There is an auto x book that I read by Ross Bentley called winning autocross techniques that is pretty good. I just got another one of his books as well called ultimate speed secrets the complete guide to high performance and race driving. I can't wait to get into this book to see if there are any tips that I'm missing out there on the track that might help my lap times.

Also on a side note nasa az will be at Chuckwalla on Feb 7-8 and I'll be there. Would be fun to see you out there so you can see how much different road course is than auto x. It's 2 different worlds.

 

Yeah i have the "Secrets to solo racing" book. Haven't read it yet but will be this week getting ready for the upcoming events in 2 weeks. i have about 4 races left in the year so we'l see how it pans out in the end.

I plan to hit some local road races here in Southern California soon as well. Should be fun. I'd like to see ya at the autoX events but your also in a different class (SMF since you're
boosted). Chuckwalla is out there. Maybe i'll see when the time comes.

 

Lift oversteer is getting oversteer when the throttle is suddenly lifted.
It results in enough weight shifted foreward and reduce weight at rear enough to cause the rear tires to lose traction.
If you have enough sway bar in the rear compared to the front it can be done in a Fit but it generally requires disconnecting the front bar and adding a rear ASB. And it requires a new set of driving skills to control the path and not just spinning out. Cars with lots of forward weight bias are difficult to re-suspend the car to get lift throttle oversteer but it is done..
Its usefulness is in a support to braking on entry, not exit. For most, just stomping the brake has a better lift throttle inducement to oversteer in a/x's. Throttle lift inducement of oversteer is better for very fast turns where hard braking isn't a good implement.

 

The wife is going to be taking our new-to-us 2008 Fit to the last Washington DC SCCA autocross of the season this Sunday. Car is box stock but I'll put on some stickyish tires and she'll be running in STF. What should she expect? Tons of body roll? Will it lift the inside rear wheel a lot?

It's automatic with paddle shifters. If it's put in "S" gear and shifted to 2nd after the start, will it hold 2nd all the way through or will it try to downshift to 1st in slow corners? We've only had the Fit for a week or so and I haven't had much of a chance to play with it to see how high it'll run up the tach before it shifts to 3rd on its own.

 

Inflate front tires to at least 35 psi and rears as high as you can get them!!! (Like 50psi if possible.)

I actually borrowed a 99% stock Fit for H-Street class use. It was still fun! It will not lift the inside rear on a stock alignment, and it will push some. Body roll is about as bad as you'd expect, but it's worth disconnecting one of the end links on the front sway bar!

Most important, HAVE FUN! I'm from SFR SCCA and know (well of) several folks in the DC region and they're Good people!

 

Our a/x gurus say:
1. install stickiess 205 tires that meet rules in a diameter about 1/2" less than OEM; aim for lightest tires too. check rules for min tire wear code (UTOG) Use lap times on tire evaluations on tires in tirerackat least to find whats better.
2. disconnect the driver's side antisway bar and remove link. check rules
3. Remove as much weight as allowed.
4. Install spring rubbers on all 4 wheels if allowed to stiffen entire suspension.
5. Add 6mm (1/4 inch) spacers all around if rules permit. Most do allow 1/2" variation in track width due to aftermarket wheels with other than OEM offset.
6. Check alignment; set toe in front to + 1 mm total, 1/2 mm each side.
Have at it.. Thats right plus; you need less understeer.
7. Tire pressures start at 40 psi front and 36 psi rear but rear at 40 psi may be adviseable if you want less understeer.
Selection of gears depends on the course but count on 1,2, and possibly 3. Downshift at corner entry. Let redline upshifts control upshifts.
GOOD LUCK.

 

Well I'm not building the Fit for autocross; I have a halfway decent car for that already. The wife can't drive it since she just had surgery on her left foot. She's going to use the Fit to finish out this season and then she'll be back in my car next spring.

So there will be no changing anything on the car. I'm going to bolt on my STS tires (195 Toyo R1R), empty out the trunk and stick numbers on the doors. I'm just curious how it will handle, if it will be silly unstable, etc etc.

 

Good tires but to take advantage of them consider adding at least 1/4" spacers. They are cheap and worthwhile street or a/x. And disconnecting ASB is a serious handling plus street or a/x. All vcheap stuff.
Unstable: not a care. You really have to screw up to destabilize the Fit.

 

Thanks for the tips.

Next question, how much slower will the Fit be than our regular ride?

 

Apples and oranges. But I can tell you that there is a Yaris here in SoCal running times faster then STS guys. A stock Fit will not compare to that Miata.

 

Do not agree with this bullet. I'd do 35 psi ish front and 40 ish rear and disconnect the front sway bar. Especially if your car is stock. Cars from the factory are made to understeer because most people do not know how to drive.

Power to weight on a stock fit and a miata I believe lean more towards the miata so won't be as fast and also the weight distribution is better on the miata. I believe your miata will be faster unless you can get a more aggressive alignment and a rear sway bar. Then it might be close. Only thing is like Rollerboots666 says it's apples to oranges. They are 2 different cars and 2 different setups and drive different. You probably don't have as much experience on track with a fit so you will definitely be slower. you are probably looking for 10ths or even 100ths in the miata cause you know it well and the fit you will be looking for seconds cause your not so familiar.

I switched cars with a friend of mine that has a miata. We are about equal in lap times and we were both about 5 seconds slower than our normal times with our own cars. So seat time will play a huge roll.

 

Agreed. Having raced a Miata and hot lapped my Fit (utube) I can assure you the Fit is way, way slower, especially in corners and acceleration. That's pretty much all there is. I'd take a guess at 10 seconds per minute.
And I'd like to see that Yaris setup Here the Mazda2's bury them.

 

Yeah the M2 has been a favorite in STF. We have one guy here in SoCal on a M2 and he competes well with the Yaris, but damn the co-driver of the Yaris can drive. He even has a few national champions with the car this year.

With that said on my first year I don't feel so bad as to only be 2 seconds slower then the fastest guy in STF at the moment. We'll see where I get as the year closes out.

 

There isn't a huge STF entry in Washington DC Region. We have a well developed RSX-S that wins when it shows up, a 2nd gen Fit, and a CRZ that show up regularly.

 

It's a shame to say that the tastest stf car at nats was a mini. Sigh M2 can't keep up with minis

 

the 2015 season is going to be interesting for me and a lot of others here in SoCal.

We have a national champ prepping his RSX type S. My buddies Yaris (who has a amazing co-driver) is going through more changes with his sponsors. Cusco and Winmax are going to be helping dial the car in along with the crew that has been making this thing run primo all year. And the M2 that runs here is playing with tires a bunch (he's a great driver as well). We'll see where my skill level takes me.

I might do a national event next year just to see the how the pressure affects me and how stiff the competition is.

 

Brief (ha!)report after fun day Sunday

Car prep was simple: I did pretty much nothing. I was autocrossing with another club on Saturday so I wasn't too inspired to spend a lot of time messing with another car. I bolted on 15x7 Kosei K1 with 205/50-15 Dunlop Z2s. Didn't even take out the spare! Made a "F" out of a "P" from when I ran a little CSP a couple years ago and the car was ready to go.



First heat. the wife drove the Fit. I rode along for her first two runs and she did well considering she does not like power steering. She started out with a 56.9 +2 as she turned in early on a couple cones. Her fourth and last run yielded sizable improvement, 55.3. This left her sixth out of seven in STF, beating a very stock Scion TC on all-season tires. Winning the class was a RSX-S (50.24), then a pair of Mazda3s, then a 2011 Fit on Koni coilovers and Z2s. She PAXed 124th out of 185 which is not as well as she usually does. But she got to play so the day was a success.

I ran my Miata in the second heat. Wound up third out of 11 (darn CRXs) but wrapped up the season championship. PAXed 28th which is better than average for me.

We're both on the WDCR committee so we have to stick around all day to help clean up, so I might as well play while I wait. I stuck the Fit at the end of one of the afternoon grids and tried my hand at it. I started a new class, Street Touring FWD Unlimited:



First impression, this thing is slow. I mean dog slow. And this coming from a Miata driver! Frankly this didn't come as much of a surprise and I'm sure the automatic transmission didn't help things. But it was a hoot! I could take slaloms that required lifting in the Miata flat out in the Fit. I got greedy in spots jumping on the gas too quickly coming out of tight turns and inducing a push, but other than that it was predictable and confidence-inspiring. It was almost impossible to get it into a position where I thought I could get in serious trouble. I finished up with a 53.67, which would have been sixth in STF, but only three tenths behind the '11 Fit with suspension upgrades.

Having said that, if this was our regular ride I'd be finding a new hobby. Driving a slow car fast is fun, but there's a limit to how slow is too slow. There aren't a lot of things that make a STS Miata feel fast, but this certainly is one of them.

I do have video but I'm pooped. I hope to have it edited and posted tomorrow.

 

Did you see my friends Sam and Brian drive the yellow crx si in sts? I can't believe they went down to you guys this weekend lol

 

We were gridded next to Sam and Brian. I've run against Sam a handful of times this year (DC Pro, Wilmington Pro, and at Nationals). Since we run #39 and he's #43 we usually wind up being next-door neighbors. We run fairly closely but I beat him a couple times including some day-two last-run heroics to pass him at Nationals. When he comes to grips with that car he's going to be tough, just like all the other CRXs that kick my butt.

This time around Brian got me by a tenth for second in class, and Sam was a couple of seconds behind me in sixth. Sam said he has friends or family who live in the area and he combined a visit with them with our last event in DC for the year, but I don't know how he talked Brian into joining him. I'm glad he did, the more the merrier (I might not have said that if I hadn't locked up the season championship a couple events ago).

Video is uploading now, should have a link for it before too long.

 

Nice! I was driving the yellow CRX at dc pro with Sam. That car is so fun to drive. However it's a lot different now than it was in April. Brian is just an amazing driver. He's talked me into doing more autox this year.