This is my first season autoxing and I'm looking for some tips. I have a GSR coupe with koni yellows and GC 400 and 450's. I'm using stock sway bars and generic strut bars and a rear lower tie bar.

My question is, I havn't installed the GC's yet and I'm looking for advice as to putting the 450's or the 400's in the front? I've done alot of research and I'm not sure what to do. I'm looking for a balanced set up and keep in mind this is my first season xing. Also, what koni settings can you recomend for these spring rates?

thanks

 

First season?

put the gc's on a shelf. along with the strut bars and lower tie bars.

Attend an evolution school... do lots of events and talk to lots of experienced drivers and get them to ride with you. let them drive your car while you ride.

 

drive it stock....learn to control the sloppy suspension then stepup to really high spring rates 1000plus....then you'll roll everyone

 

thanks I guess

I'm not looking to be the best driver I just want to enjoy myself and the parts I've already bought so any tips on dialing it in are appreciated.

 

400f/450r is a good mild starting setup. Add a 22mm rear bar and you will be golden.

 

If this is your first season of autocross, cetrtainly getting yourself some seat time is going to be the biggest performance gain vs. the bolt-ons for the car. If you already own and have paid for the parts, I see no reason to leave it stock. Install them and use them, my suggestion would be to put the 450s on the rear, set the front KONIs about mid way and the rears about 1/2 turn from max at the autocross and soften it a bit for the street.

If the question was "Should I buy these parts or go drive?" then certainly the answer is "go drive" becasue that is where the biggest gain will be had. It will take more time to get you up to speed than the car early on. But if the money is spent, then use the parts you have. Don't spend every effort trying to build the perfect rocketship early on, work on the driver. The fun part of that is that you are doing the fun driving and not spending your time wrenching and thinking about what it will be like to drive. Coming from humble beginnings and pushing a slow car around while learning to control it can be a good thing but so long as the car is not too hyper and you feel like you can use it with confidence and not have a hair-trigger car that you don't feel good using, then go for it. Drive to your personal limits and they will raise. When you have reached the limits of the car, then you can raise the bar on the car.

 

theres no need to critique anything. what ppl are tying to say is that its not about the setup, its about the driver. just go out and have a fun time, any problems you have are probably going to be things you can fix only by experience, not achieving some magical setup. especially between the two spring rates you have, it wont matter much since there isnt much difference, but given the choice, just put the 450's in the rear. when you get to the point where you can control the car better and understand what the car is doing, you can be the one to critique your own setup, not anyone else.

 

edit doh.. what tyson said.

 

I'll have to agree with everyone else. Modding your car when you are a novice can and will cover up bad driving habits. Also there are too many variables you have to deal with which could be the driver OR the mods. When you have no mods done you know the problem is the driver So you know what to fix easier.

Driving stock is not bad at all and you can learn the limits quicker than with mods to cover up those bad driving habits. Tires will squeal, shocks will react slower, and your car will push OR rotate depending on what inputs you put into the car.

Get as much seat time as you can, go to an Evolution School (http://www.autocross.com/evolution) and as many novice schools as you can. ***** it up like AJ does. He would ride in almost everyone's car, and get in as many fun runs as he could A year later he is running at the top like everyone else.

 

Sorry to thread-jack, but everyone keeps saying seat-time, seat-time, seat-time.

At my local club, we only race one weekend per month, only from April - September with no race in May or July, we only get 4 runs per day, and we never have time at the end of the day for fun-runs.

That's not a lot of seat time!

Does anyone have any tricks to get some practice in between races? Just get some cones and find an open parking lot? Like Tuney, I also modded my car before getting into Auto-crossing, so now I'm stuck in a higher class (I think I should be in SM, but they're letting me run in CSP), and I have a lot of adjustible stuff on my suspension to tweek and figure out.

 

If your local club only has one event per month, look to run in other clubs. I run around 2-3 events per month, based on location, etc. Some months I'm autoxing every weekend, others, once a month. It's only May and I've run 5 events thus far, including a Divisional. If you look hard enough, I'm sure you can find plenty of events within a reasonable drive, ~3-3.5hrs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thumpu77 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Just get some cones and find an open parking lot? ... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Anyone have the link to the video of the guy in the Mustang(?) playing with cones? Seriously - there should be LOTS of autocross events running in any major metro area now. Ask around at the next event you go to and you will find other options.

K

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
...in any major metro area...
</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's the problem.... in a city of about 50,000 there's not much.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thumpu77 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sorry to thread-jack, but everyone keeps saying seat-time, seat-time, seat-time.

At my local club, we only race one weekend per month, only from April - September with no race in May or July, we only get 4 runs per day, and we never have time at the end of the day for fun-runs.

That's not a lot of seat time!

Does anyone have any tricks to get some practice in between races? Just get some cones and find an open parking lot? Like Tuney, I also modded my car before getting into Auto-crossing, so now I'm stuck in a higher class (I think I should be in SM, but they're letting me run in CSP), and I have a lot of adjustible stuff on my suspension to tweek and figure out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Never the cones in the parking lot....too much can go wrong. bad chit could happen. Anyways, this basicly reminded of a friend of mine who got very frustrated cause he wanted to improve. This was my routine for 2002 :
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Here's my secret how I got quick fast because I am a very impatient, and EXTREMLY competitive individual. I weighed all my options... I determined how badly I wanted it... I knew practice was the only way to get faster.
First :
I decided I would autocross every possible weekend I could. I've done almost 30 events in 2002 already. I don't wait 2-3 weeks to run again. I wanna take what I learned today and apply it tomorrow so it becomes burned into my brain.

Second :
I don't drive excessively fast on the streets but I'm always analizing corners and series of corners. Don't worry about going through these corners fast.... Try to go through them without upseting the car... practice left foot braking... Feel what the car is doing a corner.... Smooth inputs all the time... forget lookin' cool and put yer hands at 9 & 3 all the time... you'll do in competition what you practice day to day. bad habits from the street can carry to autocross watch out for them.

More importantly then anything else... have fun otherwise you'll loose sight of why you are doing this!

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I guess the first part doesn't apply since you don't have alot of events near you but the second is a very good way to focus your skills on the street.

 

Everything makes sense about me getting as much seat time as possible. I already put the GC's on my car and its not as stiff as I was expecting compared to my generic maxspeed coilovers. Actually its not very noticable difference at all.

Thanks for all the replies, next I'll think about upgrading my sway bar, after more seat time of course.

 

If it were me, i would keep the GC and get a skunk 2 camber kit. Learn to adjust, and feel your car out. Also, pay attention to your tire pressures etc... If you can, measure all three tire temps on each tire. Learn to adjust...