Legacy GT moved from STU to STX

[boxkita]

Wait will mine still be a STx even though I have a built motor larger turbo and swapped to a STi 6mt, and have upgraded brakes and suspension?

 

I did all you did minus the 6mt...put me in the modified classes. The larger turbo has a multiplier of either 1.6 or 1.8 depending on your club.

 

The modified/prepared classes allow for lightening, so you run against stripped evo/sti 's.

 

At least that's what I was told for the PNW regional clubs.

[playindagamewell]

no help for the spec b, guess we'll keep driving the SS stock car for auto-x'ing for now

[whitetiger]

spec b goes with the LGT.

 

and if you have a built engine or bigger turbo you are far from STX. you go straight to street mod.

[boxkita]

comparing my times against the street mod times, I need to drop almost 4 seconds. Sure glad I got that bigger turbo for the HPDE events. :-)

 

Anybody swapped the glass in a wagon for lexan?

[whitetiger]

the legacy GT has no chance in SM, especially if you dont run r-comps, really really wide r-comps and 5k+ uber coilovers.

 

getting the car under 3000lbs wont hurt either.

[boxkita]

Ah well...I'm having fun. :-)

[whitetiger]

thats all that matters

[SCHM1AN]

So how are you guys doing against the competition in STX this year?

[StoplightAssassin]

It's been hard to gauge for me. Most of the STX competition locally are WRXes, which aren't really a big deal.

 

The big test I had at a Philly event was against last year's DS Pro Solo champ, who's now in a speced RX8 with Motons and all that high end stuff. I was about 4 seconds off of him, but I was also about 2.5 seconds off a WRX national competitor who I usually battle it out with. The reason for being so slow was that my tires had literally 8 miles on them before racing that day. I thought they'd be scrubbed in by the third run but I was way wrong.

 

In the last South Jersey event I had that WRX driver by almost a second but I picked up a cone somewhere. No video of that run. I swear it was clean. Must have just nicked it. Oh well. We have an event this weekend, so I'll see how it goes.

[SCHM1AN]

How'd you do this weekend?

[StoplightAssassin]

Don't know yet. I'm pretty sure I won STX. Should've had a top 5 pax too.

 

We had to cut the event short due to a torrential pop up thunderstorm so I didn't get to check the results and they haven't been posted yet.

[StoplightAssassin]

Just got the results. 1st in STX by nearly a second. 3rd in pax. A little less than a second off top pax.

 

Not too bad considering my first run was my ftd. It was also my only completely dry run. The next three were progressively more wet and it showed in the times.

 

here's my ftd

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJQgi8__nlY]South Jersey SCCA Autox Event #5 8/11/2012 - YouTube[/ame]

[SCHM1AN]

Very cool! Couldn't see many of the cones but I'm glad to hear the LGT can be competitive. Congrats on the gold/bronze!

[StoplightAssassin]

The camera and the case lense was all smudged up. I get so busy with the event I forget to take care of my own stuff. haha

[whitetiger]

a tip....hold the wheel at 9 and 3, not 10 and 2. you will get more rotation before having to take your hand off the wheel.

[StoplightAssassin]

I try to. A lot of times I'm reaching so much due to my seating position which I can't do much about. So I just do what feels comfortable.

 

Jr and my other Evo school instructor both noticed it. They figure I'm giving up 1-2 .10s for every slalom from my seating position. I'd really benefit from a telescoping steering column.

[whitetiger]

i understand. its tough even for me to find the right position without my helmet hitting the door frame area, and im only 5'9". the amont of steering the legacy needs in order to get it to turn is ridiculous.

[SCHM1AN]

You're only 5'9" and hitting the door? I'm 6'2" and my head fits perfectly. You couldn't even fit a sheet of paper between my helmet and the roof.

[whitetiger]

it depends on my position. in my normal DD driving position i fit with plenty of room for me and my helmet. for autox position(real proper driving position) my shoulder blades mus be firmly touching the seat back with my wrist resting on the top of the steering wheel. this allows maximum steering wheel articulation without having to let go. Sitting that way that way, my helmet often hits the door frame area.

[StoplightAssassin]

I'd really need a racing seat and some low rise rails to have any kind of a decent seating position in my LGT, but that's not gonna happen.

 

I've been keeping my eyes out for a non beat to shit E36 M3, which I would almost definitely put a racing seat in. I actually have a pretty good seating position in the non-sunroof models.

[boxkita]

Have you looked at a racing seat that you change out for the event? I see quite a few STI drivers showing up for track days and swapping their seats in the paddock. Watching a guy make the swap, it seems rather easy. Then again, he did have a custom mounting bracket for the racing seat.

[SCHM1AN]

I would be cursing everything Holy, because my fat sausage fingers don't bode well for disconnecting the clips underneath the seat.

[StoplightAssassin]

Have you looked at a racing seat that you change out for the event? I see quite a few STI drivers showing up for track days and swapping their seats in the paddock. Watching a guy make the swap, it seems rather easy. Then again, he did have a custom mounting bracket for the racing seat.

 

If I was going to nationals I might consider that, but being only regionally competitive, it's too much work. I'd rather just drive better.

[boxkita]

Preface with the vast majority of my experience is track days and you are already successful...

 

watching several of your in car videos, I see the following:

1. Your arms look too straight...should have more bend at the elbow, which will give more torque

2. change your seating position to get your left knee closer to the dash (gives a better brace) or add a knee pad to your left knee to bridge the distance. This likely bring your seat to more a upright position.

3. It appears you are pushing the wheel to the new position, rather than pulling it. This shows in the over-correcting you do in some turning situations. The pulling takes some learning to get right, but gives you much finer control over the wheel's position.

4. As whitetiger said, move your hands to 9 & 3, this will lessen the amount of #5 issues.

5. It looks like you are mixing shuffle steer with hand-over-hand. Pick one and stick with it. Changing between the two sometimes causes you to lose the center of the wheel (the spinning of the wheel and hands loose waiting for it to come back). Adding a wrap of white tape to TDC of the wheel might help.

6. If you are not using a data-logger (any smartphone has an app), start especially with the in-car video, if you add the tactrix data logging you can match your steering, braking, gas pedal angle to the video. RaceRender can create a video with everything on the same screen.

7. There are a couple videos where the engine is bogging and the next set of cones are low speed, would shifting to first help?

8. Do you left foot brake? Looking at your leg position, you might not have enough room. However, situations where the revs fall off from braking, it would keep the boost up.

 

Other than the above, which are all refinements, you're smooth and fast. I learned a bit from watching your lines.

[StoplightAssassin]

Preface with the vast majority of my experience is track days and you are already successful...

 

watching several of your in car videos, I see the following:

1. Your arms look too straight...should have more bend at the elbow, which will give more torque.

I agree. I'm 6'7", so head room is a big issue. I have to sit pretty reclined to fit with my helmet. I definitely have to reach.

2. change your seating position to get your left knee closer to the dash (gives a better brace) or add a knee pad to your left knee to bridge the distance. This likely bring your seat to more a upright position.

It's very uncomfortable for me to work the pedals if I'm any closer. The closer I am, the more intrusive my legs are on the steering wheel. I'm big enough I can easily brace my leg with the door. I use a $20 G-Force racing torso strap (was totally distracted and forgot to put it on for that run). It helps a lot keeping me in the seat. Whitetiger uses a similar strap.

 

3. It appears you are pushing the wheel to the new position, rather than pulling it. This shows in the over-correcting you do in some turning situations. The pulling takes some learning to get right, but gives you much finer control over the wheel's position.

Product of my seating position. :/

 

4. As whitetiger said, move your hands to 9 & 3, this will lessen the amount of #5 issues.

[I]10 and 2 is optimal to get the most rotation without letting go of the wheel, but 9 and 3 is ok also. It's just a matter of what's more comfortable. Being that shuffle steering is basically a necessity, set hand positions aren't as relevant. I've seen guys one-hand runs and be fast.[/i]

 

5. It looks like you are mixing shuffle steer with hand-over-hand. Pick one and stick with it. Changing between the two sometimes causes you to lose the center of the wheel (the spinning of the wheel and hands loose waiting for it to come back). Adding a wrap of white tape to TDC of the wheel might help.

IMO if you want to be fast at autox, you really need to do a combination of both. Slaloms are great for crossover steering, but once you hit increasing radius sweepers, shuffle steering becomes optimal. With shuffle steering, you can crossover to get the additional rotation on the wheel as the turn radius gets tighter. You definitely don't want to run out of rotation, otherwise you'll be scrambling to make the corner and that's a couple tenths on your time. If you are able to crossover steer the whole course, it's either very open or you're driving too slow. You'll notice in my video I crossover in the slalom and faster sections which require less input, and shuffle in and out of sweepers and the tight turns.

 

6. If you are not using a data-logger (any smartphone has an app), start especially with the in-car video, if you add the tactrix data logging you can match your steering, braking, gas pedal angle to the video. RaceRender can create a video with everything on the same screen.

I use trackmaster, but the overlay never syncs correctly. It needs an update so it can be exported with the app video and data automatically overlayed.. I have a lap recorder hd also, but never got around to using it. Honestly I like to just focus on driving. All those gadgets get in the way. I used to move my gopro all around for different shots, but now I just keep it in car.

 

7. There are a couple videos where the engine is bogging and the next set of cones are low speed, would shifting to first help?

Not really. Time spent shifting is time wasted, unless you have to shift up. The engine below the powerband can be put to our advantage as we won't suffer from oversteer putting the power on out of slow corners like many rwd cars. In slow sections, the shortest line is the fastest. It's one of the most common misconceptions of autox. At our last event, I was watching the regulars go through the hairpins very wide. I told them to try it my way and they were faster.

 

8. Do you left foot brake? Looking at your leg position, you might not have enough room. However, situations where the revs fall off from braking, it would keep the boost up.

My feet don't fit in the pedal box well (size 15s). I even took out the plastic cover over the pedals. I'm really not sold on left foot braking anyways. If you can do it that's great, but IMO you can make that time up on course. There's no such thing as a perfect run.

 

Other than the above, which are all refinements, you're smooth and fast. I learned a bit from watching your lines.

[I]Thanks! I've recently made some big strides in reading the course and choosing the right attack.[/i]