Quote:
Originally posted by Aftrglw_02civEX
I was wondering if anyone besides me Auto cosses their 7th gen... I began racing this year and have only ran into one other 7th Gen civic.... Althow not in the same class we ran respectable times.
The only bad side to Auto-X with the 7th Gen is its in H-Stock when stock of coarse... That only means one thing... The lower model mini is in the same class. but they can be beaten on a big track.
I was wondering if anyone had some tips on Auto-X because I'm within about a tenth of a second in my EX MT 02 Coupe. |
In best homer impersonation.
mmmmmmm............ autocross.......
Any way, Stock is probably the best place to learn and there is nothing wrong with HS. However, most people I know cant go that long with out moddifying something, so you might as well start out in a limited prep cass like Street Touring (STS), or street Prepaired (SP). SP being the more highly modified of the two.
First question is, What have you done to your car? and what class do you want to run in. This will be the primary factor on what you decide to modify in the future.
Second, You've only been autocrossing for little less then a year now, right? This tells me that Right now the best modification you can do is to your own driving. i.e. Right now,
YOU are the only thing in your car making you slow. Its a bitter pill to swallow (I konw I had to admit this to my self), but at least its the least expesive part to change (The Nut Behind the wheel).
Third, If you absolutly want to shave off a few tenths to a few seconds RIGHT NOW, then get some really sticky tires. Being so new to the sport, this will slow down your learnig curve, but you will get imiedate results. What tires to get depends on what class you're running in. STS allows for any DOT legal tire with a tread wear of 140 or greater, STock allows for any DOT legal tire. So STS allows you to modify the car more, but Stock allows you to run a stickyer tire. If your on a budget, Falken Azenis sports are hard to beat when it comes to Value and Performance and they are legal for STS, if you run stock then the tire of choice is either Kunho Victoracers V700's or Hoosier A3S03's.
Fourth, Regarding Tires and wheels, the general rule is Get ones as light as possible and (Especially for our cars) As Small as possible(In total wheel/tire Diamiter). Example, For autocross, I run a set of 15X6.5 Rota Slipstreams, wraped in 205/50R15 Falken Azenis tires. the total diamiter is about 5% smaller then stock, so your speedo will be off by 5% but your car will hit its power band 5% sooner then stock, so Increaced acceleration (With some loss of top end).
Fith, Tire Pressure!!!!!!!! Tire pressure has an incredable influance on handling, Just ask Boilermaker1. (Thanks for experamenting for us). Typically you will run a much higher pressure on the nose of our cars Vs the rear. to adjust pressure, get your self a bottle of window chalk and mark the tires in 3-4 places on the tires shoulder, extending part way on to the side wall. then Run a race. and check how much of the chalk has warn off. you want the tire to only roll over on to the side of the shoulder, not on to the side wall its self, and you dont want it to not roll over at all. adjust pressure accordingly. Wehn I first autocrossed on my civic, I ran 45 Psi in the front and 32 on the rear (205/40R17) with the falkens (Due to the much stiffer side wall) I now run 40 psi on the front and 30 rear (205/50R15). Pressures will vary tire to tire, and supension set ups as well. so every time you change a part, re check for tire roll over.
Finally, Seat time is your best friend. the more the better. See if you can get one of the old timers to ride with you, they are a plethera of racing knolage.
good luck and I hope this helps a little.
Check out my ride if you want to see me tourchuring my car
youll also see examples of marking your tires. (I nolonger race with my 17's, they are exclusivly for use on the street)
Auto-X 
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