PDA

View Full Version : SFR-SCCA Championship Series Autocross, Round 4 (Oakland)



vtluu
03-12-2004, 02:34 AM
Sunday March 21 at Oakland (Network Associates) Coliseum. I can't wait to try the new tires and alignment! 8)

http://www.sfrscca.org/solo2/Results/2004/Championship/round4_info.html

halz
03-12-2004, 08:19 PM
How did the alignment change from what it was before? Have the -2 degrees camber dialed in now?

Um, I've said it before, and I'll say it again.. I'll go to this one!

brwnrice
03-12-2004, 08:58 PM
hey, alex are you going to run on this event?

vtluu
03-13-2004, 12:34 AM
How did the alignment change from what it was before? Have the -2 degrees camber dialed in now?
Strangely enough the front camber was already around -1.5 or so, and when they dialed in -2 all they got was about -1.6. However they (Auto Innovations (http://www.autoinnovations.com/) in Milpitas) took out all the toe-in (was about -0.4 degrees each side, now +0.04 degrees). Also changed rear camber from -0.5 to -1.3 degrees. Net result: the car is a bit more tail-happy than before, and should understeer less. (Bah, who needs inherent stability!)

Had an exciting moment this morning taking the San Tomas Expwy S to Central Expwy exit at 60 mph. Tail kicked out and the car oversteered big time. Luckily I was able to get it back after a tense moment. Did the same turn at the same speed w/o problems earlier this week with the very worn Yokohamas. So the new Kumhos don't seem to be as grippy--at least not after 100 miles or so of driving. I hear they get more grippy with more wear.

A colleague from work--who was driving nearby in his SRT-4--E-mailed me and asked, "Was that you in the red Evo tossing the E-brake this morning?" To which I replied, "No E-brake needed. It's called oversteer--something you'll never know. ;)" :lol:

chrisw
03-23-2004, 08:45 AM
So how did you guys do?

I ran a 48.6, but I am sure the times started to drop as the sun came out...

vtluu
03-23-2004, 01:01 PM
Uhhhh... Not so good:

Screw up #1 (http://www.norcalevo.net/gallery/albums/album77/autox_tam_20040321a_s.wmv)
Screw up #2 (http://www.norcalevo.net/gallery/albums/album77/autox_tam_20040321b_s.wmv)
Screw up #3 (http://www.norcalevo.net/gallery/albums/album77/autox_tam_20040321c_s.wmv)
Screw up #4 (http://www.norcalevo.net/gallery/albums/album77/autox_tam_20040321d_s.wmv)
Screw up #5 (http://www.norcalevo.net/gallery/albums/album77/autox_tam_20040321e_s.wmv)
Half-decent run #1 (http://www.norcalevo.net/gallery/albums/album77/autox_tam_20040321f_s.wmv)

Yeah, I'd call Sunday another one of those "learning experiences". The new tires and new alignment made it feel like an entirely new car. I guess whereas the car used to plow a bit, dampening out my jerky steering inputs, now it's very happy to obey the steering input exactly and rotate. Combine rough steering with rough throttle input, not to mention the fact that once I got off the right line I was rolling on the marbles, and you have... well what you see above. I didn't spin the car but came darn close a couple times. :oops: Only on my very last (fun) run did I manage to pull things together and get a clean run free of misadventure. Time was 52.4 or something like that. :(

I think the thing I found most problematic was finding the right line of entry into the second slalom. I kept going in too narrow or (usually) too wide. Probably because I should have been looking at the slalom entry but instead was staring straight ahead. http://www.norcalevo.net/forums/images/smiles/nono.gif Also, that "?"-shaped turn after the slalom: I kept going in too hot on it and clobbering cones, in fact DNF'ing there on my first run.

New Kumho MXs got cooked pretty good, I think I must have taken a mm or so off the top of those tread blocks.

Joe Masters managed a 47-second time I think. By the time our group ran the sun was quite low and things were getting chilly again, and I think overall times were on their way back up.

halz
03-23-2004, 06:19 PM
I did 50.002431415926536 in a car that really REALLY should not have passed tech..

Lets just say there was a fair amount of steam pouring out the side of the coolant overflow tank after each run that made the engine appear better suited for a roll in life as a rice cooker.. according to Tam. :)



If you'd like to drill in car placement in an autocross course, a computer sim called Live For Speed allows for courses to be created and driven with a handful of cars. http://lfs.racesimcentral.com/ Theres already a guy in the SFR region that has done at least one layout: http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?t=101195 CS Miata, and he PAXed 3rd in the last event.
Unfortunately, the sim doesn't allow a key element in allowing for good placement: being able to look ahead! Well.. maybe the camera FoV can be altered to give a better illusion. And if I'm not mistaken, the sim actually counts how many cones you've slaughtered! damn, i'm going to install this thing again