So I have been starting to auto cross with my G and I've realized it isn't the best car for these type of events but ok. So far I'm lowered on fortune coils and run a staggered setup on 20in wheels. I know sway bars are suppose to help eliminate body roll but I was wondering will it have that much of a difference with me being already lowered 2 inches. When I installed the coils handling increased greatly. I'm going to purchase a strut bar in a few weeks as it's pretty cheap but I don't know if it will be worth it to but sway bars. I do feel the car understeering still through corners and last time doing slaloms the rear was very loose. I'm pretty sure If I wasn't awd I would of came around a couple of times. People were telling me it's more of my tire and rim setup more than anything. My tires are stretched somewhat in the rear and are low profiles seeing as I'm running 20s. What do you guys think??

 

Get a set of sways, it's night and day.

 

I took my 6MT to an auto-x event after buying it 3 years ago, then again the following year after installing swaybars. RexHavoc is right... the difference is like night & day. I went from lumbering through the cones one year, to a precise slalom the next. It was pretty cool.

I was planning on doing it again this year, but friends ducked out, and the only Auto-X around here gets so busy that you're lucky to get 3 runs in the entire day. So while fun, it's not really worth the effort anymore. Certainly not for cones in a parking lot.

And OP, you're right that the G isn't necessarily the best car for Auto Cross, but you go to war with the army you have, blah blah blah.

Also, I'm no expert on auto-x at all, not one bit, however... wouldn't smaller wheels running over-pressured, but properly sized, summer tires be a much more efficient setup than 20's with stretched tires?

 

Yea they would be. When I bought this setup my first or even second thought wasn't to be running auto cross. I've done like 3 sessions though and I'm kind of hooked lol. I still have my stock 17s but I was planning on buying winter tires for those soon.

I think I'm going to go ahead and see what happens after I buy the sways. I took a off ramp faster than how fast I usually take it when I feel like throwing it into the curve and it got twitchy felt some understeer starting to kick in as well.

 

I would love to get into some autocross. Rex are there any autocross events in Memphis that you know of?

 

Not that I'm aware of but I'll have to check. If there are I'll rip them things up in my son's Mini.

 

Check with scca they usually have regional events all over.

 

Afraid I'll like it. Already have a small fortune tied up into the G.

Last time I raced my DD I tore the crossmember out of the car on a 6k hole shot. Bent like a pretzel.

 

Lol this is what I'm afraid of. This is my DD and I've been doing auto cross every weekend so far since the start lol. I don't want to destroy anything but hey I got 4 more years and 45k miles left on my warranty. I've been trying to find some good maintenance tips to since I'm upping the wear and tear level

 

Here's another autox observation from a novice... Before the sways, i had to constantly back off the throttle to recover from understeer. After the sways, no more understeer, just oversteer on-demand.



And you're turning off TC for this, right? On a 60 second track, that's easily a 5 second improvement or more, right there. Autox is no fun at all with TC on. Also, with the kind of sharp, low-speed turns at autox, you'll certainly benefit from having a FSTB. I suspect the Vert cradle braces help too, but IDK about that so much from experience as a guess.

I installed the cradle braces this year, hoping to get them in before autox, then never actually went. Shame, too... this year I'm lower to the ground, with much wider PSS all around, and more power available with cats and catback mods. I can only imagine the car would do much better than anyone could expect out of a G sedan.

 

Yea I'm having to do the same thing lifting off the throttle. Guess the coils isn't helping much with keeping it settled. I run with tc off as well but haven't had much oversteer out there either although the awd had to pull me back In line a few times. Guess I'll go ahead and buy the sways and the strut bar and see how it goes then. If corvettes can get out here and run similar times with miatas then I should be able to get close to lol.

 

The little cars that run the track without any drama what-so-ever, they pull in better times than the HP monsters like Corvettes, Mustangs and even the GT-R. It runs counter-intuitive to daily driver enthusiasts, but that's the reality of Auto Cross. Precision > Power.

From what little I've seen, the S2000 is the car to have at these events, for bringing in the best times in a beautiful car.

 

How do you have your coils set? I'm street valved and 10/8 at medium damper but I think I'm going to 12/10 in the near future. Sways will be the biggest change IMO. I noticed a minor change from the FTSB but not as much as with the sways.

My son carved up a few courses in his Mini though he has to run in a different class now after upgrading the SC and exhaust. An S2k with a RB is the way I'd be thinking to go if I was so inclined. Or a 3rd gen RX7 but I'm biased since that's on the short list anyway.

 

Yea that's what I thought but I mean the last track run I did out in Wisconsin the average time was at 66 seconds. It was a little bigger than normal course and corvettes were pulling 59s with the miatas and s2000 pulling 58s. Which made me suprised so I believe I can get there to then if those heavy powered beast can. The gtr that ran was doing about 62s and it was all stock.

My coils are set to the stiffest setting on the track in the front and medium in the rear just cuz im not going to pull them down to adjust them lol. Running 10/8 as well

 

Rex lets hit some autocross events together bro!!!!