Hi all, here is a fellow autoxer in Canada. After having 10-ish autocross events with various cars, I'm finally into competition in street class with new setup. Just came back from my 1st event of the season(missed season's first event ), Looks like I got bunch of homeworks to do in terms of skill, stratege, and setup. Here is my best run of the day... [ame=http://youtu.be/OWnZBRdP2KY]MINI R56S Auto-X incam | 2014 VCMC #2 May 18 | Best Run - YouTube[/ame] Car Setup: 2011 mcs lci/// 225 45 16 dunlop zii, H sport comp. rear sway, afe catback, hp plus pads I was able to beat some ES miatas, but most of them were faster than me by up to 2 seconds. What should I do/practice to cut that 2 seconds? One of My main concern is the sweeper corners.. In the video, I was taking the corner with two seperate corners and perform "cone to cone" move.. Someone said that was mistake... Is it mandatory to take sweepers with single steering method? And I'm using mid setting with my sway bar.. I'm new to this one as well. Better try stiff setup next time.
Do you know how to chalk/mark your tires to help with pressures. In 4 spots around the edge of the tread by the sidewall will be a small maybe 1/4" triangle. The tip of it is where your tire manufacture claims is the "edge" of your tire. You want to be scrubbing/scuffing to that point. If not getting there either go faster or down on air pressure. If scuffed past it your either "pushing" or need more air. This will all change as you make driving changes.. Practice Practice Practice, and if your author x club does a school that is a big help..
On the sweeper, if you go a bit wider, you might be able to come out of the turn with a bit more speed. If you are going too fast in the turns, the car will understeer slightly so you have to turn you steering wheel a lot harder. It's a fine balance of speed and cornering. Slowing down slightly means less steering movement on your part, your car will change direction faster and your overall time will come down a bit. Every set up is slightly different so if you keep doing this with your car, your times will come down with experience. It's not about how fast you can make your car accelerate, it's about optimizing the car's ability to tackle the course. A mid setting on your swaybar is fine. Again is about balance. If you use a stiff setting, your car may understeer less, but you get less warning when the rear tires lose traction and break loose on you. That's Pitt Meadows you were at?
Thank you for the reply! Yup I know chalking,, and I'm scrubbing to the top~1/2 of the triangle on front, and just tip of the triangle on the rear. It looks like my rear tires have no chance to be rolled in because of the inner wheel is being lifted(driving on 3 wheels) pretty often even with my sway bar setting in "middle". As you suggested, I've been to the driving school with new setup prior to have this cup event, but still need more time/trials to use my car's potential.