You and me both. I drove Elias's RS at WDCR last Sunday and still feel the same way. I feel the only area where the RS would have a clear advantage is coming out of slow (and by that I mean local Miata club 15 mph pin turn slow) corners where the X is completely off boost and just miserable. But how many of those corners are there on national level courses?

 

That might be an issue for 5-speed EVOs...auto trainy ones have no issue with those. As a matter of facts, those are the segments that auto trainy EVO does better than any other car I have ever driven.

 

H*ck yeah! I'm the original owner of a still-stock Evo9 that's about to come out of AutoX retirement. It's already got some MR Bilsteins and a rear bar. It just needs some new modern tires for 2019. Last season I autoxed the Evo, (4-5 years ago??) it was on 255 width Rivals on the stock legal 8" wide wheels, which fit OK and seemed to work well at the time.

 

Good to see you here! I know who you are...

 

^ Well then you know I'm a glutton for punishment because I've been driving a Mini buried in DS the last few years. The Evo should be a little faster...

 

Some friendly CT9A vs CZ4A action next yr?

Either way, we shall crush those pesky Focus RS's

 

what would be the must haves for the 8/9/10 chassis for DS? i've no idea for the 10's but i'm thinking the 8/9's will NEED:

- restacked rear diff
- big *** rear sway bar
- lightweight catback
- super stiff custom valved shocks, I'm thinking with less travel & stiffer bumpstops to get a stiffer effective rate
- the usual, good pads, good tires, prob 255s stuffed on some light 17x8s. tc105x is probably the way to go there.

the suspension/shock set up is gonna be crucial to countering the soft springs on the 8/9s.

 

From back in my wow days, this starting to sounds like a lvl19 "twink" pvp. Lol. I'll just never understand

 

X's Achilles Heel is also the stock soft springs.

I trophied at Pittsburgh Match Tour (and would have at Finger Lakes but for a stupid dnf that was 100% my fault) with just a Whiteline front sway bar and 275 stones on OEM wheels.

I feel I could have been a trophy fodder at Lincoln (just barely) with the current setup had I run mine.

Danny seems to think proper shocks would make the car a lot quicker, so maybe include the shocks to the 'must haves' if the goal is to trophy comfortably at national levels?

 

This looks similar for X as well:

• nothing to do with rear end - AYC
• big *** front bar - lot more weight at the front requires as much stiffness as possible, which makes better balance overall
• light way cat back - possibly muffler delete - same as 8/9s
• lots of rebound in shocks as well - you mentioned stiffer bump stops and shorter travel, but it might be illegal as far as I know - travel is +- 1" and bump stops could be enlarged to fit bigger shaft, but not stiffness of length of it.
• X has bigger rims (8.5" vs. 8"), so larger tires could be used - I believe 275s are the way to go for best possible heat management
• as of pads, X comes with bigger rotors, so even factory ones (aka. DS2500s) are pretty good. I have tried stronger ones and they were too much for street tires - maybe I went too far!
• there is also an option to go with two different transmissions and my vote goes for auto one, but more testing is required here.

 

i have no idea what you just said

yea i think stiff shocks with less travel + bumpstops are gonna be a must have for any street car with soft springs

 

I thought you are here for the jacket...

 

Were you at the Dover tour in 2013? I remember seeing a street-class Evo then and thinking "holy cow, one of them exists"

 

Yes! I won my first and only national-level trophy in the short-lived RTA (Street Tire, AWD, Stock) class at that event. First place in a class of... two.

 

If you have to ask, u just don't know