autocross setup advice

[nealtovsen at yahoo.com (Neal Tovsen)]

The biggest question I have is what exactly you mean by having "a few
races under your belt?"

If you've been autocrossing for less than a year, or you have fewer than
maybe six events, my advice is to do NOTHING to the car. Work on your
driving skills!

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, you learn SO MUCH about
how your car feels in the first year or so. If you change something, you
won't have the experience to really feel whether it made an improvement
or not. Get some experience, and learn to drive what you have to the max
first. Driving is ALWAYS more important than what parts are on your car.

The second issue is that you didn't even mention what class you are
running or what class you intend to run. This might mean you don't know
yet! There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that, but you wouldn't
believe how many people I've talked to that regret putting XYZ part on
their car before they decided what class to run. After spending a bunch
of money, they realize that their car is now stuck in a class where it
will never be competitive...and they've wasted their money.

So, give it some time! Learn more about how to drive fast, and what your
car really feels like at speed. If you spend any money, spend it on
YOURSELF and go to an Evolution Driving School or something similar.
Meanwhile, think about how serious you really want to be, and start
reading the rulebook so you can decide what class suits you best. If you
decide that autocrossing is just for fun, then you can do whatever you
want to the car and it won't matter what class you're in...it's just for
fun. But if you decide to get competitive, you need to plan the
development of the car to match the rules of the class you pick.

As for the wheel rubbing, you've got 205 tires on a 7" rim. Speaking
from my previous '88 16v experience, that's probably a little too wide
for the stock fenders. If you have room between the tire and the strut
(probably not much!), you could get wheels with more offset, maybe 42mm
or something. Otherwise, you have to either live with the rubbing or go
to a 195 tire (and maybe even a 6.5" rim). If the rules of your class
allow it, you can roll the fenders for clearance...but obviously, that
relies on knowing your class, and it is a rather non-reversable change
to the car if you decide it was a bad idea! As for getting a 2nd set of
wheels...that falls under the guidelines above. I would avoid buying
wheels and tires until you decide on a class if you can.

Oh, and if you're running under SCCA rules, it sounds like you've got
the beginnings of a good STS car. Again, from personal experience, I can
say that a 16v Scirocco can be very competitive in STS on a region
level! However, if I remember right, Raleigh has some killer
National-level STS drivers in the area. You might not keep up with them
at first, but if you can even get close to them, you're doing GOOD!

Neal
1977 Scirocco G60
SCCA Street Modified



On Sun, 2003-08-10 at 14:37, Doug C. wrote:
> So now that I've gotten a few races under my belt, I'm looking to get more competitive at the local autocrosses.  I'd like to get some advice from the experianced racers on the types of setups they use.  Here's what I'm running...
> 
> -The car is my '88 16v with a stock 1.8l.
> -Bilstein sports with H&R springs
> -Stock front lower sway bar
> -neuspeed front upper stress bar
> -eurosport rear upper stress bar
> -battery relocated to rear
> -I have 15x7" wheels, with 205/50-15 tires (will be getting new tires for next event - most likely falken azenis)
> -I usually run about 40 psi in the front and about 43-44 in the rear.
> 
> I was wondering if any of you experianced racers have any suggestions as to what I can do that will make the car handle better, or what kind of setup other people use.  Also, what tires and pressures do others use?  
> 
> One thing that does bother me a little is that I get a lot of fender/tire rubbing in hard corners that i'd like to get rid of.  I think the offset of my wheels is ET38.  What is the best way to alleviate this problem?  I'm open to getting a seperate set of auto-x wheels if this is the best solution...
> 
> TIA!      
> 
> Doug C.
> '88 16v
> Raleigh, NC
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Neal Tovsen <nealtovsen@yahoo.com>