Here is the correct link to your run-

How did you do in your class that day? On raw vs PAX time for STF?

Overall I think you did fine. I did not hear that much noise from your tires so I think you can definitely drive faster through the turns on the given race line that you took.

You can also try to drive a shorter race line and cut some of the corners so that you are apexing in a turn right on top of the turn cone (literally touching is good). By driving a shorter line you are covering less distance than when taking a turn wider, you need less speed to drive the shorter line vs the wider line that requires more speed.

As an exercise look at the video and guess how far in feet you are from the slalom, lane change and turn cones. The goal is to be literally 3 inches or less. When I drive it feels like I am running over all the cones but I'm not.

I would suggest you go for a ride along drive in one of the fastest cars (top 5 on raw time for the day) and see what line they drive. It's probably faster speeds on a shorter racing line.

Your course is fairly wide open so there is a lot of room for speed, being early on each turn allows you to set up sooner and drive a cleaner faster line on approach.

I did not see that much understeer which is good, you're not overdriving the turns but you can push harder to the limit (listen for your tires).

In this video of a Fit at autocross see how close the cones are on the driver's side.

 

Some tires don't make noise so that's not always true.... but good advise overall.... tighter lines are way better. Also understand advantages of early and late apex. Makes turns way different especially when back to back turns.

Great video overall. Good job. Can wait to be on track with you sometime. When my car gets done I'll be making some trips to cali for some runs.

 

Rollerboots666 is in STF class so he has Street tires. All street tires will make noise when pushed hard enough. If you are hardly hearing your street tires complain you need to push them harder and get some noise.

Most novice drivers push too hard or brake too late into turns and you will hear lots of tire squeal and get lots of understeer.

When using R compound tires you won't hear as much noise, just a little, then if you push too much you can loose traction and spin out without warning.

Use the tire noise that street tires provide to help you gauge how fast you are going and how much more you can push the envelope.

 

My Nto1 r comps made more noise than my rs3 street tires.

 

From an old racer and HPD instructor I have these comments:
1. First congratulations to the event org for an outstanding course. There isn't much tire squeal because the courcse was very open allowing high speeds without much sharpturning. I'd loved to have run it.
2. The most important thing in A/Xing or track racing is maximizing speed at apexes and thus straightening the path. The straighter the path the maximum speed and that doesn't necessarily mean being right next to apexes.
3. There didn't seem to be much acceleration involved so that would help the Fit. I think I heard some hesitence in throttle pickup but since I didn't run the course its just a thought And thats why I can't comment on your choice of early or late apexes. Looked ok. In courses like that tires are paramount; having the best tires means winning . Use tireracks lap times to check the tires to use. Ignore their opinions. Time is all that counts.
4. I did see some understeer that I thought was avoidable. Just what was yiour suspension setup? That includes toe at both ends. And choice of tires including size.
All in all I am impressed with your time; what was the class competition and how did their times compare to yours.

 

Thank you everyone for the advice. Sucks the car is out of commission till the end of the month.

There were some turns i needed to take in closer but didn't get wide enough at the approach. I believe I was 2 seconds slower then the fastest time.

As far as set-up:

Tires - Bridgestone RE-11A
Suspension - K Sport coilovers, F 8.6K/R 7.5K, dampening F 100%/R 65%
Camber - F -3*/R - 2*
Toe - F 0*, R -.5 ish (Not sure on the rear, but its not adjustable without a shim)

 

Good setup, but I still want to know if the front ASB was connected or a rear bar is added to front. You run stock with coil-overs? lowered?
My guess is if you have only the front bar you're understeering and that prevents you from a close apex.(NASCAR runs at the top then, too, with hefty misses close to apexes)
You can measure the rear toe (and front too) by stretching a textile elastic string around all four wheels and measure the difference between front sidewall front to sidewall rear on same tire) and likewise on rear. Because there is a slight difference front to rear track widths a little math is needed to be precise but it works, as NASCAR proved for decades.
OK diff was 2 seconds but what was actual time?

 

Full coilovers. Front, rear, and c-pilar bars. The vehicle is lowers about 2-2.25" in the front and 2" in the rear. I have the toe angle specs somewhere from my last alignment just not me.

I believe the run was 57 secs. It was 2 secs faster then my run before.

 

Rollerboots666 is in Street Touring FWD or STF so fully adjustable coilovers are fine. To reduce understeer in a FWD car I usually try softer front dampening and stiffer rear. Not all coilover adjustments are linear, you have to Start somewhere then test how it feels to you.

You mentioned F 100% is that full stiff or full soft?

I have run a FWD car at autocross with front 6/9 stiff and rear 8/9 stiff. I still had slight understeer until I added more stiffness to my rear swaybar.

I think it's important to listen to your street tires and you should determine if they will make some noise when you drive hard on them. If you are still having a hard time making noise then get an instructor to drive.

Driving lines can vary, ideally you want the line that gives you maximum traction and the fastest possible speed along the course. Generally there will be an apex to every turn, I have found that by being right on that apex cone I can set up for a smooth or nearly straight shot to the next element. You can drive a longer line but you must be going faster to make up for it.

In my region you see the Honda S 2000, Lotus Elise and Miatas right on the apex cones, there is no extra distance in their driving line.

 

The F is at 100% stiff and the R at 65% stiff. I noticed when I first started driving I did 100% all the way around. After racing a few races throughout the months I found that the best handling was F100% and R60-65%. This gave me the least amount of rear sway.

My set-up is about to change next week. We are adding a larger front sway and a rear sway. The rear springs (possibly the front as well) might be changed for stiffer spring rates. I plan to have a higher spring rate in the rear in the end result. We are also going to dial the suspension in, balance the corners, and just make it handle like a champ.

 

As all of us have pointed out, increasing front antisway bar stiffness will increase understeer and from the vids thats why you aren't attacking apexes sharpely. If you increase front bar stiffness you must really increase rear bar stiffness or you will increasingly have a harder time driving to the apexes - undesteer, And if t=you add too much lateral traction will suffer.
And how are you determining the stiffness %? Just because your bar attachment is varied by the lever arm does not automatically determinre front to rear ratios. I expect higher % on rear bars than front bars even if they are the same design torsion.
The Fit is a heavy understeerer and that has to be reduced in order to corner well and accurately. We actually have one here that oversteers. he trophies every event.

 

The ratio is figured by clicks used. 32 way adjustable; 32 clicks = 100% stiffness. The rear gets about 20-22 clicks.

 

I'm at 9.8k front with 10k rear springs I run the rear dampers full stiff and the rear at about 75% stiff. I have to front sway bar. And progress rear sway bar. Wish I would have never bought the front bar. Sometimes I disconnect it completely to get more oversteer.

Rollerboots how much experience do you have driving? Imo I would get stiffer rear springs first before anything else and drive a few events like that. Don't make so many adjustments at the same time.

 

Well i'm finally happen to get behind the wheel again. I've had a few races within the last 2 months and i'm finally getting use to the car.

So far the best combo for the suspension has been F14, 9R clicks (Hardest to softest). This worked well for me the last race but i'm still sure I will be playing with some clicks here and there.

Previc93 my experience in autoX is still beginner. I'm in my first year but it's getting better. I'm trying to get use to the car with the front sway bar. I plan to dial the car and my driving in as much as possible before the year ends before increasing my spring rate.

 

Did you get a front bar or a rear bar?

Also on a side note I have only been racing for 2 years. This weekend I have competition school so I can race wheel to wheel. But I do have a bunch of friends that been racing for years that helped me get as fast as I am.

 

I have both Front and rear sways. Blox front and progress rear.

 

Can you lift over steer mid corner.

 

I have no clue what that means. To be honest I am learning everything with this car. Before I would just put my foot down and try to gas thru the course. I am finally starting to listen and understand the car.

 

Lift oversteer is when you go into a corner and brake turn in the gas out. But let's say that you are going too fast or maybe a double apex turn. When turning the wheel if you lift off the throttle the weight transfers to the front and with higher spring rate in the rear will turn the car in oversteer and just when you point to the apex and mat the gas and it will pull you out.

Just remember fwd car drive the front and make sure you maximize front grip and the rear is along for the ride. There are a lot of times I take friends out for a ride along and I'll get the car sideways all over the place just for fun. It's obviously not the fastest but teaches car control

 

Oh gotcha. I've been getting better and the brake to the turn and gassing out. Yeah the far has been swinging out better with the last suspension adjustment.