driving -- reading the course, choosing a line, and figuring out where to slow down to go faster elsewhere. I found out what would have really held me back if I tried to compete right away (prior to Monday, I had ZERO experience), and I got an idea of how I could improve.

Most of all, it was tons of fun driving the heck out of my car. The smell of the brakes & tires, the sound of the engine winding all the way to redline & back, and all those other cheesy clichés were a blast to experience firsthand. It was even great fun to stand in the center of the parking lot while the student driver, and occasionally the instructor, would haul his Mini around the course.

If anyone is even remotely serious about solo racing, they should attend these schools. You could race for ten years and not necessarily gain the knowledge that you'd get by going through all three levels of instruction.

[WoodSheddin]

grrrr, jealous, grrrrr

[Dan Schultz]

...grrrrr

whaaaa

What's even uglier that the Aztec? (Jeopardy question)

[Leland]

Hehehehe....

[WoodSheddin]

Hehehehe....

Yikes. Got Downforce!

[Leland]

Yikes. Got Downforce!

Heh -- that angle makes the wing even more obvious, that's for sure. I'll have to bring the Si around sometime, especially with that new suspension.

Well, if my new-to-me Mugen replica wing has any downforce at all (especially when set relatively flat, like it is in that pic), it certainly didn't make itself evident at my top course speed of about 45 mph.

It shore does look purty, though. The wing's previous owner settled on a good price, and when I got it, I popped it right on with no trouble. The carbon fiber looks good on black, too.

Plus, my bike carrier's top straps now have an even smoother path to where they hook into the metal top leading edge of the hatch -- they slip right under the wing section. Stylish (well, it's just my taste), yet practical.

[ken k]

cool! nice wheels too. i have often wanted to get into this. The local club sponsors autocrosses at the local drag strip and there are two SCCA hill climbs here in the summer. One of these days... I have a little Escort ZX2 which I believe with some suspension work and the right tires would actually be a decent little autocrosser. best of all its paid for and cheap.

ken k

[Rick Denney]

http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/

The local SCCA chapter ran a weekday novice school on Monday, and they needed one more person to help set up cones...

Run away! Run away! DING DING DING DING DING! WARNING! WARNING! Financial Ruin Alert!

In the early 80's, I raced a Toyota Corolla in solo autocrossing. I don't know exactly what it was that led me down the path from H-Stock to E-Prepared, but I think those cones had something to do with it. Believe me, it's an expensive path.

You think your life is normal, and then one day you wake up realizing you've spent the previous 72 hours building an engine in the bathtub of a hotel room, and your credit card has another coupla grand on it, including the steep rush delivery fees and a new set of towels for Holiday Inn.

Rick "who had $25,000 in that junkyard Corolla before blowing up the engine (again) and selling the roller for $1500, but who has a bunch of plastic trophies as a reward" Denney

[Leland]

Run away! Run away! DING DING DING DING DING! WARNING! WARNING! Financial Ruin Alert!

LOL

Yeah, I know. I thought of buying back my '86 Civic Si hatch to use it strictly as a track car, but I'd be tempted to gut the thing and dump way too much $$$$ into the suspension (motor modifications would be kinda silly since it's already pretty light).

If I really get into it, I might spring for a beefier rear sway bar for better balance, and I should somehow find a way to sit lower, either with a racing seat or altered brackets for the already-good stock seats (my helmet is practically wedged against the ceiling). Other than that, I don't see much cash leaving my pocket for quite a while.

-- or at least I hope so!

[CJ Krause]

***

[Rick Denney]

If I really get into it, I might spring for a beefier rear sway bar for better balance, and I should somehow find a way to sit lower, either with a racing seat or altered brackets for the already-good stock seats (my helmet is practically wedged against the ceiling). Other than that, I don't see much cash leaving my pocket for quite a while.

-- or at least I hope so!

Sigh. They never listen.

First, the motor. You think you don't need to fiddle with it. But then you won't like how slowly it pulls off the line (important in an autocross), and someone will mention that this new chip for the control system will fix that. The next thing you know, you'll be testing it in a track with a laptop making slight changes to the proramming of your fuel injection ECM.

Then, the suspension. You'll think of adding an anti-roll bar on the back end to minimize understeer, but in the end you'll be installing new brakes and a new brake pedal with a balance bar, and determining tire inflation pressures using a tire pyrometer.

Then, you'll discover that you don't want to drive your race car to the track, and next thing you know you'll be eyeing a Ford F350 one-ton pickup because you don't like the way your F250 3/4-ton pickup hauls your race-car trailer.

And tires. You'll start with street tires, but sooner or later you'll be down at UPS trying to take delivery of those formula-car race slicks that were Formula Ford qualifying tires that you bought from the guy in Wisconsin, and then trying to find a store that can install a slick tire with a 1.5" profile onto your rims.

You won't be happy with just a race seat. You'll end up with a car that has no interior, paying a good welder to build you a roll cage and then buying high-end Simpson safety equipment, like a fire suppression system and a six-point harness.

And then there's the lexan replacements for the windows, the five different custom exhaust systems until you find the one that works, the engine rebuilding so you can put in that road-race cam, the search for 110-octane gas...it never ends.

Run away now before it's too late! Save yourself!

Rick "wanna see my scars?" Denney

[Leland]

[Sigh. They never listen.

hehe...

Don't worry, I am listening, and I've seen the kinds of prepped cars you're describing. I just can't do that much stuff to my daily driver, and even if I tried to, I couldn't trailer the thing to the track very easily at all -- Capitol Hill parking s-u-c-k-s. I'm lucky to have a locked garage. I also let everyone else in online forums & such do the experimenting, which is how I chose the stuff for my car (why get springs just to blow out the stock shocks when I could just do it right and go Mugen?).

I can only do so much on an E-5's salary (and schedule!) anyways.

Oh, and that Scion xB that Charlie posted? Slooooow without major modifications, and even slower with those huge wheels... lol

[Rick Denney]

...I just can't do that much stuff to my daily driver...

Oh, oh, oh! Which leads me to the most important rule of all, the one that I also learned the hard way:

Don't race your ride.

Not having a place to do work is a royal pain. I did an in-frame overhaul on the Killer Corolla with the car rolled up to the apartment window so I could get power. (It was a college town and such things were tolerated.) I'm glad I had a ground-floor apartment!

But I haven't learned. Here's my current car project:



So far, I have installed headers and new mufflers, replaced the fan clutch, installed a carb rebuilt by a guy in Canada who knows just how to set them up for these beasts, replaced all the vacuum hoses, replaced all the fuel hoses, replaced the fuel tanks, redesigned the fuel pump system, overhauled the control board on the generator, sniffed for propane leaks, installed a new faucet, replaced the air-bags on the rear suspension, replaced one leveling valve and about a mile of air hose, rebuilt the air compressor, installed a bunch of new gauges (including oil pressure, water temp, transmissions temp, vacuum, and air pressure), fabricated and installed new bogie grease fittings, replaced all the belts, done a tuneup, replaced the steering wheel, repaired the turn-signal switch in the steering column, replaced the clearance lights, repaired about 100,000 leaks (still 1000 to go), and installed new seats.

I figure I'm about a quarter done, and I'm doing it all in a gravel driveway.

It has about five times the torque of the engine in your wheeled jellybean, and under the right conditions will smoke the front tires (it is front-wheel-drive if you can believe it). But the weight (10,000 pounds) puts a damper on performance.

Rick "pondering a new barn" Denney

[Leland]

...I just can't do that much stuff to my daily driver...

Oh, oh, oh! Which leads me to the most important rule of all, the one that I also learned the hard way:

Don't race your ride.

Don't worry -- according to my schedule, I don't think I can make it to any of the remaining events for this year.

[MichaelDenney]

Rick Denney (I know how to spell this name),
Is that the GM motorhome that has the Eldorado 472/500 cu. in. drivetrain?