Pics from Sunday's autocross

[Ric]

it was a good day overall. I was 9th overall beating a co-driving team FS 96 cobra, an SM 03 BMW M4 coupe and a BMW 323i for serious bragging rights. The wheel/tire combo is a great combo for the stock suspended truck. The tires are 245/45/17 Kumho Ecsta SPT's. I did lose to my only STX competition (open PAX) which was an R32 VW on Azenis, but not by a lot, 49.7 to a 45.7 I believe.
Not too bad for a stock 3.0 Ranger on 17's.
My 240sx should be finished by mid-month December so I can stop beating on my daily driven Ranger.

Time only run... did a little drifting for the spectators

 

[ryan]

i love checkin out the pics you post when you race :thumby:

forgive the ignorance - what's an R32 VW?

 

[Ric]

i love checkin out the pics you post when you race :thumby:

forgive the ignorance - what's an R32 VW?

http://www.internetautoguide.com/car-specifications/09-int/2004/volkswagen/r32/index.html


Basically a 240hp, V6, all wheel drive Volkswagon gulf. As he's STX, he's taken advantage of the mods allowed and is the 260hp range with suspension and brake work. My driving is pretty good, but he's not bad either with more experience on open tracks.

 

[Not All There]

awesome! Nice to see a ranger whipping around the course.

 

[compleckz]

nice placing!

it seems odd to me that an awd car is in the same class as a rwd truck.. r32's are pretty cool, but a little big (heavy) for me, i love my a2 chassis vw's

i'd much rather have a lower hp, lighter, smaller car (well, at least the lighter part, low power isn't required).. i have some similar bragging rights, we're going to assume this was on a closed road course.. but i was able to stay ahead of an 01 audi s4, heavily modded, (suspension, brakes, tires, rs4 turbos, rs4 exhaust stage 3, awe smic's etc.. 450hp+, he just recently broke into the high 11's at the dragstrip, but the car probably has more potential), obviously overpowered me at the straights and passed, but i was able to catch up by the time he was exiting the corner, and stuck to his bumper till we hit another straight stretch...

i was in my 100% stock impreza, 138hp on a good day, 170k miles, snow tires, my only advantage was, i made sure i had almost an empty tank of gas! lol

i almost love having this 'slow' car (i do miss my much faster corrado though), its fun to beat up on cars with 2x+ the hp and, cars that are actually made for spirited driving. and dont get me wrong, i dont think my subaru is anything to brag about.

 

[Ric]

nice placing!

it seems odd to me that an awd car is in the same class as a rwd truck.

My tire width is what does it and if I went to 275 width to better compensate for the weight of the truck, I'd be in STU and would get to fight STI's, V8 A4's, E30 Bimmers etc... . It would surely help to prevent my tires getting crazy hot and going greasy. If I lowered my truck on 8k or even 10k/mm per axle or so springs, 2way matched for spring shocks, ability to run 2.5-3.0 degrees of negative camber without plates or other arm modification, added some HUGE sway bars, LSD, headers and a better intake, I would still be STX and the margin would be considerably less but my driving talent can only get this stock truck to turn so hard. This is autocross, SCCA Solo. On open track my Ranger would get eaten alive in it's current state. There is just too much built in understeer. In autocross, I can flick the truck enough to keep it neutral but I wouldnt dare do it at Button Willow or whatever as I'd be too slow in 3rd and 4th and too unstable at speed trying to steer with the rear all the time.

 

[95offroadx]

nice i like the last pic!

 

[ZMan]

thats great, I love when you post your pics. I would still like to put my longbed in one for shits and giggles, I'm seriously starting to think that I get my inside rear off the ground when I do tight turns, that would be interesting but not unusual.

 

[Ric]

as much wheel spin as I get out of corners in a stock suspension... you with yours being as stiff as it is, should have no problem lifting a rear on a full brake entry. :yes: Get the LSD tight!

 

[compleckz]

thats great, I love when you post your pics. I would still like to put my longbed in one for shits and giggles, I'm seriously starting to think that I get my inside rear off the ground when I do tight turns, that would be interesting but not unusual.

up until semi recently vw had solid rear suspension beams in most their cars (including my corrado), i had H+R sport springs with bilstein sport shocks, and a shine racing service rear swaybar, stock front sway, it was NOTHING for me to lift a rear tire.. i actually got a ticket for it once , i didnt have to be going fast, if it was a sharp enough turn like a 90 degree+ in town, it would come up.... most would think that'd be bad for handling, cause you have one less tire contact patch, but really on most stock cars there would be almost no down force on that tire, it just wouldnt be as high in the air.... but with my rear sway, it sure kept the front planted on the ground!

 

[ZMan]

up until semi recently vw had solid rear suspension beams in most their cars (including my corrado), i had H+R sport springs with bilstein sport shocks, and a shine racing service rear swaybar, stock front sway, it was NOTHING for me to lift a rear tire.. i actually got a ticket for it once , i didnt have to be going fast, if it was a sharp enough turn like a 90 degree+ in town, it would come up.... most would think that'd be bad for handling, cause you have one less tire contact patch, but really on most stock cars there would be almost no down force on that tire, it just wouldnt be as high in the air.... but with my rear sway, it sure kept the front planted on the ground!

wth what did the ticket say?? I see focii and Evos do it alot, they have the advantage of not having power (or all of it) to that wheel.

as much wheel spin as I get out of corners in a stock suspension... you with yours being as stiff as it is, should have no problem lifting a rear on a full brake entry. :yes: Get the LSD tight!

haha ya thats the problem neither of my trucks have an LSD at the moment. I've got a tight one for the ex-cab when I get it driving again though.

 

[compleckz]

town by-law "failure to use caution while turning"

i got the same ticket in another local town for accelerating balls-to-the-wall from a stop sign, taking a left turn out of that stop.. that one was bogus, cuz my buddy in front of me in his e30 325 bmw drifted out of the stop and was the one who made all the tire noise (my exhaust and supercharger made the rest of the noise ) he was at a house 100 feet up the road, on a call, it was dark and we didnt see him even when we passed him.. 1/2 mile up the road my radar detector exploded so i slowed to the speed limit, he nabbed us both, but didnt get a radar reading... so we only got those 'turning' tickets, he threatened us with 'street racing', but when i said, if this was a race, i would have been in front of the bmw, he got a chuckle.. we really were just driving home, spiritedly.

 

[Danger-Ranger96]

9ths not bad for a truck at all! i'm assuming you were the only one to have a truck there? hehe

cool shots

 

[Ric]

yup, the only truck. Here's the line up.

FS
96 Ford Cobra
96 Ford Cobra
CP
85 Chevy Camaro
CSP
06 Mazda Miata
EM
06 Brunton Super Stalker
STU
04 Dodge SRT-4
STX
04 VW Golf R32
03 Ford Ranger
SM2
00 BMW M Coupe

AS
07 Saturn Sky Red Line
CS
07 Mazda MX5
FSP
78 MG Midget
EM
85 Mazda RX-7

HS
92 Mazda MX3
STS2
91 Mercury Capri
DS
99 BMW 323iC
FS
88 Chevey Camaro Iroc-Z
SM
97 Pontiac Sunfire

 

[Ric]

Found a picture that shows a tire up. I'm digging it that it's a front !! Full corner load under under full power.