SRT-4 going auto-xing...
 

My friend finally convinced me to go autocrossing with him. I agreed to try it once after watching guys for the past couple months...

I picked Monrovia Raceway because I've driven the course before and I feel I know it well. I've never raced it, but I've driven it at what I think was about 80% speed.

I'll obviously be using my baby Neon, hopefully some asswhore does not hit me. :shake: There will be a serious asskicking if that happens. My friend said he would put the paperwork in for us and get us in a good race and he would help me out via our headsets that we normally use for drag during the race. He'll be taking his autocrossing Celica. He's got more suspension mods than I have total mods lol. He said the race we'd be running in, I would have about a 200 whp advantage on most guys so I figure I can hold my own.

I don't expect to win, but a top 3 amongst amateurs would be nice. I just finished a lot of suspension work but the car is really made for a straight line...

Any tips?

I hear life on three wheels is more fun...we'll see. It definetely looks harder than dragging, I bet it is...

Good luck!

lol I'm going to need it. taking a drag setup to autocross :_doh:

to start with I'm going to have to lose some of those weights and raise the damn car up a little...(3/4" clearance is not cool...)

dont push it... Never push your car fully is my only advice about going around a race circut with other people especially if your worried about nailing someone or having someone nail you. Take it easy until your comfortible since your a noob at it, better be safe than take out a bunch of cars :D

then when you get the feel just hammer it and see what yuor baby can do! :rockon:

yeah, we've been going over a lot of film of the track lately and seeing where he could push it and where I could. It seems that everyone gets really crowded on the twisties but there are three long straights on the track right after those curves...it seems everyone is spaced out good on those, so I should be able to pass there I hope.

exploit my 2x HP advantage :) and hope I don't get raped too bad on the curves...

hand brake anyone? :D

are you doing open track or autocross? because they are 2 different types of events...

autocross: extream corners on a track outlined with cones, typically a 1st and 2nd gear course..and you are the only one on course(so theres no one to hit, or be hit by).

Open track: a bunch of people rent out a Road course and drive around it... multiple cars on course, Passing is ushually limited to straght a ways....

My personal experiance with both.... autocross is much more extream (on a typical autocross course you are navigating a corner 10X as often as a F1 Driver on a road course...), Open course would be a whole lot more fun if it were acutal wheel to wheel racing. (and the beginer group is scary....) and HP means a whole hell of a lot more on an open course.


just a few tips:

Its best to brake too soon then it is to brake too late....
The gas pedal is not an On/Off switch, so dont use it as one. Ease off the gas as you get on the brake, and ease on the gas as you come out of turns... Your tires will thank you later. Same thing goes for the brake.
Finally, Your steering wheel determins how much Brake or Gas you can use at any one time. The more the wheel is turned away from center, the less brake and gas you can use. SO.... as you enter a corner, and start to turn the wheel, you should be coming off the brake (Smoothly) as you exit a corner and centering the wheel you should be rolling on the throttle (also Smoothly) Smoothness is the key....

have fun, and remember.... its best to keep the pointed end facing forward and the shiny side up....


If you use the handbrake on a road course I will personally fly out to where you live and smack you with it.... :nono: (hand brake turns are ALLWAYS the slowest way to take a turn)

hes doing open track I thought.....sounds like that. No cones involved...hehe cone man zzyx :D
I love circut/track racing speaking of which one of the best spots near me is the califonia speedway. You got to have your racing license and class card handy at all times there though

as for the driving tips, yah got that thanks. it may be useful to someone on here. I like the sarcasm...shiny side up :rofl:

um, I think it's a little more of open track. but he said it's a competition where there are entry fees and prizes and there is supposed to be a huge crowd (500 from the ones I've been too). passing goes anywhere and he said we would be in group 2A I think it was. I think he mentioned it's the highest amateur level at this track...enough to challange me without killing me and high enough to stay away from wrecking noobs.

I planned on using the hand brake on one particular turn that's almost 90 degrees :eek: but just for fun...

why not drift once or twice during a road race? :D

oh yeah there are supposed to be 12 cars in our heat. four heats. then a final heat. I think he said it was 30 laps and if I remember right the course is just over a mile...

take your civic dont damage the srt-4!!!!!!! :D
haha I just want to see everyones remarks to this comment

:tup:

Don't worry if something happens to your srt-4.. they are so cheap just go out and buy a new one.. hehe..
try and find a map of the road coarse you will be going on and memerize it.
make sure to take some pictures for us and good luck.

will try. my dig camera sux but he has a mad good one. that's what he does for a living...car pix...

yeah I've driven the track before and been reviewing tapes...I think I know it like the back of my hand...we'll see...

I don't want to hurt that baby either :(

Forget the map. they do next to nothing. Walk it. The whole track. Its a much better way to get a sense of it, you can stop and look at things, find braking points etc.... Paper tells you very little about a track. Don't push it until you feel comfortable and please no hero shit. You'll be worse off trying to save a loss of control than you will just riding it out.

who said anything about losing control? :rofl:

thanks for all these tips guys

sounds like this auto-x shit is a whole lot of fun! :D

good luck

thanks. I'll need it.

Dude, your going to be on a track, all sorts of S**t can happen.

good luck man... heres a srt-4 from the SCCA WC final race from the touring car class.

http://www.world-challenge.com/2004/...lag-tcp-53.jpg

take pics or video :tup:

haha. seen this one. wonder what his undercarraige looks like :hgrin:

I'm sorry, but man that car is ugly, I wish they would have made a differnt body with a new name, I just don't like it.

Oh ya, they did, the PT Cruizer, the ugliest thing on 4 wheels.

it's not the ugliest... i'd put hyundai elantra gt and pontiac aztec way higher on the list of ugly cars.

agreed. especially about the aztec. how about the honda odessey too...

as far as the srt-4 goes, you're getting your wish. dodge is dropping the neon platform as of the end of 2005 car year...

supposedly an awd lancer-type model is in the works with a body redesign...