Autocross is a trap?!?!! - With Drew and Larry from RCE

Towards the end of our conversation with Drew and Larry from Racecomp Engineering in episode 87 of the Flatirons Syndicate Podcast, the topic of Autocross came up.
We had a really good conversation about it, what works, and what doesn't, and it was all related to our overall topic of suspension.
We wanted to pull this clip out of that full Podcast which is available over on our Patreon page.
Thanks for watching, we hope you enjoy the conversation , and Stay Tuned!
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[@chucknorris9511]

My STI is classed too high. Not going to remove parts to race with a different class. In another year or two the plan is to buy another STI then use the current one for track/testing.

[@FlatironsTuning]

Excellent! Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!

[@JWCMotorsports]

Agee, I autocross (for now) in a 2002 Subaru Impreza TS that i run in SCCA/XA interesting rule set for sure and a wide range of modifications that I can make. I want to Track (maybe this car, maybe not) but the nearest track is 4 hours away (UMC). Going to be getting some custom valved coil-overs this winter. They will be set up for the car and autocross primarily.

[@FlatironsTuning]

That sounds like a lot of fun. And there are definitely some advantages that the NA Subaru's have when it comes to Autocross. Something called Throttle Response??? I'm pretty sure it is just a myth ;-) Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!

[@mr.mopedmadness3441]

I just did my first auto X event a couple weeks ago and with everything I've done to the car automatically put me in AA class... just something to think about. Maybe start out stock with a few cooling mods then work up as you go

[@jonnyturbo6142]

great talk, thanks! All I want to do is get better as a driver..I'll be looking to join local clubs that hold different events, like hill climbs and track days, get seat time and hopefully some instruction

[@FlatironsTuning]

That sounds like a solid plan for sure. Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!

[@optimus265]

This is my kind of topic. I have had a goal of building the best all around setup on my car. Looking for great auto x, track use & road use.

[@FlatironsTuning]

Nice! There has to be a balance there somewhere, right? I'd say that this may well be where 3-way adjustable dampers come into the picture. And alignment . Thanks for watching Thomas! Stay Tuned!

[@optimus265]

@@FlatironsTuning You may have to have a balance depending on the class you are running & what the rules allow. My car still is still good at the autocross, the difference for me is that I had to change my driving style for the autocrossing as the car got faster for the road course. But to that point I increased front grip which caused that, so I didn't need to work the front end as hard with weight transferring. Autocross is all about adapting quickly, the faster you do it the more you can extract out of the car in most cases.

[@Bang4BuckRacing]

Mann I would have love been Abel to pitch in on this one

[@G4Disco]

I used to autocross a lot. Then, I started rallying. I did the cost vs seat time with the two. I found that I get more seat time per dollar in rallying than autocross. Although, rallying has more cost up front. This is also coming from the viewpoint of a co-driver. Your results may vary if you are a rally driver/owner.

[@FlatironsTuning]

Thanks for the comment, and glad that you found something that works for you. Stay Tuned!

[@mcglsr237]

This is applicable to any type of racing. What works for drag racing doesn't work elsewhere, what works for a hill climb might not work at other places, and so on. Autocross vs track is no different. They are two different forms of motorsport, and thus require two different forms of set up. One can try to build a jack-of-all-trades car, good at many styles, great at none of them. And if the driver is god level, they might get away with it at various events. If you want a track car that goes to autocross events, you can do this, you just won't be autocrossing in the lower-level classes. You will be relegated to Modified/Prepared classes and so on. Which is fine. There are autocross classes where you can literally change anything on the car you want and compete legally in that class. If you are trying to autocross in a Street class with a track-prepped car...well obviously you won't be able to do that. Honestly though, you could split autocrossing and tack racing with a well sorted car. For autocross, you will set your toe to something a little more twitchy that encourages turn-in. When you go to hit the track, set your tow to neutral or slight toe-in for high speed stability. Depending on the car there may be other tweaks necessary (damping, rebound) but the changes would not be out of the realm of reasonability. I'm part of an autocross club, and a number of our members race their cars on road courses as well.

[@paulb2948]

Before I even get through the first few minutes of this video, my answer is. YES it's a trap!! (and a waste, just got to the/a track. )

[@FlatironsTuning]

Ha! Thanks for watching and Stay Tuned!