05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
03-01-2006, 12:51 AM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: TX
Posts: 304
05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
Anyone out there taking their pony around the windy track regularly ?
I am looking to upgrade specifically for closed track and was looking for anyone whose taken their '05/'06 down that road. Last time out I was hanging with everything except the Lotus Elise (which is one amazing track car!). Z06, Carrera S, WRX STI... The closed track is a great equalizer
Anyway, need specific suggestions. I am going to put about $5k in now and then see where I go from there...some stream of consciousness stuff now...
Suspension - tops on my list - she's surprisingly drivable stock but just too mushy to hold the apex at above moderate speed - I'm looking at the Eibach, FRPP and others...anyone have success with one or the other? Anything you skipped and found you needed (vice versa?)
Wheels/Tires - the stock P's actually did pretty good last time out...but I need better. BFGs? Toyo? Nitto? I was looking at 19x9 but I've seen some handle real well with 18x8's.
Exhaust - For now I want to keep it emissions legal, so what are my options? I love the aggressive sound of upgraded exhaust but it does squat for me if the suburu is passing me in the twisties so I need performance too
Brakes - Not going to look at any more performance upgrades beyond exhaust and maybe UDP for now - the rear brakes are a bit problematic but I think I can deal....maybe keep rear and just do front? 14" - 4piston is what I am thinking - or are the rears just going to bind up more if I just upgrade the front?
Seats - maybe I've put on some weight, but I stuck to the seats pretty good so far, but anyone real happy with any upgrades there?
Body kits - anything functional - with the lowering of the upgraded springs I doubt I can put on too aggressive a chin...I still drive her around town and Dallas' Mayor has done a poor job on her promise to fix the pot holes 'cause I keep finding them.
Lots of ideas and looking for your thoughts. Thanks in advance stangophiles!
I am looking to upgrade specifically for closed track and was looking for anyone whose taken their '05/'06 down that road. Last time out I was hanging with everything except the Lotus Elise (which is one amazing track car!). Z06, Carrera S, WRX STI... The closed track is a great equalizer
Anyway, need specific suggestions. I am going to put about $5k in now and then see where I go from there...some stream of consciousness stuff now...
Suspension - tops on my list - she's surprisingly drivable stock but just too mushy to hold the apex at above moderate speed - I'm looking at the Eibach, FRPP and others...anyone have success with one or the other? Anything you skipped and found you needed (vice versa?)
Wheels/Tires - the stock P's actually did pretty good last time out...but I need better. BFGs? Toyo? Nitto? I was looking at 19x9 but I've seen some handle real well with 18x8's.
Exhaust - For now I want to keep it emissions legal, so what are my options? I love the aggressive sound of upgraded exhaust but it does squat for me if the suburu is passing me in the twisties so I need performance too
Brakes - Not going to look at any more performance upgrades beyond exhaust and maybe UDP for now - the rear brakes are a bit problematic but I think I can deal....maybe keep rear and just do front? 14" - 4piston is what I am thinking - or are the rears just going to bind up more if I just upgrade the front?
Seats - maybe I've put on some weight, but I stuck to the seats pretty good so far, but anyone real happy with any upgrades there?
Body kits - anything functional - with the lowering of the upgraded springs I doubt I can put on too aggressive a chin...I still drive her around town and Dallas' Mayor has done a poor job on her promise to fix the pot holes 'cause I keep finding them.
Lots of ideas and looking for your thoughts. Thanks in advance stangophiles!
03-01-2006, 04:08 AM
#3
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 3,696
RE: 05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
ORIGINAL: V8 Aggie
from past auto-x experience- first get new brakes and better tires. Then go suspension!
from past auto-x experience- first get new brakes and better tires. Then go suspension!
03-01-2006, 04:28 AM
#4
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location:
Posts: 345
RE: 05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
ORIGINAL: chrisc
agreed, power really doesnt seem to be much of importance in autoXing at all compared to dragging, go for the tries, then go all out on suspention
ORIGINAL: V8 Aggie
from past auto-x experience- first get new brakes and better tires. Then go suspension!
from past auto-x experience- first get new brakes and better tires. Then go suspension!
The best way to go is get the new tires then alot of experience!
03-01-2006, 08:32 AM
#5
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Chicago
Posts: 757
RE: 05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
I'll back the "Tires first" camp. Even brakes you can wait on until your skill level really requires it--no point in getting a Samurai sword if you don't know how to use a knife.
Since you have the money, you should consider saving as much of it as possible to enter driver's events--these can quickly add up, and the experience you get will be much more important than improving the car's capabilities which you can't fully access with your current skill. Then of course, there's Bondurant's school, etc. Either way, your money can buy you a good deal of track time and training.
Best,
-j
Since you have the money, you should consider saving as much of it as possible to enter driver's events--these can quickly add up, and the experience you get will be much more important than improving the car's capabilities which you can't fully access with your current skill. Then of course, there's Bondurant's school, etc. Either way, your money can buy you a good deal of track time and training.
Best,
-j
03-01-2006, 03:05 PM
#6
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location:
Posts: 691
RE: 05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
Having bult several vehciles for autoX related stuff I would
Agree on new tires, if you want just track tires go with teh Pirelli corsa. A kick *** tire.
I also use now BFG gforce TA stuff alot.
Wheels should be somehting no bigger the 18X9.5 or 18X10 for the rear.
You can go up to a 285 with a 9.5" wheel and 295-315 with a 10" on teh rear.
Brakes would be the next great thing and my recomendation is Wilwood 6 piston fronts and if you have the dough 4 pot rears.
Then work on new upper and lower control arms with upgraded bushings.
New fucntional hood for heat extraction
other good recommendations are new lightweight driveshaft.
Then if you wnt to move to it new front Kmember and coil over setup. MM is working on their stuff right now.
I haven't done much with the 05+ setup but worked on several cobras from 01-04.
Agree on new tires, if you want just track tires go with teh Pirelli corsa. A kick *** tire.
I also use now BFG gforce TA stuff alot.
Wheels should be somehting no bigger the 18X9.5 or 18X10 for the rear.
You can go up to a 285 with a 9.5" wheel and 295-315 with a 10" on teh rear.
Brakes would be the next great thing and my recomendation is Wilwood 6 piston fronts and if you have the dough 4 pot rears.
Then work on new upper and lower control arms with upgraded bushings.
New fucntional hood for heat extraction
other good recommendations are new lightweight driveshaft.
Then if you wnt to move to it new front Kmember and coil over setup. MM is working on their stuff right now.
I haven't done much with the 05+ setup but worked on several cobras from 01-04.
03-01-2006, 03:34 PM
#7
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location:
Posts: 3,020
RE: 05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
The biggest single difference you can do is full out racing tires. Not even close. Brakes are great, but pricey. A few suspension mods combined with new racing tires will do wonders for your solo et's.
04-02-2006, 11:49 PM
#9
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: TX
Posts: 304
RE: 05/06 autocross/solo drivers?
Thought I'd give anyone interested an update:
So I dipped my toe in the tire upgrade pool and jumped in with both feet on the suspension
Got the tires first - I know everyone said racing tires and I had fully intended to follow that advice and had a set lined up but that did not work out (more logistics than anything) so I wound up going on the cheap(er) with BFG g-Force TA KDW (could not find the 2's - but have since). The tires worked out really well...great improvement over the P-ZN's...held up real well and stuck nice...looking at Toyo maybe next time out based on what others were running.
I stayed with the 17" wheels (could not find a rim I liked) and frankly don't see any reason to change at this point (18's would fill the wheel gap more of course).
Pretty much re-did the entire suspension package (see my sig) and the car is a completely different animal. Body roll and wheel hop are all but gone, traction is incredible. Went with all Steeda parts and can't be happier. Did not want too much of a drop so the Steeda springs worked out great.
At the advice of local experts, I ran with -2.6 camber and the car absolutely kissed the turns (gotta remember to get that back to the stock -1 before I screw my tires up. Was anyone else surprised that the car stock had -1 camber or is it just me?
The Tokico D-specs are fantastic. Adjustment takes seconds - get 'em if you need dampening and want to be able to firm/soften the ride virtually on command.
For the brakes I had a set of EBCs and ran with those on the front - they were a great improvement over the stock pads. Looking to add some ducting and maybe some slotted rotors but I think the brakes are good for now.
Did not do anything with the exhaust yet - thinkin' about buying the exhaust of a competition '05 GT that is being upgraded.
Still slid around in the seat quite a lot....gonna need something there...either full seat and harness or at least rig a decent harness.
Power-wise with the CAI and brenspeed tune I was not suffering there at all...have the Steeda UDP but have not installed it yet...maybe next weekend when I do the brack ducting. I was also thinking about running some ducting up to the CAI...seems that all the airflow from the lower grill is running to the back of the engine...can't see that it would hurt so might give it a try.
Driver-wise everything got better too - except for one significant brain fart late in the hot sun (though no harm no foul) my ETs where pretty darn good (final lap before the mental freeze was significantly better than all previous).
'nuff said
So I dipped my toe in the tire upgrade pool and jumped in with both feet on the suspension
Got the tires first - I know everyone said racing tires and I had fully intended to follow that advice and had a set lined up but that did not work out (more logistics than anything) so I wound up going on the cheap(er) with BFG g-Force TA KDW (could not find the 2's - but have since). The tires worked out really well...great improvement over the P-ZN's...held up real well and stuck nice...looking at Toyo maybe next time out based on what others were running.
I stayed with the 17" wheels (could not find a rim I liked) and frankly don't see any reason to change at this point (18's would fill the wheel gap more of course).
Pretty much re-did the entire suspension package (see my sig) and the car is a completely different animal. Body roll and wheel hop are all but gone, traction is incredible. Went with all Steeda parts and can't be happier. Did not want too much of a drop so the Steeda springs worked out great.
At the advice of local experts, I ran with -2.6 camber and the car absolutely kissed the turns (gotta remember to get that back to the stock -1 before I screw my tires up
. Was anyone else surprised that the car stock had -1 camber or is it just me?The Tokico D-specs are fantastic. Adjustment takes seconds - get 'em if you need dampening and want to be able to firm/soften the ride virtually on command.
For the brakes I had a set of EBCs and ran with those on the front - they were a great improvement over the stock pads. Looking to add some ducting and maybe some slotted rotors but I think the brakes are good for now.
Did not do anything with the exhaust yet - thinkin' about buying the exhaust of a competition '05 GT that is being upgraded.
Still slid around in the seat quite a lot....gonna need something there...either full seat and harness or at least rig a decent harness.
Power-wise with the CAI and brenspeed tune I was not suffering there at all...have the Steeda UDP but have not installed it yet...maybe next weekend when I do the brack ducting. I was also thinking about running some ducting up to the CAI...seems that all the airflow from the lower grill is running to the back of the engine...can't see that it would hurt so might give it a try.
Driver-wise everything got better too - except for one significant brain fart late in the hot sun (though no harm no foul) my ETs where pretty darn good (final lap before the mental freeze was significantly better than all previous).
'nuff said
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