I was at my 3rd autocross yesterday, My fastest time was a 41.1xx, the fastest person in AS was a 300zx TT with a time of 38.8xx. Now my question is how come the S2000 was understeering so much this time? All I did was raise the pressure in the tires a little...34psi in front, and 32psi in rear. I have a Mugen Front SB and Spoon X-brace (which I gotta take out). Is the SB and X-brace making it understeer? Will changing the camber and toe out help? I also figure out by driving smoother, instead of having the tail out in every corner...give you faster times.... Any advice on how to go faster is appreciated...Thanks

 

Is that Cold or Hot?

I haven't raced my S2000 in AutoX yet, but when I did my Prelude I put the cold pressure up to 37.

I just did about 300kms on Mosport with the tires set to 40 and there would be a *little* understeer coming out of turn 1 and turn 3 after the apex, but I blame the S02's grip at those kinds of speeds and Gforces, if I had a grippier tire I'm pretty sure the ploughing would have disappeared.

I dunno maybe I'm not thinking about all the elements but in AutoX vs Track racing but I would think in AutoX you should have an oversteering problem, not understeering.

My Stook is 100% stock. I even ran on my OEM tires. So I'd probably point the finger at your suspension in this case.

I'm quite interested in what others think...

 

Hey Huang! Y'know what we should've done yesterday- swap cars for a lap! I was wondering what that swaybar and Xbrace would feel like compared to my stock equipment. Maybe next time? Too bad we don't get funlaps at ASSC. Maybe NEOSCCA's events? But anyways, with all of those pressure adjustments you saw me do I felt that I had pretty neutral steering- pushed when on the gas, tail went out in the slaloms when under braking, nice and balanced with neutral throttle in the back turns. Maybe the push is 'cause of the swaybar & brace? I think you had the tire pressures right, though, compared to me.

Also, talk about a course not favorable to the StooK- essentially it was two dragstrips with two 270 degree turns at the back corners that dropped our revs too low in 2nd. How often do others here drop into 1st in an autoX?

 

I know what you mean, when the S2000 went into those 2 tight turns, it completely dropped out of it's powerband....I can still remember waiting for the power to come back on. I probably gonna take the X-brace out before the event at Firestone, Mingster told me I could get the bolts at the Honda Dealer for .85 cents . I don't know bout me having the right Tire Pressure, everyone's advice is to have Tire Pressure way up around 38 and 36 psi. I can still get the rear to come out, it's just that I need to power oversteer it...I was thinking if I go really fast into those 2 tight corners it'll oversteer...but it didn't happened, all it did was pushing the front of the car out. Hopefully I be able to attend the June event...and if you still wanna trade cars, I'll be glad to..

 

I can give more details after this upcoming weekend's event (the first autox of the season and the first in this car) but the other folks here have noted little understeer that wasn't self-induced. The key is to NOT overdrive the car - that is, "slow down to go faster." If yer charging turns and haven't completed your braking or are not braking enough and simply trying to turn, you're not going to allow the tires to work at their optimal grip.

Get an experienced driver to ride with you and even take a run with you as the passenger. You may never have driven faster in your life but until you know where the limits are and how to approach them, you can make the car do any number of weird things.

 

Jeff's point is one that everyone should be paying attention to. If you drive your car (ANY car) to fast into a turn, it's going to understeer. It doesn't matter if it front wheel, rear wheel, or all wheel drive. The front tires can only handle so much grip. Once you exceed that, they can only give up. When they give up, you get push.

As for the course not being a Stook course..... I wasn't there, but I've found that the Stook can be competitive on any course, and drag racing-type ones are actually quite good for the car. The turnarounds that you talked about sound like they did need a downshift to first. Obviously, once you downshift, you have to be real careful with your throttle application.

Ron Bauer

 

Studentdriver, is your car still set up the same as it was at the NNJR novice school (or did you have a rear mugen bar then, I cannot remember)? If it is the same, I would leave the front sway bar on the car...it transitioned very well compared to the stock bar (on my car). There was a bit of understeer in very slow turns, but nothing out of the ordinary for a autocross car.

I would agree with the others, try slowing down on entry to the corners, and get on the throttle sooner on exit. Have to go slow to go fast!

 

First off, put more air in those tires! Like around 38-40 PSI front and maybe 36-38 PSI rear. Try something like 35/33 in the wet. If you look closely at your tires you don't want any wear past the little triangles. Use some white shoe polish and mark the tire in three places (from tread to down sidewall a little) if you cannot see that wear.

I did bump into another S2K driver that claims success using 36 PSI all around in Auto-X. I looked at his tires and, sure enough, he wasn't rolling over. But I tried 36 PSI and it wasn't enough for me in the dry. Maybe I'm not as smooth as he is or maybe he isn't attacking as hard as I am. Time slips will tell.

Second, do try to brake in a straight line and THEN turn the wheel. I cannot emphasize this enough. Most non-racers brake too much in the turn (and lose time by braking too gently over a longer distance, except for relatively rare finesse sections, when you're not on the gas you should be on the brake, we have GREAT ABS).

Third, if the course is fast enough you can do a "death-plow," even in an S2K. If you are plowing in a fast sweeper then slow down a little more before entry.

Fourth, gear down so you can apply a little power-oversteer if you need it. We have so much RPM range that you could get lazy, stuff it in 2nd and leave it there. I have not seen one course here in So Cal that did not deserve a downshift at one or more places.