Mack

I'm interested in autocrossing my stook this season. Just curious about the first things I need to do to set up the car properly? What would be the ultimate A-Stock setup with respect to wheels, tires, swaybars etc.?

CoralDoc

The ultimate performance enhancement for newbie autocrossers is, in order, 1) seat time, 2) seat time and 3) seat time. I wouldn't think about modifications until you start to approach the performance limits of the stock setup. If you must do something, the best bang for the buck is DOT legal autocross tires like Hoosiers and Kumhos. They'll keep you in the stock category (AS) and will improve grip.

Mack

-Joshua

Thanks for the reply. I plan on getting plenty of seat time. I guess my question was a little wide in scope. I'm talking about basic stuff.

What tires to run? Size? manuf?
What tire pressures to run? Front? Rear?
What caster/camber if it's still a daily driver?
Should I add a new front swaybar? Shocks?

Maybe I need to address these each in there own tread?

TFota

Mack, while I agree with Joshua that seat time (practice) is important, if you're going to be serious about it, you can burn through a couple of sets of pretty expensive tires. Of course, there is the additional expense of a separate set of wheels to mount your race tires on.

I solved the problem by just getting a set of 17" wheels and tires for the street and mounting my Kumho Victoracer tires on the stock rims.

The sizes you probably want are 225/50-16 front and 245/45-16 rear, although a few people have expressed opinions about different sizes.

People are running between -1.5 and -2 degrees of camber.

There are several people who have much more experience at autocross and autocrossing the S2000 than I have and hopefully they'll jump in and give you the voice of experience.

CG

Mack, these guys are right. If you really are a newbie I'd suggest that you really learn your car before you make many changes. Stock tires are $$$$ so it is cheaper to run Kumho V700's on the track -- if you have an extra set wheels. A bigger front swaybar and adj. shocks would be a big help and many of us are waiting for these.

Jason Saini

Mack,

I've been autocrossing various cars on and off for the past 9 years, and this next year will be the first in the S2K. I can say this much about starting out... practice, practice, practice! Also, find some of the fast guys in your area and make friends. As painful as it might seem, let them drive your car and walk the courses with them. You will learn exponentially faster if you have some fast friends at the events, and I am sure there are people willing to help. I always try to lend a hand to new people at our events. And by letting them drive your car (with you riding) you'll learn what it should 'feel' like to drive the car fast. Sometimes feeling that helps you get over a mental hurdle that's keeping you from going faster.

That said, there are certain things needed to make the car competitive. The first race we did in the S2K I was able to win FTD (fastest time of day) as well as the overall index win... on street tires. The car is incredibly capable the way it comes from the factory. You should be able to place fairly well locally with a stock setup. Hopefully there are some good A-Stock drivers in your area to push you harder.

Once you get to a certain level and want to go further with the car (National or Divisional level events), you'll need to get some things set up on the car. Stock Class Solo allows 1.Front swaybar, 2.Shocks, 3.Brake pads, 4.Plug wires, 5.Air filter (must fit in origin airbox with no modification,) 6.Race tires. 7.Exhaust. It's hard to put them in order of importance, but I would definitely say tires first... That way you are not killing your street tires so quickly, especially with how hard (impossible?) they are to get. Next would be swaybar. For Divisional and local competition the Mugen bar should be enough, but Nationally you will need a custom bar, of which several options exist. Plug wires don't apply to us, but a drop in air filter is OK... we're going to try the JR filter Mingster just did a group buy on. Also, an exhaust from the cat back helps shed weight and bump torque. Especially the Mugen, which saves over 20lb and bumps the midrange torque, right where you need it for autocrossing. Finally, the most important part (and most expensive) to make the car Nationally competitive are custom shocks. We are going with Penskes, but others have used JRZ's and Konis. Prices range from $3000 to $5000 per SET! But they really make a huge difference, and when all the drivers are at the same level shock settings can really make a difference. I'll be posting pics and reviews of our parts as we mod our car for next season.

I hope this got you started in the right direction. Check out S2Ki.com's links section for a SoloII handbook to help you get started. If you need to find schedules in your area, try www.autocross.com

Good luck, and enjoy the new ride!

CoralDoc

Mack - I am not a veteran autocrosser, having rediscovered this sport about a year ago. At that time I was all excited about getting new tires, changing sway bars, upgrading shocks, etc. I'm a tinkerer at heart. That all changed after running the car in several events. I realized that the performance limits of the stock setup are quite high and that more experienced drivers could improve on my times by several seconds without changing a thing.

Also, aftermarket upgrades are still being fine-tuned for our car. Sure, Mugen makes a front sway bar that has good reports behind it and stickier rubber will give greater grip, but the largest improvements, IMHO, come with seat time. I'd rather spend $1k on driver's school or track time than on a new set of wheels. I still want to make upgrades, but will wait until my learning curve tapers off (or a great deal on a wheel package comes up ).

Driving hard on the parking lot or track is a lot of fun ... and can become addictive ... so watch out!

Jason Saini

Oh drat... I forgot aligment. Scott at King Motorsports recommends -1.5 front, -2.5 rear camber, 1/16" toe out front, and 1/4" toe in rear. Also, crank in as much positive caster as possible in the front. Try to find someplace that does performance alignments... they won't look at you as funny when you tell them the above settings.

HTH

Mack

Thanks for all the great input. I think I'll start looking for a set of wheels and get me some Kumhos before the season begins.

-Jason

Can you run those alignment settings on the street without adversly affecting the wear on your street tire? Is the 205/50 - 245/45 the optimum set up?