tntmst

Just curious on what you guys think? I got a nail in my tire earlier this week and got it patched up. Do you think it will hold up during autocross? or should I get a new rear set?

HeavyMetal699

Same thing happened to me about 4 autocrosses ago. My tire hasn't fallen apart yet.


So my quick answer would be no. You have TPMS so in the next couple of days just make sure your tire isn't losing any air.


Edit: As long as its not sidewall damage you will be ok.

tntmst

Yeah I thought it would hold up pretty well, even if it didn't I'd probably still go out and see. Great well I guess I will see you guys sunday, I haven't registered yet but I plan to today. I'm hoping that I can actually not come in last this time, or at least only a second or two behind you guys. I'm usaully 5+ sec behind, due to poor driving and teh AT. But I'm not one to make excuses so I just have to get better.

HeavyMetal699

Get an instructor to ride with you. I mean if you went to the evo school you would be out $400. Why not take advantage of the free instructors, some of them really know their stuff.

xsnipersgox

all i remember from my instructor was.. BRAKE .. BRAKE!... BRAKE!! hahahha

HeavyMetal699

Your much better now than mineral wells. I think much of that is due to your much earlier braking. You still come in too hot, but then again I think I do on certain turns to(damn you decreasing radius turns).

I'm hoping to get my car set up by september. I want shocks, tires, and an alignment. Lets see how my luck pans out.

HeavyMetal699

8am is the big race. I helped setting up the course and its going to be fun.

http://www.houscca.com/solo/courses/jul08.gif

That's the course.

See you in the morning.

tntmst

Chad,
Thanks for making me feel like I can keep up.

Nick,
That turn less stuff really worked, great advice!

HeavyMetal699

I ran a 67.4 on my last run of the day.

In my opinion, the AT didn't suffer because I was taking easy launches all day. The start line was a gravel pit with a turn.

During the morning I had no traction on my runs. Even so I feel like I'm becoming a better driver by overcoming such problems throughout the day.

I'm hoping that when september comes around I'll be able to step up how competitive I am.

½mv²

Yesterday was a BLAST

I ened up getting 4th place in STS with Cameron's Mazda6
Had I run the rabbit in the AM, I would've gotten 2nd place in HS (and 40th PAX overall)



Sorry to all the RX-8 guys whom I rode with and offered minimal advice - all the alcohol consumed from Thursday through Saturday finally caught up with me; I was out of it all day.


Chad:
You should get more rides with more experienced people from now on. Don't double-enter next month and just spend 2 heats bumming rides. I think the reason you always feel like you don't know what you should be doing is because you haven't seen enough lines driven first-hand. Get a bunch of rides in a bunch of different cars with a bunch of differently skilled drivers. Your times were very consistent yesterday, which to me means you're reading ahead, planning, and driving exactly how you want to. The trick now is to read ahead, see your options, plan which one you'd like to execute, and then driving it.
When you started, I was 4 seconds faster than you. Since then, I've gotten much better, and now I'm only 2 seconds faster than you. You are learning - pretty quickly at that - so don't get discouraged. I think you just need to keep that "cruise control" mindset throughout your entire run; worry less about how long you can keep the gas pedal down, and more about how you can keep the brake pedal up.


tntmst:
You have a good look ahead and decent idea of where you want your car to be, but what seems to be hurting you most is your unfamilarity with the car's personality. When you were driving you got almost as much understeer as the FWD cars I was driving, and it wasn't because you were coming in too fast, either.
My advice to you would be to find a nice open lot to tear up the next time it rains, and try to toss the backend around for 15-20 minutes. I'm not saying do doughnuts or drift - just get used to getting the backend of the car to kick out 10 or 15 degreess at 30mph or so, and just get familiar with either holding in a slight slide or getting it to straighten out (controllably). The personality of your car can make a 5-15mph difference in how fast you can take a turn.
Next event, try to get a ride from one of the Big Dogs. Despite the fact that their tires are silent, and their engine is just calmly holding revs, it will feel like they're drifting the entire course like something from NFS Carbon. The reason for that is they've always got the car's weight exactly where they want and need it. If you go tear up a wet parking lot or a dirt field for a few minutes, you'll very quickly learn the difference between the feel of a car that's digging in, and a car that's sliding. Once you get the hang of shifting your car into place before a turn, understeer will never be a problem again, and you'll be shaving 5-6 seconds off your runs.

HeavyMetal699

I didn't ride with him because we were parked next to each other, but RX-8's understeer out of the factory. You messed with your alignment and it has an impact. Even with the stock suspension back on and horrible tires your car has a better 'feel' than mine does.

I'm beating the understeer by driving much differently (slow in fast out). I have noticed that at lower speeds I can use the accelerator to push the backend out, while at higher speeds I plow.

I think my biggest problem is that my expectations are more than the cars performance. I'm trying to treat this as a learning experience which is why I'm going to continue b1tching about tires and not get new ones. I need to learn how to adjust. I know if I get better tires my times will get much better, but what will happen when that set starts to get old. What happens if I overheat them in the middle of a run. Self control sucks.

Thanks to the practice event I feel like I'm pretty spot on while I'm driving. The one time you rode with me was not one of my better runs.

xsnipersgox

just need more practice events XD sucks tat i had to miss this one =(