One more thing that could change this feel is shocks/struts. When my 2G got triple Penskes installed, steering got way quicker than it ever was...

 

ah I think that's possible - changing the effective length or something

 

Not sure anything change length wise...prior to Penskes, I had custom single Bilisteins which were still pretty good and still, the change was huge. They say those fancy ones are able to control small movements of the suspension much better than lesser models and perhaps, that is what made it to react quicker to the inputs...wish I had better answer here, but that is the best I know of this...

 

that would only change effort not how much the steering wheel turns the wheels. I think there's something about effective length or something though that can change how fast the wheel turns? idk. minor point anyway, just thought it was odd.

 

Did you run spherical top mounts prior to the penske's? If not, that could be the reason right there.

 

I believe so...can't remember any more to be honest...

But, I am not talking about speed of front wheels turning as you might imply there. I am talking about car being able to change direction quicker than before for the same steering effort - that is where shocks come into the play. I do believe MCS are showing similar signs on this car as well.

 

that's what a quick steering rack is. speed of changing direction and steering effort is different than the steering ratio, how much steering wheel is turned for how much the front wheels turn

 

Right, but here in B-Street tread we are really not allowed to swap steering racks even if they are quicker....

No change was made to anything else on the car. And, I have driven another EVO X with stock suspension and difference is not there. Which I guess, concludes that suspension type is not causing this difference in how fast the steering is between the X and older models.

 

I have no idea what point you are trying to make. the Xs may turn faster stock for stock in BS, but the steering ratio/rack is slower, period. you may feel lighter, less resistant, the car may change directions faster, but the steering ratio is slightly slower. that's the only oddity I noticed with your comments.

 

The point was about different shocks/struts causing things to feel different speed wise, which as I said above, doesn't hold much water if any.

As of which car turns faster, I still stand to what I wrote originally - B-Street EVO X (with MCS or OEM Bilisteins) turns quicker than EVO IX I drove last weekend. Perhaps, it is something with that particular car that makes it to be that way, since I didn't feel that with other Xes I drove.

 

may be some language/definition barrier here. the X should be turning faster. that's not related to the steering ratio in any way. even if the rack were twice as slow, it should be turning faster.

 

Than we are all on the same page, because that is what I was trying to say originally as well - X turns faster than the IX I was in!!

 

Another event in the books! Results are here: Final and PAX.

Ended up closer than I though it will be considering previous event and check engine/trainy light worries. I was away for two weeks driving only RAV4, so night before the event I went out to the industrial park near by to test the car and to refresh the feel for it a bit. Some slalom sections and mild sweepers helped a bit. I also tried to see if I could launch the car and on first attempt when I revved the engine and let go of the brakes, I heard strange noise that sounded worst than it seem to be. I guess, TCU realized it was a bit too much for the trainy to do and opened things up and left the engine in free revving mode. Those 20 or 30 sec of not being able to move the car felt way longer than I liked. But, it came back and things seemed to be OK.

So, next day we had an opportunity to use a course created by the Roger Johnston (no, the other one, he would say) and luckily didn't require hard launching. Each one of my start was pretty much without anything hard - just like an old lady at the light! At the end I did finish all my runs (even had one extra for having to stop on the course so I wouldn't hit the worker who was adjusting a cone at the wrong time).

Nothing spectacular during the running except the part through the sweepers. I left the trainy in Auto mode and through those it actually held some of those in 3rd instead of second. Speed was in 50s (maybe high ones) and it didn't seem to be causing any issues. As a matter of fact it looked like right thing to do too. If I had not let it shift on its own, I don't think I would ever try to use 3rd for those sections...oh well, learned something new!

Time wise, I ended up 6 tens behind the Rachel and considering how much uncomfortable I was on all of my runs, it was definitely possible to go that much faster. Also, I was so careful there that I had not hit a single cone through 7 runs - clearly pointing to me heavily under driving through out the day. Plus, using 2.5 years old tires with little good rubber left and about 150 runs on them is not helping much. Camber on front driver side is still at 1.5 and I am running full stock exhaust. With all of that fixed and better driving another second should be there and that would just get me to top DS times!!

There was also a fast M2 running BS-Pro class by a great driver (Alex Shchipkov - know for his DSP results), who was more then a second faster. I don't think his car is fully prepped, but those were great times regardless.

Here is a video from my last run:

There is also a one from my previous 5th run, but it is pretty badly synced, so I have to redo it.

 

I got to drive Prime12's car again a while back... At a more sweeper focused course his car turned into a bit of a push monster. He's tweaked things since and I may do another co-drive at some point

I still managed to get top 10 PAX at NNJR which is quite the accomplishment, IMO Better than I've ever done in one of my own cars, haha

 

Is there any modifications that need to be done to fit 265/38/18 all around on an evo 9? Been autocrossing on 245's the past couple of years and never tried fitting anything bigger.

For shizz and giggles here's my last autocross run from last weekend. Only complaint I have currently is some front end push and rear rotation at low speeds. Using Falken Azenis 615k+