I had my first event this past Sunday and it was a blast. It was the last points event of the season. Because I had did some weight reduction, that has bumped me to Street Modified. I didn't do to bad to keep up, but I'm most definitely an underdog at the moment.

My tires were set at 40 psi cold. I'm thinking maybe I should've used like 38 psi. My outsides were getting ate up, so I know I need an suspension upgrade bad. But since this is a base model, I was having a lot of problems coming out of the corners and it pushed a lot in the slow turns. Should I upgrade to a Quaife LSD or update the suspension first? Open track sessions will be mixed in as well, so I have to keep that in mind.

Here's my video. Sorry I didn't have an inboard video. My accidentally left my GoPro on in the parking lot.

 

Keep driving it the way it is for a few events. Aside from A6's, the single best upgrade for an autocross Z is the diff. Not a fan of qualfie in our cars. Stick to clutch diffs.

 

The #1 best upgrade for ANY kind of driving is to tighten the nut holding the steering wheel (e.g. training up the driver).

 

I agree. I have only done 1 event and although the car is stock, I felt the major thing that would lower my times was myself. By the end of the day I was driving the car hard and did very well, but the times were so close me bettering my style could have shaved off a decent amount of time.

Its actually funny, I have an 08 base and was very worried about the open diff, but I gotta say with the correct throttle and steering input my car was planted coming out of most of the turns.

 

Also I think your tire pressure was way too high. At my event, I dropped my psi from 35 cold to 27 cold and just on that I was at least a second faster, although it did a number on my tires.

 

I'm sure I could've shaved a sec or two with smoother controls. My throttle control does need some improvement. My issue was with the road itself. It switched from smoothly paved road to old tarmac with gravel. That's when I couldn't accel much because of wheel slippage. I'm happy with stock setup for now, just need to plan for upgrade budget.

By the way, what are A6's. I overheard one of the STI drivers mention it.

 

I believe A6's are specific Autocross tires made by Hoosier.

It is actually weird (well it actually makes perfect sense) but when I ran, the first few runs I was pushing the car hard, then I tried a different approach, trying to be more smooth and not so harsh on the car, but concentrate more on entry and exit and my inputs, and my times were getting faster and faster. What I took from my experience is that it is not really about the car, but about the driver and how smooth they can go through the course, setting up the next manuever from the previous manuever, giving a nice fluid drive.

 

We call 'em purple crack in the business...

 

Nice. I'm not ready for slicks yet. I think I will run summer extremes first until I actually can afford an extra set of wheels just for track use.

 

Their not slicks. Don't you see those 2 tiny lines. That makes them DOT compliant. Lmao

 

The U.S. Department of Transportation deems them road legal.....that is all .

 

I couldn't imagine driving that in this North Carolina rain. Would be good for driving them to events though.

 

I've driven DOT-R (Kumho V710s and Hoosier A6s) on wet roads -- very carefully. If there is *any* standing water you do NOT want to be on them!

Suggestion on tires: when spring comes, get some Bridgestone RE-11s (they're a pretty decent summer tire) and get a lot of driving experience. If you hear the tires squealing (a very "ragged" sound), you're over-driving the tires. The tires should be "whistling" (a pretty "pure" sound) much of the time.

As SQuaLZ pointed out, smooth is fast. The smoother you are, you can actually get higher levels of traction. Smooth also looks slow, but it's anything but!

 

I was actually looking at tire reviews and the RE-11's seemed to be something that I would love to get. The are on top of my street tires list.

 

I'd much rather have star specs. The new version has a Feb 2013 release date.

 

The big problem is available sizes -- well and according to TireRace, availability in general for the Star Specs.

Some of the really good tires aren't available in 18 inch sizes -- or they're almost as expensive than the Hoosiers!

 

RE11A will be out 2/13? theres a local S2000 that got a set of RE11A from bridgestone and they said they were pleased by them.

 

+1 for seat time.

Seat-time you will CRUSH bolt-on you.

After the "driver mod", tires make the biggest difference.

I'm running my 3rd set of star specs now, but I have ran a lot of other tires too.

Kumho XS's are good when they warm up and don't cost too much, but they are terrible in the wet.

I also run a Quaife diff and it's perfect for autocrossing. There's zero lag/lock whatsoever and having the outside tire get most of the power when turning is like cheap four-wheel-steering.

The downside is that lifting a tire = open diff.

Lifting a tire is not a big problem with the Z though, and I don't have any problems on street tires.

 

+1,000,000 for seat time and spending time and money on improving the driver over every other mod.

 

It's a matter of personal preference. I like the Quaife because it lets me get on the throttle much sooner mid corner than I would in a clutchpacked car, but a clutch type does give you an unreal amount of grip no matter how the wheel hops or lifts.

On 305mm V710's I have gotten VERY close to inside rear lift so I'm sure someone on A6's has done it.