Well I just started autocrossing my S2000 a couple of weeks ago and I'm having a hard time getting a feel for the car. I have been autocrossing for about 2 years now and have driven a highly modded 04' Toyota Celica GTS. Thing is in the S2000 I cant get a feel for when I'm pushing the car too hard so I always end up going into a turn too slowly. Is there any videos, or tips you guys can give me that would help?? I know seat time means a lot so thats taken care of. I'm running on the old S-02's Is there a better tire that will allow me to feel the car better? I was looking at a set of Potenza REO-1R's. Any help is appreciated.

 

Old S02s get pretty hard.

 

This makes no sense. I think you meant to say you're going in too fast, and the simple solution is just to go slower in the slow sections. Don't forget to push the pedal all the way through the floorboard in the fast sections.

 

I really think seat time and an auto-x alingment will help this the most. You also need to not be afraid of spinning out. I would spin out at least once an event for the first year I auto-xed the car. Now I hardly ever do but on occasion it will happen.

The more you go right up to the edge and past it, the better familiar you'll become with it.

 

"The more you go right up to the edge and past it, the better familiar you'll become with it. "


Totally agree. I went from an AWD turbo beater to my S. Since i had been driving AWD since i was 16 it was a big step to go to a RWD car. Push it to the limits, find your breaking point and go from there. Some advice i was given when i started.

I wanted comp tires and suspension the whole shebang right away. My buddy who is quite good and is an intructor told me to drive the car till you know that tires are holding you back from being faster or suspension is holding you back. I did and im much more happy and i believe it helped alot. i drove the car on street tires for the rest of the season after i bought the S. This season i started with only Hoosier A3-SO5's nothing else done to the car and im right in the mix with the fastest cars there.

The tires did make a huge difference in my times, but tif you get them too soon they will cover up your simple mistakes, Figure out what those are first.

Not sure if that will help ya at all but it did for me.

 

if you don't spin it, you're not going fast enough..

tony.. you moved to texas?

 

If the street tires are old, it may take the fun out of autoX'ing the S.
I've been autoX'ing for over 5 years in a fwd car and was always near the top in PAX. Jumping into the S, I pretty much spun evey run I made in the first 2 events.
With more seat time, I have steadily gotten better at the feel for the car. I am not pushing the car to it's limit's yet as I am mid pack for pax wise.
But switching over to some older R-comps helped make the transition easier.
I'd say the stick level of the older R-comps is similar to good street tires.
The biggest thing is seat time. With more seat time, you will start to feel what the car is doing and be able to predict when the car is about to oversteer.
Also, try to get some video footage of your runs and try taking notes after each run so that you can compare your notes to the video footage when you are home.

 

I think I know what you mean, I'm having the same problem. I just plain hit the brakes too hard...and end up not going around the corner fast enough.

It's something I'll have to work on myself, but I think a big cause of this could be not looking far enough ahead. It's especially hard in autocross because there are so many corners one after another, but it's really important to be looking ahead to the next corner or two, and setting up for those. If you are looking at the current corner, then by the time you get through youwon't be reayd for the next corner, and you'll jam on the breaks, and only then figure out you didn't need slow down so much.

Autocross is definetly a game of balance in order ot keep your speed up, rather than high speed percision, threshold braking, and hard acceleration like track driving.

 

Ok I think I have a slight Idea of what might be happening. My celica has coilovers and sway bars. It has very little droop/suspension travel. I can pack a tire in the celica in practically every turn and have pictures of the tires being 1ft off the ground pulling into a gas station lol. The S has quite a bit more suspension travel and thats what is making me think I'm going into a turn too hot. Also doing 35 around a corner in the S feels like 75 when comparing it to the celica. First investment...tires that arent dryrotted...second suspension. If I can get rid of some of that travel it may help me get more of a feel for things. Either that or just get used to the suspension travel... but I still need better street tires. ..thoughts?

 

There's 2 different things to address in this statement:

1) In many cases, there's no such thing as hitting the brakes too hard. You need maximum deceleration just as you need max acceleration.

2) I think what you're saying is that you hit the brakes too EARLY, meaning that you then have to accelerate to get into and complete the turn.

Just trying to keep the terminology straight...