JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Here's one of my runs from a recent autox, just got a go pro hd and love it already, so much nicer than the crappy in car videos I had before . This was one of my faster runs, I came in 2nd overall (no one ever comes to play in SSM so I just compare overall times ) to a Westfield (lotus 7 clone) on hoosiers. He had me by a little over a second and I was over a second faster than the next closest competitor, everyone else was clustered together pretty well. The event before this (Westfield had a busted differential) I FTD'd with a gap of over a second to the next closest competitor, multiple cars on slicks out playing that day too including a turbo miata on full suspension . These courses are VERY tight even for an autox and yes it's a pain on some of the corners with the Maval rack, but somehow I remain competitive, so this is my tribute to the manual rack haters lol. Skip ahead to ~1:00 to catch the run, I don't have anything to edit the video with right now so it's the whole thing from me starting the camera in grid to turning it off when I'm done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfV3BHmI5Sk

Car is mostly stock from a chassis perspective. GT35R single upgrade, running 12.5psi in this video, Knight Sports V-mount, Enkei RPF1 17x9.5 wrapped in 255/45/17 Hankook RS-3's. Interior consists of a Corbeau Forza and OMP 320mm d-cut wheel. Now that I have the Forza I'd like to get a 350mm round wheel to help a bit more with the low speed steering, I only got such a dinky wheel before because it was hard to get in and out of the car with the stocker. The car is being built for road racing/time attack, but I still go have fun at the autox's because they are cheap, easy, and local .

Monkman33

iTrader: (28)

Dude, badass. It does seem like a short course, but when you are almost ftd, it always seems that way.

Some are saying the AtomicRex rack is even better, but it carries a pretty hefty price tag with it.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Thanks . Yeah these are just short courses period, even out of the slowest times I don't think anyone was over a minute. Most times were in the mid-high 30's and low 40's, then the Westfield and I were running 30's and 31's all day long . That is the biggest parking lot we have at MSU though so we have to make due if we want events held in East Lansing, which is fine by me since I live less than 10 minutes away haha. It's going to be tough getting back into the habit of waking up early to make a 1-2hr drive for auto-x's and track days though.


I heard the same things about the AtomicRex rack but just couldn't justify the price tag. MAYBE if I was obsessed with deleting the PS and only autox'd the car it would be worth it, but at this point I'm setting the car up to be more competitive at time attacks and hopefully some NASA events, so tight cornering isn't a huge concern for me. I was fairly surprised at how competitive the car was after doing the conversion though, when I FTD'd it's first autox after putting the Maval rack in I almost didn't believe it haha.

zman600

iTrader: (5)

looks like fun

ajsuper7

A bit off topic, I'll do a search later but I had no idea anyone made manual steering racks for the FD. Where did you get it from? I had manual steering on my first rx7 and loved it and always hated the fact that S5's were power assist only, as a prospective future FD owner I am curious if they can be had easily. Thanks.

BTW that was an awesome run

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Mine is a Maval conversion, if you pull the power rack and send it to Maval Manufacturing (Maval Gear, w/e) they will convert it to a manual rack for you. They do a superb job and I've been extremely happy with mine so far, which includes a fair amount of daily driving and some track time. They have been converting racks for quite a few years now and are pretty well known in the FD circles, there is TONS of info about them/their conversion in the 3rd gen section.

More recently another option has been offered, the one Monkman pointed out (AtomicRex). It's supposed to be a little easier to steer at low speeds but comes with a considerably higher price tag. The last time I looked (earlier this year I believe) it was running somewhere around $1000, which is pretty pricey considering the Maval conversion is $279. It has been getting good reviews though so if you can afford the price tag it may be the better option, I wasn't too concerned with low speed cornering and I can suffer/look like an idiot when I need to crank the wheel to park or something haha, so I went the Maval route.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

It's a ton of fun . I was considering picking up a second car for autoxing because I wasn't very competitive last season in the FD, but I seem to be placing rather well this season so that idea has been put on hold .

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

I've been hugely satisfied with my Maval rack, and wish like hell I would've installed it years ago.

Nice Vid

moehler

iTrader: (12)

Did you notice a big difference from the "loop line" conversion you had before?

evremonde

Nice slaloming!

How is initial turn-in with the manual rack?

What are your suspension mods? (you said mostly stock )

do you get any turbo lag with the 35r? didn't notice any in the video, then again I had the sound off...

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

I definitely agree Rich, everyone always talks about the increased road feel but it's just not something that can be understood until you drive an FD with a converted rack. I was worried (mostly from the comments people were making) that it would just kill my times in autox but if anything it seems to have helped (even if only in a small way) make me more competitive lol. Granted the sticky tires have got to help a little... ..


Not sure about Rich's experience, but most of the comments I read regarding the difference between a looped system and a converted rack were to the tune of a notable difference. I talked it over with Chris at Banzai (running a Maval rack in his FD) when I was there for tuning last year, and his comments along with all the others I read on here (Damien had a lot to say on the subject) are what led me to send my rack off to Maval instead of just looping the lines.


Initial turn-in is nice and sharp, very direct feeling, which might not be directly related to the rack but it certainly has not created any issues and the steering itself is very tight.

At this point the suspension is bone stock for an R1. I have powerflex bushings on the rack and sway bar mounts though, and a banzai diff brace. When it goes into storage for winter I'll be installing the rest of those bushings and I'm currently shopping for a set of coilovers at the moment, I just wanted to get the power delivery sorted before tossing money at chassis/suspension modifications.


Turbo lag on the 35R is basically non-existent in my personal opinion. It starts spooling pretty low and I'm at 15psi ~3500rpms, I don't do a lot of pulls where I'm paying a whole lot of attention to that but it's somewhere around there. In my opinion it is the best turbo if you're going single and don't want a bunch of power that you can't really use. Although the 500r (modified 35R) from a-spec seems to be a great choice too.

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Well didn't do so hot at this autox, but for good reason, IT WAS FLOODING! haha. Tons of rain made for a lot of fun, but not very fast runs for me. The RS3's did alright in the rain but it was still pushing a bit too much for my taste. This was also my first run so I was still feeling out both the car and the course, this is the first event I've run wet at 15psi and with these tires.

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

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

A little more recently I did an event at Grattan Raceway in MI. It's an SCCA solo event but it is REALLY high speed and basically just follows the line aside from having the slaloms tossed in on the straights. It was another rainy day (seems to be the trend for autox's this year) but was still a ton of fun. This was the driest run, most of the line had dried up but I was still apprehensive to push it too hard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIMj_o1HCA4