Hey guys

I've been auto-xing for a while in my evo and I recently had some major modification to the car. While the car is much faster now in the straight line, I feel like I can't control it as well as I used to. In fact, I am sure I would actually run a course faster if I were stock as opposed to now (+370ish whp, 350ish wtrq).

I have done a search, but I wasn't able to come up with anything. Do you guys have tips for me? I ran a search but I wasn't able to find anything specifically. I know seat time is going to be the biggest factor here, but I was hoping for some tips while I'm acquiring that seat time.

I know the basic stuff I think, like slow in and fast out etc., but I think I'm just having trouble identifying what the cars abilities are in terms of braking and turning. Also, strangely, while I was running in the most recent auto-x, after my 3rd run the tires felt like they just totally lost traction! I checked the tires and the pressure and they looked fine? Any help is appreciated!!

Thanks!

 

Without details like suspension, wheel/tire info, it's tough to get a start to help. What have you done to the suspension, if anything. And what wheels/tires are you running (width, series, height, compound, etc.)?

 

Stock, the Evo pushes a lot (understeer). And if you're not running an R compound at auto-x, you're going to be behind the leaders by at least a second on a 50-second course. Mods to the Evo to help it rotate and stick are mandatory.

 

Sorry. Only power mods, stock suspension. I wanted to get some coilovers, but I was too poor by then lol. I'm also on the stock yoko advans, with the SE BBS wheels. Thanks for your help man!

 

^ that's your problem.

The stock suspension is very soft and unless you are VERY smooth you will roast your tires.

 

throw a RobiSpec rear swaybar on with some Swift springs and a new alignment and then give it a go...

oh and get some new rubber, such as Dunlop Star Spec's or a 240 tread or less tire...

 

Interesting, I thought the suspension was good? But I did notice a good amount of body roll. So my tires are done for? They looked okay, though they weren't gripping very well.

 

I thought the stock tires were good too, I think the tread rating is like 160? I don't have any money to do anything with the suspension now, I'm just hoping to improve my time for the autocross day tomorrow

 

Sticky rubber is your best bet. If on a budget, find some cheap stock 8 wheels and put 255 r-comps or 140 TW tires on them. Should be around $1k and will make the biggest difference on cornering, which is what autox is about (power is not very valuable in most cases). At our last autox, a miata was top time of the day, 0.2 seconds faster than a well preped porsche GT3. The miata had super wide tires. Both drivers were instructors.


A larger rear sway like stated above is a great and cheap upgrade to get more neutral cornering. Coilovers are expensive, but certainly help rotate the car even more. Be sure you're maxing front camber (-2 degrees on stock suspension) and everything else is aligned right. Then practice.

 

the stock tires are the sht, but I thought you said their about done and replacing the stockers are pricey...

just buy a rear sway for $250 shipped...

 

In that case, just go have fun. Don't fight the understeer, work with it. Just get yourself slowed down enough before each corner, turn in.. and get on the gas before you reach the apex. The big advange of AWD is getting on the power way earlier than the rest. Don't get off line by pushing through the corner. Depending on where you're at in the RPM range, you may be off boost on corner exit. More reason to plant your foot as early as possible.

 

Limit understeer with a rear swaybar (Progress from RRE). That will limit some roll on the rear-end. If you want to limit it more, get a quality spring set.

What you really need, most likely, for starters, is tires. Get some R-compounds (with new wheels makes it easier to put on and off, of course).

Most of all, get more seat time and learn the car. It's competent, for sure. But the driver usually needs the most improvement.

Good luck and have fun!

 

The stock suspension setup is actually quite capable. I've been autocrossing for 4.5yrs on the stock suspension and on stock advans and placed 6th out of 96 drivers at one point earlier this year--the top 20 around me all had race tires. Reason I'm sticking out so long with stock suspension and wheels is because I knew my driving ability still had room for improvement (a member here 'GTB/ZR-1' is in my club, a national caliber driver, and can easily drive a faster time than I can in my own car. He almost always puts down fastest time of the day at our local events). Next month is different though, I'm having Robi completely transform my entire suspension . It's my secret weapon for next season since my stock setup is starting to give out.

Basically, I'm in the camp that you should always maximize your current setup before putting more fast parts on there. Otherwise, the more fast parts you put on, the more it'll slow your learning of the fundamentals. The guys above me will have a better idea of what mods you can add to speed up your times. I don't have any experience on mods.

There's a checklist I wrote down for myself that I always read over before an event to remind me what I could do differently on the next lap:
- optimal lines (this is an obvious one and is at the top of my list)
- hitting your apex (this goes in hand with having your car positioned correctly at a turning cone, most of the times late apexes are better)
- easy slower entry to better stay within your optimal line, exit strong and UNWIND THE WHEEL while you gas it
- gas early to spool up the turbo, but if you're finding yourself bogging you may want to downshift or clean up the line more (learn to heal/toe downshift smoothly)
- keep steering to a minimum (to keep your lines more oval and be able to carry more speed through a turn)
- tire pressures 38f/36r work pretty well for me (this is on -1.8 front camber, -1.2 rear)
- lastly, drive more aggressively in the more open areas of the track

 

Drive slower. You will end up going faster. end of story.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys! I think I just needed to be a little ballsier in turns and getting on the throttle. I ended up first in class though!

Cheers!