Last weekend I got to attend a beginner’s autocross school run by PCA. It was really well run and the instructors were excellent. The school focused on the basics: threshold braking, slalom and skid pad. The afternoon featured an autocross where everybody got 9 runs (nearly a seasons worth around here).



I liked the skid pad exercise best. It was very cool learning to get the EVO’s buttend swing and keeping it right there on the edge. I still need more practice, but this went a long way.



I highly recommend attending a school like this to any of the noobs here. It was a lot of fun and fairly cheap for what was delivered.

 

I think the school worked! I just got home from my first autocross event of the season (ER @ Mineral Wells). The good news is that I am about five seconds quicker than I was last year. The bad news is I need to find at least 3 more seconds to be where I want to be.

Most exciting thing was spinning my car for the first time. Got in to some loose stuff around a pivot cone and I refused to let go of the throttle. Total rush but it killed my time.



This year I'm running w/ Jbrennen's alignment specs which make I think are exactly what I needed. Now the car is mostly neutral but I can induce power-on oversteer. For somebody who is expert at making the EVO plow, this takes some getting used to. The TBE and XEDE also help a lot in my opinion. Having extra torque everywhere makes the car more forgiving of my mistakes.



I think a few more schools and I will start to be scary to the STi crowd here in DFW.

 

Thats sounds like fun. I have always wanted to attend a driving school. Expecialy one where I would get to do some runs in my own car. Thanks for the info.

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Hey Great Job yesterday tweekscratch! it is always more fun when you actually improve from run to run like you did. THe best way to improve more is to go to as many races as you can which i'm sure you already know. unfortunately i don't think my tires will last more then 1 or 2 more events before i need to replace them thay lasted quite a while though... have nearly 10k miles on them with one autocross and some spirited curvey road driving.

i did have one question for you... do you have a tire pyrometer? i think i am going to pick one up here shortly for better data recording and it should help with suspension setups and decrease unessisary tire wear due to to high/low of tire temps. additionally with proper suspension setups we should be able to run a little faster and much more consistantly. i'll keep you updated as to what is going on with that as i may be needing to buy some race rims and tire to keep from wearing the daily driver tires out so fast.

on that note, any tire/rim companies/retailers wanna sponsor me??? i'll ride with windshield banners and or decals for discounts on rims/tires...

 

Thanks KevinD. However you were kicking my @ss in your bone stock car by nearly 3 seconds. You were not too far behind the STU leader.

I am really wondering how long my autocross tires are going to last. They look like crap now. The other edge of my rear tires are pretty smooth.

It looks like I get to do another school this weekend. PCA just emailed me and said they had a seat for me. The tires are going to die.

 

yeah my tires on the front got eaten alive out there. the backs are not doing so bad. i did hear that mineral wells was like driving on sandpaper and i think they were right. not sure if i will race this next weekend at pennington field because my parents will still be here and they didn't like sitting around for 8 hours. the good thing is that pennington field is only 6 miles from my apartment so i can certain go watch if i decide not to race. i really need to take it easy though because i have the MSR track day, and TWS track weekend in the next couple of months and i may have to buy some racing rims for this stuff... tough choice though.... to stick with the stock size rims and race autox in stock? or to go with some huge SSR's with fatty tires and screw the stock classification. big tires are more fun and look better but stock class is easier to race in when you aren't doing any engine mods for a while.


we'll just have to wait and see what i get for my tax return then... thats the plan

 

You're welcome.

 

The guy at fifth gear who did my alignment was not happy about doing the 0 toe. I think I have about 1/16th toe in. All the same the setup works great. getting the car to spin was a scream. I've never done that before. At least I put the clutch in so I didn't kill it. When I get to be cool I'll keep the spin going and do a full 360 and keep on going like I meant to spin.

I'm about to post pictures of my tires though. I seriously doubt they are going to last past June. Maybe July if I'm careful.

 

I should have toe measuring plates/tapes for the SCCA event this Sunday. You are welcome to borrow them when I finish, if you'd like to change the toe for the event and then set it back at the end of the day. Fifth Gear also did my street alignment with toe much like yours, because I'm running 2.7 deg neg. camber on front. I'm going to switch to 1/8" total toe out once I arrive at the event. Those guys at Fifth Gear are extremely knowledgeable with many years of roadrace car setup for their team cars and others.

Cheers,
Mark

 

Nice thing about setting zero toe is that you can do it (or check it) without any measuring device other than your eye -- assuming that the car has equal front and rear track and equal size front and rear tires. (Like most Evos do.)

Basically, you should be able to squat down and visually line up the four sidewalls on each side of the car -- front edge front tire, rear edge front tire, front edge rear tire, rear edge rear tire. If you have halfway decent eyes (or a proper eyeglass prescription) and good lighting, you'll be able to set (or check) the alignment quite accurately. Get behind the car and start moving your eye out to the side until you see the front edge sidewall of the rear tire; the front tire should come into view at the same time. Similarly, from the front, the rear edge sidewall of the front tire and the rear tire should come into view at the same time.

 

This is some very cool information. I would really like to learn how to do alignments myself. Though even if I do know I'm likely to continue using 5th gear. I just like to know what they are doing b/c I'm a nosey knowitall.

Evo8RA - I'll be in the silver EVO #101 STU. Hope to see you out there. I don't know how well I'm going to do b/c Saturday is another PCA school. I just go an email saying they had a seat open for me. This will be 3 weekend in a row for doing autocross stuff, my adreline glad thingy is getting tired.

 

I'll also be in a silver EVO #81 ESP. I see that they are having annual tech inspection on Saturday, 12-2:30pm for SCCA members only. I'll also be there.

 

if your going to the annual tech inspection make sure you have jack stands and a jack with you. additionally you must have your brake fuild changed and it must be clear. then of course there are the usual inspection points, but they said they are going to make you remove each wheel to check ball joints, tierods, and various suspension points. it is a very thourough inspection

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

Tech inspection: Sounds reviting! Too bad I'll be in Mineral Wells doing another school! Sweeet!