Thoughts on first REAL DE, and a power steering and tire wear question
10-10-2008, 09:33 AM
#1
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Thoughts on first REAL DE, and a power steering and tire wear question
Hey, folks, just recently did my first event with The Drivers Edge out at Motorsports Ranch, running the 3.1 course. It was a blast, ran about 180 miles over two days.
TDE put me in the Green novice group, since I'd not run with any other recognized DE organization. That was fine with me, I'd not run the full 3.1 course before. Four sessions in Green on Saturday and they bumped me up one class into Blue for Sunday.
During the first Blue session I experienced a short loss of power steering boost (probably a half lap). I've had this happen before out at MSR, never during an autocross. It was just like the PS just shut off, then when it came back it was fine for the rest of the session (actually for the rest of the day). Note that my '00 FRC comes stock with the Z51 power steering cooler, and when I checked after the session was over the PS fluid was clear, and hadn't boiled over.
Could the PS pump gone into some kind of bypass mode?
Second question has to do with tire wear. I'm wearing the inside of my autocross and track tires faster than the outside. I'm running about -1.0 front, -0.75 rear camber, and about 1/16" toe out front, 1/16" toe in rear.
Street tires I would understand, but I expected to wear the outer edges more on my track tires.
Am I missing something?
Oh, and I got signed off solo in Blue on Sunday.
Have a good one,
Mike
TDE put me in the Green novice group, since I'd not run with any other recognized DE organization. That was fine with me, I'd not run the full 3.1 course before. Four sessions in Green on Saturday and they bumped me up one class into Blue for Sunday.
During the first Blue session I experienced a short loss of power steering boost (probably a half lap). I've had this happen before out at MSR, never during an autocross. It was just like the PS just shut off, then when it came back it was fine for the rest of the session (actually for the rest of the day). Note that my '00 FRC comes stock with the Z51 power steering cooler, and when I checked after the session was over the PS fluid was clear, and hadn't boiled over.
Could the PS pump gone into some kind of bypass mode?
Second question has to do with tire wear. I'm wearing the inside of my autocross and track tires faster than the outside. I'm running about -1.0 front, -0.75 rear camber, and about 1/16" toe out front, 1/16" toe in rear.
Street tires I would understand, but I expected to wear the outer edges more on my track tires.
Am I missing something?
Oh, and I got signed off solo in Blue on Sunday.
Have a good one,
Mike
10-10-2008, 01:59 PM
#2
Safety Car
HSecond question has to do with tire wear. I'm wearing the inside of my autocross and track tires faster than the outside. I'm running about -1.0 front, -0.75 rear camber, and about 1/16" toe out front, 1/16" toe in rear.
Street tires I would understand, but I expected to wear the outer edges more on my track tires.
Am I missing something?
Oh, and I got signed off solo in Blue on Sunday.
Have a good one,
Mike
Street tires I would understand, but I expected to wear the outer edges more on my track tires.
Am I missing something?
Oh, and I got signed off solo in Blue on Sunday.
Have a good one,
Mike
Good for you Mike, yes your probably not going around the corners fast enough
10-10-2008, 04:11 PM
#3
Team Owner
Member Since: Sep 2003
Location: Raleigh / Rolesville NC
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Was the PS fluid fresh? Most likely the PS pump is just about to go. Replace it ASAP
Yup too slow on corners. 
front should be -2.0 , rear -1.0 or more if a dedicated track auto-x car
toe looks fine.
caster, max but equal
Second question has to do with tire wear. I'm wearing the inside of my autocross and track tires faster than the outside. I'm running about -1.0 front, -0.75 rear camber, and about 1/16" toe out front, 1/16" toe in rear.
Street tires I would understand, but I expected to wear the outer edges more on my track tires.
Am I missing something?
Oh, and I got signed off solo in Blue on Sunday.
Have a good one,
Mike
Street tires I would understand, but I expected to wear the outer edges more on my track tires.
Am I missing something?
Oh, and I got signed off solo in Blue on Sunday.
Have a good one,
Mike
front should be -2.0 , rear -1.0 or more if a dedicated track auto-x car
toe looks fine.
caster, max but equal
10-10-2008, 06:33 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Too slow, Greeaaatttt, it's always the driver's fault. 
The PS fluid wasn't new, but not that old. It's never done it on an autocross course, but no big surprise there since it's short runs (although a lot of steering input).
The weird thing (to me at least) is that it only happened once that weekend, and never gave me a bit of trouble before or after. No whining out of the pump, nothing.
Still, the pump wearing out was my first thought as well. Hey, 7 years of autocrossing and 176,xxx miles, it's not like I didn't get my money's worth, huh?
Thanks for the insight (and yeah, I'll work on that "slow" thing), and have a good one,
Mike
The PS fluid wasn't new, but not that old. It's never done it on an autocross course, but no big surprise there since it's short runs (although a lot of steering input).
The weird thing (to me at least) is that it only happened once that weekend, and never gave me a bit of trouble before or after. No whining out of the pump, nothing.
Still, the pump wearing out was my first thought as well. Hey, 7 years of autocrossing and 176,xxx miles, it's not like I didn't get my money's worth, huh?
Thanks for the insight (and yeah, I'll work on that "slow" thing), and have a good one,
Mike
10-10-2008, 06:41 PM
#5
Pro
