Sounds like you had a great day!
I think at this stage, I would urge you to put aside, for the moment, all
the technical "knowledge" you have of your car -- spring rates, shock rates,
bushings, etc etc yada yada. Candidly, at your very early stage of
development as an autocrosser they do not have a thing to do with your
results. You want the stiffer tire pressures first of all as a safety
margin, so your tires do not roll under and dig a wheel. LATER, you want
them as a competitive adjustment, after you get a handle on what happens
when you make such adjustments.
At this point, you are still trying to just get the car around a corner.
That can be accomplished with any old beater from the junkyard.
Stay with your Nittos for now. They may be junk, but they are good to learn
on. Get used to them. Do try some higher pressures so they do not roll onto
the sidewall (chalk your tires to find out what that is -- make marks with
chalk or white shoe polish on your tire read and around onto your sidewall
and you will see after a run exactly how much rollover you have on them. If
you have too much air, you will still have marks on the tread. Ideally, you
scrub off the marks right at the edge of the tread).
Learn things like proper hand positions, threshold braking, SIFO (slow in,
fast out), late apex, stuff that is basic. These things are simple in the
explanation, but you find them not so easy in the application. And I tell
people when you learn these techniques, practice them in your everyday
driving to make them habit. A "proper racing line" in a normal streetcorner
turn usually ends up being a more efficient and smoother turn around that
corner. You do not need speed to practice these things. You only need the
awareness of doing them. That racing line is just as correct at 12 mph as it
is at 120 (oops, this is Solo II; ...as it is at 60).
Gauge yourself against another driver who is usually there, who is a good,
experienced driver. One in your class is best but not necessary. It also
does not matter how set up his car is or what tires he has. He is just a
comparison point. As you begin to become familiar with the basics, your
times will drop hugely compared to his. Today you may be 12 seconds behind.
Several events later you may be six seconds behind. When you get to a point
that you have hit a plateau -- you are ALWAYS six seconds behind (or maybe
it is four, or three) -- then it is time to start throwing money at the car.
Buy those new tires, get that better shock setup, etc.
And when you do, you will have to learn to drive it all over again because
now it will be a different car. Thus, your first time out on the new setup
don't be surprised if you are actually slower. But now you will get quick
faster.
But if the opportunity presents itself and you have money to throw at
something, throw it at a driving school. An Evolution Solo II School, an
SCCA High Performance Car Control Clinic, even a day at Skippy. You will
find far, far more improvement, especially at the early stages, by driver
improvement than you ever will from car improvement.
Good luck. Have fun!
--Rocky Entriken
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yuri Klepach" <civicr1992@yahoo.com>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 10:24 AM
Subject: After fitst time aotuX. Some feedback
> First of all, wanna THANK YOU ALL for all of your suggestions & advices,
they
> were helpfull.
> Now, back to what I've seen. My car is '92 Civic 4dr w/Integra non-VTEC
swap.
> The Ground Control spring rates are: 380 front/250 rear. Front & rear
19mm
> sway bars, Tokico non-adjustable shocks. The car has the full array of
> polyurethane bushings. Tires: 195/50R15 Nitto 450. I kept my front @
42psi &
> rear @ 39-40psi. The front tire was scrubbing on more than the half of
the
> sidewall. The conclusion is that I didn't have enough pressure in the
fronts.
> Because of that the car had a hint of understeer & I could feel the
sidewalls
> binding.
> Now, my wife has '94 Integra GSR w/Integra Type R springs (I believe the
rates
> are 350-front/220-rear, not sure though), Tokico non-adj. shocks 24mm
front
> sway bar & 19mm rear sway bar. Polyurethane bushings all around. Her
tires
> were Kumho Ecsta 205/50R15 w/pressures for the event being
49psi-front/45psi
> rear. She didn't have ANY sidewall scrub & the instructor drove her car &
was
> very impressed w/the way her car handled. Now, since my car has stiffer
> springs & softer FRONT sway bar, would that cause sidewall scrub? Or is
it
> that Nittos have softer sidewalls? OR, I need more tire pressure in the
front?
> And again, thanx for all your support. We have SCCA event this Saturday &
both
> of us are going (Englishtown, NJ).
> Yuri
>
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