So this might seem corny, but I'm gonna do it anyways.

I'll be updating this thread with vids and results each time I do an autox / HPDE. The idea is just to share my progress throughout the season and hopefully we'll notice a big change at the end! I'm also hoping to get some advice on my driving from the veteran drivers.

Car: 2005 350Z Enthusiast
Tires/Wheels: Worn Falken 615's (255/40) on 18x8.5 Rays track wheels. But will be getting 265/40 RE11's in May.
Mods:
- HKS Dual Catback
- Crawford HFC's
- Hotchkis FR/RR Swaybars set to second from full stiff up front and 2nd from full soft (middle) in the rear.
Driving Experience: Less than a full season

Stock pads (just got carbotech's, but will wait to install), stock shocks/springs

Here's a vid from last year:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BUV2YIERTDQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BUV2YIERTDQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Will have a new vid after this weekend (if it doesn't rain)

 

Which Carbotechs did you go with? I put on some XP8's last weekend and they were a bit too strong for my Nitto NT05's. ABS was going crazy

 

.........They recommended me xp-10's so that's what I got lol

Great........

 

Ok so first Autox of the season. Woo-hoo!! Except it wasn't so woo-hoo. The weather sucked (dark, cloudy, windy in the high 40's). My tires of course were sliding like crazy. Plus I was super nervous and a bit freaked out cuz i haven't done it in a while.

Anyhow, the track was at the GM assembly plant in Detroit. which is known for being small, sharp turns, and slick surface. My times were the following:

51.xxx / 50.xxx / 51.xxx (+ OC) / 48.9xx (yayerz!!!)

So like always, I used my first run to familiarize myself with the course. 2nd run tried to go at a faster pace, and the 3rd go all-out. Except on the 3rd I almost lost total control and it was pretty freaky, luckly I used the rest of the run to push it hard and see what I can do. Then the 4th run I just tried to drive a clean fast run and it ended up being crazy low time compared to the others.

Here's a vid of my last run, it doesn't seem fast, but my time was low because I feel I drove it clean and well.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/t-nJNL6c0Wo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t-nJNL6c0Wo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Results are in:

4th out of 8 in my Street Tire Almost anything goes class. (AMT)
My best: 48.897
Top in my class (Modded STI): 45.040!
PAXed 59/91.

 

i've had a few this year but ive been doing them mostly in a shifter kart its wearing me out and im still nowhere close to pushing that things limits or being completely in control of it lol.

run looks pretty good, nice smooth shuffling/setting of the hands in the really tight sections, it seemed like when the front tires started talking you wouldnt give it any more steering and you didnt go over their limits into oversteer which is a good habit people have a hard time getting into. the first slalom you were almost too smooth, it looked like you couldve been carrying alot more speed through it though you might just not have been comfortable with it early in the season through a highspeed slalom like that, but the second slalom looked better - probably because of the slower speed. ya didnt look like you were looking ahead very well so you were reacting to some parts of the course and overslowing, etc. pretty good though, i'm in the same boat getting back into the swing of things.

as for the brakes thing i'm running XP-8's on 285/30 V710's on all four corners and the instructors at the school i went to commented on how grabby and strong they were so if youre on street tires you'll have way more brake than grip, especially with XP10s - once you get them up to temp, youve really gotta drag the brakes on those from the grid to the line on your first run or two. you'll just have to get into the habit of not using all of your brakes, especially if youre turning at the same time.

 

Looks good Rob! You will be a quick learner I think. Let's arrange to meet up for one of the May events here or there.

 

very nice

 

Updated Post #4 with the results. As you can see, I'm totally getting killed.

Missed the last two weekends cuz of personal stuff. Sucks, had really good weather and apparently good course too.

RE-11's should be ordered this week, hopefully get them in before the next autox on the 17th. From what i hear they're absolutely amazing. We shall see!!

 

When you're limited in traction by street tires, all-wheel-drive is a HUGE benefit.

For an indexed street tire class, AWD cars should be using the BSP (if not SM) index -- not the ST indexes, since the ST indexes already take 140-treadwear tires into account.

That being said, the best modification you can make is the driver, in other words, seat time and instruction.

 

Ok well just got done with my first autox with the new RE-11's. All I can say is they're absolutely amazing and a thousand times better than the old Falken RT-615's I had. Before where I could only push the car like 40% through long sweepers, now I feel like I can go almost 90%. Just freakin amazing. Totally helped me cut down tons of time (even though I do agree it's like 90% driver).

I felt like I did really well today, especially with such a challenging course. I'm glad I worked in between my runs, it gave me a real good understanding of what other ppl were doing and where I was slacking. I realized I wasn't going fast enough in the long left turn after you first cross the intersection. Then I also was having trouble with the setting up for the last turn as I was coming in too narrow and having to turn the wheel almost full lock (while scrubbing the tires). Eventually got both of those two places down pretty well.

Results aren't out yet, but compared to the group of friends I normally run with, where I would usually be towards the back, I got fastest time today!! As you can see, I felt like my driving improved a ton compared to how I drove with my old tires. First run was a 42.xx, and was able to drop it down to a 39.9 for my last.

I realized I was used to slipping with my old tires that I wasn't pushing the car enough in the first couple runs. Once I realized how much grip these things have, I was able to push a lot harder. Not sure if that's the only thing, but I definitely felt very confident with these tires. I was also only maybe 1 sec. behind the super fast STI guy who's usually like 4 sec. in front of me

I'll update when official results come out.

Go Bridgestone!!!!

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sk2SWT2mIk4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sk2SWT2mIk4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

That is a LOT of cones!

 

Nice timings Rob, I was hoping I'd get closer to you this time but I guess not

My best was ~41.03 (I think).

 

yeah somebody commented that on national level courses, there's like half as many cones. Still though, we had a few novices out who got lost (to the point where it was almost dangerous cuz he was going in and out of the course and backwards).

Thanks Deepu! I think if i was on my old tires we would have been very close. I was watching you drive while I worked, you've improved a lot and I can see your confidence level has increased! I think you were still having trouble around the chicago-box right before the long slalom. I was nervous you'd run a faster time than me! I can't afford to miss any more events now haha

 

I just watched these all together. It looks like you are progressing well.

 

Any more info with this setup? I was thinking of going XP8s with the NT05s. I wonder if it's different on the 350Zs vs 370Zs.

 

Yup...noway to get lost...LOL.

Looking good!!!

 

Thanks Sharif, it was really nice meeting you and Sandy btw. And your ferocious attack dog lol.

Draft results are out (AMT Car #21):

http://www.michigansportscarclub.org...09.Results.pdf

Compared to my old runs on RT-615's:

http://dcscc.org/results/2009/041909_DCSCC.pdf

I improved by 2 positions! I actually think I qualified for a trophy It'll be my first trophy ever!! These tires really do kick ****.

Woot!!

I have a 2 day event in Ohio this weekend against another my350z member (bdblackz) who is damn fast also on RE-11's. It should be interesting to see how I hold up against him.

 

Just got back from a full weekend of autocrossing down in Ohio. Man my Ross (bdblackz) can freakin drive!! I thought I was decent, but the first day he was a full 2 seconds ahead of me. I got a ride with him the 2nd day and realized I wasn't pushing the Z hard enough, it could take A LOT more. So I was able to get my time down to within 0.8 seconds which is a HUGE improvement (shaved 2 seconds off my original time).

I really should be done with modding the car and just focus on seat time, I realized this car has TONS more potential than how I'm driving it now. Can't wait for the next local autox to kick some butt!!

Vids and results up this week.

Insane driving Ross. FYI Ross killed his class by a full second on street tires while everybody else was on R-comps. PAXed 5th both days out of 100+ cars. I can't imagine if he was on hoosiers........Crazy......

 

It's all the tires!! Bridgestone or nothing We will have to meet up for more events - that was a fun weekend. Nice driving Rob - you are a fast learner, and I agree with the seat time comment. You should put the car back to BS form also...

 

Results from the past weekend:

http://www.axtime.com/8/324

I know I got last place for BS, but if I didn't clip a cone (I don't even know where I hit it) I could have beaten the other 350z driver on R-comps with my street tires baby

Morning Course:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZFc7T34PWEA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZFc7T34PWEA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Afternoon Course:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b7_c7jKmpTo&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b7_c7jKmpTo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>