SilverBulletZ06

I did 3 Auto-X events last year and my times slowly got down. I was happy with the improvement but I wanted to have a strong start this year. The events I go to are mainly BMW/Evo cars competing, but with a scattering of other cars like WRX, corvettes, and porsches. My car is a fairly stock 2001 Z06 lowered a bit. I haven't gotten an alignment yet (I know, I need it but time isn't availible to spend a day lugging the car back and forth yet). I'm running F1SC's at all 4 corneres at stock sizes. Those Evolutions I mentioned, stripped, 400whp, and 10" slicks on all 4 corners. I am getting handed my butt by 16 seconds.

What setups should I try? I'd like to be able to compete with them. I didn't want to go to slicks until next season when I'm a bit more knowledgable.

tcmc5

Well, to make the car perform better the best place to start would be a good alignment and sticky tires. However, if you're getting whooped by 16 seconds, the car is not the reason - your lack of experience/skill is. No shame in that, everybody starts without it. And until you become a much better driver, you're not going to be any threat to an experienced one in a properly set up car. Good luck!

Lancer033

shave 9-10 seconds off your time, then get some Hoosier or Kumho tires under you, then work from there.

Falcon

Is this 16 second differential on a ~60 second course or is it on some really long autox course?

SilverBulletZ06

I ran a 57. Supposedly they ran a 41.

I'm looking into EVO school, but I was reviewing where I went wrong and I had a few people looking at my driving and aside from a little scrobbed speed in the slolom no one saw anything really wrong.

UstaB-GS549

My times at Road America dropped 12-13 seconds over last year. Same car. The only difference was switching from 3 year old KD's with a million heat cycles to some used Goodyear GS-CS tires. It really didn't feel that much faster. I mave been doing these type of events for almost 20 years.

Your Goodyear OEM tires are probably hard as a rock. Get an alignment with a reasonable amount of negative camber and a set of R-compound tires and you will close the gap.

Finally, I would agree with others: nothing beats seat time for reducing lap times.

yellow01

Alignment makes a huge difference, so I agree with the above.

it makes sense, but you wouldn't believe how much. Even on street tires, it improves contact (camber), improves stability in and out of turns (toe). When I went to -1.5/-1.0 with toe in/out (Rear/front) the car was an entirely different animal. The amount of power that could be put down out of turns was awesome.

I'd bet with a stock/unknown alignment, that 400hp is no where near being used.

I ran Kumho MXs and loved them if you need to run street tires (for the $$ and the streetability they are awesome). I agree with others, to beat some of the other guys you may need comp tires, but that adds complication (transport and the like).

A good alignment and some better tires will go a looooonnnnnng way.

vms4evr

Big vote for the Evo schools. And any club schools if your local club offers them. When I did Evo Phase I, I got 32 runs in one day, and Tim Aro as my instructor! That's almost a season of runs with a National winner as your co-pilot. If they have a Phase I and II back to back do it. Just make sure you have plenty of tire before you show up.

Get the alignment done. There are always arguments about running sticky tires as a noob to autocross or track. I ran sticky tires my 3rd year. The Supercars or some MXs are fine for starters. When you're 2-4 seconds off the pace sticky tires will close that gap on a 60 second course. Not when you're 16 seconds off.

Seat time, seat time, and more seat time.

SilverBulletZ06

Working on it. Blame my job! Plus we have precious few Auto-X's (maybe 20 the whole year) so when they are around people flock to them and you get maybe 6 runs.

sgsvette

If you drive a Corvette why not go to a Corvette school so you can learn in the same car you are going to do your runs in.
try: www.corvetteschool.net

wtknght1

I know Henry (sgsvette) and have instructed for him...and it is a very, very good school...and you get lots of seat time. That's your first priority.

The next is to get the car set up properly. I've said this a million times, but if you own a vette and haven't taken your car to Phoenix, PA and talked to Joe Aqualante and crew, you just simply are missing the boat (and serious speed).

Since you lowered your car, you have now screwed up the suspension geomentry and almost certainly the cornerweighting, as well as bottomed out the shocks. They will cure that, align it properly and dyno tune your engine to get good, reliable power from it.

Also, figure out if there are any rules to the stuff you are doing - i.e. suspension upgrades, etc. If you are allowed to upgrade, seriously consider the T1 kit. It's a great overall package and really works! That and some great tires (I love the Kumho V710) will dust just about anyone...short of John Heinricy that is. Good luck!

Jason

1. Seat time
2. Seat time
3. Seat time

Fast_Toys

Seat time is everything! After that, R compounds can easily be worth 4 seconds on a typical auto-x course.

Just to see how your driver skills are, try running a couple of runs with the COMP traction control enabled. Is it ever coming on? If not you are not anywhere near the limits of the car. Once you learn the car well, you can drive much closer to the limits than the COMP mode allows and you will quickly shut it off every run

Lastly, walk the course many times with an experienced driver. Ask them some questions. When you are marshalling, see the lines the quickest cars are taking, their braking points etc. Then you have a rough idea where you can make up some time.

JimBacus

Been there, done that... Henry's school is top notch.

VetteDrmr

How many runs have you made total?

0-100: Forget car mods, you're still learning how to drive..
100-200: Get some medium R-compound tires (Victoracer V700s, Toyo RA-1s) that can be driven to/from the event. Don't bother with other mods
200+: Go for the mods!!!! First mod would be to get the ride height correct.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

SilverBulletZ06

About 30 runs under my belt. Trying to get the feel of the car still I admit, but I cannot see too many areas. My lines are the same ones that the lower times guys aree running.

As for Ga. and Pheonix, etc... come on guys get real. I'm not a millionaire, hell I'm not even wealthy. I worked a lot of overtime to afford my car, theres no way I'm sending it cross country (I livein NY, the anti racing state- worse Long Island) for an alignment.

MightyZR-1

Try NCCC autocross in your area where more Corvettes go to play. That way you can measure your times against other Corvettes. Learn to drive a Corvette from people that drive a Corvette fast!

TedDBere

I agree with everything that's been said here.

Just to give you some reference, this past weekend I wanted some seat time to work on car control, in particular car rotation with intentional trailbraking and tightening the exit line with throttle oversteer. To work on this I chose to run my C5 coupe (non-Z06) with street tires (GSD3s). These tires are easier to slide and don't wear as much as Rs. I went to the local Porche autox to have some non-points fun.

I was fortunate to have three national drivers in SS show up (really four but one of them was just stopping by and not running). They were working on their setups with sticker A6s on their Elise and Porche.

When I run against these guys at regional and national events (in a Z06on 710s) I'm doing really well to come within 2.5 seconds of them on a 60 second course. I believe they ended up FTD, second and fourth in a field of 130...with stock cars! In my coupe on street tires I was 5 seconds off of their times which I was pleased with given my setup.

The reason I'm telling you this is because your improvement will come in stages as lights go off in your head. This comes from seat time and practice. Have a top driver drive your car to see what it can do and save your money on the mods right now and work on the driver. 16 seconds off the top driver's is not the car's fault. How many times have you spun? Have you ever slid sideways in a slalom? Can you hit every cone in a slalom with your rear tires? (this one makes the course workers mad, FYI, but try picking one to hit and just nick it with your rear tires)

Keep practicing and have fun...go to Evo school.

sasnglass77

I started walking the course behind drivers that had great times. Watched thier runs from all different angles, saw the line they were driving. Also when you are walking the course, walk it in the same place you would be in your car. Be smooth if you are too aggressive you wasting time because you aren't hooking up properly. (Some of your problem maybe just the lines you are taking.)
Oh yes I taped better drivers runs as well as having my runs taped and watched them over.

Tires and alignments works wonders. When my car had -2 camber it was too twitchy for me, backed it out to -1.5 (rear) and now it's like a slot car.

Lots of seat time!
Also go to a variety of events, I did the East Region NCCC circuit (90's 3rd in points), and SCCA. SCCA, I found to be more challenging...tighter courses (turns). On a tighter course I think you will learn more...atleast I did.

Laurie

VetteDrmr

Trust me, there's LOTS more time in your car if you've only made 30 runs; heck, I've been running mine for three years now and have only gotten to the point that I think I can start making car mods that'll make a consistent difference.

Also, I want to re-iterate Ted's suggestion: get one of the hot shoes to take your car out for a run or two and see what your car is capable of. If his times are within 1-2 seconds of yours, then you can start working on the car. If his times are more than that, keep working on your driving.

Autocross is hard; that can make it frustrating for some, but come at it from a patient POV and it'll become a ton of fun!

Have a good one,
Mike