mavisky
DSM Wiseman
- 5,390
- 62
- Sep 13, 2002
-
Atlanta,
Georgia
Off-season.
During the offseason the car underwent a load of minor tweaks and changes along with a few major ones. The car first got a solid "going-through" over the winter months receiving a new set of urethane bushings (still waiting to install just a few) as well as a set of new balljoints and tie rod ends. I'll say that this alone made a large change in the response of the vehicle. I also took the time to rebuild the brake calipers both front and rear to try to improve reliability. While going through the bushings on the rear suspension I took the time to cut a piece of 1/8" steel and weld it up to the rear panhard
bar to help strengthen it's rather weak design.
The biggest change this offseason though came from a new sponsorship.
I'm proud to be the first member of the public running a new prototype suspension from Disturbed Racing Products. A big thanks goes out to Jason Mertes for his hard work and dedication to the dsm scene, many of you on this site know jason better as Elvenhome21. The new suspension consists of top notch products. Koni Yellow shock absorbers, custom adjustable spring perches utilizing 2.5" id Hypercoil springs, and custom designed camber/caster plates. Unfortunately we're still in the design and testing process of the camber caster plates so I wasn"t able to utilize them at this first event, but we were
able to settle on some killer spring rates that are helping keep the car very neutral given it's current setup. Before on the Eibach Sportlines and KYB AGX's I was stuck with springs that were too soft and shocks that were too stiff. This led the car to lean over and plow in corners and to be easily upset over the slightest bump in the road or corner. With this setup the car stays flat, but abosrbs each bump as it moves onto the next smooth patch of pavement. Calling the difference night and day wouldn't even be fair. It's monumental.
I'm still on the stock sized Falken's for the street and with the treadwear growing ever thin on them I decided to switch back to SM on some old 225/50-16 Khumo V700's. These are the exact same tires that were used on Josh Forbing's laser to record the record time in the DSM Shootout stock class. The problem is that these tires are also mounted on stock 16x6.5" laser wheels which are not only heavy, but skinny. Far from the best solution, but merely temporary until the new wider rubber is ordered. Okay so onto the race finally.Sunday morning.
The fun thing about driving your car to events and running on race rubber is trying to get the tires there in the first place. I'll be the first to tell you that there's not much room in a talon for 4 wheels and tires, tools, jacks, helmets, and everything else you'd want for a day of autox'ing. After showing up nice and early though I had the car ready to run. I've started doing Tech this season which I think is an important, but also fun role in SCCA Autox. First off I get to take an upclose look at almost every vehicle on the lot that day as I tech them in, but I also get done with my work assignment early which clears the rest of the day for racing and enjoying the time with friends instead of standing out shagging cones all day.
The course was a near mirror of the first event of the year (which I skipped as the course was covered in patches of snow and ice until it thawed around midday). The course started out with an immediated left hand 90 degree turn into an optional 3 cone slalom. The fast line for most of the non-racecars was to stick to the left of the first cone essentially making it a 1 cone slalom. Take the car up to about 15 in first, short shift to second as you lift to turn at the center cone and hard throttle in second to the first hairpin of the day, a 180 degree right hander. This was a very sharp corner and in the first run of the day I attempted to hold second gear, but this left me way down on power going into the twisty straightaway, the fast setup was to go to first midcorner and make a drag style shift mid straight into second before getting hard on the brakes for a quick right left chicane. This spot caught a few people out as you would turn to the left, crest a hill, and have to turn to the right. Too stiff and you'd understeer, too soft and the car would go all wobbly and not turn in properly. Once you'd managed to clear the ridge though you had a slightly uphill run into a 7 cone slalom. Once again the fast line was to start to the left, but the tricky setup guys had shortened the distance between the last two cones by 4 paces. So just when you had a rythym you had to lift a bit more to make the last cone.
Once clearing the last cone of the slalom you had a simple off-camber 90degree right hander with a narrower exit than entrance to reign everyone's speed in at the far end of the lot. Braking for this zone was done probably around the 45-50mph mark. Through the turn in second still and you were on a short chute to another 180 degree right hand hairpin, this one just as sharp as the first. So once again it's back down to first gear again or you lose all momentum. It's times like this I regret the move to the 18g, as I think I could keep a 14b on boil here. Following another short chute you come to a wider left hand 180. Here I'd lift to turn in and upshift to second and pedal the car
through the corner to get the turbo online. Once you cleared this corner it was an increasing radius 90 degree right hander back towards a final set of right and then a left hand 180 in first gear over the roughest part of the course. Here was where you could really feel the new suspension's difference in the way it could absorb these bumps. We ran similar 180's last season over what are now known as the railroad tracks. The difference in the car's response is phenomenal over this series of bumps. Once clearing that last 180, we had a final very tight 3 cone slalom before crossing the finish line.
Unfortunately for me there's no competition in SM today for some reason. None of the regulars are around so I'm left running a gutted Suzuki Swift GT with some suspension work, all season Khumo's, and he never runs faster than my slowest DNF unfortunately on raw times.
First run - New suspension, new tires, new bushings, wow. I ended up taking along a friend as a rider just to give him one, but also because I knew this first run was going to be an interesting ride. Cleared the first slalom, first hairpin, and while braking from 50mph I turned in while still on the brakes and the ass steps out. Catch it, but I just take out the cones to my right instead of the cones to the left. DNF for the first run, but we push it through the rest of the course and it seems to respond well.
Second run - With the passenger out of the vehicle and a clear mind, and a slight inkling as to what this car may do on this run I prepare to head out. Tire pressures grew alot in the last run so I had to drop them back down to 45psi. Car leaves the line clean, makes the shifts, gets into first gear and makes a clean pass through the course. It feels good in teh slalom's and fairly neutral in the corners, but still understeering. With only a set of camber bolts on the car I can't get near enough negative camber and I'm dying for those plates right now. The run is clean though and I bring home a solid 56.342.
Third run - Another smooth run, but it all goes to hell at the end of the slalom as that last one catches me out and I nearly loop it. Save it from a few fishtails and I cross the finish ine heavy one cone and a 58.747. I caught the last cone on the passenger side and it tuck on the side exit. Destroyed the cone and left a few nice streaks on the side of the car I'll get to buff off later I'm sure.
Fourth run - Everything's smooth and fast here, get through the slaloms fairly clean, come into the increasing radius right hander and poor on the power. Tires start to spin but she's still pulling and still turning so I stay in it. Hit the brakes to try and get slowed down the for 180 and i get nothing. I'd overheated the tires trying to accelerate and turn and they instantly go to goo and I've got no stopping ability. I plow through a few cones at the end of the straight, and a few more getting back on course.
Fifth run - This was going to be my run, but the car gets squirrely in the same spot as the irst run and I clip a cone on the inside. Hearing the cone hit I get angry and proceed to verdrive the car through every corner and manage to pick up a second cone on the final slalom.
Sixth run - Having calmed down and gathered myself I take some time to just strap on he helmet and focus on where I need to be faster, and where I need to be slower to make it through clean and quick. Everything goes pretty good here, miss a few braking zones and n apex or two, but the car turns in a clean 55.626, almost 5 seconds faster than the Suzuki in my class.
I of course win my class, but not against anything really competitive. In comparing my car's times to the street mod street tire class I finished ahead of everyone but last year's solo director in a borrowed 2.5rs with a JDM V7 sti swap in it. I figure the tires on this course were probably worth around a second, but without the camber I wanted I could probably get a good portion of that back even on the wider street tires as these Khumo's are skinny and worn. It's a good start for the season and I can't be happier with what Jason's set me up with as it's really made this car competitive and once I can get some camber and caster into it she'll really be dialed in. Right now the alignment is simply eyeballed as it'll change in a week or two anyways, so I know the current setup is far from perfect, maybe good at best for the first guess on shock settings, spring height adjustments, and toe settings.
Pics to come hopefully, and I'm also hoping for some video by next round with my new camera setup, just need to finish the suction mount for it.
During the offseason the car underwent a load of minor tweaks and changes along with a few major ones. The car first got a solid "going-through" over the winter months receiving a new set of urethane bushings (still waiting to install just a few) as well as a set of new balljoints and tie rod ends. I'll say that this alone made a large change in the response of the vehicle. I also took the time to rebuild the brake calipers both front and rear to try to improve reliability. While going through the bushings on the rear suspension I took the time to cut a piece of 1/8" steel and weld it up to the rear panhard
bar to help strengthen it's rather weak design.
The biggest change this offseason though came from a new sponsorship.
I'm proud to be the first member of the public running a new prototype suspension from Disturbed Racing Products. A big thanks goes out to Jason Mertes for his hard work and dedication to the dsm scene, many of you on this site know jason better as Elvenhome21. The new suspension consists of top notch products. Koni Yellow shock absorbers, custom adjustable spring perches utilizing 2.5" id Hypercoil springs, and custom designed camber/caster plates. Unfortunately we're still in the design and testing process of the camber caster plates so I wasn"t able to utilize them at this first event, but we were
able to settle on some killer spring rates that are helping keep the car very neutral given it's current setup. Before on the Eibach Sportlines and KYB AGX's I was stuck with springs that were too soft and shocks that were too stiff. This led the car to lean over and plow in corners and to be easily upset over the slightest bump in the road or corner. With this setup the car stays flat, but abosrbs each bump as it moves onto the next smooth patch of pavement. Calling the difference night and day wouldn't even be fair. It's monumental.
I'm still on the stock sized Falken's for the street and with the treadwear growing ever thin on them I decided to switch back to SM on some old 225/50-16 Khumo V700's. These are the exact same tires that were used on Josh Forbing's laser to record the record time in the DSM Shootout stock class. The problem is that these tires are also mounted on stock 16x6.5" laser wheels which are not only heavy, but skinny. Far from the best solution, but merely temporary until the new wider rubber is ordered. Okay so onto the race finally.Sunday morning.
The fun thing about driving your car to events and running on race rubber is trying to get the tires there in the first place. I'll be the first to tell you that there's not much room in a talon for 4 wheels and tires, tools, jacks, helmets, and everything else you'd want for a day of autox'ing. After showing up nice and early though I had the car ready to run. I've started doing Tech this season which I think is an important, but also fun role in SCCA Autox. First off I get to take an upclose look at almost every vehicle on the lot that day as I tech them in, but I also get done with my work assignment early which clears the rest of the day for racing and enjoying the time with friends instead of standing out shagging cones all day.
The course was a near mirror of the first event of the year (which I skipped as the course was covered in patches of snow and ice until it thawed around midday). The course started out with an immediated left hand 90 degree turn into an optional 3 cone slalom. The fast line for most of the non-racecars was to stick to the left of the first cone essentially making it a 1 cone slalom. Take the car up to about 15 in first, short shift to second as you lift to turn at the center cone and hard throttle in second to the first hairpin of the day, a 180 degree right hander. This was a very sharp corner and in the first run of the day I attempted to hold second gear, but this left me way down on power going into the twisty straightaway, the fast setup was to go to first midcorner and make a drag style shift mid straight into second before getting hard on the brakes for a quick right left chicane. This spot caught a few people out as you would turn to the left, crest a hill, and have to turn to the right. Too stiff and you'd understeer, too soft and the car would go all wobbly and not turn in properly. Once you'd managed to clear the ridge though you had a slightly uphill run into a 7 cone slalom. Once again the fast line was to start to the left, but the tricky setup guys had shortened the distance between the last two cones by 4 paces. So just when you had a rythym you had to lift a bit more to make the last cone.
Once clearing the last cone of the slalom you had a simple off-camber 90degree right hander with a narrower exit than entrance to reign everyone's speed in at the far end of the lot. Braking for this zone was done probably around the 45-50mph mark. Through the turn in second still and you were on a short chute to another 180 degree right hand hairpin, this one just as sharp as the first. So once again it's back down to first gear again or you lose all momentum. It's times like this I regret the move to the 18g, as I think I could keep a 14b on boil here. Following another short chute you come to a wider left hand 180. Here I'd lift to turn in and upshift to second and pedal the car
through the corner to get the turbo online. Once you cleared this corner it was an increasing radius 90 degree right hander back towards a final set of right and then a left hand 180 in first gear over the roughest part of the course. Here was where you could really feel the new suspension's difference in the way it could absorb these bumps. We ran similar 180's last season over what are now known as the railroad tracks. The difference in the car's response is phenomenal over this series of bumps. Once clearing that last 180, we had a final very tight 3 cone slalom before crossing the finish line.
Unfortunately for me there's no competition in SM today for some reason. None of the regulars are around so I'm left running a gutted Suzuki Swift GT with some suspension work, all season Khumo's, and he never runs faster than my slowest DNF unfortunately on raw times.
First run - New suspension, new tires, new bushings, wow. I ended up taking along a friend as a rider just to give him one, but also because I knew this first run was going to be an interesting ride. Cleared the first slalom, first hairpin, and while braking from 50mph I turned in while still on the brakes and the ass steps out. Catch it, but I just take out the cones to my right instead of the cones to the left. DNF for the first run, but we push it through the rest of the course and it seems to respond well.
Second run - With the passenger out of the vehicle and a clear mind, and a slight inkling as to what this car may do on this run I prepare to head out. Tire pressures grew alot in the last run so I had to drop them back down to 45psi. Car leaves the line clean, makes the shifts, gets into first gear and makes a clean pass through the course. It feels good in teh slalom's and fairly neutral in the corners, but still understeering. With only a set of camber bolts on the car I can't get near enough negative camber and I'm dying for those plates right now. The run is clean though and I bring home a solid 56.342.
Third run - Another smooth run, but it all goes to hell at the end of the slalom as that last one catches me out and I nearly loop it. Save it from a few fishtails and I cross the finish ine heavy one cone and a 58.747. I caught the last cone on the passenger side and it tuck on the side exit. Destroyed the cone and left a few nice streaks on the side of the car I'll get to buff off later I'm sure.
Fourth run - Everything's smooth and fast here, get through the slaloms fairly clean, come into the increasing radius right hander and poor on the power. Tires start to spin but she's still pulling and still turning so I stay in it. Hit the brakes to try and get slowed down the for 180 and i get nothing. I'd overheated the tires trying to accelerate and turn and they instantly go to goo and I've got no stopping ability. I plow through a few cones at the end of the straight, and a few more getting back on course.
Fifth run - This was going to be my run, but the car gets squirrely in the same spot as the irst run and I clip a cone on the inside. Hearing the cone hit I get angry and proceed to verdrive the car through every corner and manage to pick up a second cone on the final slalom.
Sixth run - Having calmed down and gathered myself I take some time to just strap on he helmet and focus on where I need to be faster, and where I need to be slower to make it through clean and quick. Everything goes pretty good here, miss a few braking zones and n apex or two, but the car turns in a clean 55.626, almost 5 seconds faster than the Suzuki in my class.
I of course win my class, but not against anything really competitive. In comparing my car's times to the street mod street tire class I finished ahead of everyone but last year's solo director in a borrowed 2.5rs with a JDM V7 sti swap in it. I figure the tires on this course were probably worth around a second, but without the camber I wanted I could probably get a good portion of that back even on the wider street tires as these Khumo's are skinny and worn. It's a good start for the season and I can't be happier with what Jason's set me up with as it's really made this car competitive and once I can get some camber and caster into it she'll really be dialed in. Right now the alignment is simply eyeballed as it'll change in a week or two anyways, so I know the current setup is far from perfect, maybe good at best for the first guess on shock settings, spring height adjustments, and toe settings.
Pics to come hopefully, and I'm also hoping for some video by next round with my new camera setup, just need to finish the suction mount for it.
.
