The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working

G Lake was a blast today! Really nice weather and a pretty wide open course setup :) Got to work on my farmers tan a bit.

Taking 6 back to back to back runs was a quick, fun format too, although I'm sure the first group of course workers were itching to go as they watched the first group of racers play through

A beautiful RX-8 got me by a tenth of a second tho :( Nice driving to that guy! (Sorry, I'm bad with names)
 
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I don't think he's on the forums, but his car looked really nice. I had a great time, many thanks to Marc for the feedback, he beat me by 0.167 so I'm happy. Might have been able to get him with a couple more runs.

I meant to walk up and introduce myself, but we didn't know if we were 1st heat till the very end and after that there was no time.
 
codex said:
The smart car cannot compete in any class? I thought some cars could not compete in stock class because of the stock suspension and racing tires = high rollover risk. If you have suspension mods and street tires, I think you would be fine in a street tire class.
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I believe that is so. We have a guys that runs a ford ranger and a F150 (highly modified and run on propane and both are tubo) over here in NWOR SCCA. He also has a twin turbo RX-7 (FD) and a twin turbo GT40 kit car with a big block in it. He has some mental issues with boost :) Great guy and has some sick cars.
 
codex said:
The smart car cannot compete in any class? I thought some cars could not compete in stock class because of the stock suspension and racing tires = high rollover risk. If you have suspension mods and street tires, I think you would be fine in a street tire class.
Click to expand...

What about no suspension mods and street tires? It will wallow a good amount on stock suspension. This might be the first car I own to not get sticky street tires when they need replaced lol.
 
This is why stock suspension and really grippy tires are frowned upon for some cars.

saturn.jpg


Anything can happen, and probably has.
 
We had a Mazda2 on grippy street tires (I forget which) up on 2 tires at one of our events this year. Stock suspension.
 
I talked to a guy at an autox event earlier this year who said he has seen 3 cars roll at events. A Volvo 240 dl on coilovers and slicks and a rabbit. He didn't mention the third.
 
But no one answered about stock suspension STOCK tires? Will the lateral forces overcome the all season grip or will they just slide?

I'm surprised about the Mazda 2. Mine would lift the inside rear (stock suspension only, it wouldnt do it on the lowering springs), at speed in corners. And by at speed I mean like 60-80mph. I don't recall it doing it on track with the 15x9s and 225 R1Rs, though...

Then again, I don't autocross and I'd rather hit a big sweeper at 2x the speed of a tighter auto-x turn.
 
It's the quick transitions that you have to watch out for. I 2-wheeled my Protege before on dead street tires.
 
Completely off topic but I'm pulling the stock turbo off today. Smoke shows at idle after driving for a bit have become frequent. Throwing on my Jake's stocker and upgrading next year. Stupid turbo design.
 
Thought I took 2nd yesterday in Rookie, but apparently I took 3rd...

Doesnt it seem like an AWD Infiniti G37XS should have a smaller, or at least the same PAX handicap as an MX-5? I always thought the G35 and the G37 were luxury versions of the 350 and 370Z which gets the substantially smaller STR PAX handicap.

Infiniti G37XS: Three-hundred and thirty lustful sounding horsepower. Seven-speed automatic transmission with steering wheel paddle shifters and adaptive shift control. Intelligent all-wheel drive with a viscous limited slip rear differential. Nineteen-inch V-spoke alloy wheels shod with performance tires.

Sounds like it should crush an MX-5 to me... WTH?

Oh well...
 
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PAX is based on the class not the car and is determined by the national results each year. He classed himself as STX which is a slower class than STR as far as PAX is concerned. Whether or not he classed himself correctly is a different story (I think he did though taking a quick peek at the rules).

I think you can beat him though. I got him by a couple seconds in my lowly '91 ;)
 
I know, I just find it hard to believe that a 370Z based AWD car is in the STX class. If it were the RWD version of the car, maybe I could see it; but in AWD?!

And what is really interesting in the classification of that car in particular is the blanketed "G37" insertion into all of the SCCA literature. There seems to be zero differentiation between having the 4 door sedan or the 2 door coupe nor is there any language separating the RWD version from the or AWD type

IDK, maybe the car just looks better on paper than it performs in person. I mean either way, I only lost to the car by ~.1 sec PAX, and I'm pretty sure I'm leaving 2+ sec out there on the track somewhere anyhow...

Looks like it's time for this SOLO newbie to read up on tiring cooling, maintaining pressures, etc ;)
 
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tripn4days said:
I know, I just find it hard to believe that a 370Z based AWD car is in the STX class. If it were the RWD version of the car, maybe I could see it; but in AWD?!
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Because AWD + good motor doesn't always translate to fast for autox. The fact that it weighs literally 2 TONS hurts it a LOT, especially in a class that's wheel & tire limited. Which is going to go faster around a corner, all other things being equal? Something weighing 3000 lbs? Or something weighing 4000 lbs? Physics is a b**** ;)
 
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aMaff said:
Because AWD + good motor doesn't always translate to fast for autox. The fact that it weighs literally 2 TONS hurts it a LOT, especially in a class that's wheel & tire limited. Which is going to go faster around a corner, all other things being equal? Something weighing 3000 lbs? Or something weighing 4000 lbs? Physics is a b**** ;)
Click to expand...

The B class 2004 STi weighs 4000+ lbs too
 
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