Hi everyone from BoSox land. Want to let you guys know that the zeal on this site got me to buy one...just completed the initial 600 mi break-in today...but I do believe we're talking RACING right? Haven't turned a wheel since me old FF days and I want to give this car a shot. Does anyone know what auto-x class a base model on 14" wheels has the best chance of competing in ? See you out there! Watch my TPMS light go!

 

Probably in SCCA H-Stock with the rest of the Fits, unless you have plans for more than just a few upgrades. Some folks have had pretty good luck competing in HS, and it's arguably one of the most cost-effective ways to compete. The hard part will be finding good wheels for the base Fit, but they're out there.

HF

 

Welcome aboard Timbre! I agree that probably H Stock will be most competitive for the Fit. I think there's actually a chance the base Fit will be MORE competitive than the Fit Sport, due to its lower weight. I also think you may be more likely to find lightweight wheel options. The stock-class rules require you to use a wheel that matches the stock dimensions, and the offset must be with .25" of stock. That greatly limits our options because the Fit starts with a rather oddball 55mm offset and there's not many lightweight aftermarket wheels available in that range in 15" for the Fit Sport. But I have a feeling you'll find better pickin's in 14".

 

Why is it you think the inside wheels spins so much? I ran my Fit Sport 5spd for some fun runs after my regular runs this past weekend, and I get MASSIVE wheelspin/hop almost all the time. Granted, Im on junk all season tires, but I figured some V710s would fix that, but sounds like you had the same issue.

For comparison, I was ~3 seconds slower than my times in a fully prepped (and I do mean fully) 89 Civic Si in STS on RE01Rs. Not too shabby.

 

Jety: That's sort of the $500 question! And I'm relieved to hear you had the same problem. I was beginning to think it was just me.

I've been reading up on suspension tuning theory to try to figure it out. Here are the options as I see it (and according to what the rules allow):

1. Stiffer front swaybar. May reduce overall vehicle weight transfer to keep that inside front tire down, but also might drastically increase understeer. At the moment I don't think this will work because another Fit at my last event had a Battle Endless front bar and 225 Kumho V710s in front and his times were 2-3 seconds slower than mine. Plus I thought the overall balance of my own car was pretty good (not too much understeer).
2. Softer front swaybar. Would cause the car to lean more, but this might allow that tire to stay down. It also might reduce understeer. But would require significant mods to the stock bar (it would have to be lengthened somehow). And the additional lean might be unpleasant.
3. Preload on the front swaybar. The two autocrosses I ran last month were basically the same course but reversed on two different days. So it was a good test of this problem. I noticed the wheelspin wasn't as bad on the 2nd day, when the course was mostly left turns. This makes me think there may be some preload on the front swaybar (maybe just from the driver's weight) that could be dialed out with adjustable endlinks.
4. Stiffer rear shocks. Might work like adding a rear swaybar, but would be legal under the rules. This could reduce overall lean in corners to keep that front tire planted and also dial out some understeer. Problem is that most shocks only boost transitional stiffness. They don't increase overall stiffness (or spring rate).

I think #4 is the best path at the moment. Somebody else on this board has discovered that Monroe air shocks for a pre-95 Chevy Cavalier are a near bolt-on for the Fit. I've asked some autocross gurus about this and they agree that, unlike traditional shocks, air shocks might increase overall spring rate and thus reduce lean in corners. At $70 for the pair, it's worth a try, so I ordered up a set from Pep Boys. The part number is MA811 if you want to check it out, too.

BTW, if you ran on the OEM all-season tires and came within 3 seconds of an STS Civic, I think that really shows the Fit's potential. Cool!

 

I think you could try some adjustable rear shocks as well - that's a big part of how the NASCAR guys loosen or tighten the car. If you look at shocks as timing devices, it's easy to see what's going on. The springs do all the work of supporting the car and taking the loads, but the shocks control how quickly the springs can get the work done. Crank up the compression damping on the rear, and the rear can't roll as quickly as it would like to with the stock shocks.

I think both ends of the car are wildly under-damped in the name of a cushy ride. The rear is really bouncy though, and that's got to make the car tough to drive smoothly. For fun, I took my Fit to a local parking lot that is smooth new concrete, but has lots of undulations for drainage. It really felt like the car wouldn't/couldn't stop moving before the next dip/bump came up. It did seem to have decent grip, but it was not a confidence-inspiring feeling.

HF

 

Well results have finally been posted from the 2 autocrosses and I won the H Stock class both days. My overall time was 90th out of 135 entrants the first day, and my PAX time was 58th. Second day: 64th overall out of 89 entrants, 45th PAX.

My competitors in H Stock included another Fit (prepped similar to my car but with auto trans), Suzuki SX4, Subaru Impreza, '02 Civic Si, '08 Accord. My best times were about 3 seconds faster than everybody else. I believe the other Fit was the only other car running R-comp tires besides me.

I feel pretty good to place above the halfway point in PAX times for my first time autocrossing the car. Hopefully I can creep up in the overall ranks by learning how to drive the car better and doing some more tuning. Then again, I still haven't faced a Mini or Mazda3...!!!!

 

WooHoo! That's great! I can't wait to get mine out on the track, but it's not looking good already this year... Solo School was last week - and I was in Colorado. Monkey #2 arrives in May, so house stuff gets done until then. After that, it really hits the fan... So keep on kickin' ass, I'll be living vicariously through you and all the other folks that can actually make it to a track.

HF

 

I sympathize. This is really the first year I've had the time, a worthy car, and enough money to compete a full season, so I'm trying to make the most of it. I hope you can get out there eventually. Sounds like you may need it for a little sanity check!

Just as another little teaser, I was studying the results again and my raw and PAX times would have put me in 2nd place in C and G stock, both faster classes generally (against Miatas, Celicas, RX7s and the like). And I would have won the STS class against a Scion Tc and Impreza -- though I don't know how those cars were modded.

So in short, I do think the Fit can be a competitor!

 

I can now report that the Monroe air shocks really help balance the car. I ran two autocross events Saturday and Sunday and the car rotated much better. I could tell by the tire wear that the rears were doing a lot more work: I actually saw wear on them and they heated up, unlike the first two events, when you couldn't even tell they'd turned a lap. This time I could actually get the car into a nice trail-braking drift on some corners. There were no other mods on the car since last time around, only the air shocks. I even used the same tire pressures.

The wheelspin problem was also drastically reduced. Not eliminated, but reduced. Because the car was a lot more controllable, I could tell that by simply straightening out the wheel sooner when leaving a turn, the car would quickly flatten out and the inside tire would instantly grab and launch the car. So I tried to plan my cornering differently so I could take a straight path as soon as possible on corner exit. This didn't matter much before because without the air shocks, that inside front tire would spin whenever you tried to put power down while cornering. Now I can get the power down except only at the most extreme cornering angles.

I feel this was a pretty good comparison because the course layout this time was pretty similar to the previous weekend.

Results aren't posted yet, but I'm pretty sure I won the H Stock class again. It was a smaller field this weekend, about 100 cars total, and just a handful in HS. But my competition included a Scion tC, Suzuki SX4, '08 Honda Accord, Honda Civic Si.

So after this experience, I think fully adjustable aftermarket shocks front and rear would really help this car. The air shocks are just a band-aid for now. They're really sort of crude and I don't like the knocking noises they make on the street (because the bushings aren't quite right). But they're working for now, so I'm going to hold out for true adjustables from Tokico, Koni or somebody.

 

Well the latest results are up, and again I won the H Stock class both days last weekend. The competition included Suzuki SX4, Scion tC, 99 Impreza, 08 Accord, 02 Civic Si. I beat these guys by a 1.5-2 second margin.

Even better, my PAX times this time were in the top one-fourth of all competitors each day, which I think speaks in part to the additional control and speed that the new air shocks gave me!

 

Excellent! I'm thinking that the Monroes may just be the way to go for the Fit, at least until I get "serious" enough to need adjustable shocks on both ends of the car. I still think the limitations of the Fit suspension will respond really well to serious shock tuning as a way to keep as much rubber on the track as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if some good adjustable shocks would help cut the wheel hop we see on hard accelleration with wheel spin.

Congrats again!

HF

 

I ran my first ever autocross last Sunday, and it went failry decent. I got last in H-Sock which had three cars but all of the guys had raced before. jI feel like I learned a lot i the three runs I got, we had 124 drivers there, and I should be fairly competitive soon. If anyone has any tips I would love them for the course. I do have help from a great guy in my region who I had as an instructor for a Street Survival Course which got me hooked to auto-xing.

 

HEMI: Yes, I'm convinced fully adjustable shocks will make a huge difference on this car. So I'm holding out for that. I figure I'll run the air shocks until some adjustables come out that I can afford, either from Koni or Tokico. For now, I'm pretty pleased to be winning with Cavalier air shocks. Whoda thunkit!?

Swimmer: Congrats on getting into auto-x! It's great that you're already hooked up with an instructor. That puts you leagues ahead of my start in auto-x! The best advice I can give is three things I once saw taped to a top autocrosser's steering wheel as reminders:

-- Look ahead: Don't stare at the corner right in front of you, but look ahead to the next one. Otherwise it will surprise you when you get there.
-- Be smooth: No abrupt control inputs at the steering wheel and pedals. This helps avoid upsetting the car in extreme cornering.
-- Be fast! Push your car to its limits. This means driving it a lot harder than you ever do on the street. You should hit the rev limiter. You should feel the ABS brakes chattering. You should be sliding your car.

Another thing I've learned that's important: Don't talk to anyone while walking the course or thinking about your drive in between runs. Do it alone and really concentrate to figure out where you can be faster. After each run, pick one place on course where you think you were slow and figure out how to do better there.

 

Thanks for the advice! I will be sure to put it to good at the next event I can go to which is unfortunately June 8th.

 

Sweeet!Thanks for sharing that,loved the video!you just helped reinforce my decision to come back to autocross...in a Fit!

-j-

 

Ran two more events this past weekend and the competition was stiffer. I faced a 2000 Ford Focus and a 97 BMW 318i, all of us on r-comp tires. The BMW was modified to the fullest extent of the rules, with adjustable Koni shocks, etc., and driven by a longtime competitor who has run at the national level. The Focus was mostly stock but the driver is currently in 1st place in the more competitive Bay Area series. The BMW driver is in 2nd in that series and the two of them have traded wins all season long. The two of them came out for these Sacto races because there was no Bay Area race the same weekend, and because Saturday's race was a popular charity event.

The weather was brutal both days with temps around 100. On Saturday our runs came after we had worked the course in the brutal sun for over an hour.

Both of them beat me, but we were within 4/10ths of each other all day on the first day. Only the Focus came back the second day, and he beat me again, but again we were pretty close. I needed more air in my front tires but I mistakenly left the valve open on my air tank and it all leaked out, so I had to run on tires that were rolling over too much. So overall I felt pretty good to even run with these guys.

The air shocks again proved their worth as the Fit was really tossable and there were only two short spots on course where I had wheelspin problems.