You also gotta keep in mind that Bumnah's car has been fairly modified for a while now. I'm sure he's familiar enough with his own setup to have a pretty good understanding of his car's dynamics. Its not like he's just a kid haphazardly throwing parts at his car. I think lots of practice, plenty of local events and an Evolution school or whatever road-racing equivalent would be a great idea... As jaje said: to improve the driver.

 

i can feel my car give when i push it hard and i feel like i understand it well. but damned when i push it hard i still slam on the brakes like a little girl

anyways.. keep the suggestions going. Feel like I've started a good conversation.


Side note: When I first got the ground controls and koni i got replies such as "too stiff for autocross". i felt having some more lean in the car would be good since you're constantly making shapr and hard turn it helps to throw the weight around. now i'm getting replies such as this is good for autocross also.

is it safe to assume a suspension aimed toward road racing will do well at an autocross?

 

NOt necessarily. Youre setup is pretty stiff, but not out of the ordinary for autocross. There are road racers out there running considerably stiffer springs than you are. Really it all depends on the car... There are lots of road racing cars that are pretty out of their element through the cones because a different tuning strategy was employed to create them... But there are some road racing cars that can still tear it up in autocross. And like always, this usually comes back, at least in part, to the skill/focus/training of the driver.

I'll let the road racing guys fill in the details... I'm not sure on the specifics, its just what I've seen through the years.

:edit: careful with the slamming on the brakes. THat usually causes more problems than it solves :exnbp:

 

yeah i'm aware it's not the best idea to slam the brakes, but damned i still do it sometimes, i'm quick to get off of 'em though

 

taking a driving school will teach you threshold braking (braking at a point before lockup or abs kicks in)...this is the most efficient braking you can get in the car and also when done correctly keeps your brakes from overheating

basically you want as smooth a transition between braking, turning and accelerating out of the turn(s)...when coming up to a corner you want to do what they call 10/80/10 braking distance

1. for the inital braking you want to engage the pads to the rotors and settle the nose of the car the first 10% of applying the brakes (this transfers most of the weight to the front tires and this stops any exagarration of the nose dive from just jamming on the brakes as most of the traction.)
2. once the car (traction wise) and brakes are ready, you brake to the threshold to slow the car for 80% of the braking distance (this puts all the traction on the front tires and will show a car with bad rear brake bias)...if you would heel & toe it would be here
3. once the car is near the speed you want for the turn you lightly let up the brakes for the last 10% to resettle the car back (transfer weight to the back wheels) to start your turn and acceleration with as much traction as possible

I'm still a learner but have been focusing on braking and it makes a huge difference as I can now brake deeper into a corner (shorter distance) and carry higher speeds out of them

 

Threshold braking is sometimes hard to learn. And sometimes you have to have big kahunas

I would agree take some of your money and attend an Evolution School (http://www.autocross.com/evolution). It's the best money you will spend and you will spend a WHOLE day learning the limits of your car and what it and you can do together.