Mean Green's 1st AutoX

[gradon]

Here's the results from NCCBMWCCA's 3rd event(my name is Seth Gradon Koch and you can see how my m3 did in the 1st event):
http://forum.nccbmwcca.org/downloads.php?do=file&id=43&act=down

 

[CherBear]

Uhh, I am guessing they miss spelled your name to "Coch"?

 

[gradon]

yeah, working on getting them to correct it

 

[gradon]

So someone did record a run: http://youtu.be/F_Y0_SkZtgw

 

[JohnX]

I'm curious how a cherokee runs a better time than a miata in an autocross? Last one I was at out of 24 cars the top 8 were all Miatas and one S2000. And one of them was mine, almost stock with a lousy driver

Did look like a nice run though. Great Job!

 

[cjsxj87]

Thats awesome, my friends autox, I got to drive my friends miata It was pretty fun

 

[srimes]

nice!

 

[cruiser54]

That video is great!! Brings back memories of the mid-70s when I autocrossed a 1970 Datsun pickup and beat the TR6s, MGs etc. Thanks for posting it.

 

[gradon]

Some comments on NCCBMWCCA's site:
"um....so maybe I had a few too many at happy hour today, but it appears as if a 1996 Jeep Cherokee in X2 beat an MS3, two RX8's, and a Miata.....what the....?"
"Cherokee wasn't exactly your average cherokee, and it ran in the afternoon when the course had dried out significantly. Still impressive for a Cherokee though..."
"that is correct, X2 got dominated by a Jeep...."
"Fun event as usual...liked the challenging course. Kind of bizarre with that Jeep....awesome but bizarre."
"A Jeep beats a Miata!?, on a tight course!?, was Stevie Wonder driving the Miata?"
"That Jeep was AMAZING. Truley a sight to behold"
And if you didn't check out the results, it beat: 2004-06 M3s, 2008 Z4 Mcoupe(love these and the Z3 Mcoupes), 135i and 335i(both twin turbo), 96 M3, Mini Cooper S, 318, 325, 330, 05 Neon SRT4 ACR, 05 neon SRT4, 2011 5.0 Mustang, 93 Mustang, 2003 Corvette, 2010 MazdaSpeed3, 2005 RX8, 2009 Miata, 2002 Mustang, 98 Eclipse GST, RX8 R3(?), 2011 Mazda 3, 1992 Miata, 1996 Miata, 1998 Prelude, and some others.

 

[hubs97xj]

Man, that thing sounds healthy.

 

[cruiser54]

Care to share your stroker recipe with us? Funny but I just sold my supercharged Miata last week!!!!

 

[gradon]

80's long-snout 4-weight 258 crank, 258 rods, Sealed-Power H825cp30 pistons, mopar 30ab cam, P5249464 springs, ported and polished 7120 head(took me 25hrs), ported 99+intake mani, Fastman 62MM TB, 24# LT1 injectors, and more. Only 193whp/236wtq in untuned state(what stock 4.0s are rated at the crank). The dyno is on video from ~2 months ago in this section.

 

[XJEEPER]

well done!

 

[Talyn]

Damn.. you really did well.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Nice run! I've done some cone dodging in the past, it makes a fun afternoon.

What tires are you running? Any front end changes, shocks, etc? We noticed a HUGE change in turn-in precision using some offset balljoints and running just a tiny, tiny amount of toe-in. I'd also check your steering box, we go through one every two races.

 

[gradon]

255/60/15 Bridgestones performance all-seasons, shorter Bilstien 5125s, Ironman4x4fab control arms and track bar, Addco sways, Daystars in axle, leaves, and tranny.

 

[tbburg]

Nice run. Never really thought about pavement pounding a wagon. Looked like a lot of fun!

...,We noticed a HUGE change in turn-in precision using some offset balljoints and running just a tiny, tiny amount of toe-in.

Dumb related question:
Have either of you (or any other pavement racers) tried running 1-2deg. toe out?
Every performance car I've ever worked on(mostly early 70s muscle and a couple of BMWs)always had the tires toed out, and were evenly balanced or over-steered. I read somewhere that the factory started spec-ing alignment toe in to promote under-steer.

 

[bjoehandley]

Never heard that before, but it does make sense. On a lot of the R/C stuff, toe in tended to improve the stability, but does reduce the ability to turn in and the ability to hang the tail out if so desired. I've also read that the late Gus Mahon (who had the first 12 second Plymouth Acclaim Turbo and nearly had the first 12 second Plymouth Voyager Turbo) would run a degree of toe out because when those Plymouths would start to hook up and make power the tires would go to zero degrees of toe instead of toeing in if they were left at zero degrees of toe.

 

[gradon]

Many auto-xers and track cars do run a smidge toe-out for faster turn-in and 2.5-3* of camber(so tire sits square during hard corners). How many degrees of camber do those offset ball-joints get you? Link?

 

[IXNAYXJ]

How many degrees of camber do those offset ball-joints get you? Link?

http://www.spcperformance.com/index.php?option=com_spc&task=details

Here's what they look like:

http://pettycashracing.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/reno-24-race-prep-part-1/

We went with the full two degrees at first, but after measuring at the track we found we had 2.8 degrees on both sides...just a little too much for such a long race (we did 1100 miles in 24 hours). So we just popped them out and rotated them 45 degrees changing the camber into castor, basically turning them into 1 degree offset ball-joints, for a total of 1.8 degrees.

It was PERFECT:

Grip was substantially improved and tire wear was totally even which was one of the things we were trying to fix. The car handles and steers amazingly now. Beware however, these ball-joints were almost $100 each (you only need uppers).

-Matt