RichJ

Well, I finally autocrossed my Evo for the first time today at the local SCCA event. My car has stock springs/shocks/bars/wheels/tires but has power mods that put it in SM. I've been autocrossing a 95 Camaro in SM for a while, but have never autocrossed anything AWD or FWD. I also usually autocross on Hoosiers, so this was quite a change to be on street tires.

My first run I came out of the gate hard only to push badly on the first slow off camber corner...oops, street tires. But once I got under way I was amazed at the car's ability to accelerate full bore while turning. That is virtually impossible in my Camaro but the Evo, while not sticking like glue on street tires, did drift in the right direction and was exceptionally forgiving and controllable (most of the time). Throughout the course, which was slalom-intensive, I was able to really drift the car around surprisingly controllably. I took things a little over the edge in the first really fast slalom and spun through a wall of cones at the top end of the course on my first run. Oops...a few people got reruns because of that. My time after resuming my run was 60.x seconds.

I was encouraged by my time even with the spin because I had seen lots of people on R compounds in the stock classes running in the mid-50 second range, so I thought there was promise. My next run I pushed badly in a couple of slow corners again, but avoided a spin and came in with a clean (I think) high 53.

I still saw lots of room for improvement and on my third run I thought I had it together, but again spun it in the final slalom taking out a wall of cones. I think by this point the courseworkers were really starting to hate me.

My final run I cleaned it up and didn't make any really huge mistakes. Just had to really slow it down on the slow corners, much more so than I'm used to in my Camaro with 275 Hoosiers and 2.5 degrees negative camber. My last run was a clean 52.0. I was happy with that. To put that into perspective, I was about 3 seconds off the pace of the BSP and SM cars running modified suspensions and Hoosiers and a little over 2 seconds off the pace of the ESP winner (also nationally competitive).

I haven't seen the final results, but I'm hoping that a 52.0 was the fastest street tire time. I expected the Evo to be fun to autocross, but I had no idea how capable it was on stock suspension and tires. After looking at how others did and how I've stacked up in past events in my Camaro, I think that if I had brought the Camaro I would have run within 1 second of my time in the Evo today. That's saying a lot given that the Camaro's suspension is 100% aftermarket, it's rolling on 10" rims with fresh 275 Hoosiers and has more power than the Evo.

Anyhow, easily the most fun I've had at an autocross for a long while

FT@SELGP

I am sorry we did not get to meet, but I believe I saw you running right behind JBrennen in the Silver Evo. I thought your runs were quite smooth, it is just a matter slowly making the transition from a Camaro to the Evo; quite different characters for sure

Many of the nationally competitive Camaros are running 11" wheels with 315 or 335 tires during hot temps, and 275s at lower temps.

Mike Cole, ESP winner and my co-driver, was truly awesome I think; very smooth and patient runs. He ended up with a 49.4. I was not smooth and made many mistakes unfortunately and could only manage 3rd spot with 50.6 But I'll take it, lol. Mike has been winning many local championships, but just starting his National-level performance, we both are; so the car is still not fully prepared yet, nor the drivers

And Jack was of course flying, and absolutely phenamonal runs and an unbelievable time of 48.5 . He is a very talented driver, I don't think you can do those times with the help of equipment, you gotta have talent

The best part of the day for us: 1st place (JBrennen) and 2nd place (Mike Cole) PAX holders of the day were using SELGP chassis setups; one SM Evo and one ESP STi

Big congrats to Jack and Mike

I don't think it gets any better than this for us

jwtodd60

Burak kicked my butt again, but at least I was ahead of everybody else in AS. I overcooked the left-hander at the end of the "straight" along the top side of the course pretty badly on my best run, so I could have been closer, but I'm pretty sure I still would have been second without that mistake. And while I didn't PAX nearly as well as Jack (or Fatih or Wojo for that matter), I still have to be reasonably happy with being in the top 20%. It's been far too long since I PAXed that well.

Gotta stop making so many mistakes...

JW

jbrennen

iTrader: (1)

Prelim results posted: http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/p20040613.php

Yeah, I drove pretty well on that last run. What the results don't show is that my last and fastest run was a rerun; my fourth run was red-flagged about 8-10 seconds from the finish, so was basically a complete practice run. Then I got a fifth run with fairly warm tires, and just kept it clean and trusted my tires and it paid off.

The "straight" from right to left across the top of the course was the real "*****" section of the course. Every run I made throughout the day, I pushed harder through there. My last official run, I was almost at full throttle the whole way -- and the back end was really jumping around at every kink, but I stayed in it. During fun runs, with RichJ riding along, I managed to stay full throttle all the way to the hard braking zone, but braked about 10 feet too late (extra weight in the car?) and didn't get a good left hander at the end of the straight (just like jwtodd ). Ended up with a 48.3 with a passenger, but I did take out a cone or two.

Greg Olsen made three fun runs in my car and managed a low 49 with a passenger (he had a 48.7 also, but that was an off course due to missing an element of the course). I drove his FSP Scirocco for two solo runs and only got a 52.5 -- still would have been good enough for second place in FSP. In his car, I drove most of the course in 3rd gear -- he told me afterward he used 2nd, so I was obviously running a bit down on power compared to how he ran the car. Still, other than the obvious huge power difference to my car, his felt really tight and had a nice neutral setup.

Yeah, I think that SELGP got some attention today. Glad I could help.

Once guys like Brian Garfield and James Sheridan come back from their ProSolo weekend in Toledo, I'll have a much harder time getting #1 PAX. I had to "get it while the getting was good"...

jbrennen

iTrader: (1)

Maybe it was "officially" -- but I'm told that Burak Tuglu ran a 51.8 in Craig Garfield's STX Mini during fun runs. Burak did drive a FWD STS car before getting his STi, so he's got some experience with FF cars on street tires.

chrisw

iTrader: (2)

So RichJ, I am curious about your opinion... As a Camaro driver, where do you think the EVO and STI should go in Street Prepared?

Mhyrr

Driving Jack's Evo (thanks Jack!) was definitely one heck of an experience. As I told him yesterday, any aspirations I had of taking my Scirocco back to Street Mod quickly evaporated, and plans to sell both cars and purchase an Evo took their place. Rich rode with me on the first two runs in the car, and mentioned the difference the cams made in the top end. The power was just unbelievable, especially as I'm used to 90 fwhp. I was also pretty amazed by the response of the coilovers. Wonderful balance, very neutral, very predictable. Aside from it not being my car, I was far more focused on the car (and yelling about how cool it was) then really trying to grab a time, but I have no doubt that there were 47s, possibly mid or low 47s in the car on yesterday's course. It would just take Tunnell like precision with that kind of power and steering response.

On a side note, my goal this event was to get top PAX since Brian G and James Sheridan were in Toledo, and an STi and an Evo foiled me. I can't even blame their ESP index since Jack did it in SM!!

-Greg

FT@SELGP

MrAWD

Oh boy...do you really want to ask him that?

Fedja

Kyperion

iTrader: (2)

MrAWD,

To answer your question; Yes, Ask him.
I am running in ESP now because that is where they put me. Do I think it is mis-classed? The more results come in I would have to say yes. WIll I continure to run it there until they move it? YES.. when it gets moved to BSP will I change to SM since I will have engine mods open to me.. Most likely.

I want and value the opinon of someone who is familiar with both an ESP F-Body and the Evo. I have no fear of re-class as I do not want to win, just because I am driving the right car. I want to win cause I kicked your ***.

jbrennen

iTrader: (1)

Fedja knows that Rich already answered this question over on SCCAForums.

But I don't want to get Rich in any more trouble than he's already in, so I won't give you a link to his comments... But you can go track them down yourself if you're interested.

Kyperion

iTrader: (2)

is it in the big thread??
since I have that one bookmarked
hehe

MrAWD

Hmmm…I guess you missed that smiley at the end and felt to release a valve or two…

I know Rich much better then you might think and we are/where ESP buddies for quite some time! Also, I have seen his reply on the www.sccaforums.com, and that is where the question (with the smiley) came from.

As of you note regarding the move to the SM rather then potentially BSP, I don’t think that you (and few other guys out there) have counted all of the things that SM will bring you. If you think that SM is BSP with the boost control, you are way off. It will take a lot more then just a boost controller to make it competitive in there and to start winning at the National level.

Well, the thing is that you can always find an *** to kick if you are looking for those. You can also find some other guys that would hand you your *** back. I guess, everything depends on what you are really looking for!

Fedja

FT@SELGP

I think also the term "boost control" is not being used properly There are ways in Street Prepared, just gotta read the rules closely.

Kyperion

iTrader: (2)

I know SM is a lot more than BSP with boost. But for local competition, where the PAX for SM is better than the PAX for BSP, I could run SM just to have a better chance in the overall.

I think I am going to end up in SM eventually whether it is moved to BSP or not. I have concentrated all mods to this point on suspension, since in stock form there is more than enough power for what the suspension will do. Once I get outside of those mods, I will want to start with power items and that stuff will bump you to SM right now. I just want to finish out this season in ESP, and see what happens over the winter.

And to answer your question, I did not see the smiley when I first replied, so please accept my apology. My problem is that a lot of EVO AutoX'ers I have talked to want everyone to keep quiet to not draw any attention to the issue, hoping that the classing will stand. Personally I am with you an JBrennan. I want to win on my merits, not because of the car, so I would rather have as much info out there as possible.