FS Autocross Classing

[Steeda Tech JohnC]

Somethings off about that camera position. The interior looks... distorted somehow.
j/k

Yeah the jaw-cam is a good one. Really lets you know where and when you're looking at what. Only trick is getting the exposure right with the gopros.

shhhhhh


bow before your 3 wheeling overlord

id be interested to see how i do vs a competitive f street car when i'm having a good day, i'm usually 1-2 sec quicker but we don't have a strong showing down here so i don't feel that means much

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[SteveW]

Ok, so that's a cool pic!

:ford:

 

[FirebladeRX7]

shhhhhh


id be interested to see how i do vs a competitive f street car when i'm having a good day, i'm usually 1-2 sec quicker but we don't have a strong showing down here so i don't feel that means much

I do my best...

PAX difference on the last event was 1.337 seconds.

I also need to not mess up my tire pressures...

 

[Static_LV]

I know what you are saying:

1. I think on that course more like 1-1.5 seconds. He was in 2nd the whole time, I was in 3rd twice and on the rev limiter twice more.

2. I am prepped with the exception of a cat back exhaust and sway bar.
Koni single adjustables and a good alignment.

3. I am on new RE-71Rs. 275s square, he was on new RE71-Rs, 255 square.

As far as being relaxed, I was and I had a really good day. I was relaxed and way ahead of the course. Had good/great lines through the course, hit all my break points correctly, hit my shifts etc...
My co-driver was also a national champion in XP (older mustang driver) and I was able to edge him out time wise. He was pretty shocked about the results as well.

Don't look at 3 seconds as a whole but rather break it up into chunks of time:

1. Some of that difference is going to be in the car choice. The Camaro is a better FS autox car for sure. So give it .5 sec right there.

2. Are you fully prepped?

#1 is tires and if you're not on 19" RE71Rs, or maybe the 19" Nexen Sur4G then there's like at least a second right there.

#2 is shocks. Gotta have Konis or better but the time gap here is much smaller than tires.

#3 sway bar, light wheels and alignment

3. With car and setup out of the way it's time to look at the driver.

#1 Are you relaxed and ahead of the car? Are you making the car do what you want it to do or reacting to it all the time?

For example, when i first got into this car i came from fwd cars and was a wreck, honestly. I was so tense and unsure of myself i couldn't hardly breathe during a run and my arms were almost locked up at finish. Nowadays I'm driving multiple seconds faster than at first, way more relaxed in the car and can recognize right away where i made small errors in a run because i have so much of the actual driving of the car in my subconscious that there's brain power free to think about the details of the run itself. Not sure if that makes any sense but that's how it feels to me.

#2 in this is choices you make for line, braking, steering and throttle inputs with the course.

#3 every once in a while have someone else drive your car and see if they're faster or what. Preferably, someone who gets better results than you.

#4 in car video and data can help with coaching and information to fix issues with #1-3

Hope this helps.

 

[landstuhltaylor]

I dont think the S550 has ever been the car-to-have in FS at a national level, has it?

We still did pretty well at 'nats with a 4th place. The BMWs are still really tough competition with little more than an alignment, and GM support for some of those Cameros has got to help.

I always like to say its the Indian, not the arrow, and with a margin of ~1sec out of 120, you know its possible.

Correct, S550 has never been the car to have. I'm not convinced it's the new Camaro (and their "factory support" isn't really) either as I believe the E92 M3 is still the car to have. I think the right E46 can be very close as well but only if it is a no-option car with as much weight pulled out as possible under the rules. The only option mine didn't have was nav, so it was too heavy at 3275.

 

[SteveW]

[MENTION=21122]Static_LV[/MENTION] my turn to feel that pain, lol. I'm at Crows Landing this weekend and he got me by 2 secs today with the FS car vs my CAMC car.

 

[Static_LV]

[MENTION=16275]SteveW[/MENTION] ...I am glad to know its not just me

 

[SteveW]

No better competition and place to run at within a day's drive of me than down here outside the bay area at Crows. These folks are among the best in the country.

I got nine runs in between the practice course and event course yesterday. On the main course I saw 62 mph before I had to turn the wheel so a good test of the PP3 no lift shift strategy. Was slinging the car through a walom in 3rd where I saw a top speed of 71 mph. Fun stuff for January!

 

[Static_LV]

What club / region was running out there this weekend? Thats not too far from me either.

 

[jpaulson]

Call it wishful thinking, or the fact that I really don't want to take the depreciation hit by trading my 16 for an 18, but I am not certain that the 18 automatically renders older models uncompetitive. I have seen a well driven s187 go extremely quick. The extra gearing can be helpful depending on the course, but will also provide less grunt out of slower corners. Ideally I would want the gearing to be right in the middle of the two. The 18's appear to be slightly heavier, and I haven't been able to confirm any significant changes to the PP suspension pieces.

The only reason I would even consider it is that I hate having to shift multiple times on course, it completely mindf%^ks me and is a distraction. I do need to work on that.

I think that the Camaro is only slightly better but suffers from ABS issues. The M3 would be my choice all day everyday if I could stomach owning one. The two times I drove one, I matched or beat my GT times after two runs.

 

[jpaulson]

3. I am on new RE-71Rs. 275s square, he was on new RE71-Rs, 255 square.

That is interesting....

 

[SteveW]

What club / region was running out there this weekend? Thats not too far from me either.

http://www.americanautox.com/schedule/

 

[DickR]

3. I am on new RE-71Rs. 275s square, he was on new RE71-Rs, 255 square.

Just to clarify: FS Camaro SS running 255/35x19 Front and Rear?

Hmmm. I did learn that the GM team FS Camaro SS ran 265 front and 285 rear. Also I think Mark Scroggs ran 265/35x19's on his DS winning 2 liter turbo Camaro.

Did you happen to ask "why" they were running the 255's?

Also, did the car have a manual transmission and/or magnetic shocks?

Thanks!

 

[Static_LV]

They "liked them better" referring to the 255s. Manual I think, no magnetic shocks. Dual Adjustable Konis.

 

[Whiskey11]

Call it wishful thinking, or the fact that I really don't want to take the depreciation hit by trading my 16 for an 18, but I am not certain that the 18 automatically renders older models uncompetitive. I have seen a well driven s187 go extremely quick. The extra gearing can be helpful depending on the course, but will also provide less grunt out of slower corners. Ideally I would want the gearing to be right in the middle of the two. The 18's appear to be slightly heavier, and I haven't been able to confirm any significant changes to the PP suspension pieces.

The only reason I would even consider it is that I hate having to shift multiple times on course, it completely mindf%^ks me and is a distraction. I do need to work on that.

I think that the Camaro is only slightly better but suffers from ABS issues. The M3 would be my choice all day everyday if I could stomach owning one. The two times I drove one, I matched or beat my GT times after two runs.

I'm with you on this. The vast majority of "major" corners in autocross are usually preceded by a pretty heavy dig. The gearing change on the 2018's definitely made me raise my eyebrows but I think the 3.73's and shorter second gear ratio of the 2015-2017's are going to pay dividends on the corners that matter. I'd be curious to see a Jason Rhodes level analysis on the thrust curves of the two cars stock...

About the only thing that I wish I had was the extra RPM from the new 2018's coyote... maybe the wheels on the PP2 if it's in FS. Beyond that, I could care less about the magnetic shocks, etc. Ford's ability to spec shocks for a performance environment like Autocross is suspect at best and I doubt the magnetic ones would be right for autocross either.

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