Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track CSVT getting severely beaten in GS

I'm running a 99 CSVT in Solo II GS in San Antonio. I usually run against a passat wagon and a modified but GS-legal VW Golf GTI. In the course we ran this weekend, I was last with a time of 49.5, the passat ran a 44.1, and the GTI ran a 42.3. The fastest was a SCed Miata at 40.3. These guys have a lot more experience, but is it even possible for me to catch the GTI, being that he's running a full 7 seconds faster than me?

Sure. Just drive faster.

What kind of struts are you running? Tires? There's a lot of variables that you're not telling us about. That being said, keeping my head out of my butt is the best way that I get fast. Take this past Sunday, I couldn't get out of the 53s all day until I hit a mid 52. Then I had Aaron Buckley (a nationally competitive driver) get behind the wheel in a fun run. He hit a 48.2, 0.2 off of the pace of his prepped-to-the-limits Celica GT-S. I said eff this, and then proceeded to pull a 49.2, 0.1 out of what would have been first place.

My real advice? Don't drive a course looking to avoid cones, rather drive faster than you think you can, turn in a lot earlier *and smoother* (which will eliminate the understeer that I'm willing to bet that you complain about) and keep your head up and look ahead. Don't work on more than one problem spot per run -- if your offsets are giving you more problems than the slaloms, don't focus on getting both right. You'll more often than not overthink the situation and go slower.

Wes,

As he runs in San Antonio and I run in Austin, would Azenis get too hot to run here on our heavy cars?

At my last austocross a couple of months ago, I didn't realize Azeni's were the goods or I would have asked someone around here (and I will). Just wondering if you could chime in while we have your attention.

Hey, I'm always willing to give an opinion.

For what it's worth, Azenis do go off (get greasy) after ~60-65 seconds on a run driven hard. That being said, they go off consistently -- you know how much they'll slide before "catching". Most people bring one gallon garden sprayers and spray them down between runs, sometimes several times to get the temps down to ambient. Naturally, some people don't do this as evidenced at a test and tune this past Saturday -- Tom Hoppe (a nationally recognized driver) was putting 4-5 hot laps in a row on his STX prepared WRX that were 3 seconds faster than my times (30 second course) and he was observing 150-155*F temps on his tires via pyrometer. That's hot, but he wasn't getting any slower. And WRXen weigh about as much as our cars.

Now, let's look at the only other real option as far as price goes, the Kumho MX. They weigh a little less, but that's because they don't have as much rubber in the sidewall. They tend to get better as they warm up, but they also have limitations too in that they don't have that initial bite. Most courses that I've seen are trying to be Subaru-proof and not let you really launch hard by installing a quick feature that forces you to do a quick zig-zag. I like having grip here, hell I even picked up the inside rear wheel once this past weekend doing that.

I prefer the Falken compound, because you have grip from the word "go" and they're dirt cheap. I've gotten about eighty or so runs on them so far, enough to almost cord the outsides, and they're getting flipped on the rims as we speak so that I can get another forty or so on what was the insides.

Basically, the Falkens are the real deal, and the only reason why others in STS use the Kumhos is because Kumho will give you contingency money at regional/national SCCA events if you place well. In all other regards, they are an inferior tire.

I've only been auto-xing since 2001. My car is stock except for a K&N filter and Victoracer tires. In our last event I came in third behind 2 Mini Cooper S's: 36.429; 36.640 and I ran 38.120. I know I could have picked up at least .5 secs if I wasn't such an idiot!!

While the Tour is not competetive on a National level (IMHO), it can be a winner locally depending on the driver.

Just remember a good driver in a bad car is always better than a bad driver in a bad car. Have you taken any AutoX schools? What tire pressures are you running? Tires make a HUGE difference.

Sometimes, you gotta slow down to go quick too. I've seen countless people in well prepped cars beaten by slower cars. The reason? High time Auto-Xer's versus newbies or low time racers. You have to get run time to make it pay. Schools are great tools to help you, not only in Auto-X, but in every driving too but, seat time is the key.