So this is my first season of autocross, and I've been to a couple events already and getting to know my car better already. In my class though I keep having this huge gap I want to close in on between me getting 2nd and me getting 1st, about 2-3 seconds so far. I was thinking about ordering coilovers and struts since that would make my car handle better and I would still be in the same class, but some of the guys I go with who've atuocrossed alot longer are telling me not to since I'll never really learn how to drive my car that way. So even though the car would handle better, I wouldn't be able to handle it as well they think. What's your opinions? Stock suspension and learn or upgrade and learn?

 

The guys who are telling you to leave the car alone are righting. Throwing money at the car to close the gap while you are still a beginner is only going to hinder your driving.

Leave the car alone the rest of the year, its the best way to learn.

 

Keep it stock the first year.

 

keep it stock for the first year,


Second year keep it stock too....and become a go driver on one elses car.

 

As a different suggest I say don't leave it stock if you don't want to. Have fun with the car. Read, read, and read more and gain knowledge before you buy your parts though. Most likely you'll have to replace some with different parts down the road as you learn what works, but experience with changing parts on your car is very valuable. If I had just kept my car stock and worked on driving only like most people say here I would not have any of the setup knowledge I have today. There is so much to learn in this sport that experimentation is never bad IMO as long as you learn from it.

I started out learning by moding my car. Didn't seem to hurt my learning curve at all.

edit: Also another reason. Even when you can drive somewhat fast and good it pretty much sucks driving a stock car most of the time. Its not much fun even if you pull off the fastest run of your life.

 

Are you driving a GS-R? Do you want to remain in stock class?

There are a couple of things to consider. What do you hope to gain by autocrossing? Some folks love to tinker with their cars, and the driving is perhaps just as important to them as wrenching. Others love to drive, and wrenching is something they do to maintain the car.

It sounds like you are one of the later mentioned, so it would seem that concentrating on the driving aspect is what your focused on. Sure you could probably become faster by performing a few modifications to your car, but you can also become faster by tightening the "nut behind the wheel".

I would suggest riding with the guy who is beating you by 2-3 seconds. Ask him to drive your car and see what techniques you can pick up. You may also want to consider throwing a couple hundred dollars into a Evolution Driving School.

So really at this point, seat time is your friend. Seat time can be driving or riding along with others. I've gained two seconds after riding with an instructor, and it didn't cost me anything.

As far as modifying is concerned, your next step in changing your car would be to determine what class you want to run in. THEN modify your car for that class. Sometimes that might mean, depending how competitive you want to be, and/or if you want to run in National level event, to consider another platform.
I'm guessing you're in Stock Class now. You could replace worn bushings, you could purchase adjustable Konis, you could even purchase R-Compound tires.

Another route is to modify the car with Street Touring in mind... I think, if your car is a GR-R, it would be in STS. Then, yes, coil-overs, header, exhaust, and a decent street tire (Azenis... etc.) would be a way to direct your focus. The benefit to STS is not necessarily having to change your tires once at an event.

I think, however, since there is so much to consider, most people encourage new drivers to concentrate on the actual techniques. The reason why is that it's easy to blame the equipment for poor performance, and this is a habit is easy to continue with.

I'd say finish the season with your car as it, or if you need to upgrade as parts wear out, then purchase something with the class you eventually want to run in in mind. The most important thing is to enjoy yourself. For some to enjoy this sport means they also want to be competitive. Others can come out with a car not "built" to the class and have a wonderful time, and not care too much about the score.

There is no wrong answer. Having fun and keep learning.

 

The car club i autox through doesn't go by the normal scca solo II classing, it has it's own which generally goes by solo II but a little different. It assess points to each mod and then puts you in a division in your class. With my intake, header, swaybar, and testpipe I'm in G-prepared which actually has slower times on average than the G stock or G mod classes, so I'm happy with that class. I have decent tires already BFG-g force sports, and was really just debating on the struts/coilovers which i can have and still stay in my class.

So far I'm leaning towards keeping the car how it is as of now and just getting more practice. I do really like the having the guy that keeps beating me drive my car and/or me ride with him once, and the driving school idea.

I think I'll give it another 2 or 3 tries to close the time gap, get more seat time riding with others, and if after another few tries I don't close in any I'll look into suspension again.

 

im in the same boat with road racing.. my first hpde is buttonwillow in aug.. i wanted to get sway/strut bars by then.. how much will that affect my car? enough to throw off my driving since its only 3mo away? my first event is SOW this month and i have little experience, still learning my car in this driving situation. i just have springs/shocks/camber right now.