[10th Warrior]

ok, lets see who can figure it out. so far there have been 2 auto-x's this year with 3 runs each. when i can get a clean run, i'm competitive (in GS and PAX), but this year i've been having problems with gross amounts of oversteer, i.e. spinning. i've never spun at an auto-x before. so the question is, what its it.

1. its been down right cold for the two auto-x's this season. i'm running BFG G-Force R1s with one season on them (not by me, though i ran a used set last year too). certainly, they don't like the cold, but enough to cause me to spin so frequently?

2. like i said, they are used. i put the most worn tires on the back, and of course, it is rear traction i'm having issues with.

3. i got an alignment for this season. among other things, this includes 1/8" toe out in the rear. this makes for nice handling on street tires (and rally tires, for that matter) however it may be too much for the race tires.

4. as with so many things, its the driver, and i just suck and should quit my bitching.

 

[10th Warrior]

i really don't want the worn ones up front, since its the fronts that take most of the load. i've been happy with front end grip, considering the weather.

Oh. and heat them up.

tell that to mother nature. 40-50 degrees is just not proper for the big R.

 

[10th Warrior]

:lol: for some reason, the SCCA frowns on such behavior :stupid:

 

[10th Warrior]

well, the suspension is stock. if i had adjustable struts, i would have mentioned my settings pressures are 40/38. i run 40/36 on tighter courses, but i haven't had any of those yet this season. i have run these tires before and i found these to be quite successful pressures. granted, that was before the alignment and they may need some tweaking to work with the new alignment, but i need heat to figure that stuff out :curse: anyway, as to where i'm spinning, its always in a transition when the car is unsettled. the first time was in the middle of a slolam with an offset cone, the second time was at the end of a very fast slolam with braking zone to a fast right (the slalom ended on a left). the final time is somewhat hard to explain. it was a tight 90 right, but it was coming at the end of a long sweeping right (sort of). anyway, the car wasn't settled in the braking zone. this one really shocked me though, espeacially since i was trying to just get a clean run. of course, other slaloms (and the same slaloms on other runs) as well as plenty of other unsettled braking zones have not netted a spin.

about the toe. yes, its aggressive, though it is very nice with street tires. the car is much more sensitive to trail-braking and LTO (and left foot braking on gravel) but not to the point of creating large scale rotation. it just changes the yaw of the car a bit and then catches itself. however, the race tires might be responding differently. i don't know. i'm going to have to wait until it gets warm so i can start eliminating some potential confounds.

 

[10th Warrior]

i think the pressures are ok. like i said, i had another used set last year and found they worked well. also, there is another RS guy (not on any BBs) who is damn quick and he used to run the R1s as well at 40/40 and he was damn quick. of course, he had an alignment, but i don't know the specs. as far as me abusing your ex-tires, lets put it this way; when i get a clean run i'm in the top 10 on pax

 

[10th Warrior]

well, about my driving style, i have never spun at an event before, which is why this year has kind of caught me out. besides, ask ryan how well i can go-kart

the rest of the alignment specs are:
-1 degree front camber
0 front toe
back camber is non adjustable, but IIRC its around -1 or -1.5 right now.

i agree with you, its probably a combination of several factors, and with the weather warming up i will hopefully be able to determine what the biggest factor is.

 

[10th Warrior]

Yea I saw your driving style that's why i voted for the loose nut behind the wheel who needs a wrench

hey, its not my fault those things only have brakes on the back. besides, i was going for my giles panizzi impersonation

 

[10th Warrior]

updato desu ne

well, it seems two of you were right. we finally had a bright and sunny auto-x so i could start testing theories. i ran my pressures as 40/40 and the car handled quite well. well enough to give me 2nd in GS and 6th out of ~150 on PAX now that the tires have some heat to work with, i'm generating quite a bit of grip with no signs of oversteer what-so-ever.

 

[10th Warrior]

(even when I induced a drift at 80mph!)

that's a crazy fast auto-x!!! i think the fastest i've ever gotten is ~60mph on our fastest courses. this weekend at our divisional event, i doubt i got much above 40 (it was a verytechnical course). but i won my class ;D ok, ok, there wasn't anyone really good there, but i was only a 10th of a second behind the second place DS guy (who usually runs GS in his 99 RS, but was in his friend's WRX).

 

[10th Warrior]

thanks for the suggestion and those definitly are viable ways to get the tail around but it was definitly the cold tires (not to say i'm not a loose nut behind the wheel, but that's another matter). now that its beastly, the tires have lots and lots and lots of grip. i haven't had any oversteer at all, actually (except at the rally-x ). the car is driving quite well. i just have to get the steering pulled back out of it quicker, which means i need to keep working on being smooth, but i'm getting there. i'm still debating on whether or not to go to nationals this year

 

[10th Warrior]

this coming from the guy with the unpainted body kit on his car :stupid: besides, i'm faster then you

 

[10th Warrior]

after tearing up his stock front bumper "working" on the 100AW, he got a v4 bumper/foglight covers and lightweight beam. he bartered off the old bumper for some contraband so he put on the v4 and bumper beam, but he didn't have the money to paint it, so now he is even ricier then joel

 

[10th Warrior]

its a v4 bumper, not a OBS bumper. its the one with all the slats across the radiator opening, same size fogs as v5/6, and it has 3 slats over where the turn signal is instead of two. and you already have a set of racelines, but I need another set. i've been thinking more and more seriously about getting some summer tires, which means i'd need winters as well. who knew 3 sets of wheels wouldn't be enough

 

[10th Warrior]

boost is for pussies

i know what you mean by the viscous cycle though. when i replaced the re92s with the dunlops, it was so wonderfull. but now i've driven on Azenias and that's what i want. it kind of sucks only having grip at auto-x's. but with the azenias, i would need winter tires...which means yet more wheels and tires. and next season i'll actually have brand new race tires for the first time ever that should be fun. i'm thinking about campaining the entire Solotime series next year, and maybe the Pro/Tour stops in Indiana. we shall see. oh, and you should come to the USGP with us Jon. check out the thread in the MW forum for the details.

 

[10th Warrior]

AHHHH! why won't this thread die!!!!

For the record, it was cold tires

also for the record, i ran even more rear toe this year (1/4").