I made it to their Oct 28th event. Couldn't believe how much grip the surface has. Hopefully I'll make it down there a few more times next year.

 

Well, then you know what I'm talking about with the GXP. I was actually co-driving the red one that was there that day. That car is just sick in stock trim. It can fit 295/30R18s on the stock rims, and with the Z0K package (stock legal, it was an option from the factory) the car sits about 1.5 inches lower than "stock" and gets about 3* of camber all the way around. You have to go to STU or BSP to be really competitive in the Evo.

 

Nice! We'll have to meet next time. Rob is my target for next year.

That day my quickest (but dirty) run was about 1.4s off his. The gap is usually closer much whenever he (and maybe you) come to NNJR events. Hopefully moving up to Kumhos will help me reduce that gap.


- Char

 

Are you on street tires??! That's freaking amazing if you are. I don't know how many NNJR events we'll be doing next year, I think we're going to try to hit up a bunch of Tour and prosolo events. We should be at pretty much every Warminster event next year though.

Also, keep in mind that the car wasn't fully prepped until the NNJR event just before Nationals, and we were just scrubbing in tires then. We're just now starting to play with shock settings. It should still be getting faster.

 

Haha, I wish. I'm on 235/40 RA1s which are my track-autox tires.

What sort of changes are you doing to the suspension (if you don't mind divulging that info)? I'm just trying to see what I should look into doing and what sort of results can be expected.

 

Well, the GXP has the Z0K suspension package on it: springs, sways, and a strengthened rear crossmember. Those are all GM parts. No idea what the spring rates are. We're running Koni Sport SA shocks. Really the only thing we can do in stock is play with shock settings and front swaybar. We're going to be playing with that stuff a lot next year I think.

If you're referring to my Evo, I'm going to BSP in it, probably for the 09 season. I'm pricing ZZYZX coilovers to see exactly how far out of my price range they are, then I'll probably end up going with the KWs. DMS camber plates on the front and something a lot cheaper for the rear top hats. Perrin rear sway with their stout mounts, and 18x9.5 wheels with 285/30R18 Hoosiers. I'm already running the Whiteline front sway bar.

Add power mods for '10 and I'll have it prepped for Nationals just in time to get stomped by the Evo X.

 

I've done AS in an Evo 8 for the last 3 years. I also agree that the Evo is out gunned in AS. I took a shot at it but now I'm going to change classes for next year. Maybe STU or I might look for a co-drive in something else.

Anyways, here's what I think are the best mods to have in AS in order of importance/effectiveness(driver mod not included, that's a given)

1. Tires - From my experience, I suggest V710s with a 275F/245R setup, keep the fronts fresh
2. Alignment - front 0 toe, camber->as much negative as you can
rear 0 camber, as much toe out as you can stand
3. Front sway bar - 25mm or 26mm, I have the 26mm Whiteline
4. Shocks - something adjustable with a lot of damping force capability like the Ohlins SS or Koni DA
5. Light Weight Wheels

Good luck!

 

Was looking through this month's issue of Sportscar mag and there isn't an Evo in sight. One of the guys who runs an AS STi in the NY/NJ region took 10th place, and his wife took 2nd. If he's still running next year he'll be a good benchmark to compare against.

Did you always go with 0 camber in the rear or is it because of the tires? I usually run -1.0 on the RA1s, and most people run some negative camber in the rear.

What does the front sway bar do for the car?

 

Turns out not so much. Looks like the guys at ZZYZX have come up with a really affordable solution to put Koni's under the car.

http://zzyzxmotorsports.com/products/coilovers/emsport

 

Dude you're confusing us AStock guys when you talk about coilovers

 

Yeah, sorry about that. I tend to wander OT...

There were exactly zero Evos registered in AS at Nationals this year. I was gonna take mine, but then I ended up with the Solstice co-drive.

The front sway bar makes the car even better on turn-in and helps keep the body roll in check. The downside is the front end washes out in sweepers. You probably won't see any sweepers that fast though unless you go to a DC event.

 

What good would 5mm spacers do for the front? I know it's not much, but it falls within the +/- 0.25inch limit, so you'd end up with a front track that's 10mm wider. That's a whopping 0.66% increase!!

 

I went 0 camber because I didn't need more grip in the rear. The front is wear you need to maximize grip.

The front sway helps with turn in and body roll, as GTLocke13 said. It also helps keep the inside rear tire on the ground, allowing you to put power down better coming out of the corners. With race tires and without the front sway bar, the car tends to lean over on its outside front while the inside rear can come off the ground quite a bit. When the rear comes off of the ground, the rear diff is not strong enough to overcome the grip of race tires, causing the wheel to spin. The front end does tend to wash out a little bit sooner. I tried to combat that by going with the bigger tires up front and toe out in the rear.

 

Didn't see where the original post came from, but you need the 5mm spacers if you want to run 275s on the stock wheels.

 

FYI,
I'm selling my Ohlins Sport Suspension AS setup because I'm moving to STU. I've written about it in this thread. It's in the NW Regional For Sale Forum. If I can't find any buyers locally, I'm willing to ship for additional cash.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=314314

Boder