Another autocross weekend.

Man, I must sound like a dick, but I think I'm just getting lucky. The MP3 took first place again. 3 for 3 in class wins. Had some good competition in the rain again. Everyone at the events is really starting to notice the car now. Once I take the time to get some videos up I'll link to them for ya.
This event I was just over 1 second faster than the neon that was chasing me. He was a pretty good driver too. Very smooth and consistent. I felt like I was lost half the time, but I just kept it floored a lot and prayed I didn;t hit anything. There was a saturn also, but the driver was at his first event.
I will say I love this sport! Everyone is helpful and fun to be around. It was sweet watching this vette dirt-track it all over the place in the wet also.
Hope everyone else had fun this weekend racing also!

Any BWM 325xi competitors? I noticed that they have a 50/50 weight distribution in auto and 49.9/50.1 in manual. I'd like to see how that translates into handling

I'm not comparing it to the MP3 or P5, though. With that price tag difference it'd be comparing apples to oranges.

Actually there were a couple 3 series, not sure on their finishes though. Sadly enough, I think my times were a little faster.
Oh, BTW, do the MP3s come with brakes? Mine just keep going, and going, and going...kinda like that damned bunny.

I'm quite excited CJ.....this upcoming weekend will be the first autocross here and I'll be attending. Don't think I will participate this time(maybe, but I doubt it). I'll give you an update if I do end up giving it a try.

i should be doing my first event this weekend. Its also the jbody.org Midwest chapter meet. so i will see how i do against stock and modified jbodys

Ok, event results were posted this morning.

Columbus Sports Car Club

Did better than I thought. The PAX is the actual overall. The overall is flat times.

Hey CJ,

Very impressive results! Only about 4 seconds off f.t.d. and 80 second runs! I may have to make the trek to Columbus. By the way, there is an event in Steubenville on the 28th of April. They have a very small lot to run in, but it works well with smaller, better handling cars like ours. It is about 1.5 - 2 hours from my house but I am going at least once this year. Their site is: http://www.wizco.net/NOVR/ Let me know if you can make it there. I don't know how far from Columbus this would be...I was in Dayton this past weekend but I did not pay attention how far of a drive it is from Columbus to W.Va.
One tip I was given, keep a log book with the Temp, sunny or cloudy, type of surface you are running on, air pressure in each tire, what kind of tires and fuel level. As you gather more info and learn your car, this will help with setting it up at first and make adjustments easier. My first thought was...I can remember...trust me, you don't remember.
Well congrats on three great races, and many more to come. Hope you can make it to Steubenville.

Actually, it's columbus Indiana. W. VA. is quite a ways away for me. Ohio is over 1 1/2 hours away itself. I'd love to get out and try another track, but I think I'm gonna have to wait for the big meet in Michigan this summer. (Hope they're still autocrossing up there) I have a meet in Indianapolis that weekend also. They run in the parking lot of one of the cities oval sprint car tracks.
Anyway, Thanks everyone! And good luck too! Just remember, our cars have much bigger balls on an autocross course than most of us do. Sad part is, I know my car still had another second or 2 it could have shaved off if I knew how to drive it right. I took 2 slaloms on the wrong sides (long way on optionals) and still got the win. Damn this car is impressive! Just drive it smooth and put the pedal to the floor on the straights. It'll do all the work for ya!

As for keeping track, I am posting it all on a web page. I'll get the link in a few minutes when I get it all up.

A few questions for you CJ seeing as you seem to be our resident expert.

Do you try to show up with less than a full tank of gas at the events for weight? Do you also remove your jack/spare/sub?

Do you use octane booster or anything before the match?

What PSI are you finding works well on the Dunlops(I believe you are still on your stock rubber...) on normal dry pavement?

Do you listen to tunes while you do the course?

All very good questions. I'll try to get them in order.

As for gas, I try to fill up. I know everyone says it ads weight, yada yada yada, but the way I look at it, I am stabilizing the rear end. When I have a half tank, it sloshes around and is unpredictable. When it's full, it's stable. I can control it. I remove everything from the car except the sub. The sub is actually really damned light! I took it out the other day thinking it was heavy, but realized how light it is, so I keep it in so I can jam on the grid to get in my zone. (Nellys "I am No.1" really get's my ego going!)
I remove the spare, jack, and even the board covering the spare. I empty the cabin too. Glove box and all. Nothing left in the car but me and my hat so I don't look any dumber than I have to after I take my helmet off.

As for octane boosters, I thought about trying it, but I don't. There is a Sunoco station just down the road from me that has 94 octane. It's good stuff! Really clean, and smells good too. That's my only octane pep.

As for tire pressures, I usually run 41(cold) in the front. Sometimes I think I could go higher, sometimes I let a little out. I start out the measurement cold that way I can drop it when I get them warmed up. I usually run once and lower it to 41 hot. Seems to work well.
In the rear I start at 36 cold and lower to ~34hot after the first run. Not sure how accurate it is, but I was told to LOWER the rear pressure to get it to loosen up a little. I need less understeer still, so I might try 33 at the next event. (Not that I'm doing bad with it at 34.)
Check pressures after every run and use shoe polish to measure rollover for every run. You really need to conform the pressures to your driving style. Mine is very aggressive. Lots of very late braking and FLYING slaloms. I love listening to the tires scream in agony as I hit the turns.

As for listening to music as I run, I did the first event, but I don't now. I'm actually really anal about my routine. When I get to grid and am 1 car out from my run, I turn everything off. EVERYTHING! Fans, radio so it doesn't even show a display (hold the power/source button a few seconds), EVERYTHING. I figure if the alternator has nothing to power, it won't be a drain on my run.
I will say I do jam while in line though. That sub really can put some sound out in a completely empty trunk. I'm considering putting/strapping my rear seatbacks down at the next event to see if it might help lower the center of the car a little. (Am I anal or what?)

That's just how I do it all. It seems to be working, so I'll stick with it. Hope it helps!

Ok, and here's the link to my site where I'm keeping track of stuff. Don't have the tire pressures on there yet, but I have them in my notebook and I will try and add those columns today.

Sorry this is so long.

Sorry there CJ, I saw the Columbus Sports Car Club and figured it was Ohio...sorry, I am stupid. Anyways, I agree with the full tank of gas idea as do most others I race with. I don't listen to music for the power consumption reason and I like to hear what the car is doing...engine and tires.
We have to remove everything in the trunk and passenger compartment...floor mats, sub, etc. I took everything but the jack out.
For fuel info, I just ran the middle grade BP gas for the race.
I have an old Car and Driver that tested the difference in horsepower with the different grades of gas. In our cars there was not any difference (it was some form of Honda, but a 4 cyl without modifications anyways). They did notice a difference in Dodge truck, and a BMW. Slight differences were noted in a Mustang and some form of V6 Chevy. Sorry I don't remember the specifics. I have not noticed a performance difference or feel between grades of fuel myself, but I feel better using the higher octane. Be careful with octane boosts, they used to mess with the converters...I do not know about the new ones though, just do some research first.

Hope this helps, and remember,
It's all fun and games until someone looses a cylinder

Well my routine is similar to cjstringer's. I usually run less than a 1/4 of a tank of Chevron supreme fuel. So far, knock on wood, I have had no fuel pickup problems. I use the supreme more to keep the injectors clean than for any power difference. I take as much out of the car as I can the night before an event and put in my helmet bag, sunscreen etc. At the event, I remove as much as I legally can, including the floor mats.

My pressures on our usual surface, a high traction aviation cement, is higher than cjstringer's. When I run a more normal surface, I run nearly the same pressures. My front to rear balance is also different. Rather than drop the rear pressures a lot, I run nearly the same as the front or sometimes actually higher. This is too much pressure for maximum traction. However, the rate of change is slower going higher on the pressure than it is going lower. What I mean is, if the maximum traction occurs at 41 PSI, when the pressure is lowered 2 PSI the percent of change is larger than if the raised 2 percent. In addition, it keeps the rear tires more on the tread and less on the shoulder. Having said all that, my pressures are 45/43 on our normal surface and 42/40 on a more normal surface. If the course has a lot of very tight turns, I raise the rear pressures to loosed the back end.

Just before my first run while the tires are still cold, I make a last minute check of the tire pressures to make sure they are still ok. After the first run, I check to see which tires have changed pressure the most and by how much. After my second run is usually when I adjust the pressures back down.

I do try to turn everything off before my runs. However, I have left things on by mistake. Well that is my ritual and it seems to work for me. I hope that this helps.

What kind of results are you getting dolphin? I can't seem to get anyone else to post their results on here! Is there a site or do you keep track yourself? Please let us know!
I'm gonngive a couple pounds more a try at my next event. I'm wondering if the fact that you all live in warmer climates is what is causing the difference in tire pressures. If it starts getting warm I just might need to put a couple more pounds in. We'll see.

I will post my results after Sunday....but don't expect a lot outta me...this is my first time and altho I'll be doing my best to be competitive, I suspect that I'll be pretty slow.

cjstringer,
I have been posting links to my autocross results since last year. I have not run since Feb so I have not post any results. My next event should be this Sunday unless I have to go out of town.

Our local club's web page:
http://www.sierrasportscars.net/welcome.htm

Our region's web page:
http://www.azbrscca.org/
In fact the Feb results are still post with pictures, up here. I think we only had two past National champions there for that event.

Try the higher rear pressures and let me know what you think.

Ok, those are some confusing results. What is this "daily Driver" class thing about? We just run by classes and multiply each class against the PAX to get the overall. Really simple and understandable. I never have figured out why the other regions do all that other weird crap. Why do they have so many classifications for cars in the same classes? (Sorry, not trying to knock it, I just don't understand the need for it all.)
Good to see you won though!. (You did win, right? I hope I was reading that right.)
I'll try and get some link to my pics in my sig. We have a few people taking pics at the events.
So how often is everyone elses events? Our local regions do at least 1 a month. I have 3 or 4 regions I can get to also. I could be running every weekend, but the budget is only allowing for about 2 a month right now.

cjstringer,
Those are the normal SCCA national classes except for:
Novice class which is recomended beginners with less than 5 events,
PAX class which is for anyone but usually people that are trying to compare themselves with other national competitors and don't want to mess with the region's normal series competition.
Street tire class- which is for people running normal street tires whose UTOQ tread wear rating in 140 or greater.

For more compete explainations see:
http://www.sierrasportscars.net/classing.htm

Trophies in these classes are based on the PAX time and not the raw time. We have done this because there is no way to determine, with any accuracy, what the difference between "R" tires and street tires. In some conditions on some courses there is not too much difference. On other courses it could be as much as 3 seconds. What we have observed, seems ot indicate that it averages roughly 2 seconds on our normal courses and surfaces.

Does that help?

Yeah, it kinda clears thing up, but you really don't seem to have an overall event winner where EVERYONE is grouped together, which cuts a lot of people out. If I had to run in a NOVICE class for my first 5 events, I could have never won overalls in your region as they are different sections of the scoring. (Did I get that right?)
Our regions here just run classes. Your car and mods determine that. You're a novice? Well, that means the better drivers will walk the track with you and let you ride along, but you're still in their class.
At the end of the day your time is multiplied against your PAX multiplier and the overall for the day is scored. You can win in class and it gives you an overall position for the day. It's a true ranking of how you stack up against the competition.
As for tires, if you run DOT tires with a 140 or better rating, you get a -1 second to your run. If you run race tires, you get what you run, no modifiers. It seems to work well. Both of the events I have won I use street tires and the 1 second didn't matter because I was more than that ahead.
I guess I'd rather have my class ranking AND be able to know how I stack up against everyone else out there when I run. I can see how the different subcategories can be good for some, but if you ask me, running a novice against a novice doesn't really improve the skill level as much as it could. If you are racing someone that is 3 seconds faster, and you really want to win, you will figure out how to get those 3 seconds. I started 6 1/2 seconds behind in my first race to the previous years champ. I figured out what was wrong, and came back with a vengeance.
I guess I'm just used to it and prefer it this way. Not that your regions way is wrong.
Hope that didn't come off as arrogant. I was just stating my case.

cjstringer,
There are three ways that you can guage your performance overall in addition to the raw time and the overall/ time rank. First is the PAX time with which you are familiar.
Second, along with that is the PAX rank which is just the time order like the overall rank but based on the PAX times.
Third is the CLS points or PAX points. This takes the fastest PAX time of the event and divides your PAX time into it. This result is then multipied by 1000 to give you your points. So, whoever has the fastest PAX time get 1000 points. So using your 14 April results, your best raw time was 82.326 giving you a PAX time of 64.626. The fastest PAX time was 64.167. So 64.167/64.626*1000 = 993. For all intents and purposes this tells you that you were 99.3% as fast as who ever has the fastest PAX time. National this is the way that the PAX is applied as there is no developed factor for street vs "R" tires. As I said before, this changes from course to course, day to day and surface to surface. If it rains, then the street tires could have an advantage.

How is that? Clear as mud right?

Actually, I won the PAX adjusted for both points events in columbus, so I was 100% as fast as me. The first event was a fun run/test & tune. I got 9th there.
I guess I just like seeing the way we have it laid out. We have a seperation by class which shows how you do against equal cars.. Then we show the ranking by flat time. Last we do a PAX adjusted ranking for everyone. It just seems easier to understand where you were that way.