First Autox Of The Year!!!

[91ProtegeLX]

I competed in my first autocross of this year. It was sweet. Im #323 in the STS class. There was some really fast cars in my class, wrx's, se-r's, and a bunch of others. I took 19th out of 42. Which is really not bad considering it was only my 2nd autox ever. My car dosent understeer nearly as bad as I thought it would, and I got the ass end around a few times. My best time was a 68.xxx, the best in my class was a 57.xx. So it wasnt that bad. I definately need some suspension work, my struts are completely shot. And my tires suck balls. I cant wait to get some more seat time!!!!!

[MazdaRacer]

Awesome, welcome to the addiction!

hey we had the same times!!, but fastest in my class was 65.xxx and i still came in 9th out of around 40. The new suspension was hard to get dialed in and learn...but i had fun, so mission accomplished.

get some crappy tires and just get as much seat time as possible. Better to cook cheap tires than good ones when your first learning. Pay no mind to standings, focus on driving the course. Be smooth and LOOK AHEAD...no look ahead further... no even FUTHER!

and remember this. slow is smooth, but smooth is fast

[91ProtegeLX]

Hell yea. Look ahead, that one works wonders. On my very first run, I really just floored it, and wasnt very smooth at all. I just wanted to go really fast. Then on my 2nd and 3rd runs, I went what felt ALOT smoother, paid more attention and LOOKED AHEAD! And I cut my time by like 2 seconds from the first to last runs. I have some pretty crappy road huggers on my car right now. They really dont grip to well. Ill prolly just use those ones up and then get some Kumho's or something. They are pretty cheap. Its definately fun fun fun. Id have to say Im addicted. And everyone shoudl try it. There should be more events tho, because there isnt realyl any places to practice driving. Unless I go to the mountains, but if I screw up I might die..lol.

[THEGOLDPRO]

good job man, glad to see you take it to the track, and not the streets. good luck in future events.

[91ProtegeLX]

Thanks alot!

[turbonium959]

Man, I can't wait until autocross begins in my neck of the woods. I need to try out my new tires, springs, shocks, sway bar. Yeah, STS, here I come.

[JesseSays]

Hell yea. Look ahead, that one works wonders. On my very first run, I really just floored it, and wasnt very smooth at all. I just wanted to go really fast. Then on my 2nd and 3rd runs, I went what felt ALOT smoother, paid more attention and LOOKED AHEAD! And I cut my time by like 2 seconds from the first to last runs. I have some pretty crappy road huggers on my car right now. They really dont grip to well. Ill prolly just use those ones up and then get some Kumho's or something. They are pretty cheap. Its definately fun fun fun. Id have to say Im addicted. And everyone shoudl try it. There should be more events tho, because there isnt realyl any places to practice driving. Unless I go to the mountains, but if I screw up I might die..lol.

Darren, unfortunately, your car isn't exactly legal for STS...

the high flow cat and RX-7 VAF put you into FSP.

[91ProtegeLX]

I put my stock VAF back on, so I could run in the STS class, but I didn't do anything to the cat. They didn't check the exhaust except the header. Thanks for the heads up tho. I guess I should have read the rules a lil better. Maybe I will register for FSP tho, STS has got some really tough cars to beat.

[rando]

And in FSP you can run R-compounds.

[JesseSays]

FWIW also, WRXs and the like aren't allowed in STS either, but consult your local region, as they may allow those cars. Normally, according to the National rules, those cars with similar mods would be put into STX.

[MazdaRacer]

well, i'm right next you in the boat...i have the VAF and cat, but asked most of my competitors if they minded, they said no, basically, if you're not winning, it's not a big deal...but you bet it will be once you do start winning. The Protege is still down on power compared to most of the field anyway. But with the right setup is has mucho hp for the corners.....

They aren't enough to help me win, i know that much. But at a national event, something as meaningless as a fender liner can get you protested....

[Davard]

More Protege domination

We had our first autocrosses as well here in Kansas. Kansas City was first, on 3/21. We were first and second (Julie. my wife, and I, though I won ), and that was with an evilly handling car. Turns out that when we put the coil-overs back in, we got a bunch of toe-out in the left rear, and toe-in on the right rear. It sure turned well to the right (possessed?). And who knew you could overheat Azenis in 50 degree weather?

The next event was the Pro Solo. I was doing OK in the rain on Saturday, running STX so they'd have a class, but never got a good right side run in the dry on Sunday. Julie took 4th in L1, beating a few National champs, and was 6th overall, but only 4 made the challenge. I made the bonus challenge, but with my competitor, Billy Brooks in a 2.5RS, and I both having no good runs on one side, we were essentially screwed (whoever won wouldn't make it past the next round, thanks to the penalty for breaking out). I managed to beat him by about 0.5 sec, plus a cone, but a huge penalty for the next round and went down. (This is something that would take a lot longer to explain.)

The next event was the first local Topeka event. Once again, it was me first and Julie 2nd, although the results still arent' out yet (they normally use a computer, but the persons responsible didn't show up, so no computer, and no results yet). I beat Julie by over a second, and she was about 2 seconds up on 3rd. The best part was hearing the guys hanging around their friend's ricey CRX commenting about how fast a "PROTEGE" was running. And with a girl driving it, no less. She was about 10 seconds faster than the CRX (50 vs 60). I had a 48.0xx.

Tomorrow is Salina (100 miles west), and Sunday is Kansas City (75 miles east). Should be a fun weekend. And the following weekend, I'll be in St.Louis (300 miles east) for Rev-it-up on Saturday, and we'll run the local event on Sunday. Not used to having so many events to choose from.

St.Louis should be interesting, as there were a couple of 3rd-gens and a 3 running in STS at their first event. The other '90 that runs there isn't...he now has a STi.

[Davard]

Tomorrow is Salina (100 miles west), and Sunday is Kansas City (75 miles east). Should be a fun weekend. And the following weekend, I'll be in St.Louis (300 miles east) for Rev-it-up on Saturday, and we'll run the local event on Sunday. Not used to having so many events to choose from.

St.Louis should be interesting, as there were a couple of 3rd-gens and a 3 running in STS at their first event. The other '90 that runs there isn't...he now has a STi.

OK. I'm replying to my own post.

I won Salina by 3 seconds, and was barely 2nd in PAX. Over dinner with Howard Duncan (SCCA director of program development, used to manage all of Solo2), I was told that he uses my time to compare how he is doing in his ST2 Miata. Quite the ego boost.

The next day, in Kansas City, I won STS again, by almost 3.5 seconds. My wife isn't too happy with how she drove at those events.

So, this weekend, we head off to St.Louis in the Protege, and at Rev-It-Up, I wound up 6th overall, with a score of 667 in the pouring rain, and my wife, Julie, winds up in 17th place with a score of 615, but that score makes her the highest scoring women in the country so far (actually, above last years too).

We do some site-seeing on Saturday afternoon (Gateway Arch), and stay up too late Saturday night.

Sunday, we head to Gateway Intl for the St.Louis-region autocross. We wound up running in the last group, but that wasn't much of an advantage, as the track didn't dry out and it was very cold and windy.

My first run was fast enough for 3rd place, despite sliding all over the place on cold Azenis (in the rear...the fronts were nice and warm), and attracted a lot of attention to the old Protege. Unfortunately, in all my talking, I neglected to check either the front tire pressure or the temperature, although I did let 2 pounds out of the rears to reduce oversteer. The car was OK for the second run, but not great, but I hit a wind-assisted cone (I nudged the cone slightly, and the wind helped it over). My 3rd run would have been fast enough to win, except that the car was pushing madly, and I plowed over 4 cones in two different spots, and coasted the last 2-3 corners to save the tires for my wife's last run. The affects of 44psi (instead of 36) and too much heat in the tires. From now on, the only time I'm not spraying down the tires is if it's raining. Doh! BTW, she finished 6th, and my time was good enough for 10th in PAX, and my wife was 17th overall (out of 147 drivers).

[MazdaRacer]

NICE! you guys are kickin serious butt....wish i could move to a less competitive region

I know what you mean by horrible handling with rear toe all messed up....now try it with a loose damper and total erratic toe, camber and caster changes...all at once...but just one side Welcome to the world of one stupid $10 bushing, that i finally got my hands on....now i just gotta get that damper out of the body. Oh and i got my hands on a 1" rear suspension breaker bar

I have been way off in the last 2 events, top 10s, but bearly. I have much to learn about strut and spring setup, now that they are adjustable and interchangable. Now that i have a real setup, you're all they way over there! Anyway, Go SCNAX Topeka!