2006 Subaru Challenge in Maryland **AutoX Meet**

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Very true! You'll probably have a 300hp+ flat 6 in there!

Thanks for the offer. I'll definitely keep it in mind when planning to attend a WDCR event in '07. Btw, if you really want to autoX next weekend (last weekend before the Suby Challenge) and don't mind a drive down I-81, my SCCA club is holding an event just south of Harrisonburg.

Chike

P.S. I got a chance to try out the new tire pressures today and on my third run when I went 70.2, I found that 43psi front and 54psi rear made my car completely neutral in the turns. It definitely felt like both outside tires were gripping in the corners rather than my usual outside front tire washing out...

Chike,
Yeah, I almost forgot that you were going to work with your tire pressures. 54 in the rear tires I think the highest I ever went with my street tires was 50. Glad you found the "sweet spot"!!
-Bill
p.s. thanks for the offer...think I'm going to shoot for the Capitol Auto Club's event this coming Saturday up at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick.

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Chike,
Yeah, I almost forgot that you were going to work with your tire pressures. 54 in the rear tires I think the highest I ever went with my street tires was 50. Glad you found the "sweet spot"!!
-Bill
p.s. thanks for the offer...think I'm going to shoot for the Capitol Auto Club's event this coming Saturday up at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick.

Yeah, when I was PM'ing back n' forth with Tara Knoll (she came 2nd in STX-L at Natl's last year), she ran 40+psi front and 55psi rear on her fastest run. She told me to play with the pressures a little and that's what I did...

1st run: 42psi front, 50psi rear
2nd run: 42psi front, 55psi rear (slightly too loose)
3rd run: 43psi front, 54psi rear
4th run: same as third run (screwed up two corners which killed my time)

Looking back at previous WDCR results, the 7th place finisher Alex Redington (who I was less than 0.2 seconds behind), has finished as high as 5th previously in his 2001 Audi S4 - he's on victoracers so gives up a little to the guys on A6's and V710's.

Yeah, I heard a few people talking about that event at Harry Grove Stadium next weekend. Good luck!

-Chike

[SVXRide]

Post event comments from Sam Strano (course designer)

Time for me to chime in.....

First, let me say that I had a lot of comments from both sides of
the aisle. Some loved it, some didn't and that's ok with me. When
I do courses I want to make you think. Why? Simply put
autocrossing is about driving, and courses that are obvious or just
plain open and don't punish you for a dumb mistakes are too easy to
go fast on. And that doesn't make you a better driver. It doesn't
make you a more well-rounded driver.

Nationals is coming. A large number of us are going, and are going
to do well (we hope). This was a jump-start for competitor's
brains, and not just National competitors either.

Whoever spun twice in the first bit of course.... well, that wasn't
the course's fault, I assure you. There was a ton of room to do
what you pleased.

This was my first course in that lot @ FedEx, but I've done many
national level courses including but not limited to the 2004 Pro
course in the other lot. I did the Peru Pro this year, Peru Tour
last year, Oscoda Pro's and so on. I noticed early on that
Nationals courses are tricky, and decided that when I did courses
I'd use trickery as well so folks learned to drive what they should,
not just what they see.

Look at the course map. Compare it to other courses we've had in
general shape and corner size. Not that much different. What was
different was the visuals and it hung people.

Look at the results. Same names on top you normally see on top.
But I bet you see a bigger spread from top to bottom.

I didn't dislike any of the course this year. Greg has learned a
lot as a course designer and I've liked them better as time went
on. However, I do feel we've often been going a bit quickly
overall. I say that given what happened to my car a month ago, but
felt that way before. Note that I worked hard to avoid that big dip
on the top of the lot.

I'll finish with this thought. I'll refer back to what Greg said
about the 180 and Larry driving. It was easy to flat-foot the
section from the 180 to the 90 by the grass *IF* you weren't greedy
in the 180 and got sucked down the hill. It was a straight, it just
wasn't straight. A straight straight anyone can drive.


-Bill

[TomsSVX]

So, do we have a course map for the the 16th yet??

Tom

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Post event comments from Sam Strano (course designer)

Where did Sam post these comments? SCCA Forums?

[SVXRide]

Chike,
WDCA Yahoo email.

Tom,
No course map yet...my guess is they might post something a day or two before the event..........and then change it once we get there (like last year)
-Bill

[benebob]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Yeah, when I was PM'ing back n' forth with Tara Knoll (she came 2nd in STX-L at Natl's last year), she ran 40+psi front and 55psi rear on her fastest run. She told me to play with the pressures a little and that's what I did...

1st run: 42psi front, 50psi rear
2nd run: 42psi front, 55psi rear (slightly too loose)
3rd run: 43psi front, 54psi rear
4th run: same as third run (screwed up two corners which killed my time)

Looking back at previous WDCR results, the 7th place finisher Alex Redington (who I was less than 0.2 seconds behind), has finished as high as 5th previously in his 2001 Audi S4 - he's on victoracers so gives up a little to the guys on A6's and V710's.

Yeah, I heard a few people talking about that event at Harry Grove Stadium next weekend. Good luck!

-Chike

Chike, don't have the book in front of me but I think you are allowed to be 1/4 inch wider and stay in stock. Might want to try getting a pair of spacers for the front and none for the rear and give that a shot. Should help with Subaru understeer on both ends and won't weaken your front suspension more than a pound or two. Should only cost ya about $10 from a local auto parts place for Mr. Gasket aluminum spacers.

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by benebob

Chike, don't have the book in front of me but I think you are allowed to be 1/4 inch wider and stay in stock. Might want to try getting a pair of spacers for the front and none for the rear and give that a shot. Should help with Subaru understeer on both ends and won't weaken your front suspension more than a pound or two. Should only cost ya about $10 from a local auto parts place for Mr. Gasket aluminum spacers.

Ben,
If memory serves me right, you're right (might be up to 1/2" diff in offset). You just can't change the width of the rim from the stock width.
-Bill

[benebob]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Ben,
If memory serves me right, you're right (might be up to 1/2" diff in offset). You just can't change the width of the rim from the stock width.
-Bill

I think it might be beneficial to him to give it a shot wouldn't you agree? Should help get that rear end to come around a little more while giving a better turn in. Might take some time off in the slalom but only if he hits it perfect in normal situations. I think the average formula is something like .001 for every inch out per cone. No matter I think he'd overcome it elsewhere on the course being wider up there.

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by benebob

I think it might be beneficial to him to give it a shot wouldn't you agree? Should help get that rear end to come around a little more while giving a better turn in. Might take some time off in the slalom but only if he hits it perfect in normal situations. I think the average formula is something like .001 for every inch out per cone. No matter I think he'd overcome it elsewhere on the course being wider up there.

Ben,
Given the way Chike's driving skills are improving, I really think he should try the cross axis, bi-directional inflation technique next......seems to me several winning drivers at Nationals last year used it
-Bill

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by benebob

Chike, don't have the book in front of me but I think you are allowed to be 1/4 inch wider and stay in stock. Might want to try getting a pair of spacers for the front and none for the rear and give that a shot. Should help with Subaru understeer on both ends and won't weaken your front suspension more than a pound or two. Should only cost ya about $10 from a local auto parts place for Mr. Gasket aluminum spacers.

Thanks Ben. I was thinking about doing something along those lines. I checked the rule book and you're right, you can use spacers OR wheels that adjust the stock offset by up to 1/4".

One thing I want to try first is getting my front suspension re-aligned. I'm running -1.1 deg camber (and 0 toe), and I heard that you can get -1.5 deg out of the stock camber bolts...

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Ben,
Given the way Chike's driving skills are improving, I really think he should try the cross axis, bi-directional inflation technique next......seems to me several winning drivers at Nationals last year used it
-Bill

I've only heard of this technique in passing. Please explain. Does this inflation technique work for just awd cars, or on fwd, awd & rwd cars alike?

Btw, my winter mods will be a spare set of wheels and KYB AGX shocks (budget can't absorb Konis). When February or March hits, I'll put an order in for a set of A6's/710's. The '07 season should be very interesting!

Chike

P.S. What's involved in a corner balancing and how much does it typically cost?

[SVXRide]

Chike,
I was kidding (file this one under "old Tom's" 'gift' of a large bag of potatoes at the drag races...)

On the serious side, corner weighting is only a "gee, that's interesting" exercise unless you've got coilovers. With coilovers you can actually adjust each "corner" of the car. This said, I did have my car weighed last year when they had Longacre scales at FedEx and found that my car was really well balanced corner to corner. Now that the battery is in the trunk it should be almost a perfect balance.

-Bill

[svxfiles]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Now that the battery is in the trunk, and the nuggets are in a jar by the door, it should be almost a perfect balance.

-Bill

Heh,heh,heh.

[Hocrest]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Chike,
I was kidding

Aw... Come on Bill, you killed off the joke way to soon....

Bill: Let's go on a snipe hunt.
Chike: What's a snipe?
Bill: Just joking

You're supposed to explain what a snipe is, then review the hunt procedure, then get him lost in the woods before you sneak back to camp, then wait for him to return and let him know what a "snipe hunt" is...

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by svxfiles

Heh,heh,heh.

bite me!





(I haven't driven the minivan in a couple of days )

-Bill