Just thought I’d give the noob perspective on the use of R compounds during autocross and the effect on driving skill advancement. I recently purchased a stock 96 Civic EX and entered a solo event in HS running on the Uniroyal All Seasons that were on it. If you want to learn how a car handles with every detail exaggerated by low traction, those tires might be a good choice. While this was my first time at an autox, I have done a fair amount of driving in other forms and by the end of the day had a pretty good feel of the car. It was not necessarily fast, but it could be easily rotated with a hint of trail braking and exit steering could easily done with throttle adjustment given the huge understeer on power application due to limited grip and no LSD. Basically, everything was very progressive across a long range - almost like slow motion compared to some other more prepped cars I’ve driven. It was easy to go right to the adhesion limit, go a little over the limit and bring it back, go a little under the limit – generally just get a feel how it behaved at different slip angles. It was a great opportunity to get to know the car and my times dropped steadily throughout the day as I explored its capabilities.

I rotated the tires (definitely not meant for this kind of thing) and ran a second event the next month with similar results, although the times had leveled out some by the end of the day.

Now comes the tire decision – had to have some kind of new tires regardless of R compound or not in order to keep racing. I read all the posts and comments about not going straight to R compounds, and I agreed with every one of them when it came to experience and skill level. If you don’t fully understand slip angles and traction, and can’t hold the car at those limits smoothly through the whole corner using brake and throttle inputs – R compounds will make it much harder to learn where those limits are. Each person is different, and I’m still not sure I can make any recommendations for others noobs behind me wondering what tires to buy. The best judge of whether you’re ready might possibly be the other drivers at your club, if they take a ride with you (or drive) and don’t think they could squeeze much more out of your setup – go for Rs on your next tire purchase.

In my case I went with a set of Avon Tech Rs, 205/55-R14 mounted on a set of HX rims. A variety of factors led to this:
- By the end of my second race day I had closed to within several seconds of some consistent drivers who were already on R comps.
- Both the novice instructor and a respected driver rode with me and commented they found it hard to believe I had never participated in structured racing before and felt I was pushing the current setup close to potential.
- The car was very predictable and easy to drive full out.
- It also happened they were on closeout for $80.

The results? At my third race it took a few runs to get a feel for how far they could be pushed – the change in grip was astounding. Both turn in and corner exit were 10 times as crisp – it was hard to believe that only the tires and not suspension had been changed. The basic feel of the car was still the same, but the large progressive feel was gone. I can see how it would be very hard for a novice to learn to push tires like these to the edge when the penalty for overstepping it is no longer a slow controlled slip that can be collected without much effort.

I am very happy with my decision and at the closing of the third race felt I was really getting to the new limits of my setup. The only excuse I may have now is that I can’t keep my skinny behind in the seat with the standard belts due to the new cornering forces. The consistent drivers on R comps that I was previously comparing to were now a second or two behind me. Although the turnout was poor due to it being fathers day and threatening thunderstorms, my time was also good enough to beat the only other 8-10 stock entrants that were in HS, GS, ES, and BS.

Thanks to all the previous posters who helped me make an informed choice.

Steve

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Seminole Civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> The only excuse I may have now is that I can’t keep my skinny behind in the seat with the standard belts due to the new cornering forces. </TD></TR></TABLE>
A CG Lock will solve that problem at its inexpensive too.

 

yup - try the CG lock - it's a quick fix to the sliding out of the seat problem. What I did before trying the cg lock (and what i still think works great for a stock car) is this: Recline the seat fully back and plug the seatbelt in normally. pull it snug on your lap and holding that, give the shoulder belt a quick jerk so to lock it in place. Then recline the seatback up so you squish yourself between the locked seatbelt and seat. It works wonders as long as you dont get too tight. Takes a couple tries to get your seat position and locked in correctly. But it's ghetto and free.

grats on the R-comps btw