I'm doing an Evolution phase 1/2 school tomorrow and this'll be my first time on R-compounds. I don't want to waste any time figuring out the setup, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

My setup is:
Saner bar (currently on softest setting)
9 month old hand-me-down victoracers (thanks, James!)
alignment:
Front:
-1.75 camber (my large posterior means this is the max I can get)
1/16" toe out
caster unknown

Rear:
-2.25 camber
1/16" toe in

Really, all I need to know is where to start w/ tire pressures and which setting to use on the swaybar.

Thanks!
Tony

 

I'd suggest 34f/30r for asphalt or cooler temps or a couple of pounds higher on concrete or higher temps. I'd also use at least the middle bar setting, if not the stiffest, depending on grip.

 

get that front bar on full stiff tony!!!!! Driving the car on teh streets with teh bar on full stiff is fine, so I say set it to stiff and leave it. We normally ran 37 front 32 rear on those tires, but it was with a full stiff bar. Start from there, and if the rear feels too squirrelly, I say drop the pressure in front 2 PSI and go from there. We run very similar alignment settings, and even on asphalt the bar works best on full stiff. Have fun tommorrow!

 

well, I ended up leaving the bar on full soft. Ran the pressures at 36, 36. The car understeered a lot in slow corners, but rotated great under power. Ask Jason, who's still picking brake dust out of his teeth how well it rotates . Sorry bout that....

I guess I'll put the bar on the middle setting tomorrow. Don't want to make too big an adjustment at a time. The way the car is right now, I'm afraid it might understeer too much on full stiff. But we'll see. Thanks, guys.

 

How was the school?

 

I find that even with a stock swaybar you can get this car to push by being too quick/abrupt with the steering wheel. This doesn't really hold with a sweeper but with tight 90+ degree turns, it is really easy to do. especially at autoX speeds.

Ask CG if you have doubts......

and How was the school?

 

I'll be honest. I walked away thinking "Wow that was an expensive 4 hours of seat time." I was just hoping it would pay off eventually.

The improvements instead were immediate and surprisingly dramatic. I was lucky enough to come in 5th in a very wet PAX class. I just squeaked in in front of an AM car that ran in the dry. From my first run to my last, I improved about 3 seconds. I came in almost a second ahead of John Hyon, who trophied at nationals this year. I had Jason Saini drive my car in a later session and he was about 1.3 seconds faster, about the same as yesterday in the phase 1.

The things that really stuck the easiest were the mechanics. I still have a problem sometimes of letting go of the wheel when I'm unwinding. I'm working on that. I caught myself not looking far enough ahead a couple times. One of those times I plowed straight through a wall of cones. I don't feel too bad, since Tom Kotzian did the same thing while I was working course

I think the reason it usually takes so long for the evo school to sink in is that 1) it sounds too simple 2) it feels counterintuitive 3) you need to try it out for yourself and see the time improvements. For some people, if you can get over the mental block, you can take the instruction to heart much faster.

I really can't wait to do the phase 3. Now I can get the mechanics down. I just need to watch Tom Berry to see how to get the mental edge. Now I need to learn the right line and get the right level of aggressiveness. Speaking of aggressiveness: our own Mr. Saini is one aggressive driver! Very different style from Kotzian and Dietz, who really finesse the car through the course.

Overall, I'd highly recommend the course. Although I suspect it's a better value if you take the phase 1 and 2 on separate days.

 

great!

I took phase one about a year ago. shaved off almost 5 seconds..... of course it was also my second autoX experience. I thought it was worth every penny since it confirmed what I had read in the various performance drivng books and corrected so bad everyday street driving habits.

the frustrating thing was going to another autoX and driving absolutely terrible. I could blame it on equipement failure, or the weather, but my times were terrible because of bad technique.