SCCA F-Street Setup. What's Everyone Done so Far?

[ABQautoxer]

Try not to dive bomb the corners. Brake earlier and a bit less hard so the front end can work on entry. It's far more important to be on that apex cone than it is braking later.

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[lostwon]

Konis...

They borrowed my car the end of October to do test fitment. They told me to bring the car back in February when they get their first production run and they will install them on my car. I haven't talked to them since then since February is still 2 months away. I will be sure to update when I hear any news.

Thanks, Rich! Lots of us out here anxiously awaiting some sorted out Konis! Great you were able to help with the development.

We're going strong right through the "winter" out here. 80 degrees and clear today in Sandy Eggo. Last autocross of 2015 this coming weekend, then the "off season" until January 10, our first event of 2016.

Best Regards, and Happy Holidays everyone! :ford:
John

 

[EcoBlue68]

any one try the ford racing replacement Strut And Shock kit? waiting for Koni replacements is killing me

To answer your question the ford racing shocks and struts are identical to the performance pack shocks and struts. I've had both on a shock dyno

 

[Coaster]

To answer your question the ford racing shocks and struts are identical to the performance pack shocks and struts. I've had both on a shock dyno

Thank you! That makes things easier for my build!

 

[leszek]

To answer your question the ford racing shocks and struts are identical to the performance pack shocks and struts. I've had both on a shock dyno

Interesting. I wonder why Ford Racing makes a specific distinction between them?

Street pack
Track pack

 

[Ryan1112]

To answer your question the ford racing shocks and struts are identical to the performance pack shocks and struts. I've had both on a shock dyno

It doesn't make sense that Ford would say they are different and sell them as a performance upgrade when they are just PP shocks repackaged in blue. Do you have the shock dyno sheet? There has to be some difference even if it's really small.

Originally Posted by MustangCollector

I bought the FRP shocks through Summit for 675. I spoke to Ford Racing many times including one engineer who swore up and down these shocks are not the same as the PP shocks.

 

[z3papa]

For anyone who is interested, the new Fast Track is out and includes the 2016 Camaro in FS.
http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files/scca/downloads/000/011/718/15-fastrack-January.pdf?1450468301

 

[JeepN3RD]

Sorry if my questions come off a bit noob, but just getting my feet wet in Autocross, did two races last year but was in CAM so I really did not have to worry too much about what I was driving. I actually think I might have met DickR at Dixie Classic Fairgrounds in July just after I got my 94 GT convertible (black)?

So over the winter the wife and I decided to upgrade! Waiting on the paperwork to go through, but next week I should be the proud owner of 2015 GT Premium, Ruby Red Convertible (automagic)

My research leads me to F-street and the lead up to my questions. I will be honest I read about the first 5 pages of this thread and the last 4-5. Mostly what I have gotten so far is TIRES (R71s), but I am a bit confused at the call for 18" rims?

Looking at the sticker, my car will have 235/50/18 F&R stock? Are they too heavy or you want wider rims to fit wider tires? Different offset (I did see the references there to desired offsets) and again my assumption is that to fit the wider tires, diff offset is needed.

Maybe I should ask the question a different way, what rim/tire size would you recommend that I go for? Again, I am an automatic, and I am thinking I will end up buying a second set of wheels/tires for autox. I found three sets of stock 19" wheels from 2016 GTs in our area for 650-800ish.

Ok, so then my next assumption, I cannot change the suspension and be in F Street? So no lowering, but I do see references to shocks. Honestly this is a hobby and I do not really expect to be a national competitor, not really sure that I will go any further than a set of "race tires" and just enjoy myself but if there is a couple small tricks I might make those investments.

Final question, again automatic, for Solo runs, I am assuming shift down to S instead of D? Set my car to TRACK mode (Steering to sport/track)? I actually am reading that when I go to the local 1/8 mile to leave it in D instead of S.

Other thoughts and advice welcomed! Hopefully I will be able to get some more advice from the other local guys at TSCC events. I am actually hoping to do a good bit of runs in CCR down in Concord, they fit my schedule better / running on Saturdays.

Sam

 

[kz]

I was sort of asking same questions few months ago - your problem is - in FS you are stuck with the rim width car had when delivered. Can go up diameter up or down by 1" and change the offset by +/- 7.5 mm, but you're stuck with 8" wide rim. That essentially makes fitting any auto x tire in a matching tire diameter 27.1" near impossible) as they're all low profile. As Tom R advised me many pages earlier, go have fun and don't worry about upgrades. Will be a while until you actually need them. (May want to change to some decent summer tire from all seasons)

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[JeepN3RD]

Ok, so read up to page 16... really need to actually WORK today ha! So the local 19x9 (and 19.5 rear) rims will not work for me, glad I figured that out before spending any cash. But as you said a decent set of summer tires at some point / spare 8" wide rims but for now I am just going to enjoy what I have!

 

[DickR]

Good to see there will be another Ruby Red GT at some local autocrosses in NC.

In FS with a Premium GT that is not a Performance Pack you actually have several wheel width options because the car was/is available with some factory options. 18x8, 19x8.5, and 20x9 are all options which means you can run 18x8, 18x8.5 (minus 1" from the 19x8.5), 19x8.5, or best of all 19x9 (minus 1" from the 20x9) You could run 20's also but currently there are no competitive tires AFAIK. Note that the wheel offset has to be within 7.00 mm plus/minus of the offset for the relevant width/diameter stock wheel. (The allowed offset change is 7.00 mm by the way, not 7.5 mm)

When I ran my 2012 GT Premium automatic as a low $$$ experiment prior to selling my CM Formula Ford and ordering my 2015 GT the tires were 265/35x18's on either oem 18x8's or aftermarket 18x8.5's since a 2012 had a 19x8.5 option. The gearing with the automatic (2012 and 2015 automatics have the same second gear) was almost perfect in second gear (mid 60's) on those short tires. However, if you have a choice I would suggest running either 8.5 or 9 inch 19's with 275x35x19 RE-71R's for the additional tire size since your convertible is much heavier than my 2012 hardtop was and even than my 2015 hardtop is.

At this point I wouldn't worry about shocks or a different rear bar. If you get serious then by then Koni will have their Sports available and you can also do the front camber modification.

Edit to add: My normal technique with the automatic was to launch in 1st and then slide the shifter to hold it in second for the rest of most courses. With your paddle shifter I suspect you can do the same thing. The car will probably want to spin the rear tires even at low revs in 2nd so there will be no need to downshift.

 

[DickR]

To answer a couple of more questions:

1) Steering on sport/track (whatever it is called with the Premium . . . mine is a standard GT PP)

2) I think all the serious autocrossers run with Advance Trac and Traction Control completely off . . . no "nannies" other than ABS which cannot be turned off.

3) As noted above after you launch the car manually shift the automatic to second in whatever setting allows it to stay in second unless the course is extremely fast and you end up on the rev limiter for more than one or two seconds. Then you may need to upshift to 3rd. It will be VERY rare, if ever that even with RE-71R's that you will have enough traction at low revs in second in an autocross for first gear to be of any value because you will still be turning. By the time the car is straight enough for full throttle revs in second will be high enough that you will have plenty of power. This is true with both automatic and manual transmission GT's.

 

[kz]

So I apologize for misinformation above. Dick R - if I decide to go with 9" wide rim (didn't knows that's allowed - thought you're stuck with whatever car was delivered with), decrease the diameter down to 19", which offset then should I use as a benchmark for +/-7 mm ? 19" have 42.5 if I remember correctly, can it be all mixed and matched or deciding to go with 9" wide (from 20" rims) it should be 20" rim offset ?

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[DickR]

So I apologize for misinformation above. Dick R - if I decide to go with 9" wide rim (didn't knows that's allowed - thought you're stuck with whatever car was delivered with), decrease the diameter down to 19", which offset then should I use as a benchmark for +/-7 mm ? 19" have 42.5 if I remember correctly, can it be all mixed and matched or deciding to go with 9" wide (from 20" rims) it should be 20" rim offset ?

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The offset used is based on the offset of the wheel with the width you want to use. In this case 19x9's would use the offset of the 20x9's as the benchmark.

No problem on the minor offset misunderstanding. I'm happy that someone (me this time) happened to catch it before somebody bought the wrong wheels.

 

[kz]

That's is actually an excellent info because I was pretty sure (even though I read a lot - apparently - not enough) that I'm stuck with 8.5" width (since I had 19x8.5") on whihc putting 275 wide tires seems to be at least tough. Thanks a lot !

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