Check out www.sccaforums.com. Go to the T1 and T2 cars section and click on the thread "New cars in T2".
Cheers,

 

whats with this post in there


"Come on guys, the Evo's a dog. Like driving a four wheel mattress.
Cheers,"

 

I;m not a spectacular driver, but I have AutoX'd quite a bit. I took mine to an event today and it pushed like a pig. I've got to find a way to fix that. It was better on faster sweepers, but the slow speed corners were horrible.

 

That's weird. I actually think the car pushes a whole helluva lot less than I expected it to. Maybe it's driving style (of which there are thousands), or what tends to happen at some autocrosses...course layout? I dunno. I usually don't have any problem getting it to go where I want it to.

 

I'm with Instigator, the car has a definite bias toward understeer. Boosted, Maybe a little tongue in cheek, but at speed shes a Posturpedic with the stock suspension.
Cheers,

 

I also agree. I noted that the car understeers quite a bit on tighter corners but some people made fun of me. My guess is that they were not pushing as hard as I was.

I also changed the alignment settings so I assume I push less than some of you guys. Since my wife has to drive the car too, I decided to stay on the safer side and made my settings between what I wanted and what factory was.

If you want the car to be a bit more neutral, try setting the front and rear toes to "0". If still not happy, go positive in the rear but be careful and take small increments.

You may also want to play with tire pressures.

 

I think the opinion of the cars understeer is relative to what you autocrossed before owning this car.

Now I am not an autox expert but, likely if you autocrossed a RWD or a suspension modded car, you will think the Evo understeers....because you are used to being on the gas in the corners (to get rotation) when you should be employing some left foot braking or throttle lifting to get rotation in an AWD or Fwd car...

The Evo doesn't seem to push quite as much as my previous car...type R....which didn't push very much either.

SC~

 

I ran 39 psi in the front tires and 37 psi in the rears tires at the autox this weekend, and I felt a slight oversteer.

 

I went from auto-xing a Miata to the Evo. The Evo does have some plow in the corners, but an alignment will fix most of that. Going to 0 toe, no more than -.5 degrees rear camber, and as much negative camber as you can get up front, as well as playing with tire pressures will give you the oversteer you need.

So far I have not lost locally with the Evo in SCCA Solo II, started in A stock and the last 4 events in ESP.

 

I have autocrossed FWD DSMs with only adjustable shocks and AWD DSMs with Sway bars,SPrings and Adjustable shocks. The y both turned better than the Evo at lowspeed. Not by much, but it was easier on a small course. I tried different tire pressures and it helped some. I settled on 40 front and 37 rear. That seems opposite of what i would normally try, but it was at the advice of several people with a lot more experience than me. It seems that with low profile, stiff sidewalls like the Advans, the lower pressure will lose traction in corners. I guess it is softening the sidewalls.

It wasn't just driving style that made it push. I made 6 passes and I tried 6 different styles and lines. It pushed everytime. I found a few ways that was better, but sometimes it would completely start scrubbing the wheel. I tried tail whipping (which used to work on my other cars), but the tail just wouldn't come out. On the faster sweepers (35-45mph) it was more neutral and I think I can adjust my style to make it work, but the 15-20mph tighter turns it absolutlely sucked.

I am going to 2 more events next weekend and one of them allows you to go over 100mph, so I'll see how it handles in that autox. It should be fun. It;s the fastest autox I've ever seen.

 

Hey.... since you are experienced.... who the hell can afford to take a brand new $30k evo and toss it into the race track? Do you drive your own cars or do you drive for someone?

even bottom of the barrell racing (like nasa spec miata, etc...) costs a boatload of $ for tires, brakes, entrance fees, repairs....

Was just curious. I have to pay for my car myself and am being a cheapass about it and buying stuff used where I can....

 

You're not talking to me are you? Autocrossing isn't expensive or hard on your car. It wears tires, but that's about it. The event I went to yesterday, I didn't get out of 2nd gear. There is only one shift and one launch. Not hard on the car at all. Everyone did think it was a bit humerous that it was on the course with a dealer paper tag still.

Of course I paid for my car. I bought it to autox and that's what I'm going to do with it. The problem is that it feels more like a B stock car than an A stock with the street tires. I'm going to go get some race tires and see if it is more competitive. I'm also considering a front sway bar change since that's one of the few things that I am allowed to do. It was recommended that I try a Base model front sway bar to see if that helps. The fron one is already pretty big. Some people thought the smaller one might help. That seems to defy logic a bit to me though. I'll get an alignment this week and set it a 0 toe and -1 front camber. That should make a big difference.

 

Stiffening up the rear and/or loosening the front (smaller sway bar) increases oversteer. Get as much negative camber as you can up front, and -.5 or less in the rear. If you have not aligned the car yet then I don't wonder why it feels like a snow plow, as the factory alignment is crap. Race tires will help, but not a huge amount as the A046's are fairly sticky. Regional results are showing that the Evo is not a strong A stock car, and would be better classed in BS, but it won't happen till after the national championships late this year.

 

Also check out the "Street prepared" section under Solo2. There's quite a massive campain by a ESP mustang driver Jeff Winchell "the Winch" to boot the Evo out of ESP before it's even had a chance.

 

Does anyone know if there is a smaller than stock front swaybar available. I doubt the base Lancer will fit.