shinronin

xposted from the NE forum...

shinronin

SJR had their first event last sun. (4/1/2007). here are the results. it was purty darn cold in my first session. my 265/35-18 ad07's weren't even up to temperature on my 3rd run. even during the 2nd session my 3rd run was my best time albeit dirty (2 cones). i did end up winning STU and finished 5th in pax with the 3rd best raw time. i could've finished 2nd in pax if my best run had been clean.

this event was essentially a shake down for my front and rear PT sways and AWR endlinks. my moton clubsport coilovers will hopefully arrive later this week before the 4/15 philly opener.

i met bsteimel and his brother. there was also another black rx-8 in BS that i didn't get to meet.

here are some piccies:

CRX Millennium

iTrader: (1)

Guess you were trying to blind the course workers with the accessory light on =)

Interesting, you put the stiff bars on before the shocks. Always thought shocks first, and bars to fine-tune for different course/surface. Hope you are making Devens Tour and DC Pro, just to give Polak some good time...

I'm just going to leave the Philly jacket at home, until I get my head of my behind, re driving part. Got it tonight, thanks to Robin. It's awesome.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

first, good job

second, you can clearly see him hiking up the inside despite the super stiff bars ...

third, get back on your side of the US

shinronin

heh, i was fiddling with the radio and cockpit controls and whatnot prior to a run to kill some time.

re: sways first, i like to tune steady state first. dif'rent strokes for dif'rent folks. i prolly will make devens, but the dc pro likely has a wait list with a hojillion drivers. we'll see.

PoLaK

iTrader: (1)

yeah im #39 on the waitlist.

PoLaK

iTrader: (1)

sooooo heh how did you do at the rain-cross today doug

shinronin

horrendous. i finished 9/10. i could never find any grip. full tread depth neovas and softer sway setting may have helped, but my rain-miester kung fu is obviously quite poor. my years of autox'ing my audi s4 has taught me bad habits in the wet with RWD. in fact i should have brought my s4. i had never wished for traction control before but it sure would've been handy yesterday.

the conditions were almost beyond comprehension. torrential downpour during first heat with a temperature hovering ~45. i changed almost every single article of clothing i brought. all in all a day i need to put behind me except to realize that i need to autox in conditions like that more if i ever hope to improve my rain driving.

shinronin

the 2nd philly autox is in the books. i finished 4/12 in STU and 19th in PAX. the GS minis put a beat down on the field during the 4th heat. a majority of the region's best drivers also run minis in GS...

so yesterday i found that:

• pyrometer good
• need more front -camber
• front springs too stiff (700 lbs/in)
• PT sway full stiff is too stiff for my setup

i had been running tire pressures of 34/30 for normal conditions last year with my 255/40-17 ad07's and the same this year with my 265/35-18 ad07's. the pyrometer told me those pressures were too low as the temps were higher on the outside and inside shoulders than in the middle. so i went up to 37/33 and i'll try 38/34 next event.

tire temps were still 5-10 degrees hotter on the outside shoulder so i do indeed need more front -camber. i had requested -2.5 front and -2.0 rear, but my garage could only get -1.8 in the front even with a ride height of 26" all around. my caster is 7.6. i think i'm losing confidence in my garage when it comes to alignments.

this event was also a shakedown for my moton clubsport coilovers. i'm running 700/400 eibach ERS 2.5" ID springs with 8" free length front and 7" rear. the default settings for the motons are bump 2/rebound 3 (out of 7) both front and rear. my co-driver and i found that we weren't getting enough front grip and so took down bump and rebound down by 1 each. that helped a lot. i'll also try the front PT sway on medium, but perhaps also try a lower front spring rate (~600).

the course at ridley park was incredibly tight and twisty and the surface was very dirty. i think the minis excelled due to one part nimbleness and one part tractive grip out of corners with FWD.

anyway as far as a shakedown event for the motons, it went pretty well. learned lots about future setup goals and had a pretty good 4th run.

shinronin

went to NNJR's 5/12 (my b-day) autox last saturday. i've only run with NNJR once before, but their format is pretty cool: work 1x, run 2x, off 1x. i worked 1st heat, ran 2nd, off 3rd, and ran 4th. we had 7 runs total (4/3).

i finished 2/9 in STU and 26th in pax. dan cheung finished 2nd in pax in PRO STU. he and corey ridgick had a great battle at warminster on 5/6 where dan coned away the win on his last run. watch out for dan if he goes to nationals. he is t3h fast.

setup wise i ran tire pressures of 38/34 which seemed to work ok. temps were reading higher on the inside shoulder this time which was surprising. i'm running 1/8" front toe out which will affect inside shoulder temps, but i wasn't seeing unusual insider shoulder temps at my last autox. not sure what to make of that yet...

i kept my shock and sway settings the same from the last autox as i planned to tweak settings during the later session. during my off heat while i was changing my front sway from hard to medium, i noticed i had a little wear on front left reservior line. at full left lock (of which there was some at the last autox. it was very tight...) the 9.5" wide enkei's had rubbed. i located some zip ties and took care of that little development.

the sway on medium did indeed make the car much more neutral and i had a good bit of oversteer in a few sections. thankfully i can stay ahead of the car this year.

i probably left a good bit of time out there (.5-.750 seconds) which is frustrating as i couldn't string a run together with which i was at least somewhat satisfied. but i had a good time with NNJR and dan cheung is a good benchmark.

some piccies follow. they're from steve @ steguisfoto.com and /.


this fellow finished 2nd in BS by only .150. didn't get to meet him however. he had a great battle with a 350z.





kids, don't enter a slalom too hot, cuz...


you pay for it the rest of the way. urk.


at least on the 2nd to last slalom cone i've fixed my pace and placement.

CRX Millennium

iTrader: (1)

Cool, what's your plan for Devens?

There are three entrants now in STU. Other than scheduling conflct, I'm rooting for you if you can make it.

Looks like Lawrence made the jump from G35 to RX-8. Glad to see another RX-8 keeping Dmitry on his toes.

ZoomZoom28

It's been busy at work this week, didn't get a chance to read the forum...
Yeah, it's a tight battle with the Z, and Dimtry drove very well. I think last week's course with the high-g corners/sweepers suited the Z with big hoosier well.
I'd some understeering going into these turns. What I should do was to soften the front shocks. I just had the Koni shocks and alignment done before the event.
The G35 is fast but the 8 rocks in the corners

CRX Millennium

iTrader: (1)

Saw the news of Mark "Alien" Daddio making appearance in his SM EVO with more than 400hp this coming Saturday at Englishtown, a NNJR SCCA event. Straight from the horse's mouth: http://sccaforums.com/forums/5/23708...ad.aspx#237089.

shinronin

yep, of course i'll be at a DC autox school, but some philly guys will be at the NNJR event to see daddio's evo.

ZoomZoom28

Great, another chance to see the alien fly, I meant drive I've met him once when he was driving the neon, unhumanly fast.

shinronin

philly autox #3 was last sun. (5/27). i missed the 5/6 event as i was in IN. i finished 2/10 standing on my first run. i'd never been fastest on my 1st run before and while that was great, it was frustrating to not be able to improve. overdriving will do that. i pax'd 17th. PoLaK co-drove my car as his is kinda, well, sans front bumper presently getting a repaint.

driving:
1) brake early, add gas. say it 1000x until it sticks. i keep outbreaking myself. urk.
2) look ahead (i need to make a post-it note a la clyde and stick it on the frakkin' steering wheel).

tuning:
1) -2.0 front camber may be enough according to ye olde pyrometer. furthermore, -2.0 rear camber may be too much. i'm gonna try -1.0 rear and see how that goes.
2) i definitely need to come down from 700/400 springs. i'm researching just how much farther. the vicinity of 600/300 for sure, but i want to nail the rates this time. running on full soft bump and 1 rebound presently.

all in all it was fun a day, but a frustrating course with many slow tight turns. not to mention it was in the mid 90s. sweaty...

some vids (not mine). they're kinda long...
vid1
vid2

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

definitely drop the rear camber, what pressures are you running?

shinronin

265/35-18 ad07s. i have mccall's wheel/tires from last year at nationals. i'm running pressures of 38/34.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

sorry, I edited it while you were replying

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

sending you a PM

PoLaK

iTrader: (1)

Got an alignment today; same problem as you Doug.
Couldn't get the rear camber below -2.2 LR and -2.3 RR
Couldn't get the front camber above -2.0 LF and -1.8 FR

done with the minimum caster settings possible in the front, and 1/16'' (.06) of toe at each corner front and rear. 26'' ride height....

Does anyway sell different eccentric plate bolts for the Rx-8 is that even STU legal?

shinronin

what's your caster? i'll double check mine and update later.

JIC allegedly makes an adjustable front upper arm, but their website/catalog just sucks afa clarity. team MER also makes an a-arm for mega -camber. i was going to contact them about it, but -2.0 front camber may be all i need...

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

it's all I seem to need ...

but I can get a lot more in the front and a lot less in the rear than Polak, not sure why