A week ago at the autocross I ran some pretty respectable times. It was only my second event and I had the quickest time of the event (two days) in novice but placed fifth. Then I found out that if I put on my stock exhaust manifold on and took off the MSD SCI it would have put me finishing first. To be competitive in autocross (with an R) it seems that stock is the way to go. However, you can run exhaust and shocks. My question to you guys is this, does a DC 4-1 header and MSD ignition make a hell of a difference in a race that seldom reaches speeds of 60 or so? From what I've read the header (4-1) helps high rpm power. Is the stock manifold more torque friendly at low to mid rpm? I raise this question in the ITR forum because I feel I need feedback from fellow ITR owners.

 

Well first what you need to do is decide what class you want to run. In stock class you can't run the header anyway so its a moot point. The advantage of the stock class is that you'll only need the shocks and R-tires (maybe some light wheels too). After that its all driving.

If you want to run STX (the next class in prep) you'll need coilovers, and in addition you are allowed swaybars, I/H/E, and I believe camber plates. More cost in parts but you can only run street tires so you can run the same tires for the street and autox.

I'm not sure about the torque curves for the DC 4-1 or any of the other high perf headers but you should be able to find them if you search for them.

 

Most of autocross is the driver. Obviously, some cars will handle better than other cars, but I have seen a person in a Lincoln Town Car with race tires pull better times than people in sports cars.

Work on your driving first and then your car.

 

MSD ignition probably isn't helping you much anyway. Get rid of it.

 

I agree
get rid of the MSD