After 5+ years of Solo2 on street tires (a club championship and a few FTDs included) I finally decided to get serious and run a more prepped BSP Zed in anticipation for the Canadian Autocross Championships August long weekend. Yesterday was the first day where I actually put everything together for a Solo2 outing.

Hauling the tires required a creative solution. Thankfully my Hunch bike rack came to the rescue. With the Avalon harness bar, I was only able to fit 2 tires inside the car (behind passenger seat and spare tire well).



Having never run R compounds before I really didn't know what to expect. Thankfully my driving was pretty good and I stayed cone-free the whole day.

Turn-in response on the v710s was somewhat reduced but steady state and accel/decel were quite a bit better than my already sticky RT-615 Azenis. It all resulted in one heck of a FUN ride!

Setup was Hotchkis springs, Koni SA (1 full turn from stiff in front and about 1/2 stiff in back), Hotchkis sways (full stiff up front and med rear), brand new 275/40/17 v710s with 32 psi front and 31 psi rear, Cusco LSD 60% lock-up, Cusco adjustable A arms about -3 up front and OEM max -2 in rear (SPC bolts), toe was 0 front and rear. Tire probe after the first couple of run showed excellent balance with a range of only 2 deg per tire.

End result was FTD by 1.57 seconds on a 60 car field.

 

WOW! Congrats man! This is my first year auto-xing and I am working my way up. Had several 1st places in BSP and I really would like to have an FTD sometime in the future.

I got beaten yesterday at Kentucky Speedway by a Turbo Miata on Hoosiers. He got me by 2 seconds, but I don't think I was pushing the car very hard out there. I know that I could have beaten him on my street tires, but oh well u win some u lose some. I still have him beat in points in the series. HEHEHE!

 

everyones a hero on new tires!!

Sounds like some awesome driving. Congrats. Getting FTD must be a good feeling. I'm suprised that you think turn in is reduced the v710s versus the azenis. What width wheels were you using them on?

That sure is an interesting solution for the tires. how long did you have to drive like that! I'd be so afraid to crack my windshield. You can fit two in the passenger seat. I might have misunderstood what you meant by behind the passenger seat, however.

 

Don't beat yourself up too much Vince, that was not a friendly course for our cars. Even Brian (one of the course builders!) complained about the S-turn right smack in the middle of the two straights.

I posted my vids up on lexistreets so you can see see just how bad the racing lines were. The last one was were I was using drift to get through the S faster (well, kinda). Did you notice the announcer went nuts every time you, Kenny, and I zoomed by, one after the other.

FritzMan; opps... I just stole your thread. Sorry. Congrats on the FTD. I've been there once myself, and I like it! I can't bring myself to shove 4 tires in the car and drive it, so unless it's local, I'm compromising on the rubber choices so I can drive to the track whith them mounted. Your's is a pretty unusual transport method, but then I'm thinking about hauling a otherwise stock Z for the same reasons. Good job.

 

The rack can handle two bikes, which on averages to the same weight of my wheel tire setup (25lbs each). I rest the lower foams pads on the glass/hatch junction just to be sure there isn't too much stress directly on the glass. I'm comfortable enough with the setup that I will be doing a 4 hr trip later this summer to the nationals.

I hear ya on the difficulty of beating turbo Miatas. There's one driven by a very experienced Solo2 racer in our club running massively wide v710s. In fact, there's usually several turbo Miatas at each of our events. These things are pushing close to the same RWHP as a 350z so we loose all power advantage yet they still retain their low weight and small chassis advantage. The only advantage that I can see the 350z retains is that VQ power is much easier to modulate than a small'ish Miata motor using a big blower.

Regarding the softer turn-in, I don't know if it's the tire construction or what, but there's definitely not as much sharpness as my streets. Frankly, it's just a minor driving adjustment and because of the slight delay, I think it actually helps me from smacking apex cones.

The other thing that surprised me was that the v710s changed the balance to the car. Normally my suspension setup results in a somewhat tail happy car but with the 710s, it actually pushed a bit. I tightened up the rear to offset it.

Also, R definitely hide mistakes much more than streets. I actually didn't drive my best on Sunday, but the stickies hid a lot subtle mistakes. The mistakes were noticeable to me but the clock didn't care as much nor did the spectators notice. It's definitely best to start with streets to know what is right and wrong so one can eventually get the most out of the Rs.

 

It's too bad I won't be heading out East this year, I would have liked to check out your setup.

 

Hey...you mentioned you've got a harness bar...do you have any photo's of your harness bar? I'd like to see what it looks like along with what seats you are running.

Thanks!

 

Congrats. I run the V710's on my 8 and they are an amazing tire. I've also used them for a two day HPDE track event and they were wonderful there too. I was surprised at the even wear too. They should last well through road courses. I love those tires.

 

Another FTD yesterday.

There was more competition (69 cars), so the winning gap was a little smaller just under 1 second. Unfortunately on my last run I coned on the entrance to the brake box (after the lights) and lost a time that was .250 faster.

I tried one more sweep stiffer in the rear (6) and ran 30 psi front and rear for a change.

I'll hopefully have pics and links to video later today.

I'm hoping for a little more pace next event (last one before the Nationals) when I get a new alignment (either 1/16 or 1/8 to out up front) and ECU reflash.

I'm also getting a bit of drivetrain shudder lately and I'm wondering if one or more bushings are starting to tire from the Cusco diff (60%) and/or R compounds.

 

Hey there,

I have been autox and tracking for the last 6 years, 3 years with the Zed so far. I am considering the following investments: Nismo or Cusco LSD (how does your Cusco work at the track, what noticable improvement does it have?

As for the tires, what rims are you using? how wide are they?

Camber kits... how long does it take for you to adjust the front camber? How accurate is it? AS for the rear, can you adjust the camber as easily?

My zed has Cusco sway bars, HKS RS coilovers and using dunlop supersport race tires (mainly for track). the size 245/35/18 result in the car bottom out alot driving on the street... dangerous.

Gary

 

Hey,

The Cusco LSD is really nice. Conpared to the Nismo, I've heard it's quieter and more gradual in lock-up application. I'm running 60% lock-up with Redline diff oil. It's very quiet and works like an enhanced level of traction control. You can really apply the throttle much sooner andeverything is that much more predicatable. You really notice it lock and unlock based on torque application. On the street, there's a little chirping in tight turns. I'm a little concerned how it will work with my weak 215/65/16 Blizzaks this winter.

I'm running 17x9 MB Competition rims. I need to remove my H&R 1" rear wheel spacer with the 275s but besides that, they fit nicely - even with a subtle Hotchkis spring drop.

Once I threaded the Cusco bolts a few times to remove the initial tightness, it takes me only 2-3 minutes per side now. Still a bit of a PITA but good enough for now.

245/35/18 would be a pretty short tire eh? I ran several years on 245/40/18 Kumho MX all round and it worked well.

 

A little late, but here's a link to the video from last weekend.

I'm at 2:26 and 4:52

 

Like so many reviews I have been reading, seems like the Cusco is the way to go... how long a labour job is this?

as for the MB competition wheels, I've heard Discount tires are the place to get these, where did you get them from?

How much were they?

Did you said they were 25 lbs each?

WRT to Cusco camber arm, how do I set up the initial settings? ( I assume you have a street and track settings)
Do you need your alignment shop to help you mark the 2 settings?

Kumho 710 is interesting... Here in BC our club VCMC (www.vcmc.ca) has been sponsored by Kumho tires Canada, this past weekend we had a 2 days event , all the Kumho top execs showed up. I like the the 710, but I wonder how much they last for track days and autox...

Gary

 

As far as longevity of the 710s -- I'm running a set of Rob Hines T2 take-offs for autox. They've got a full race weekend on them, plus several autox events, and I'm not noticing a large drop-off (if any!) in measurable G loads.

I'd say that they last quite well. I just wish I'd started using them sooner.

 

Hey, yes I did get the rims from Discount. $584 USD shipped to NY which is only 45 min away from me.

With regards to the Cusco arms, I run the second most positive setting on the street (about -1 deg) and full negative for Solo (about -3). Each arm has 4 sliding pinch bolts and two different preset threaded holes for each alignment. So there's no need to mark different settings as the threaded bolts will ensure different camber settings are consistent every time.

I'm very careful about the number of runs on my Kumhos. I've heard they start to fall off after 25 runs and more so after 50. I'm at 12 runs currently. Another 5 or 6 runs this weekend at the local event, and I should be at 26 runs after the Nationals. Apparently you won't see cords until closer to 100 runs which is excellent.

 

I am very happy with the tire wear and adhesion. I figure 2 more track days with these. My times have been improving with each session so the tire does not seem to change as the wear increases. They are the same size all artound, 275x40 x17's, so I can rotate them around the car and side to side for each different course I go to.

 

You mean the Cusco come preset with 4 settings for camber? so does it mean you don't need the aligment guy to adjust your camber at all (just toe?) Do you need to losen/tighten the bolts with a torque wrench?

Is the -2 rear camber wearing out your street tires?

btw, got any more pics of how the MB wheels look on your car?