Fun day! Great weather. The Nismo in the dry is pretty quick. Stock suspension needs to go! With sticky a6 it doesn't have enough rebound from stock dampers.

Still set fastest time in Street Prepared run group. Low 51. Got my nemesis in ASP Porsche finally and got ASP viper as well!

Nice to see you Scott!

 

JRZ's on order? What kind of spring rates are you thinking?

 

Still investigating spring rates

 

Good to see you, Grant, and good running in the NISMO 370!

Here are the pics I took today. Grant and I were talking about the pros/cons of running a big tire on a smallish wheel compared to running a smaller tire on a larger wheel. For the time being, I'm running 285 A6s on 9.5" front and 10.5" rear wheels. I shouldn't have been surprised - but I was - as the 285 on the 10.5 has about 3/4" more contact patch than the 285 on the 9.5. In comparison, Grant is running 315 A6s on a 10.5" wheel, and it, too, is a bit wider than my 285 on the 10.5. It gave me confidence that I could fit the 315 on my car on the 10.5, so that may be my next move.

The problem, however, is that the extra width of the 285 on the rear 10.5 gave me enough grip that the car understeered for the first time in my recent autocrossing history. I assume I'll have the same issue if I run a 285 front on a 10.5 and a 315 rear on a 10.5. Just need to figure out how to dial out the understeer and the car should blaze. I'm uploading a vid or two from today's runs, but I'm pretty sure I grabbed TT in SM2 given the low SM2 turn out.

Front left - 285 on 9.5.
Front right - 285 on 10.5
Rear - 315 on 10.5

 

I suspect that you can tune udersteer out of the car by changing bar, spring or even alignment. My car doesn't under-steer with 285 f and 315 rear.

However seeing the difference in contact patch on same size tire is eye opening! The 285 on 10.5 isn't much narrower than my 315.

 

I'm also new to the Hoosiers, so dialing in the tire pressure will take me a few events. It took me 3 or 4 to realize that I liked the V710s at about 25R/29F hot, and I started the Hoosiers out about 5# higher based on a few recommendations around the paddock.

I did not do well on this course, regardless of the understeer. Here is my 51.017s run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2qkBzEycgI

 

Chris / Mike: What A6 tire pressures (hot) are you finding are good for our semi-lightened 350Zs?

 

Since mine are somewhat pinched I am going to run probably a bit higher pressure than you guys would....

 

wow scott I didnt realize how good your car handle till I seen it in action yesterday,must of had sticky glue on your tires or something ,and whoever s/c silverstone is fast car and sounds so sexy

 

I assume you haven't mounted them yet and haven't run on the A6 compound before? I liked my R6s at a bit lower pressure as well; I guess we'll learn their sweet spot together (though you'll run a little higher like you said).

Hey! Were you in the red 350 that I saw out there? I think I saw a white one, too, but the red one stood out because I saw it in a little, fully-controlled and fast drift and was impressed. I meant to come by, but then had to get ready to run.

Tires are Hoosiers, but still toying with pressures (as you saw). That supercharged one is a good friend of mine that I started dragging to autocrosses last year. That car is a hoot to drive, I just hope he never steps up to a stickier tire! He currently runs a great street tire though (Kumho XS) in 275x4. I'm getting him set up for 275 or 285 front and 315 rear Toyo R888 for track days, which he will likely autox as well. They aren't the best for autox, but they are a good all-in-one solution (i.e. autox, track, and street driving to/from events).

 

They're mounted, but the first event within 400mi is this weekend. I'm instructing the BMW autocross school...we should get 5-10 free runs. I'll report back. I plan to start at ~33/31 or there about.

 

No I didnt run,I have a silverstone z I was checking out friends dad do a shakedown on a the his new vette and mazdaspeed3, I was the black guy wearing black/purple shirt....kinda hard to miss lol

 

I haven't been on A6s in far too long, don't recall pressures at this point. Hopefully in April.

I'm not decided on the 3/6 event yet, if it is raining I may stay home, or maybe not, we'll see this weekend.

 

You guys are all ahead of me. I don't have much experience driving front engine RWD cars. I grew up driving mid engine cars. And I'm not used to tail happy car.

I also haven't been on DOT radial for about 4 years so I'm still experimenting. Think I'm too high in the rear as I'm not getting any wear on inside or outside of the rear. Also looks like I dont have enough rear camber. I'm currently at -1.8. Think I will put a little more in rear. I running 34 front 33 rear.

Biggest issue for me is stock suspension loads and unloads in very non linear way with sticky Hoosiers. The car coming out of turns does a little hop which isn't good as it unsettled car just as I'm applying power. I need to find good coil over and perhaps stiffer spring on the car. Also looking at replacing stock sways as I like to adjust my bars based on surface and venue,

Im still laughing that my fast time 51.4 was with a passenger and 15 gallons of fuel. I was giving my nieces boyfriend a ride and my 3rd run with him in the car was fastest. I blew my 4 th run with no passenger by over braking. 3700 lbs of car, occupants and fuel.

 

I ordered a suspension today Not sure when it will show up, doubtful that I'll have it on by the AAS events on the 12/13th but I can home. Maybe I'll luck out and it will make it here by Friday so I can install it this weekend!

I'll blog about what exactly I ordered when it ships. It's used for now, though I need to order a couple of new parts to go with it.

 

You guys are moving quickly with the mods.....

....any plans for you guys to make the trek out to Nebraska?

 

Mods: I think we've got our own little competitive thing going on here, we each want to make sure we're faster than the next

Nationals: I'm planning on going this year, haven't worked out logistics yet. May try for the ProSolo finale as well.

 

Ah, I remember seeing you last time (Jan 1?), but not this time. I think that Vette was in my run group. It was the new, black, C6? Very sweet looking.

I will not stop until I can at least challenge for TToD, at least for normal cars. Historically, that's about 2s away.

 

I just placed an order for coilovers on the Miata.

Looks like I'll be bringing out the G35 for UFO's school in a couple weeks as I don't think the coilovers will make it until the end of the month. Current shocks are pretty much shot.

 

Yeah this is good for all of us Z33/34 drivers!! These cars need to be pushed to max of class specs to see what they can do. But I do this with every car I drive in AX. I'm not far behind you Chris. I will have my suspension before San DIego. Also ordering Aluminum hat rotors and found a new top secret mod for 10 to 14 more mid range HP that I havent seen on any 370Z's yet.

You should have seen what happened in Porsche/ Boxster AX world when I showed up in this and cleared the fastest Boxsters by a couple seconds. Sent all the Boxster guys scrambling for mods. We also beat National level SCCA Porsche GT2 and GT3's too. I think the best thing was when we showed up to San Diego NT with two SCCA rookie drivers in an ugly Boxster with a stock 2480cc motor and beat well prepared national podium FP BMW and driver the first day out with TTOD in FP in a 7 driver field. Dont think I will be doing that if I'm stuck in ASP with the 370Z. However I'll put money on my co driver to be fastest SP Z time in San DIego. ...and he hasnt driven a Z ever!