Whiskey I wish you luck. I had a chance to ride in a SM prepared wrx sti at our local texas region scca autocross school this past weekend. Eyes opened. The driver, Tim Bergin was just playing around on street tires and I was shocked. My first comment after he took me for a ride was " and this is in STU????". I know you've got your work cut out for you between the c5's and the boost buggy cars.
Whiskey I wish you luck. I had a chance to ride in a SM prepared wrx sti at our local texas region scca autocross school this past weekend. Eyes opened��. The driver, Tim Bergin was just playing around on street tires and I was shocked. My first comment after he took me for a ride was " and this is in STU????". I know you've got your work cut out for you between the c5's and the boost buggy cars.
Ehh... we'll see. I've resigned myself to understanding that if Spring Nationals doesn't go well (which, lets face it, what are the chances of it going well? ) I'll just take my toys and go play in CAM where I can be all 'Murica! /on street tires/ there since the meanies in Street Touring just pick on me for being fat and with my legs tied together...
Whiskey – Nice build but it would be better to have least 11 wide rims for those tires if rules permit. You will have better overall grip but much faster beak-away with less warning – Less sided wall deformation to the driving surface making them a bit more difficult to read.
Good luck with the 2015 season. It would be nice to see a S197 be a top contender considering the competition.
Whiskey – Nice build but it would be better to have least 11 wide rims for those tires if rules permit. You will have better overall grip but much faster beak-away with less warning – Less sided wall deformation to the driving surface making them a bit more difficult to read.
Good luck with the 2015 season. It would be nice to see a S197 be a top contender considering the competition.
In a perfect world, certainly wouldn't hurt to have wider wheels. Reality though is dictated by far more than just what is ideal. Primarily, for me, that means budget. The cost difference between what I'm running and what a set of 18x11's would cost and the performance difference between them just doesn't justify paying double for what might be a tenth of a second tops on a 60 second course, at least not to me. I doubt I can drive well enough to notice the difference in width anyway.
As for breakaway, a little bit of "fudge factor" with regards to tire grip characteristics is going to help this hack driver maximize his potential more than the slight improvement in steering response and minor increase in overall grip. A 285 isn't exactly crammed onto a 10" wheel (in fact it sits pretty square) but I wouldn't call it stretched either. Besides, there is a real possibility that if I decide to stay in STU through the year that I may end up on a set of 275 wide Bridgestone hotness if something else faster than the RS3V2 doesn't come out in 285 sizes. Several of the other V8 powered RWD cars have said as much as .6 second difference between a 285 RS3V2 and the 275 Bridgestone... that's pretty substantial. Granted none of those tests were at Lincoln, in my car, but it is what it is.
As for top contender... if you happen to find someone with a lot of talent looking for a co-drive for Spring Nats and Nats don't hesitate to send them my way. I'm a bit of a realist in that I know I'm a hack driver! An improving driver, but a hack driver none the less.
99.9 + % of people who compete overall are what you would call hack drivers – Myself included.
You are right in sticking with what you currently have. It will definitely be easier to feel the brake away limit and correct accordingly - Easier to read and a great start / learning tool. Have fun this year and update your progress. I personally would like to see how you progress in such a non-Mustang friendly field. The most important thing is to have a blast.
I left the S197 field and downgrade to a 1994. Cheaper, cage, fire suppression, 347 crate motor, full race T-5 – Long list of SHT I didn’t have to install or pay for. When I bend it, it will be cheaper to fix. I will bend it eventually – Hopefully later than sooner
Ehh... we'll see. I've resigned myself to understanding that if Spring Nationals doesn't go well (which, lets face it, what are the chances of it going well? ) I'll just take my toys and go play in CAM where I can be all 'Murica! /on street tires/ there since the meanies in Street Touring just pick on me for being fat and with my legs tied together...
Yes it's the vorshlag/bilstein set up. For street they're great. They hold their own at autocross. The weak link at this point suspension wise is the front spring rate. The other weak link is the driver haha.
Whiskey - I think I read along the way that you weekend or occasional DD this setup as well? How do the 550/275 springs feel on the street? I know you can dial out some harshness with the Koni's for the street and the S197's will never be a Cadillac in comparison for smooth ride quality but I also don't want to drive a plank board down the road.
Whiskey - I think I read along the way that you weekend or occasional DD this setup as well? How do the 550/275 springs feel on the street? I know you can dial out some harshness with the Koni's for the street and the S197's will never be a Cadillac in comparison for smooth ride quality but I also don't want to drive a plank board down the road.
This car is my DD, pure and simple. There is no weekend or occasionally DDing about it! It's my only vehicle. That said, the 550/275 setup doesn't ride that bad. It is firm, and about as stiff as I personally think the car needs to go to accomplish the goals I want to accomplish. By no means is it harsh though. The headtoss can be unbearable on absolutely shit roads but on the roads in my town (some of which are brick) it is tolerable. I've driven 4.5hrs in this car and didn't feel like I needed to see a chiropractor afterwords.
I still check it regularly to see how you're doing against the boost buggies. I'm pulling for you as I still wish there was a good place in ST for the Mustangs to play. Especially since I just did basic math on what Hoosiers are going to cost me per year. 2-4 sets of scrubs at $500 a set isn't horrible but not having 1 set of tires for track days AND autocross kinda sucks.
This car is my DD, pure and simple. There is no weekend or occasionally DDing about it! It's my only vehicle. That said, the 550/275 setup doesn't ride that bad. It is firm, and about as stiff as I personally think the car needs to go to accomplish the goals I want to accomplish. By no means is it harsh though. The headtoss can be unbearable on absolutely shit roads but on the roads in my town (some of which are brick) it is tolerable. I've driven 4.5hrs in this car and didn't feel like I needed to see a chiropractor afterwords.
I think I read somewhere you were running softer rates up front, why did you go stiffer? Any improvement in times? I am on 315 Hoosiers and am running way less spring up front, similar in rear and love the car for autocross, first TT in a couple weeks. Strano's bars full stiff up front middle in rear.
I think I read somewhere you were running softer rates up front, why did you go stiffer? Any improvement in times? I am on 315 Hoosiers and am running way less spring up front, similar in rear and love the car for autocross, first TT in a couple weeks. Strano's bars full stiff up front middle in rear.
I was running 440/200 about two years ago. Stopped running that when I wanted to minimize the tire roll over as I was destroying the outside shoulder of the tire, even with -3.0º of camber. The 550lbs/in front springs really eliminated movement up front and helped the car change directions quicker as there was less movement. It kept the tire in a happier spot and I ultimately gained grip in the process (Chapman's Law FTW!). I'm working on the update from this past weekend and you'll be able to see some more videos on how the car behaves.
Everyone I've had in the car says they love the way the car drives and it has way more grip than they anticipated it having. Still have some people saying there is more rear grip than they thought, but no one said the car was overly pushy. I may bring the front swaybar down to full soft from the middle position it is in now. We'll see.
I've been putting off this update out of sheer leazyness. I'm actually behind two events. I'll just summarize the event we are missing: It rained after the first runs, I placed second to a car that was modified outside STU limits (more boost, aftermarket intercooler, etc) and the car is a handful in the rain with the constant understeer at entry, oversteer at exit. Turns out that it was going to be good practice for Spring Nationals as the weather threatened rain all weekend.
Ohh yeah, we had a second Test'n'Tune event as the Starting Line school wanted the pad for their school. I got a bunch of runs in in varying conditions ranging from wet, to drying, to completely dry. During this I made the swaybar change and put the front bar at the middle setting. During the pre-Spring Nats nut and bolt I found out that the passenger side was in the middle and the driver side was in the stiffest setting. Apparently I wasn't paying attention on the one side! This was fixed before Spring Nationals.
Spring Nationals:
The Thursday of Spring Nationals, I drove out to the event in an attempt to get the car teched and to see Eric and Jojo. The test'n'tune course was up and running and Eric and Jojo both wanted to drive the car. Well I got distracted at the T'n'T course and didn't get the car teched. That's fine. A small tweak to the car's shock settings made Eric and Jojo happy enough with the car setup to give it the "doesn't suck at handling" thumbs up but there was one glaring issue with the car that they felt was really holding it back and another potential source of lost time. In fact, their 2013 Gotta Have it Green Track pack GT was running faster raw times than my car at the test'n'tune course by about a second on a 30 second course... IE: an eternity. Now if you question my driving ability, that's fine, but Jojo would end up taking second and Eric third during the tour. Jojo placed first at the Pro-Solo in F-Street as well. Suffice to say, they can drive and they do it very well! Ohh yeah, that one issue: Power. My 3V in it's current form makes somewhere around 290 RWHP and 300 RWTRQ with just the CAI and tune. It would max out in STU trim somewhere near 305/320. Other cars in the class are making similar to more power and hustling around a lot less weight or were AWD. They were surprised at how much grip the car had and how well it handled the course. Like I said the only real changes to the car done at the T'n'T were rear shock rebound changes. Both thought the 5.0L was the better car to have for STU after driving my car.
As always, thanks to Hypermotive Performance for providing parts at an impossible to beat price!:
It was quite hilarious to ride with Jojo in my car and see him shift to third. I scolded him for doing so and informed him of the 74 mph 2nd gear top speed and the fact that the car was missing a forward gear compared to his 2013. After that he ran a run that was about a second and change off pace of his own car. He did remind me that his track pack car needs to shift to third on the T'n'T course as the back opening radius sweeper really tops out their car because of the short gearing. When I drove their car there were a couple of things that really made the car different. First: The coyote is such a sweetheart of a motor. It isn't a brute and that really improves driving in autocross as the torque and power builds linearly. Second: The Brembo brakes have a lot more initial bite and a lot more woah down on those rotors than my puny 12.4" front rotors and 2 pot sliders do. Part of this is pad compound (Carbotech 1521 vs Hawk HP+) but the additional rotor diameter certainly doesn't hurt. Third: Dem Bridgestones are something else. Like an RS3 in feel (not as precise as other street tires) but with more grip and a lot quieter. They don't talk as much to you but you can feel when they let go of grip so it is a pretty moot point. They are definitely faster than the RS3 is at Lincoln.
Anyway, on to Spring Nats Day 1:
The day started off with rain. STU ran in heat four so I wasn't worried about it as the rain was supposed to end pretty early on. In fact it ended early enough that the course was basically completely dry by the time STU ran. The Day 1 course was the west course from the 2014 Solo Nationals, run in reverse and a tweak to the finish. STU was an 8 driver, 6 car class that composed of the usuals (STi's and Evo's) a 350Z and myself.
Run #1:
One of the things I've learned through the two events on these RS3's is that the first run always starts off... well... interesting. They don't have the cold grip that one really expects in a good autocross tire. That first 2-3 corners are almost always a handful until the tire really warms up. Once it is warm it has good grip and tolerates some over driving. Run #1 would come in with a 64.715 after a cone (so 62.715). After coming in from the run the tires were scalding hot. I unleashed a torrent of water on them to cool them down some before the next run as I found they don't tolerate the heat like the RS3V1 did. Tire pressures were at 32F/30R and the car felt fine after the tires came up to temp. Turned in well and was easy to keep on line. In general, very easy to drive. As the times came in for the competitors, it was evident the car was off pace. Mark Hill came in with a smoking 58.494 and Robert Pendergest came in with a 57.942. That's a lot of time out on course to try and find!
Run #2:
This run felt really good to me and the time confirmed my suspicions. I came in at a rather smoking hot 17 seconds. The announcer made some comment about there being a timing glitch and that I'd get a re-run. I told the guy handing out the time slips that it was BS that they weren't going to count my STU winning run and make me take a re-run and he thought it was funny. I didn't! I'm convinced that there is some form of conspiracy that is keeping the Mustang down in STU. It isn't my fault the car can warp space time and finish a run in 17 seconds! Sheesh! The re-run felt pretty decent. Not as fast as the 17 second run but it came in with a more believable time of 62.539. An improvement but not much of one.
17 second run:
The re-run:
Run #3:
As with every run my goal is to improve on times and learn about the car's handling and tweak as necessary. Without any other changes being made to the overall balance of the car this run also felt pretty good. The car transitioned well and put down power well. It was up to the nut behind the wheel to really show what the car could do. I was determined to get out of my last place and into 7th but it was not meant to be. The run was faster at 62.276 but it wasn't fast enough to move into 7th place. I would go into day 2 a half second out of 7th.
That's it for Day #1. I'll get Day #2 done tomorrow. I haven't finished editing those videos yet sadly. As always, feel free to post your questions, comments, concerns, gripes, bitches and complaints.
I've been putting off this update out of sheer leazyness. I'm actually behind two events. I'll just summarize the event we are missing: It rained after the first runs, I placed second to a car that was modified outside STU limits (more boost, aftermarket intercooler, etc) and the car is a handful in the rain with the constant understeer at entry, oversteer at exit. Turns out that it was going to be good practice for Spring Nationals as the weather threatened rain all weekend.
) I'll just take my toys and go play in CAM where I can be all 'Murica! /on street tires/ there since the meanies in Street Touring just pick on me for being fat and with my legs tied together...
Well that sucks. So....did you protest? 
