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1G AutoX - Pittsburgh

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Ajwit87

10+ Year Contributor
57
13
Oct 1, 2011
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hey guys, now that my project has been finished and I've run a couple of local events with it, I figured I'd make a post about the car.
I have a 1990 Talon AWD, I run the car in Street Modified (SM), and its a hell of a good time.
The engine is a 6Bolt Block w/ a 7Bolt head, Evo3 16g, 560cc, Walboro 190, FuelLab AFPR, 3" GM MAF w/ Translator, WG Dump Tube, 2.5" Straight.
The interior has had everything behind the front seats removed, as well as the A/C Evaporator. I replaced the front seats with NRG buckets, and racing harnesses replacing the stock seat belt restraint system. The car weighs 2760 in race trim, no driver and half a tank.
It sits on 17x9 +22 Enkei RPF1's wrapped in 245/40 Hoosier A7's. Installed are Megan Racing Coilovers (F12k, R10k), an ST Suspension Rear Sway Bar, and Jay Racing Toe Eliminator Soild Bushings.
Alignment settings are:
Front Camber -4.4* Toe .05 Out
Rear Camber -2.7* Toe .10 Out

The car handles absolutely amazing while Autocrossing. This past weekend I finished 4th in overall Raw Time out of 120 drivers. That was just a local event though, Pittsburgh International Race Complex is hosting the Tire Rack Match Tour this upcoming weekend, so I'll really get to see where I and the car sits on a national level.

If anyone out there also using their DSM for AutoX, please send me a message or reply here. I'd love to see what settings you have found success with and maybe meet up for an event.

Wish me luck this weekend, I can use all I can get!

-AJ

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Cool to see a 1g autocrossing again, been a while since I've seen one.

I was about to suggest you ballast up to minimum weight, but you are on 245's, so carry on.

If you have removed all your interior behind the front seats you might want to put it back though, in SM only the rear seats are allowed to be removed.

Don't get too discouraged when my buddy Mike crushes your dreams with his RS, I think he is running 315's or 335's now. If you talk to him tell him Sam says to take it easy on you guys.
 
Love it. More pictures please. Ever consider fender flares?

I have considered them, but I wanna keep it as stock looking as possible for now, they may find their way on next season.

Cool to see a 1g autocrossing again, been a while since I've seen one.

Yeah man, minimum weight was 2880, but with narrower than 275, I’m plenty enough away from the 2680 minimum.
I guess I should of clarified, I left all the plastics back there. I removed the rear seats, spare tire, hatch carpet piece, and then reocated an AGM Battery to the hatch area.
Oh you know Mike Aversa, never heard of him, he’s probably a rookie or something. When I see him I’ll tell him that you say hello. He’s definitely the favorite to win SM this weekend.
 
Excellent! Good luck. You should come out to the Finger Lakes Tour in upstate NY in June. I'll be there in my STU Evo. No Talon until next year.

What was your PAX at that local? And, how did you overcome the 1g steering cut?
 
What day and time is it, I might have to go.

Test and Tune is tomorrow (Friday).
Main event is Saturday.
However, the event sold out last month. You wouldn’t be able to participate, but you could certainly spectate.

Excellent!
What was your PAX at that local? And, how did you overcome the 1g steering cut?

24 overall in PAX, we have some fast Street class drivers. And I haven’t hit steering cut, so I wouldn’t know the answer.
 
I'll have to keep an eye out for you. I don't do many competitive autox events since my car wasn't built to a class, but I try to get to as many of the low key autox sessions at PittRace as I can. I'm also there a few times a year for HPDE.
 
My update from the event this past weekend:

The car felt great, but it was a little loose in the rear. I could install a giant rear wing to add some downforce and get it to stick better, so that's now on my radar but not a priority yet.
We got three runs in the morning, it was about 45 degrees and had been raining just before we started our heat.

First run, I spun out and hit a couple of cones after a long straight allowed for some speed and I attempted to trail brake the turn. Lesson learned there.
Second run, felt fast! I was cruising along and gaining confidence, so much so, that I spun 180* about 3/4 of the way through. I didn't hit anything, so after coming to a backwards stop, I went back to first gear and continued my run. The run counted, and gave me a time of 54.9xx.
Third run, I knew it had to be clean or I was toast. I drove a little conservative through the first half, then started to pick it up late. AND THEN...the clutch started slipping a bit and didn't feel right. I managed to cross the line with a 53.4xx.

BUT, after crossing the line, I couldn't get the car out of gear. I limped it over to our paddock area and was a bit disappointed. That's when I learned that I either destroyed the clutch, or the throw out bearing let loose. I could only shift into gear with the engine off, so my weekend in the car was over.
The leading guys in my class (SM), were around a 48 second time, third place was around 50.5-51. I felt like I would of had third place time on my second run if I didn't lose the rear end.
I ordered a new clutch kit, ACT HD 6-Puck, which I'll throw in later this week.
If the pivot ball and fork look good, then I'll get the break-in miles done over the next week and I'll be back racing the following weekend.

I'd still like to see one or more of you guys out at an event, they're a blast!
Better luck next time for me.
 
Im a fair weather racer and that includes spectating, after years of racing moto I put up with every condition known to man and the coldest and wettest that there is, never missed a race, so I paid my dues as far as Im concerned, enough of the crappy weather. I will come out for one when its decent weather, just keep this updated with dates that you will be there, raced shifter karts at that track before, nice place!
 
Thanks for the details about your setup. Question for you, though. I'm curious what setup you are using that allows you to get that much negative camber in the front? I believe my ground control camber plates only allowed me to get about -2.5 to -3 degrees in the front.

Hope you get the car back on the road quickly.
 
Thanks for the details about your setup. Question for you, though. I'm curious what setup you are using that allows you to get that much negative camber in the front?

I only had -1.5 with the coilovers after intial install. I machined out the lower mounting hole 3mm, then applied a load to the bottom of the hub before tightening the bolts to 100 ft/lbs. After a few events, the nuts/bolts are still at the same torque, and no movement has been detected.

I will come out for one when its decent weather, just keep this updated with dates that you will be there, raced shifter karts at that track before, nice place!

The next event that I will be attending will be on May 20th at North Park. Steel Cities Region (PittRace location), doesn't have another one scheduled until early June.
 
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If the rain stays away, I’ll be at PittRace this Sunday, June 30th.

I dialed the front camber back to -3 degrees, it will allow me to run my wheels/tires without spacers and I’ll get to see if the -4 plus degrees was needed.

If anyone is considering it, you’ll get to meet a large group of like minded racers, and probably walk away with some new friends. Registration closes at 9:30am on the morning of.
 
I'll be at PittRace on the 30th for an HPDE with AutoInterests. Did you mean Saturday or Sunday?
 
I'll be at PittRace on the 30th for an HPDE with AutoInterests. Did you mean Saturday or Sunday?

I meant that I would be there Sunday June 24th. Apparently I can't type dates accurately. I will be out of town that weekend, so I won't be able to make that one. Next event for me is in Central PA at the Mid-State Airport, they host an annual event called the Cone Killer Classic. It's a two day event at the airport, about a 70 second course. Both days are not required though, if you could only make one. We have a group that we send up, its a great time.
 
Cool to see someone racing a 1g. I raced my 1g in STX for all of 2017. The whole new "STH" class thing turned me off for this year. Maybe I'll look closer at SM though. LA region is tough though. A lot of the top guys in the nation race here. Have you done caster bushings yet? Those help with braking a ton. I actually welded up some custom lower control arms to try and get more camber/caster but the axles aren't long enough for how aggressive I went with them. I believe oem is like 1.5 degrees of caster and you can get to 2.5 with the polyurethane bushings available on the market. My target was 7 degrees with 3.5 degrees of camber. I run the same ST rear bar, stock evo 8 shocks on all four corners (they have like 80k miles on them) and some cut evo lowering springs. I feel like the car was about 2 seconds off the pace of the class leaders by the end of the season with a good driver, but that's not me.
 
Cool to see someone racing a 1g. I raced my 1g in STX for all of 2017. The whole new "STH" class thing turned me off for this year. Maybe I'll look closer at SM though. LA region is tough though. A lot of the top guys in the nation race here. Have you done caster bushings yet? Those help with braking a ton. I actually welded up some custom lower control arms to try and get more camber/caster but the axles aren't long enough for how aggressive I went with them. I believe oem is like 1.5 degrees of caster and you can get to 2.5 with the polyurethane bushings available on the market. My target was 7 degrees with 3.5 degrees of camber. I run the same ST rear bar, stock evo 8 shocks on all four corners (they have like 80k miles on them) and some cut evo lowering springs. I feel like the car was about 2 seconds off the pace of the class leaders by the end of the season with a good driver, but that's not me.

More info on evo shocks please. Like what springs gave what ride height. Pictures would be great. Thanks
 
Cool to see someone racing a 1g. I raced my 1g in STX for all of 2017. The whole new "STH" class thing turned me off for this year. Maybe I'll look closer at SM though.

Nice to see that there is someone else out there. I haven’t played with the caster much, the car feels good now. SM is an animal all it’s all, 305 Hoosiers are the norm, and you need 300whp+ to keep up. Plus gutting a car as far as the rules let you doesn’t leave much left for comfort. I would stick with STH if you’re still legal there. Throw on a set of 245/40/17 RE71R’s and go to work. A lot less money to play in STH as well. Good luck with whichever decision you choose.
 
The springs I used were swift springs for the evo. I believe they have a couple different sets and I can't remember which one I picked but I let spring rate dictate my choice. Remember the motion ratio of the evo in the rear is different then the 1g so it's a good option if you are trying to get the car to rotate. I had to cut 2 or 3 coils off each spring to get the ride height to what I considered acceptable. My co-driver thinks the car should be another inch or so lower but we occasionally hit the bump stops and don't have the spring rate to really go any lower. The shocks are just the stock evo 8 gsr shocks. I'm aware of the stigma that cut springs have and I have no interest in having that conversation.

As for staying in STH, it doesn't make any sense. STH was created to appease some people who couldn't handle getting beaten by turbo cars and refused to believe they weren't cheating. The two additional rules that STH adds over STX won't help me, so I'll just be racing with faster cars. I expect the class to die soon as well anyways. I designed the exhaust on my car to have as little boost creep as possible. It's a 2.75" system with the wastegate recirculation about 12 inches down from the turbine outlet. Nevertheless, the car runs around 13 psi of boost. With the stock injectors I see 100% IDC at around 5500 rpm. By 7500 rpm I'm at 14.8:1 AFR on the wideband. I'm probably making around 270 crank, while the 2015 WRX's and 2012 VW Golf R's are capable of making 400hp in STH trim. I imagine I lost around 2 full seconds to my new competition on a standard course. I was thinking some good shocks would help me pick up the approximately 2 seconds I was short to the BRZs/RX8s that lead STX but I just don't see the car being able to make up for a 100+ hp deficit. The way I see it, it doesn't matter what class I race in since I can't win anywhere. I race in the same region as Tom Berry so ASP is a laughable premise even if the evo 9's didn't have a power advantage over a 1g. At least if I move to ASP or SM I won't be generating insanely high EGTs on these third gear courses. At this point I'm focusing on other projects and haven't raced the car once this year. I'll wait and see if the SCCA backtracks on this whole STH nonsense.

I am currently running RE71Rs. The car pulls a full tenth of a G more on the 2017 spec RE71Rs than the 2015 spec Hankook RS-3's I was running previously.
 
Interesting points, but I still believe you'd be more competitive in ST trim for less money/work than you'd be in SP or SM. SP/SM requires Hoosier A7's, a real suspension setup to pair with the A7's, considerable weight reduction, aero, and alot of POWAAA! So after you spend $2k-3k, and remove a bunch of convenience items, you'll have a car like mine. :ohdamn:

Or the last and probably best option for you, do whatever you want to the car and just have fun. Hoosiers are a blast btw!
 
Yeah I'm more interested in getting my XP starion running than making my 1g competitive at the moment. Going to ASP would allow me to put all the mods I have in the garage for the car on it and make most of the power I would make if I maxed the car out. Also it would solve a good deal of the overheating issue since I would no longer be running so lean.
 
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