race rubber is worth 5 seconds depending on the driver. but you have to be good to get the potential without ruining the tires. Im not that good that I can justify it yet. suspension, i dunno, if you cant get it right on your current suspension, unless its really bad, more $$ wont help. What class are you in? what were the times? who did you race and what region?

 

I would hold off on any mods. Maybe just get some Azenis and drive those for a year.

DOT R tires like Fuji says can't really hide your mistakes and make you a worse driver in the long run. You can also destroy a set of expensive ($400-800) DOT R tires at your first autocross if you don't know what you are doing.

You will learn alot quicker on how to be fast and brake harder on street tires. Street tires will squeal and skitter which is what you need as a novice to learn the limits of your car without worrying about killing a nice set of R tires.

Worry about DOT R tires and suspension work til you get at least 10-15 events under your belt. Get some driving schools in first this year or the beginning of next year.

 

I have Azenis, fun tires. I don't think there are any driving schools around here, unless I want to drive 4 or 5 hours which I don't. My current suspension is totally stock except bushings, I at least want some koni yellows on stock springs, I think the rear shocks are original. :eek4: I wish the car didn't understeer so much, next time I'll probably pump the rears up even more. I'm in SM2, NER SCCA in Ayer, MA.

Times were

1 90 Mazda Miata 65.025
2 1994 black mazda miata 65.864
3 96 Mazda Miata 69.144
4 96 Mazda Miata 69.662
5 1989 red honda crx 70.146
6 1997 red mazda miata 73.641
7 80 MG B 73.844
8 88 Mazda RX7 Turbo 74.537
9 (me) 1988 black honda crx si 75.526

This guy with an SM EG who won nationals rode with me and gave me some tips, helped a lot, told me I was turning in too fast which cut the wheels out from under the car, I turned smoother and slower and found more grip, also looking ahead even more than I was helped a bunch. On my last run I know I could have found another second. Unlike the second to last run, my fastest, I forgot to look ahead enough and I messed up in a couple corners which cost me, so I was like a tenth slower than the 75.526 run even though I ran most of it faster. I ran the fastest run pretty well but not as hard as I could've because I was still trying to apply the new advice. He said I was a pretty good driver. One other problem I think I have is I don't always know exactly the best line to take, I just try to turn as little as possible and cut close to the cones. I think I can get within a foot or maybe a little less pretty consistently depending on the corner.

 

forget about lines for right now. In autoX "Tight is Right"

Whereas on a track you want to use the whole track to maintain your speed, in autoX you typically want to get off the course with the least amount of track seen. When I started I had a hard time staying tight, and now when im road racing im being told im too tight!

Taking video of yourself will help you learn...

 

Well figure the 1st place guy has his car totally done to the rules and you only have Azenis and bushings. 10 seconds is not too shabby if I might say so.

You can upgrade your shocks just for this year if you need them. Then maybe next year add on Ground Control coilovers to the Konis.

But most of the time you are understeering because you are carrying too much speed into the corner OR like your instructor said not being smooth on your inputs. Typical novice mistake which isn't too hard to fix. Just slow down a bit more before a turn and smoothly turn into the corner.

 

well, my LSD helps too. h:

yeah, the smoothness helps. Well I guess my gripe isn't so much that it understeers a whole lot but that I cannot get the rear loose at all. I would think a little rotation would help no?

And yes the yellows then GCs are exactly my plan.
May not be happening this year though cause I spent way too much on my rear disc swap and I have a couple other things that need to be taken care of first. :hs:

Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully I can be an EF master someday too. :bowdown:

You never make your way up to this area do you?

 

I would like ot get up there sometime. A guy locally gets up there once in awhile, Alan Pozner in a Yellow ITR.

It's just too far of a drive for me. Maybe when I'm visiting my family in NYC sometime I might make it up there, but then again I'm with my family so I don't think so.

To get the back end to rotate you need to bias the front to rear pressures by at least 4-8psi.

I'd recommend like 40 front and 35 rear and go from there. If it doesn't rotate drop the rear pressures by 1-2psi increments. If it snaps around on your bring the rear pressures up.

I personally don't like my cars to rotate too much. Had some scary/hairy moments in the pass and it's easier to recover from understeer than oversteer. People who would drive my cars would hate how the cars would push in turns. But for me I'm a late/hard braking type driver, whereas my competitors like the rear to come around a corner.

 

I thought you were supposed to overinflate the rears?

 

You can go either way. But making the rears higher than the fronts the car will snap oversteer which is not fun for a novice. And personally I didn't like that setup either. Makes for a handful with stiff springs and a rear sway bar.

 

It depends on your driving style in my opinion. Everyone will say that is it best to have a front wheel drive at neutral or slight understeer but I enjoy being about to have my rear rotate very easily although overall it is less grip, it makes me feel more comfortable that my car can turn its nose in a little quicker and carry it through a turn...