project:BDR 2006 Evo STU build thread
Jul 30, 2014, 10:08 PM
#436
I still need to pick up that Griot's stuff. Event #4: WDCR @ Fedex, 5-17-2014
I can’t even remember this event, but it was pretty mediocre… only got one clean run, and ended up 21st/158 on PAX. Won STU at least.. Ran the Rivals, pretty sure I don’t like them
Event #5: WDCR @ Fedex, 6-22-2014
This went a little better - 17th/234 on PAX, and after scanning the results, the top 16 was:
* 4 people who have won their class at Nats
* 4 people who have finished 2nd in their class at Nats
* 2 people who have finished 3rd in their class at Nats
* 3 people who have trophied at nats
* 2 people who have probably trophied at nats (but haven’t in the last 2 years)
* One person who’s never been to Nats but who will probably trophy this year
So that was a little reassuring; DC region is tough sometimes.
This was also pretty long ago and I don’t have very good notes, so let’s move to...
Event #6: SCCA ProSolo @ Toledo: 6-28-2014
A quick travel note. I think for long trips, I really need to leave the wing at home. Not so much for weight reduction, but so that I can see who’s behind me and whether they are in a large American sedan with lights on the top. This is especially important driving an ostentacious car in Ohio. Every time I look behind me and the wing is there, I have to do this to look past it:
I had wanted to do the Wilmington Tour since it was deep in STU last year, but ended up not able to do it due to scheduling. So, plan B - another Pro instead. Go go gadget clutch!
STU ended up in Bump since the only C5 in the country that had even registered for a national event at this point ended up dropping, and a couple of STU people who were on the waitlist didn’t get in. Bump was STU + SM + Street-all-wheel-drive. On concrete.. ehh not so good. Not that anyone is going to catch Dave and PJ in Panda on asphalt, either
Saturday
After a hectic scramble to get teched at 6:55 - followed by a hectic scramble to immediately get off the site since it was getting locked down - and then another hectic scramble Saturday morning to get two course walks per side and put the Dunlops on - I was finally in grid.
Had to squeeze in, a bit crooked-like.
The car pretty much sucked Saturday morning. It was pushy as hell everywhere, especially in the two slow-case corners. This was a little surprising as I had maxed the rear rebound and set the compression to 4/6. After one run per side, I asked my crack spotter, Mr 350z, about some adjustments:
Me: Car is super pushy. Can you crank the rear compression?
Mike: OK *goes to trunk*
Mike: Compression is already maxed.
Me: F*
Turns out I had never cranked it down after the last local event, so when I added four clicks, I had actually maxed it out. Doh!
I had a 31.390 on the left, and a 32.009 on the right, with a dirty 31.7 on the right. I was 1st in quasi-STU, but not in the same zip code as PJ and Dave, and Brian was still sitting on a cone.
After more than an hour in impound and a work assignment, I figured I would leave the rear shocks cranked up and add tire pressure until the car rotated.
My 60 foots sucked. 2.054 ; 1.999 ; 2.043 ; 2.063. I briefly thought about raising the 2-step. Briefly
Stupid concrete!Saturday PM
I ended up paired up with PJ, which was kind of cool. I am in awe of Panda at every event.
The result was much better. The car felt pretty good, everywhere except the superslow pin turns, which were painful for everyone, even cars that actually handle well. I dropped down to a 30.8 on the left side and I .489-redlit a 31.083 on the right. (Keeping with the theme of, “F*”.) So on the right side, I had to stand on a 31.745. But I knew the car had it so I just needed to back it up on Sunday. At the end of Saturday, Brian was only .012 behind me and I knew he was going to drop more time too - just a question of who dropped more
Sunday
It’s generally true at Pros and very true at Toledo - the rubbering-in process pretty much makes Saturday irrelevant because there is so much more grip out there on Sunday. If you are not dropping big chunks of time in every session, you are not trying.
I was going to try lining up a little different so that I wouldn’t bog so much. It helped.. a little.
Get psyched!
Run 1 - starting on the left. 30.490, .614, 1.915. 60 foots still way off but solid run. This was a .345 improvement. Brian dropped .320 - so we were still neck and neck.
Run 2 - to the right. 30.686 / .726 / 1.889. This run felt great - a 1.1 second improvement.
Until I got back to grid.
Mike: *holds up one finger*
Me: What?
Mike: You hit a cone after the showcase.
John: Like, definitely hit it?
Mike: You absolutely, definitely hit it.
John: F*.
So at this point, I was still sitting on a 31.7 on the right - bad news.
Run 3 - back to the left. No help - 30.587 / .554 / 1.928.
I was trying to be a little careful here to keep the tires from being too hot for run 4 and dialed it back too much. Brian had redlit so it would all come down to run 4.
Run 4 - I needed a clean run but I also needed to drop a lot of time from my Saturday run since I had redlit my fast time. I was more or less flat out until the exit of the pin turn, then dialed it back to avoid making the same mistake. The result - a 31.026 - .719 improvement.
But it was not enough. Brian dropped another .097, but didn’t need to as he ended up winning by .105. Disappointing certainly but I was pretty happy with the raw times and how the car felt.
Takeaways
Dunlops are fine in a ProSolo.. as long as there isn’t much cornering.
The Dunlops had ~90 runs on them coming into the event and still feel plenty good. Can’t thank the nice people at Dunlop enough for consistently giving us good tires.. even if there is no contingency. Good to the cords is its own kind of contingency
Lots of rear pressure is a pretty good band-aid for having too much rear camber. After raising the rears, I was really happy with how the car handled - pretty much no complaints.
If I’m going to do Pros on concrete I need to raise the two step or otherwise figure out what I am doing wrong. Losing a tenth per side kind of sucks.
I now have 95 ProSolo launches on my OEM clutch. Is this a record?
Unexpected bonus: this shot of my car was the SoloMatters cover photo for a little while.
When you’re on the rev limiter for 2 seconds.. consider raising it
I'll do the MaxQ bit later. I think.
Oct 24, 2014, 06:39 AM
#441
Evolved Member
Glad to hear that!!
Without the strong presence in the class, rule makers will always have excuse for making changes when needed. With you still there, they will have harder time to ignore the facts!
Fedja
Without the strong presence in the class, rule makers will always have excuse for making changes when needed. With you still there, they will have harder time to ignore the facts!
Fedja
Oct 24, 2014, 05:20 PM
#442
The thing is, if you want an autox car that's fun, competitive, streetable, and can have a kid seat in the back... there really aren't a whole lot of great options. Eliminate everything in *SP, SM*, and up. Remove the street-class cars that are slow or not fun or don't turn, remove all the 2 seaters, remove all the early 90's econoboxes... you have the buggies in STU, some of the STX cars, and that's about it. Obviously everyone's definitions of fun are different but I'm in no hurry to leave even if we are in trouble on concrete.
Nov 8, 2014, 03:48 PM
#445
I have a few questions, if you don't mind
Do Dunlops heatcycle out before wearing down to cords? If so, how badly? My Z2s (purchased last Sept) are only down to 7/32th but already have 67 runs on them. I don't want to throw away tires with good treads unless they become completely uncompetitive...
Could you elaborate on what differences higher rear pressures made to the car? During the AI double event last month, I was experimenting with rear tire pressure, and after going from 40/35 (F/R) to 40/39, the car gained a *lot* more rear grip and became considerably quicker. It also completely fixed the snap-oversteer problem I have been trying to solve since the beginning of the season. I have been scratching my head on this one because I thought after certain point higher air pressure meant less grip on that end.
I know a stock X and a STU prepped IX are not directly comparable but seeing how we are both running 245s there's got to be at least some relevance.
Thanks in advance!
I know a stock X and a STU prepped IX are not directly comparable but seeing how we are both running 245s there's got to be at least some relevance.
Thanks in advance!
Nov 11, 2014, 10:00 AM
#446
I'll try!
The Z1 SS were pretty fast for well north of 200 runs. I want to say Josh had a ~230 run set or something like that on his STi. I had 170 runs on my 2012 set of Z1 SS before getting a shaved set for Nats. The current set of ZII has, at last check, 142 runs on them. My last 3 PAX finishes:
9-20: 9/163
10-19: 6/81
10-26: 7/149 (behind Strano / Burns / Savini / Luster / Lane and an ASP 1M)
I first ran on them in early 2013, so it's not just the runs, but also time. I feel pretty confident that the tires are still fast. I'm probably going to start 2015 on these until I know more about the 2015 crop.
I definitely can't explain your result assuming that the pressures are the only things that changed. I would think on most ST*-type tires 35 psi is certainly in the ballpark of rightness, especially on the rear. I can see needing 40 psi up front on a piggie car on stock springs just to keep it off the sidewalls, but I wouldn't guess that the rear would be twitchy. What are your alignment settings? From what I have read, the X does turn better out of the box than the 9 does.
In my case, I was adding rear pressure to remove grip from the rear so that the car would rotate better. But the next time I am headed to Nats I plan on reducing the rear camber a little so that I don't have to do that.
9-20: 9/163
10-19: 6/81
10-26: 7/149 (behind Strano / Burns / Savini / Luster / Lane and an ASP 1M)
I first ran on them in early 2013, so it's not just the runs, but also time. I feel pretty confident that the tires are still fast. I'm probably going to start 2015 on these until I know more about the 2015 crop.
Could you elaborate on what differences higher rear pressures made to the car? During the AI double event last month, I was experimenting with rear tire pressure, and after going from 40/35 (F/R) to 40/39, the car gained a *lot* more rear grip and became considerably quicker. It also completely fixed the snap-oversteer problem I have been trying to solve since the beginning of the season. I have been scratching my head on this one because I thought after certain point higher air pressure meant less grip on that end.
I know a stock X and a STU prepped IX are not directly comparable but seeing how we are both running 245s there's got to be at least some relevance.
I know a stock X and a STU prepped IX are not directly comparable but seeing how we are both running 245s there's got to be at least some relevance.
In my case, I was adding rear pressure to remove grip from the rear so that the car would rotate better. But the next time I am headed to Nats I plan on reducing the rear camber a little so that I don't have to do that.
Nov 18, 2014, 01:09 PM
#447
Right now, I'm at:
Front:
-2 degrees camber
zero toe
Rear:
-1.6 degrees camber
zero toe
I'm pretty happy with how the car handles right now but I also want to make sure that I am not giving up time by running too high of pressure.
BTW, I was talking to Danny and Sean at the CDC event last Sunday, and they both told me you are the 'go-to' evo guy in our region... but I'll try to refrain from bombarding your thread with my own questions 
Front:
-2 degrees camber
zero toe
Rear:
-1.6 degrees camber
zero toe
I'm pretty happy with how the car handles right now but I also want to make sure that I am not giving up time by running too high of pressure.
BTW, I was talking to Danny and Sean at the CDC event last Sunday, and they both told me you are the 'go-to' evo guy in our region...
but I'll try to refrain from bombarding your thread with my own questions
