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Critique this autox run

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silvreclips

15+ Year Contributor
1,281
348
Jul 19, 2005
Greenville, South_Carolina
Here is my best autox run from this weekend. Rain and lightning ended the event early so I wasn't able to beat my second run. This run was with 1 cone, I think it was the first cone on the right. The suspension could be a lot better, the car has old tokico springs and illumina struts on it, poly bushings, rear swap bar. This event I changed the alignment to 1/8" toe out in the front and about 1/16" toe out in the rear. It seemed to help the car turn in much better.

Some advice from the pros would be great. Still managed to grab 1st in SMF.

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You're inputs were a little late. Don't be afraid to be more aggressive in getting the car to dance. Otherwise it looked good. Do you have a front LSD? It would be a big help.

Toe in up front and toe out in the rear is a little backwards. Usually, you toe out the front and either zero or toe in the rear to help with oversteer. Have you tried any toe out up front? It should make the front end more responsive.
 
You're inputs were a little late. Don't be afraid to be more aggressive in getting the car to dance. Otherwise it looked good. Do you have a front LSD? It would be a big help.

Toe in up front and toe out in the rear is a little backwards. Usually, you toe out the front and either zero or toe in the rear to help with oversteer. Have you tried any toe out up front? It should make the front end more responsive.

Thanks for the response, I think you may have misread my alignment settings. Currently the car is set to 1/8 toe out up front. It did help the car to be more responsive. I was aiming for 0 toe in the rear but over shot it some and ended up with some toe out.

No LSD at the moment. That's something I would like to add over the winter if I can find one. None are being made anymore.

Are you saying all of my inputs were late? I thought the first 1/2 of the run looked pretty good and tight, and I got a little late on the second half.

I'll upload another video from a few weeks back and see what you think about that one. Thanks again for the feedback
 
The latter half of the run is where I started noticing it.

I'm assuming you're in SM since I can hear the bov flutter. Getting an LSD should be priority number 1. It sounds like you're lighting up the front almost every chance you get to throttle out.

Awesome job and keep up the good work!
 
This is a 420a car, so the turbo put me right into SMF with a bunch of stripped out civics. I keep the boost low enough (17psi) that I can hook up 2nd, but 1st gear just spins.

Here is a video from the last night series event. I was pretty far off the cones on most corners. The car was wanting to push really bad (reason for trying the new alignment), and the rear was getting loose on some of those off camber transitions. The lot is not that great.

The good thing about these night series events, they run the same track configuration all year, so I can work on the same elements and play around with the car some to see what works and what doesn't.

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On the first video I noticed you had a bit more room to track out on the exit of a couple turns, but it's likely that bit you lost there you partially made up for with being well positioned for the next turn. Obviously, the less lateral forces the tires have to endure turning the car, the more that is left on the table for acceleration. Overall, I thought it was pretty good.

The second video you were on a very different course, not only in the course shape, but in the style in which is was laid out. These types can be a little trickier (particularly for those who aren't used to the sparse number of cones) when you get into the quicker sections because a lot of people are fixated on the fast approaching cone that's in front of them and not looking ahead to the next cone. I think if you focus on the NEXT cone once you've established a certain line to the nearest cone, you'll find you will be on the throttle longer and your inputs will be smoother because you won't have have that split second delay while your brain identifies the next cone, determines which side you have approach it, and how you're going to make adjustments to do all of that. You'll already have the figured out before you exit the cone prior. Obviously, I can't know what you're thinking, but the on/off throttle input and late setup for a couple turns leads me to believe this might be an area for improvement.

Most of my successful AutoX events were not because I had a good car, but because my brain was one or two cones ahead of most of my competitors. Food for thought. Keep up the great work out there!
 
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For me it's hard to really critique autocross runs from a single cam angle like you've got (unless there is a something obvious).
At the night event, other than the 90 turn at the back end of the lot where you can hear the front tires as the car understeers, the run doesn't look too bad.
I usually put a GoPro on each rear quarter panel, so you can see both wheels and how close you get on each side to the cones. Sometimes I do the reverse angle, not as useful, but this one shows how close you want to be to the cones:
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What is funny is I recognize both event sites from your videos, I did an event at the Franklin site on 8/12/17, and at the Ag center on 8/27/02. I've only done 4 events in NC, all at different sites (the others being Z-Max in 2014 and the last ever Autocross they did on a public street at Bele Chere in 2010 when my stock seat broke). All in different classes too; DS, ESP, STU and STX .
 
I personally wouldn't be overly concerned with how close to the cones you get. That will come naturally as you get faster.
 
Thanks for the advice guys!

@802Hoop , over the years it's been beat into my head to always cut distance whenever possible. 9 times out of 10 taking adding distance is never quicker. Now most of my friends have miatas... I'm starting to think that this may not always be the case with a turbo car. These courses are tight in places and I'm getting back on the throttle at 2k and it takes forever for the turbo to get going. I was running a E316g, tried a 14b in a 6cm housing. And now have the 16g in the 6cm housing.

I have noticed a few other turbo cars going wide on some of the tight 90s to try and keep the speed up. I don't know if it's faster or not.


@ileagleracing , that's cool that you have raced in this area before. Did you use to live down here?
 
You guys ever set up cones in an empty parking lot for practice? That's what I'm going to start doing soon...

I've never done that. If I had access to a large lot that I could set something like that up and not get arrested, I would go for it.
 
You guys ever set up cones in an empty parking lot for practice? That's what I'm going to start doing soon...

I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you get permission from the site owner. That is called Criminal Trespass, don't ask me how I know this. Talk to one of the local regions (TVR or TAC up in Huntsville or Alabama Region) about doing a test and tune event, I'm pretty sure TAC does schedule test and tune events.

@ileagleracing , that's cool that you have raced in this area before. Did you use to live down here?

I lived in Alabama for a while, a long time ago, sometimes I go back, and like to hit an autox or 2 on the way.
 
I haven't seen that one before. Good find.
There are a few other brands I found online, this one had the most details about the mechanical interworkings but was also the most expensive at 1200. The cheapest was an amazon one that was also name brand for around 250. Hope this helps
 
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