Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track AutoCross rookie needs advice

I picked up my 2000 contour svt on tuesday, and I am going to the Solo II event in Mineral Wells on sunday. My request to you is, what should I do to prepare for the event? Any advice on what kind of setup I should run (i.e. tire pressures, camber, caster)? Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

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David Mimlitch
davidm@hpnc.com

'00 'Tour SVT T-Red
'99 F250 SuperDuty Powerstroke Diesel 15.1 second 1/4 mile time

I would wait to break your car in, at least 1500 miles before I started racing. Next if you have got 1500 miles and your car is stock, you will be in G-stock you should be very competitive I would run your rubber a bit over the 32 psi I have run high before but now chose to run about five pounds over is all, and 4-5 in the rear. Make sure your oil is full and give em hell!

One last thing if your car isnt broken in I would go watch, go early walk the course and get a ride with somebody, it will help out a lot.

TLP

I have the same concerns about running the engine hard during the break-in period. I will have almost 1000 miles on it by the time I drive the 150 miles to the event. I have read a bit about the 2.5l motor breifly loosing pressure during autocrossing and causing engine problems, giving me even more reason to wait until I have more time on the engine.

Since it is also supposed to be raining, I think I will go, and volunteer to do course work, and get a better idea of what is going on. There is another race the following weekend, and I have plenty of miles by then!

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David Mimlitch
davidm@hpnc.com

'00 'Tour SVT T-Red
'99 F250 SuperDuty Powerstroke Diesel 15.1 second 1/4 mile time

So how did it go? did you race or watch?
About the oil starvation I dont think it should pose a problem, Autocross you throw left and right so fast, I would just make sure its full. I also had a rentel tour V6 for a month and if any engine should have failed it would have been on this car. I wasnt very nice to it and put about 5000 miles on it 3000 very hard miles. I think they will hold.

TLP

I went and watched. I only ended up with 800 miles on the clock when I showed up, and just wanted to give it a bit more time to break in. I met a gentleman for the dallas area (sorry, I forgot his name) who had a 98 Contour SE. He took me around the track on his first run, and the hook is set. I am going to autocross events for the next three weekends. One of those is a 6 houe drive. By the time this weekend rolls around, I'll have over 1500 miles of combined city and highway driving. I feel confident that the motor is up to the task.


I had asked this of the other gentleman with the contour se, and would like to get some other opinions. What kind of fuel load is best for autocross? A full tank would help balance the car, but is extra weight to accelerate and move around the track. Any advice.


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David Mimlitch
davidm@hpnc.com

'00 'Tour SVT T-Red
'99 F250 SuperDuty Powerstroke Diesel 15.1 second 1/4 mile time

I run with about a half balance, and make sure it stays with the pump. I think realistically the car is great right out of the box, in g-stock you face the mighty ITR, i fared pretty good against two of these cars and got smoked by one. VWs are always out in force. where I live its the VWS and subarus I run STS now I have eibachs and KKM, If your going to do any mods I would look at a set of good rubber and maybe some lighter wheels, I dont know if they fit but the volks rays only come in at 12pds in 16 inch size. a great purchase for next year as my season ended sunday. C-ya on the boards maybe at spring zing

Hey David it is me . Vern Kilburn I am the guy in Dallas ( Mineral Wells) . I am glad you had a great time and I am going to enjoy
having another 4 door car at the events.
I wound up in 5th place. This puts me tied for 3rd place in the points in the SCCA Dallas group for the year.
the next race is in Bedford TX.
it is a small concrete parking lot of a school very technical and very good surface.
the below link will take you the their website has map and race times looking forward to seeying you there.

Vern Kilburn
vkilburn@swbell.net http://autocross.com/er/

Vern

I am definetly going to the ER event this weekend. I'll have over 1500 miles, plenty enough break in time. I am planning on going to Lubbock the following weekend, then Bedford the following weekend. I have been reading some books on performance driving, and I hope to do well. Either way, it WILL be fun!

I look forward to seeing you on sunday!

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David Mimlitch
davidm@hpnc.com

'00 'Tour SVT T-Red
'99 F250 SuperDuty Powerstroke Diesel 15.1 second 1/4 mile time

David,

That class were you planning to run. I suggest STS (street touring street tire) We can also run in G Stock
but the class is very competitive and the lead cars are running race tires which are worth 2-3 seconds on the courses we run around here. If you run Novice for the last race of ER and SCCA you will be able to run Novice next year if you want. Not sure of your experience. If you look at the Auto-X forum at a message from
BOS SVT dated Sept 29,2000 there is allot of input on tire pressure and setup.
I think the link below will take you to this information.
The ER group running this Sunday is a nice group of guys the Pres. is national champ in H Stock for the year 2000 but they are a little "mis organized" and take a little longer to get their stuff together and run. So expect delays but the nice side is they offer a program called "pax runs" in which you can buy 2 extra runs for an extra $10.00 . then all cars run against each other in a pax index event ant the top 3 cars get money prize
and 4 to 10 get (cheap) prizes but you get 5 to 6 runs per event doing pax along with your 3 to 4 in the heats.

You will need to number your car i.e.: for novice STS = NSTS
if you run pax runs you need i.e.: = RSTS
be flexible on your numbers we usually get 10 to 15 cars in novice class Your Numeric number should be 6" high and your class characters at least 4" high and no red on red etc man I have seen a bunch of black electrical tape on a black car. I look at this as a race and a car show. If you have any other questions
please feel free too ask!

See ya Sunday Vern