First autoX for me since 2008

[wawazat??]

Tired of seeing Ben's name everytime I look at the competition section

Off to lovely Wurtsmith AFB in Oscoda, MI for a weekend of autoX. First event since 2008 and only the second time in my 5 speed car. Wish me luck as I'm running in SM (street mod) and expect to be anihilated by the competition

Todd

[benebob]

Then get on your a$$ and start driving away those blasted records that seem to be in the bullet proof glass ceiling.

Have a great time and enjoy the name in the comp. section.

[immortal_suby]

Good luck Todd!

[benebob]

Originally Posted by immortal_suby

Good luck Todd!

Cough... err... don't ya mean Chad?

[wawazat??]

Well I had a blast Unfortunately, I was a bit too slow to do much damage and took third out of three in SM. Typically, SM in the Detroit region draws a lot of cars but this event was 3 hours north of the city and was a Great Lakes Divisional series so not many SM cars were out. A lot of the field has Nationals experience so the drivers were fast. Me, not so much.

Thanks for the positive thoughts Ben and Matt.

Todd

[wawazat??]

I had a number of things cross my mind while shagging cones watching a variety of cars trounce my times last weekend.

1) I'm getting close to the end of times with my SVX. I've owned it now since '95 and it has served us well. This latest incarnation (manual trans, Recaro seats and stripped down autocross car) will be it's last with me. The car is not competitive in any class within SCCA's structure and its not as interesting to me as it was in the past. She's not fast enough for speed courses nor agile enough as a momentum car. Neither are part of the SVX DNA. It's an oddity at an event and on the roads around Detroit (not a bad thing) but I need something else these days.

2)I'm not sure what will be next. I sold my truck, so towing a non-street legal car to an event is no longer an option. I need a street legal car that is more capable around the cones, more powerful and more readily open to modifications. Also, capable of performing well at autoX and possible track events.

When I'm ready to move along, I'll offer her up here first. If I don't get what I expect from her, she'll be dismantled and parts offered up.

[LetItSnow]

Originally Posted by wawazat??

She's not fast enough for speed courses nor agile enough as a momentum car. Neither are part of the SVX DNA.

Even with the mods I carry, the car still gets killed by its super slow steering ratio. Still, with R-comps and a steering gear change (how?), it might hold up locally, but it would get crushed at Nationals.

[Ricter]

Originally Posted by wawazat??

2)I'm not sure what will be next. I sold my truck, so towing a non-street legal car to an event is no longer an option. I need a street legal car that is more capable around the cones, more powerful and more readily open to modifications. Also, capable of performing well at autoX and possible track events.

Sounds like you want a Miata*.

*Minus the 'more powerful' part that is.

[icingdeath88]

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Even with the mods I carry, the car still gets killed by its super slow steering ratio. Still, with R-comps and a steering gear change (how?), it might hold up locally, but it would get crushed at Nationals.

If there was enough interest we might be able to get some quicker-ratio pinion gears made for the SVX. That is a huge "if" though. They've been done for other cars, the MR2 for example, but they're far from cheap.

What is an R-comp?

[wawazat??]

Miata You sound like a Grassroots Motorsports forum guy. I've driven them but they didn;t do much for me. Same with a BMW E36 M3. Nice but, meh. Not sure what I want though the two competing virtues of light-weight, stellar handling (Lotus Elise, tweaked Miata) and heavier, high HP(Corvette, 2012 Boss Mustang) were impressive to watch on the same course. Similar times with wildly different tools.

Guys in Canadia were willing to look at modifying an SVX rack a couple of years ago with the intention of creating a quicker ratio. Over $1k. Like a lot of things I would like to do, I can't justify the investment when the car isn't worth much and if I took it off to sell it here, you guys would just low-ball me

R-comps are racing tires. I looked at a set recently but came away with the same concerns. Too costly to justify on the car. I also happen to compete in a very strong region for autoX (Detroit-who'd a thunk it???) so even if the car were tweaked, I'd still be cruched. When I was at my peak in 2007 in my more fully developed '95 when I was racing about every 2nd weekend, I was still getting killed by over 4 seconds on a 40 second run. I know I'm rusty now but I was getting trounced by 10 seconds or more (on a 555 second course) by others in SM (5 speed swap classes the car in Street Modified- a class I'll never come close to competing in).

[icingdeath88]

Or maybe give these guys a call: http://www.unisteer.com/custom_built_rack_pinions.html

[wawazat??]

Again, the investment is hard for me to stomach on the SVX.

The SVX has a fatal flaw for autocross in its very design; the engine is cantilevered out ahead of the front axle. All Subaru produtcs use this design, but the six cylinder cars are the worst offenders due to their longer engine block. The use of the strut suspension alos limits dynamic camber gain like an A-arm equipped car. Not saying that all cars that use these elements are poor handling vehicles, but it is something that starts the car off in a hole compared to other platforms.

Combine this with a lack of available modifications for more power, better handling (I already have Koni/GC package installed), and enhanced braking, I'm left with stripping out weight and doing things on the cheap. The car, if I had a justifiable budget, wold get a fiberglass hood, front and rear anti-sways, and the big brakes I've had for years now. Even with those things, its still handicapped by lack of reliable power upgrades and at 150k I'm not sure how much I want to stress the engine. The bushings are all 20 years old this December and she's getting old.

I use autoX to keep her moving so she doesn't get stiff and to her credit she is running well. She returned 20.3mpg on the combined road trip and a day and a half of autocross (90% freeway on the road, a lot of idle followed by flat-out throttle blasts on the course). I filled the tank after a straight highway blast on the way home (slighly higher than legal) and got 25.3mpg. No complaints there. She did however break the plastic clip that engages the window drive motor on the drivers side yesterday so that's another thing to fix.

[Earthworm]

So you admit you're not able to compete against the national level drivers. I doubt that's only the fault of the car.

What I would be interested in would be if you swapped cars with one of them and see how close your times are. I did that once and the other driver beat my best time of the day by almost 2 seconds in my own car.

Last time I ran was around 2 years ago and I ended up 18th out of a total of 51 drivers in raw time including those running R's. I was using street tires.

[wawazat??]

Oh, I fully admit that the nut behind the wheel needs to be tightened David I'm just reluctant to spend money on the car for the meager enhancement it will ultimately bring.

Your times in the SVX were great. I was in the bottom 10% of the pack last weekend and was getting soundly spanked by a wide variety of cars and classes.

Todd

[LetItSnow]

Originally Posted by Earthworm

I did that once and the other driver beat my best time of the day by almost 2 seconds in my own car.

At Evo School a few years ago, Corey Ridgick drove my Pearly with me in it around the course they'd set up. The time he set? Well, after I dropped seven seconds over the day, he still had me by four seconds, even though he'd never driven the car before and he had his mass as ballast added to when I drove alone.

Trimming four seconds off of this season's three events so far, I'd be first in SM and third in PAX. *sigh*