i want to check this out, i wont be able to run till maybe next year though or december after i get my rims, so i can throw some good rubber on my stock rims and use those. maybe ill run with stock tires on a newbie day or something? are the fits that run now manual? automatic can? no can?

 

Yeah, it's good fun! The 1/29/09 test-n-tune event would be a great 1st event. U can probably get much more instruction & lots of driving time.

Tom and I have MTs. As far as AT...I'll defer to MiniFit...he has run his AT Fit in the HS class & came in a close 2nd. But he has mad skills! If he drove our MTs, he'd probably shave 3 seconds off our best time! haha.

 

hmm well i just have to wait i wanna enter too but im far from it.

 

Come out to watch, it's free.

This sunday and in another two weeks, 11/2 and 11/16.

Any Fit can run from bone stock to fully modded. There are classes for any and all Fits.

No need to make any changes, just arrive in the morning, register and run.

No speed limits. Mostly you log a time that reflects your skill level and ability to make the most of your car and the given course.

Each event the course changes completely so you have to adapt each time. You get four runs to log your best one time and compare it with all over drivers in your class and overall.

Can you beat a porsche, a corvette, a S2000 or Evo? Maybe. You won't know until you try but all of those cars mentioned are regulars each event.

 

i wanna drop my car before i run its just something i need to do i need to get a helmet too..

 

same and get better tires

 

na just runn the crap tires and buy way better ones to drive on.

 

You guys should come out and race the car as is then that way you can feel what the cars capable of, then that way you can really feel the changes as you do em.

 

I have run the event on stock wheels and tires and it's OK.

Not the greatest feeling but those are the same wheels and tires we often will run on the street so might as well get used to them and see what they can do.

Which mostly is to slide and squeal like a little piggy.

Get some wider and lighter rims like 15x7 and some Max or Extreme Summer tires and you're good.

I ran with Kosei K1 TS 15x7 +38mm offset and Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R in 195/50-15 and they felt great even with a bone stock car. Very good handling.

I also ran with light stock sized Sport Edition rims and competition Kumho V710 205/50-15 tires and they were also good but only a little better with a bone stock Fit- maybe with a modded Fit those R comp tires would have been better matched.

In any event you have to learn as you go and the most important thing is to gain "seat time" which helps you learn how to drive your car under those circumstances. It's never to late to learn how to drive better.

And it's always true that no matter how good you "think" you drive, there is always room for improvement. Most times we have no idea of those things we don't know that we don't know.

 

Well, the 11/16/08 SCCA event @ the stadium was great fun as usual.

For a someone still learning (me), the track layout was pretty tricky, but I did manage to come in 2nd...out of 2 cars in the STS class. Darn Civic!!! Still, I had a great time. I really like learning and seeing what the car can-and-cannot do. Thanks a bunch Brad for all your help! Much mahalo!

Anyways, here the video of the 4 official runs & 1 fun run.

(ps: I had to turn down the audio on my 4th run cuz I hit a couple of cones & let out an "F-bomb"....I wasn't sure if youtube would like that. haha)

YouTube - 20081116 Hawaii SCCA auto-cross - '08 Honda Fit - 5 runs

See ya!

 

You did well. You're a good student. It takes time to learn how to adjust for each track.

We don't make it easy to do well, realize that we have drivers with over 30 years of experience that will need to be challenged just as much as the newer drivers.

Typically you will see that the fastest times are clustered together in about a 1.5 second margin with a bigger gap to the next group about one full second slower. Each driver has to adjust for the course for that day no matter what the course design.

You did well as shown by the video, especially the last funrun lap which was much smoother and cleaner. To do better you'd have to be on the throttle a lot more at every point except the slow turns. You'd get on the throttle earlier coming out of each slow area. It will seem like you are out of control at times when going faster but that's what it will take to drop your times.

When I started I used to be 9 seconds slower than the fastest cars on a 60 second course at Hawaii Raceway park.

Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks Brad! There sure is a lot to learn—driving techniques, approaches, and philosophies as well as the car-setup side of things. Tom and I are lucky. It's like we have the "Teacher's Edition" of the text book with you helping us...we got all the answers to the questions.

Also, thanks for the helpful info on setting up my coilovers.

 

After dropping ride height you will need to do an alignment.
Pacific alignment on Queen street in town or Island Brake on Kam Hwy near Cutter Ford on Hekaha can do it for about $90.

You want as much front negative camber as you can get- do you have a camber kit on already and did you do an alignment with your other suspension upgrades?

Rear camber you don't want too negative but it is hard to change it without a lot of trouble adding shims in the rear. Usually you get what you get.

Front toe can be set to 1/8" toe out and rear toe at 1/16" to 1/8" toe in and still be fine for street use and autocross. More front toe out will tend to wear the front tires more but you do get a little sharper turn in response. The most I would recommend is 3/16" toe out in front.

Usually you install the coilovers and them let them settle in for ride height by driving them around a bit. Then you can adjust ride height further and even do corner balancing- get scales and adjust each corner so that the diagnonal weights front right and rear left = front left and rear right weights. It's more work but helps with making handling as balanced as possible. After corner balancing is done then do alignment (always last and done with you in the car driver's seat with your helmet, full fluid levels- gas at race level and all interior at race conditions-no spare tire or mats etc).

Good luck.

 

Thanks Brad. Yeah, I went to Scotty's Alighnment in Pearl City last time for alignment and negative front camber (w/ camber bolts) for $65. I'll check out Pacific Alignment if Scotty can't do the corner balancing.

Thanks again.

 

^what coilovers are you running?

 

Corner balancing is not required but evens out the right to left balance of the car for best handling. Each time you adjust ride height on any wheel you get different balance of weight. The fronts have much more weight and you sit on the left front so the weights of the right front and left rear will need to adjusted a little to make everything a bit more balanced.

Most shops cannot do it because they have no scales to weigh each corner. They would have to borrow or rent scales so it gets to be a big deal. If you cannot be present to sit in the driver's seat with your helmet then you can put sandbags on the seat to simulate your weight- must be accurate.

 

hooooo randy get coilovers now???

 

man you guys dont play around eh. how do they do it? they add weights or adjust ride height?

 

Wow... that is some serious business!

 

I'm running the Skunk2s like randay. Thanks Randy for the helpful installation info.

It was a toss-up between EnduraTechs and Skunk2. Based on some helpful FitFreakers (Kenchan and randay) I decided to go w/ the Skunk2s. I got the Skunk2 COs sitting in my living room. Tom and I (and maybe Josh) are looking to install them sometime this month.

Thanks Brad! I recall reading somewhere that they were going to be doing corner-balancing @ the SCCA Test-N-Tune on Jan 25th. Is that correct?

heehee...yeah, I took the plunge!