Moving to STX - WWTHDF?

What would the hive do first?

I am moving to STX this season, and budgets being what they are, I am not going to make all allowable changes in one winter.

• I have stock allowances, such as upgraded rotors and better brake pads, drop-in K&N and RMM.

• I have lighter wheels and stickier wheels already, so the biggest upgrade is already done. I am nowhere near the class allowance, but as big as I can go without going to fender modifications and coil-overs.

• I have upgraded front and rear sway bars to tame the body roll a bit.

• Technically, a tune is not allowed in STX because of modifications to boost levels, and I feel that the ST has plenty of power already for the local, friendly club that I race with. So that is on the back burner.

• Front camber bolts are cheap an easy, so I will add those and get as aggressive on the alignment as I can.

The car has an ESD that actually works pretty well. Yes, it uses the brakes, but on a 60 second course there are no concerns with overheating. That said, a Quaife LSD seems like the ticket for getting power to the ground. My biggest competition in STX are all AWD, so the more traction I can get the better IMHO.

Would that be your first choice, or would you look towards coil-overs and adjustable camber plates? Or more power? Or something else?

Alex Piehl is thinking about making that jump with his wrx from Stu. I'm sorry I don't have much constructive to add, just that North Hills may have an interesting stx lineup this year.

Coilovers to tame the suspension more. It's FWD so big rear bar and little to no front bar is usually the big ticket there.

Weight. Can you lose pounds anywhere? Seats, battery, etc... How little gas can you run before fuel starving?

Aggressive alignment. Again, FWD does it rotate well or tend to understeer? A lot of FWD guys actually take grip out of the back end (narrower tires) in order to get their car to turn in the way they want.

A tune is legal in STX but is basically limited to timing and AFR...For 2017.

Come 2018 STX tuning will be unlimited, while maintaining a 95 octane maximum.

ztnedman1 wrote: Come 2018 STX tuning will be unlimited, while maintaining a 95 octane maximum.

Maybe - that's proposed but not yet decided.

Welcome to STX. I don't think the AWD guys have any inherent advantage unless it is raining. The Frisbee seems to have had easiest path lately but the nice thing about STX is that there is no 'car to have'.

Coilovers, diff, tires.

Alex can drive, so I am considering going all Tonya Harding on him. Just kidding!

Back when I used to run my Spec V in STX, the magic FWD formula was a big rear bar, as much camber as possible on the front end and a strong LSD. You'd have to pitch the car in hard until the back end breaks loose to get any sort of rotation, then immediately switch to gas and use the LSD to pull the car the rest of the way through the corner. Honestly, the more ham-fisted I was, the faster the car seemed to go. Failures tended to be spectacular. Trying to make any sort of a traditional, smooth "outside - inside - outside" corner was an exercise in frustrating understeer. Could be partially because the Spec V had a rear beam axle, so YMMV.

It wasn't pretty, but it was fun.

I think you need more camber than bolts will give you. The FWD ST? cars that I know that win things are all something like 3.5 degrees of camber. I think that's possible on your car but it'll need to get a whole lot lower and stiffer.

You can tell I don't race. I thought this was a thread about relocating to Corpus Christi

What is "WWTHDF" I think you just won this weeks acronym contest.

What would the hive do first?

Maybe?

My Abarth got moved to STX last year (3rd move in 3 years). I feel pretty outgunned, even if I had talent.

Yes, What Would The Hive Do First? Just being funny.

The one thing that I struggle with is getting traction to the unloaded inside front wheel. Playing with the bars, and even disconnecting the front bar altogether, may yield some info. If I can do it with just camber and let the ESD do the rest, then coil-overs may be the ticket. I like the fact that I can install them too.

If no amount of camber will overcome wheelspin on the inside, then an LSD is the answer. I need a test and tune session! I think I will disconnect the front bar and zip-tie it out of the way (removal is a PITA) and see how she turns.

Getting the car to rotate is not an issue, the FiST doesn't know it is FWD. It rotates like a lazy suzan.