2004 Forester XT

"May have?"
Do tell.
(and congrats!)

We switched to new timing software (AXWare) and there was some confusion at the end of the day regarding scoring.

The official results went up today, and I won my class. I don't think I was winning going into lunch, but the afternoon course (more technical) apparently suited me.

The highlight of my day was taking some spectators out on "fun runs" after the event was over. They got to ride in a fully prepped stage rally car, my Forester and the fasted 2wd car (Sentra SE-R).

One of the guys owned a Miata, the other two had FC RX-7s. I talked shop with the FC guys and tried to convince them to build a rallycrosser out of one of their cars. I might have gone too far (getting into suspension, tires, rims, porting, etc.) Whoops. I then advised them to buy a SOHC Neon or a Cavalier to start rallycrossing with as another option.

nice! looking forward to some pics/video if anyone there got some.

Pictures of the event:

https://plus.google.com/photos/105675969846647748866/albums/5874239541389731985

I threw the Fozzie into the shop (Janko) while I am out of town. It should have a spiffy fast ratio STI steering rack in it when I get home.

I got the Fozzie back today. The STI rack isn't as drastic a change as I thought, but it is a lot less sloppy off of center than the factory rack was. The linear ratio of the rack also has a better feel than the variable ratio rack that came stock.

I was going to take a picture of the thing soon, but it looks pretty much like it did before, only now it has a spoiler.

Luckily, others took photos. As noted above, lots of the body roll is gone.

I was wrong. After a few days driving with the new rack, the difference is pretty big, especially on entrance ramps.

The rallycross tomorrow is rained out. Our venue (Wilson County Fairgrounds) does not want us to tear up the field, and we're partial to the site, so we don't complain.

I also found out that regular Foresters have 4.11 gearing instead of the 4.44 found in the XT. I kind of still want to pursue changing the gearing in the breadbox, but 4.11 doesn't seem to be a big enough change.

Protip: the Forester spoiler eliminates the ability to open the hatch with a kayak on the roof. Blast it.

what rpm do you turn at 70mph? i have 4.11's in my RS, and its almost exactly 3200 at that speed (with 205/55-16's). that might give you some reference as to how different it is.

my guess is that for all that work i'd probably look into the 3.9's in a regular WRX for the biggest bang per buck.

Thanks for the reference, Scotty, I'll check it later today.

I am running 3000 RPM at 70 MPH in 5th gear with 225/50/17 tires.

Did you have your car stuck in 4th? In 4th I was running about 3400 RPM at 70.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I am running 3000 RPM at 70 MPH in 5th gear with 225/50/17 tires. Did you have your car stuck in 4th? In 4th I was running about 3400 RPM at 70.

weird! i wonder if tire height has something to do with it. but no, i'm definitely above 3k rpm for sure.

I would really like to see the guts of one of those variable-ratio Forester steering racks...

You can probably pick one up for peanuts, anybody that wants to drive their Forester in anger pitches them to the curb as quickly as possible.

I don't want to see one that badly :P

Unless you have one for peanuts....

I'm keeping mine, just in case.

I'd really like for there to be another rallycross soon. I'm starting to get horrible ideas about a larger turbo.

I went to look at a turbo, passed on it but picked up some Whiteline steering rack bushings for $20. There is no telling when they will make it into the Fozzie.

ScottyB beat me in the rallycross today, but he was nice enough to send me a picture of the car after the race.

I have video, too, once it finishes uploading.

Oh, imagine that. they tell you where the URL for the video as it is uploading, so I can post it now.

I have to figure out how to get better sound, so sorry in advance for that, it is my first time using the GoPro. Maybe if I run a mic near the muffler or something, or just figure out how to edit in sound. They have tutorials, I just have to watch them, so it may be a while.

My throttle inputs are awful and the mud pit after the sharp right hand turn gave me fits on all three runs in the morning. Luckily we were tearing up that part of the course and it was eliminated for the afternoon runs.

I also think they charged me for the cone that is down as I go by it on the last run of the day. You can see the corner worker running away at about 6:40 (it is annotated), and he didn't have time to set the cone up again. I should have stopped and pointed.

http://youtu.be/g72eyYgcon8

good battling with you Brett! you had that thing going faster than a tall wagon on street tires has a right to. hopefully we get to do it again next event.

video came out nice. i'd agree you're leaving some speed on the table in a few places, but its nothing serious. sounds like you've already got a bead on what to focus on next time. it doesn't help that your engine wants to churn out low-end torque through that short gearing with such performance oriented tires on there! i bet its hard not to spin 'em.

i was real impressed with the way that thing digs out from a standstill and the compliance with those king springs. it truly didn't feel outside of "oem" stiffness levels for a sporty car.

I annotated the video a bit more.

The tires I have on there are not helping matters at all, no. If the ground was hard they would do better, but when it is soft like that they are a liability.

I didn't even goose it very hard at lunchtime. By the way, after the race I had to stop and get some gas so I pulled into the first station on the way back. They had a sandwich cooler.

Now we know.

The thing still has a ton of body roll.

Stiffer swaybars would fix that, but the tradeoff on rough roads will probably not be worth it. I've got the Xterra I'm going to fix for serious off-road stuff and beach driving, so if I can get that done in the next year maybe the Fozzie will get some more love then.

Looking ahead.

dorifto! Image again courtesy of ScottyB, who is now our official rallycross photographer.