Can Also get you control arms, or any suspension part for that matter, from an S4

^ Thanks, haven't been on the forum for a while but I got someone local for some parts right now.

Got an oil leak fixed, it came from the oil pan gasket. Engine mounts replaced-- I can now heel and toe through successive gears (not always but it's definitely significantly better than from before the mounts were replaced). I suspect that the worn mounts possibly affected vibration with the transmission as well (tranny mounts are also about 3000 miles new) so either shifting is smoother now or I just positively improved :lol:

Autox novice school July 16-17-- super stoked for this. Maybe a half day of autox on July 23 and then hang with the Drifting Pretty girls that evening for a short karting race.

Trying to get wheels! Not sure what I want! BBS verts or the bigger Axis replicas...

Good replacement rims are FD rims as they are light as heck (vert rims are good too just not big or wide enough)

OR

Some Team Dynamics competition wheels: Super light, super strong, made for the track.
http://www.teamdynamicsracing.com/co...ion_wheels.htm

Not FC related but I have some videos of karting at Fast Lap Mira Loma: http://sarahbantay.wordpress.com/201...g-at-fast-lap/

Ok, so here's actual FC stuff. http://sarahbantay.wordpress.com/201...e-school-2011/ I'm trying to up my site visits so I'd just appreciate if you guys watched it on my site instead of youtube....

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Po5RQCmsTXc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I went to CSCC novice school on July 16-17 and had a damn good time. This was my last run (hit a cone, but it's cool...)

Some photos...
http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/.../onthelift.jpg

http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/...ata-bright.jpg

Nice vid.

Nice vid! How does it compare to the ride I gave you in mine?

Excellent first steps :)

Thanks guys!

Johnson-- I'm wanting turbo is all I have to say...

that was a nice time, but dam that a-x course is huge compared to the cramped courses we have in norcal

The courses we have here at the Auto Club speedway in Fontana are much tighter than that course. I can't imagine hitting the top of 2nd gear with an 8k redline like she did!

Great lines though Sarah! That was with the GF210 / AGX combo, right? If so, what settings do you have the front and rear on? My old settings left the car handling perfectly neutral, I loved it.

Isn't that a Auto-X school though. So prob loosened up a little to aid learning. Looks like great fun!!

I've bounced off of 2nd a few times on the seemingly shorter courses. It varies depending on who's designing it - a miata guy would design a tight and technical course, a corvette guy would design one that has high speed sweepers, slaloms, and transitions, plus areas that really test your braking skills :)

The Miata/str/csp/st/etc guys don't really like the higher speed ones since they really peg the limiters - or shift into 3rd lol

What happened that weekend actually was that Top Gear USA rented the lot that SCCA usually picks up (usually you turn right at the entrance), so the lot that they had to work with was a long strip rather than something wide. Interesting stuff (there was an odyssey on their side that was tearing it up, soooo hilarious to watch when I wasn't picking up cones or driving-- I think it was an odyssey anyway)

Thanks! I tried... One of the instructors recommended I go 3 in the front and 7 in the rear and mannnnn did it make the car grip way better. I kept oversteering on exit before I did that (also added maybe 5 psi to tires). I highly suspect that the settings you had it on, which I kept, did not go well with my steel T2 hood.

And yes, redlining was very much happened that whole weekend :icon_tup:

Yeah, it was definitely a high speed course. I dunno if anyone noticed, but the buzzer was actually from my oil reading "low" because of the cornering G. I wasn't going fast enough to hit redline but my instructor did going into both of the brake-to-enter turn arounds. I would say that I was consistently around 6000-7000, could feel the vdi working, wasn't really scrutinizing the tach much.

Do you think my car is classed CSP at this point?? The polyurethane bushings, the struts/springs, and (oddly) my short shifter push me way out of stock :(

Whatever works! I loved my settings when I was screwing around on the street, but I'm glad you found that adjusting them helped so much!

You're definitely classed CSP, simply because of the aftermarket springs you're running. The shocks are allowed at stock.

It kinda sucks for our old cars because our stock springs are so saggy and soft after 25 years that we NEED aftermarket springs, but that pushes us out of class :\

Bahhh oh well... I'll just aim to get as good as I can get with what I got. It's a blast either way :nod:

Great video, Auto X is so much fun and a great way to learn the limits and capabilities of your car. I think it should be mandatory!

^ This!

SCCA wrote an article on the transition between solo2 and road racing and vice versa. Interesting observations were shown about drivers having a hard time going from road race to autox but NOT the other way around, so I'm hoping this is the ideal place to start and hone basics. But that's also why I try pursuing karting at Jim Hall, talk about basics, holy crap it's awesome.

I have yet to find this article online but the print edition of their magazine, sitting in my hand at this moment quotes this:

"Certainly by learning the car control skills at that lower speed, all of those same skills carried over in the high speed stuff. It cheated the learning curve, because you could go and toss the car different ways in an autocross and the worst thing that would happen, as a rule, is you would pick up a cone. So autocrossing was paramount to having those bases covered before you go road racing at a track where those speeds are a lot higher and the penalty for a mistake is much more expensive," says Peter Cunningham.

Food for thought. Everyone keeps talking about the basics and making sure that you can get back to them anytime, no matter how long you've been doing this, so yeah, trying to maintain focus is a serious challenge.

Yeah obviously you're not trying to win any championships in an FC in CSP where NA and NB Miatas dominate, but its great to learn the basics. Racing CSP is the first time I've done in a full 360 in my car, hahaha that was a fun time.

I've never done auto-x. I went straight to road racing (HPDE). I think for me auto-x would be harder, but because of the way the "track" looks. All I would see is cones everywhere, I'd get confused and not know where to go. I'm sure I'd end up plowing into them.

Dude! When I spin out in autox, I try so hard to catch it but fail lol. It's awesome when I see other drivers do it. That type of joy is something else.

Yeah the first time I did it (and still right now), I was like omg where the hell do I go?? Even with an instructor providing help, it was always challenging. The habit to look ahead really gets drummed in.

Looking ahead isn't the problem, seeing 800 cones makes me go "derp!?"

Look into HPDE events in your area. Money well spent. Especially letting your instructor take you out in your own car. That experience changed me and now I am hooked.

I'm kinda po'ed at autox events here, they put my n/a vert in SSM (3rd autox ive entered..) Signed up for CSP, but since i don't have cats and have a lighter (ever so slightly lighter) mazdatrix steel flywheel they put me up against a Porsche 914 on hooisers and $80,000 into it. :scratch: um yeah...
:(

Whenever I auto x I just do it for fun. I don't really care what class I'm in, I just want to drive!

Damn really? That sucks...

I know... But it's when you get that itch to win!! I'm sure lim_fc3c in the previous reply knows what I mean