Hi, I've never autoXed before and would like to give it a try next Spring. I have a 4-cyl. 04 Accord Coupe 5-speed with everything stock except for the muffler. I live near Washington DC and have found the DC-area chapter of SCCA's website. Is the SCCA the only way for me to get into autoX? I'd appreciate any tips regarding how to find local events, etc... I'm not planning on being competitive, just to have fun...

Also, I don't like the way my car understeers and would like to know whether there is an affordable way to fix it (alignment or cheap suspension mods maybe?). Ideally I'd like to have it set up so that it oversteers slightly when I accelerate through a turn.

Also, do you experts double clutch while heel & toeing or do it the single-clutch way? And do you ride with the stock pedals?
That's it for now. Thanks a lot

 

I am not an expert.
But welcome to the HAN.
I like this idea, called the three S's. Suspension, Speed, and then Style, done in that order.

 

Well the DC region autocrosses are hard to get into. 1st you have to be an SCCA member. 2nd you have to pre-register online, which is mass murder. They have only 300 spots open if I remember right and those spots fill up in about 5-10 minutes when registration opens. It's nuts.

DC region is not the only region to go with though. I know a couple of guys coming up to our region in Harrisburg, PA. There's also a chapter in VA and Maryland.

but welcome to the addiction Yes you can dial out some understeer cheaply by just giving the car more toe out. For tire wear purposes you can use 0 toe front and rear and just add more air to the rear tires (relative to the front) - something like 40psi front and 45psi rear. If you don't care about your tires 1/4" toe out front and rear would work, but your tires will wear quick and your car will be darty on the road (which is not fun to drive).

 

CivicSiRacer,
Thanks. The manual says I already have 0.0 front toe in and 2mm rear toe in. Will simply changing the rear to 0.0 have a noticeable effect? Should I worry about camber?

 

Well since your car is stock, right? You cannot change camber unless you have a camber kit. Dialing out toe in on the rear will get the car to understeer less.

 

Whoa! I was just going to start a thread about this. Yea, so, I'm asking the same question. Is the heel toe method common in autocross?

About the single/double clutch way, I'm going to guess the experts would use single clutching. Double clutching would only be needed for an older car, with older synchros. What I've been told is that newer cars have better synchros, hence the double clutching method is no longer needed (and takes more time anyway?).

Oo, and about the pedals, I was wondering about that too. I was thinking of getting my pedals adjusted so that they are closer together (in depth, so heel & toe would be easier) but read that this shouldn't be done. Supposedly, when the brake pedal is completley depressed, it still shouldn't exceed the plain of the gas pedal. This is because during threshold breaking, the gas shouldn't be touched.

Hoof, somebody please explain that better. I'm just spitting out some info I've gathered on the web.

I'm definatly interested; keep us posted, experts.

 

Heel/toe is not needed for most autocrosses cause you just leave it in 2nd gear and just drive. ONly a select few autocrosses have I ever had to shift from 2nd to 1st and it usually hurt my times than help it.

And you cannot change your pedals in stock class. You can add pedal covers in other classes, but not stock.

 

Wow! I had seen a video where an autoXer stays in 2nd all the time but I thought that isn't the norm. :driving: So, do automatics (with optimized gear ratios) have an advantage?

 

With an auto you just leave it in 2nd also. I feel that a manual is a tad quicker because you shift quicker than an auto and it's easier to keep the rpms up at the start.

 

Oh ok sounds good. I was wondering about the 2 to 1 downshift (because my shifter has a lock on that), but it seems it's not needed. cool thanks for the reply.

oh oh, I doubt you ever use this, but have you tryed left-foot braking in autocross? Seems it would be more for rally, but sounds fun non-the-less