Everyone is given time to walk the course. We have been getting the course open to walk before 8am most of the time so you just have to arrive early and be ready to make your notes and study the course. Get yourself ready and be prepared to go for it.

It was not that tricky but there were some technical aspects.

1. oval long loop leading to sharp left turn
2. Very long left curve followed by two sharp lane changes
3. U turn at the far end leading directly into a short slower speed slalom
4. very sharp U turn before finish

Watch Randy's video and in particular the last run.
He did much better coming out of the oval loop and into the long left curve and worked through the lane changes well. He entered the slalom smooth enough and didn't exit the slalom too fast to overshoot the sharp left that followed and his last turn was OK. Overall definitely the best run but there can always be some room for improvement. He did have a good aggressive start and did well in transitions from one segment to another.

 

Thanks Brad.

It was good that Tom and I ran the 4th heat because, yeah, that section w/ the Chicago Box was really "faking out" a lot of drivers. I was working that section in heat 3 and there were at least 7 DNFs there--they were thinking the Chicago Box was a slalom. There were also a bunch of drivers that looked like they "were" going to turn left at the last cone but corrected at the last second and went straight. Seeing how folks were getting confused made us remember what to do. We cheated.

Brad...looking @ the 4th run...anything specific I could work on? I tried...but couldn't cut the time any more.

Also, where did you get your tire pyrometer? And how much did it cost? I looked online but only found a handful of them for around $80 or $90. I wanted to get one of those.

Thanks.

 

Thanks Brad, 3 events so close together means I can only stay for a short while. I don't want to stay away from the family to long on my only day off.

I am stomped, ever since test and tune at the end of last season. I can't get any kind of speed into or out of the hair pins without big time understeer. Going into that event I changed springs and tires (RE 01Rs). Since then I went through my old Federal 595 rs, Kumho Ecsta XC and now the Dunlop Z specs. I added a fatter sway bar thinking I might be bottoming the suspension into the turn and it helped a lot but still not there. I've been going over and over understeer corrections and I'm seriously thinking of throwing my old springs in.
1. Old springs are 1" higher in front and 1/2" higher in back. This would give me more travel in front and a better roll center.
2. The back wheels will move from -2 degrees to -1.5 camber. I remember I could kinda get a drift going out of the hairpins like Randy was doing at the end of the round about.
3. scratch 1 and 2 and run full tank of gas and leave the spare in to get more movement in the rear so the front can dig in.
4. retire and keep my sanity.... (just joking)
5. seriously frustrated.........
6. and yes I know I got to study the track more and absorb what you've been teaching us. Thank you so much for all the help......

This is what I've been working with....
Roger Kraus Racing Enterprises | Castro Valley, CA | Testimonials

 

I think the idea of changing equiptment to make a difference is attractive. The truth is the biggest difference comes from your level of driving skill. There is nothing really wrong or lacking with your current setup since you have gotten the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star spec tires. Your other tires were not up to the same level as the Dunlop Star Specs. The biggest suspension difference between you and Randy is he has coilovers which can be adjusted for ride height and are stiffer for the shocks. You are working with the less costly lowered spring option but it's a softer suspension so you have to be smoother on weight transfer to make up for it.

Test and tune is a great time to work on technique. One test is to have Randy drive your Fit and you drive his. First do some runs to know the course. Then swap and compare your fastest times in both cars and see the difference. Sometimes a setup may favor your particular driving style.

More rear camber increases understeer. -2 degrees in the rear is not helping you but changing to stock springs is not always a good compromise as it raises your ride height and softens the rear suspension which increases understeer.

First thing would be to focus on driving. Work on skill. If you are understeering at any time you are going too fast entering the turn. Even 1 mph too fast will cause you to understeer. It's always better to enter 1 mph too slow and exit fast than to enter 1 mph too fast and exit slow.

On the long curve going out headed to the far turn around you want to enter that section going as fast as possible. If you make the sharp left too fast you will understeer- watch Randy's videos, the second run he understeered and went wider and took longer to pick up speed. The last run was cleaner and smoother. A small difference in speed in a crucial slow turn can make a huge difference. Once you are in the long straight headed out you have to stay on the gas and not be afraid.

Anytime you are coasting you are loosing time. If you get a chance try to ride along with Ken in the BMW or Barry in the white Miata. They don't coast, full gas or full brake and a lot of balancing the weight of the car just right. The other person that does well is Chris in the Honda S2000 CR. When you go for a ride see how they make the car handle for them.

While coilovers seem like a good autocross solution they do cost more and can make ride stiffness more harsh and less friendly for daily driving.

I still run stock suspension, the other cars in my class have better suspension for performance but I have to live with driving my car on the street plus I have the stock warranty for 3 years. I have much more roll and weight transfer to deal with and I could easily change to lowering springs or full coilovers. Besides tires, suspension is a huge part of making your car handle better but there are always compromises.

As for the tire pyrometer. Since you both are in Street Touring and I am in ASP we never drive at the same time and you are welcome to borrow my pyrometer. The probe tip is fragile so just be careful when using it. Insert perpendicular to the tire surface and it will be fine. The temperatures should run as even as possible inside to outside front and rear but in reality they vary with the course and your level of driving skill. Too much negative camber and the inside edges will be too warm, too little negative camber and the outside edges will be hot. Too much tire pressure and the middle will be hot, etc. The faster you drive the hotter the temperatures.

You can also attach the scangauge II during your run and set to trip, look at max rpm or max speed. This tells you how fast did you get up to, I think you might see as much as a 5 mph difference between runs.

Things to work on, being smoother with:
Braking early enough but not excessively
Throttle up sooner
Throttle up and stay on it longer and stronger
Keep balance of car better not being abrupt
Hands on wheel and steering a straighter line

How do you know how fast you should be going on a sharp turn?
The best speed for your car is different than another car. You have to speed sense how you are doing and adjust as you go. There isn't enough time to look at the speedometer. Most drivers will go by feel and just know that they have to take it a bit slower on entry then get on the gas hard on exit. The natural tendency when trying to go fast is to enter the sharp turn too fast, then the only thing that can happen is understeer. While it is possible to rotate the back end (oversteer) you have to be careful because that is sometime more difficult to control and too much oversteer will result in a full spin out.

What heat do you run in for this week? I am in heat 1.

 

OK, I know you are calling it a chicago box but it's not. The element before the far side turn around is a lane change. First right then left.

A chicago box is a BOX

xxxxxxx
x--------
x--------
x------ x
x------ x
x------ x
x--------
x--------
xxxxxxx

Here turn in left and exit right

At the last event it was more like

xxxxxxx


x--------
x--------
x--------
x--------
x-------x

Right turn to enter pass through the gate go straight then lane change left and out straight. You have to watch the pointer cones and if confused then ask questions.

For every driver we can all do better. The best thing you can do is look at your videos and study them to watch to see what is working and what is not. A self analysis is always the best learning tool. The video is not long. Watch it over and over and look at one thing each time.

Hand movement and hand position
Shifting and downshifting
Corner entry
Corner exit
Braking
On throttle smoothness

Did you use enough or too much
Where you jerky or smooth
Did you overdrive or underdrive.

You tend to overdrive which is common
Tom tends to underdrive which is also common

 

There was a


-----------x<

--------->x
< lot of cars going this way (I called this a Chicago box oops)

--------->x


------------x<


xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Congrats guys, you did great. So much for changing stuff. You have what you need already in my book. Just add skill and you should be OK. Your tires are good and will last. Maybe 1 or 2 psi in the front tires. But that is just to make a little better use of the tires and heat them up a little more evenly. Basically the front outside edges were smoking hot then a few degrees cooler in the middle and cold on the inside edges.

1st place Raton
3rd place Tanukifit

2nd, 3rd and 4th place were separated by 0.05 seconds.

Triple photo finish. Yikes.

We had good weather today. No rain.

Next event is test and tune on Oct 18. Come out and watch if you can. All day.

Then next autocross is Nov 1.

 

Damn it was hella fun today but hot as shit too! I can't wait for the next event now!

 

Nice to meet you today.

You did very well for first time out.

SM class is very tough.

 

Haha thanks. By any chance do you know what class I'm suppose to be in? Aaron's sister told me to put SM lol.. It was worth bring on only 2 hours of sleep

 

Yeah, Dylan, you had some good times! You'd have had a 34.* second run time if it wasn't for that 1 cone. And yup, it never fails to be boiling hot. If I don't bring a cooler of water or soda....I feel like I'm gonna melt by the end of the day.

Thanks again Brad for all your help. I'll try that additional 2 psi in the fronts. Congratulations on your 1st place finish in ASP class!

I had two places that kept giving me trouble:

-the 1st right @ the beginning leading to the 1st slalom...my revs felt really low coming out of the turn. I couldn't get decent speed out of that turn. I had the pedal down to the floor thinking..."Come on engine! Go! Go!"

- the far hair-pin by McDs...I was going too darn fast! My desire for speed made me stay on the gas too long...I kept going too far right coming out of that turn.

Tom...heeee's baaaaack!! That was deja vu man! Great driving!

I had major brain lapses this morning & forgot my camera. Shucks!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get corner-weighed @ the Test-N-Tune, try out those 2 extra psi, fiddle w/ the dampening settings and work on some driving. See yawl there!

 

Not sure if you do belong in Street Mod class. Usually registration can help to put you in the right class.

You have two seats so I would think you are in SSM not SM.

SM is for four seaters with engine swaps, or added boost and full suspension, brake, exhaust, ignition, transmission upgrades with any wheels and any tires.

for info
http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2574277

If you had not done engine mods and you ran street tires then
Street Touring S is possible for the Del Sol.

 

Wouldn't he be with STS with the MR2s and stuff since there is no major suspension or engine mods? Good tires and you should be right in the mix too

 

yeah i most def need some better tires, and i wanna run some 15's over the 16's

 

Well, the 10/18 Test-n-Tune was very interesting. Unfortunately, there was no scales for corner weighing.

Ended up running w/ this setup:
- 41 (front) and 39 (rears)
- Skunk2 Pro-C dampening: 9 (front) and 12 (rear)

* I think I'm gonna try 8/12 dampening @ the next event though; wanna reduce some understeer. Along w/ changing my driving tech, I hope this helps.

Ended up running 11 runs! Another member drove my car twice, so total 13 runs!

The course had a lot of stuff in it--a doughnut (skidpad), a couple nice staights, and 3 hairpins. I was satisfied w/ my times, but some of the other folks in our class ran faster times than me. Aaaaaarrrrrrghhh!!!!

Gotta get better!!!!! hahaha...just as long as I have fun. hahahahaha

Here's a vid from the 10/18 Test-N-Tune:
YouTube - 10-18-2009 - Hawaii SCCA Test N Tune 3 runs

Laters alligators....

 

Today's SCCA Event was interesting. First event since the TestNTune. It was weird...the 1st run of 4 was the fastest. The subsequent runs were progressively a bit slower. Always a challenge.

Setup:
- 39 psi (front)/38 psi (rear)
- Skunk2 Pro-C dampening: 8 (front)/12 (rear)
- Tightened up the Ingalls Torque damper a little; helped the response

Course obstacles:
1. a decreasing radius turn (hehee -got this off another site)


2. a constant radius turn


3. a big turn (i guess that's the technical name ) by McDonalds

4. a ton of cones before the finish

Here's a video from the event: YouTube - 11-01-2009 - Hawaii SCCA - '08 Honda Fit Sport

Thanks again Brad for your help & advice. Telling me I was overdriving really helped put things in perspective. Lots to work on... Sorry, we missed your runs. Congratulations on your 1st place in ASP! Another close finish.

Tom and I are still plugging away...against the Altima, Scion, Civics, Yaris, and the rest. Everyone's times are pretty close ...anyone could take it. Dylan was hauling out there too. Yeah, with the right set of rims & tires...you're gonna be on rails!

December 13th is the next event.

Laters.

 

yup, new tires is a big must now! haha. it sounded like i was drifiting out there lol

 

Another SCCA event completed today. It's been over a month since the last one. Beautiful day, lots of folks in our ST class; Tom and I are currently battling with a Civic and an Altima. It's pretty scarey every event. It's super close.

Had a little problem today. I had a Kinetic battery installed along w/ an amp last Thursday and the air-filter from my T1R intake kept knocking the positive terminal off the battery on each run. Went to turn the ignition after my 1st run &...not even a click!...nothing. Kept having to re-connect the (+) terminal b4 each run! Hope to get it fixed tomorrow.

Still, had a great time. Here's a video from the event:
YouTube - 12-13-2009 - Hawaii SCCA - '08 Honda Fit Sport - 3 runs

Dylan....saw that you're in STS class now. Right on!!

Brad....again, very much mahalos for your advice. And congratulations on your win! Another close race!

Laters.

 

haha yeah its about time i'm in a class where i won't get raped all the time! hahaahah it sucks though that i woke up late this morning and didn't get to run til the afternoon heats. but atleast i didn't waste my money since i had done pre reg.

 

You guys did great.

Decreasing radius turns are tricky. Practice practice practice.

The times are close because you are all running on good street tires.

Then it will boil down to driving skill and making the fewest errors.

Small margins and consistent results- always a good sign as long as you can stay ahead. Be sure that the other drivers are trying hard to catch up.

Don't be overly focused on the equiptment. Just drive and try not to over drive the course. Respect the slow corners and come out blazing fast if you can, not the other way around.