Apexcarver wrote: To make you feel better, when I started autocrossing I was driving the 1997 Mustang Cobra in my avitar, and Gimp on here would wax me with his Hyundai Accent (with suspension, but 87 raging horsepower) Yeah, that happened.
Often. 
Apexcarver wrote: To make you feel better, when I started autocrossing I was driving the 1997 Mustang Cobra in my avitar, and Gimp on here would wax me with his Hyundai Accent (with suspension, but 87 raging horsepower) Yeah, that happened.
Often.
I used to get smoked in my DSP E30 by a kid in a stock Honda Fit.
Its rarely the car, almost always the driver
OldGray320i wrote: In reply to wbjones: To late, I did springs straight away - and added some neat wheels when I hit a rock that bent the drivers side steelie a little, and the ds rear a lot. It was a great excuse to use on the wife that the Ford dealer price of a replacement steelie was $250 each, vs a whole new set of cool looking wheels for ONLY $450 (well, tires too, but the old ones never got touched by the rock so we put them on her car. She swears I hit the rock on purpose - I wish I were that good...). I was thinking about a bar for the rear, but I think I'll actually apply the wisdom here and hit the schools and lots of seat time. In reply to chuckles: I like that line, going to tuck that away in the recesses of the mind.
conventional wisdom says increase the bar stiffness in the non driven end
in my case, CRX, that means large rear bar, small front bar
your Miata, larger/stiffer front bar (stiffer front springs than rear) and smaller/softer rear bar (softer rear springs)
DaveEstey wrote: Youre slower than you think. We all are.
So much truth in that statement.
I loved killing RWD V8 sports/muscle cars in the old elantra. That was always fun. Getting demolished by an 89 Civic by 3 seconds hurt. This was all on the same auto-x course/day.
OldGray320i wrote: ...and it must be the car. Autocross this weekend, and anything sporty (Miata, FRS, hell, even a Veloster - well, it's a turbo, but...) was at least 3 seconds faster than the old Focus. As a point of reference, the layout was a good "horsepower" design, and what appears to be a pretty darned competent NA Miata driver I met was always about 3-4 seconds faster a run. Anybody else auto-x'ing a mk3 Focus and finding that IT is just slow comparatively speaking? I know it can't be the nut behind the wheel...
This reminded me of something. I met a guy at the 03 or 04 challenge, and we hung out a fair bit over the weekend. He was a Saab guy from Wisconsin, a super nice guy, and an avid autocrosser. His experience was similar, and he also wondered if it was his Saab. He gave it to one of the fast guys to run and he ran a real fast time with it. I still remember the look on his face when he said "well, now I know".
wbjones wrote:OldGray320i wrote: In reply to wbjones: To late, I did springs straight away - and added some neat wheels when I hit a rock that bent the drivers side steelie a little, and the ds rear a lot. It was a great excuse to use on the wife that the Ford dealer price of a replacement steelie was $250 each, vs a whole new set of cool looking wheels for ONLY $450 (well, tires too, but the old ones never got touched by the rock so we put them on her car. She swears I hit the rock on purpose - I wish I were that good...). I was thinking about a bar for the rear, but I think I'll actually apply the wisdom here and hit the schools and lots of seat time. In reply to chuckles: I like that line, going to tuck that away in the recesses of the mind.conventional wisdom says increase the bar stiffness in the non driven end in my case, CRX, that means large rear bar, small front bar your Miata, larger/stiffer front bar (stiffer front springs than rear) and smaller/softer rear bar (softer rear springs)
Nein - I'm in a '12 Focus. Wish I had a Miata (effeminate qualities go away on an autocross course, right?). But, need to get my 320i up and going. Want to get that out, even if I'll still be slow....
Zomby Woof wrote:OldGray320i wrote: ...and it must be the car. Autocross this weekend, and anything sporty (Miata, FRS, hell, even a Veloster - well, it's a turbo, but...) was at least 3 seconds faster than the old Focus. As a point of reference, the layout was a good "horsepower" design, and what appears to be a pretty darned competent NA Miata driver I met was always about 3-4 seconds faster a run. Anybody else auto-x'ing a mk3 Focus and finding that IT is just slow comparatively speaking? I know it can't be the nut behind the wheel...This reminded me of something. I met a guy at the 03 or 04 challenge, and we hung out a fair bit over the weekend. He was a Saab guy from Wisconsin, a super nice guy, and an avid autocrosser. His experience was similar, and he also wondered if it was his Saab. He gave it to one of the fast guys to run and he ran super a real time with it. I still remember the look on his face when he said "well, now I know".
Harsh realities... Good thing I'm a married man of some years - my ego has been gone for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels really really good to start sharing cars with competent drivers and matching their times.
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