rithsleeper

I drive an 1989 6-speed: first off I'll tell you my front tires were hard but I have new ones on order. My rears were practically brand new BF G-sports. The event was Black Lake shootout at Michelin Proving grounds so the Asphalt was pretty consistent. The course was pretty tight no straights, fastest I ever got was about 50 (only once). I had some pretty mad understeer in the tight turns while braking and turning. I prob should be braking first then turning.

My buddy was driving a 1.9L Z3 and I drove it 3 times around the course.

First question is I was having trouble keeping in my powerband. Some of my tight 180 turns I would come out below 2K rpms. Should I be trying to shift? multiple guys told me to just leave it in second because shifting will take time. Were they just telling this cause it was my first time?

My buddies Z3 is slow as crap on the street but here it was totally different, he stayed in 2nd and between 3-6K rpms. It was perfect.

The second question is, with a good driver and good tires on the front, should my car be faster? I have a lot more power, my tires are wider, I thought my suspension was more advanced, I have stiffer suspension. His weight ratio is close to 50/50 front to back and he weighs 500lbs lighter.

Third question is, I have yet to see any C4's autoxing. I have been to two events and an event at Carolina Motorsports park. I see a ton of c5's. Are C4's just inferior for the price and just not competitive without huge modification?

RaleighSS

Lots of good questions .... I am not a Autocrosser but do instruct at CMP as well as VIR for HPDE events. Those front tires with new sticky rears would def make the car way off kilter. That much stick in the rear will just push the fronts through any turn. I would suggest staying with same brand / mfg tire front and rear when you get new ones.

Breaking and turning as a novice is not good there is "trailbraking" where ya use that to rotate the car but that is left to the advanced drivers in HPDE. It is a skill that has to be mastered to get the most out of it ... Doing it wrong can quickly put ya in the weeds. Get your breaking done in the straight and use the throttle to steer the car through the turn. Lifting will pull you to the inside and slight application of throttle will pull the car to the outside a bit more. Net here is use your brakes in the straight use throttle to steer in corners as needed.

As far as your power band, if you do have to shift get it done in that straight if at all possible, if not then hold the gear you are in. The advice to keep in second may be the best until ya get everything else figured out and can stay consistent.

The Z3 is a very nimble car and not surprising it performs well in Autox events. Others will have to chime in who have more experience but I could see where it may be tough to stick with it on a tight course given all else is equal. (driver tires conditions mods) Your car has more power but not much time to use it at all on a short course.

C4 is a capable car but C5 better platform given both are stock. C4 can be very competitive though. Seat time will let ya know what ya need to do to be at the top of your and the cars game...

Again My 2 cents is all based on HPDE experinece and not Autox but sure some of this does apply. Hopefully others chime in :-)

ipuig

C-4s can be very competitive; there are plenty of C-4s autocrossing in NCCC & SCCA. Once you get new tires let one of the more experienced drivers drive your car, that should answer you questions on whether your set-up needs adjusting.
I let a former SOLO national champion drive my car at an event last year and he came within 1 second of the FTD on a 70 sec course. I have since quit making adjustments to my suspension based on my perception on how the car was behaving and have focused on improving my skills.

Bill Dearborn

C4s can be competitive. Roger Johnson was an SCCA National Champion for a lot of years in a row running a 1986 Corvette. I ran an 86 as well. With the 4+3 tranny and a 3:07 rear gear it was a fantastic second gear car. Not sure how the 6 speed ratios and your 3:45 compare to the earlier setup. Or on the off chance do you have one of the rare cars with the 3:54 rear? The L98 really likes to work in the mid range and you may not be too low on the rpms. It has been quite a few years since I ran my 86 so I can't remember what the rpms dropped to on some tight turns. Usually I used low to get it moving and shifted to second as soon as possible and left it there. A lot better throttle control and kept the revs below 4500 rpm where the HP in an L98 falls off a cliff. Your rev limiter will cut fuel off at 5600 but the engine is out of poop long before that.

Bill

jwt1603

There are stil a lot of us running C4s. Check out NCCC Carolina region. There was an event in Sanford two weeks ago and there will be a three day event in Shelby over Memorial day. That will be 7 events a day with two runs for each event. So over three days you'll get 42 passes. That will get you some seat time. There are several compatitive C4s in that area. I run with them a lot.

Here's a couple of links for your future reference.......

http://www.ncccsouth.com/html/2010_sch.html

http://www.carolina-region.com/

rithsleeper

Thanks for the advice. I can't wait to do another one. I think with those new tires and like Raleigh said and I suspected I need to brake before I get to the turns, I should be able to do much better on the next run.

Right now that stuff is counter what my instincts are telling and I just love accelerating so much it was hard to fight that urge. I'm just worried I won't brake enough and not make it through the turn or brake too much and be like a grandma driving on sunday.

I did get my 3rd run on vid and the second half of a fun run where I just gunned it and was sliding around.

This is 3rd run (missed a gate):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ui4YtTO-8w

This is 2nd half of run w/ my pipes open and messing around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yy7Zt4CBMM