The Predator comes with "canned tunes". Meaning it comes from the factory with tunes for a stock or mostly stock car. On the SRT8, it came with 4 canned tunes: 91 Performance Tune, 91 CAI Performance Tune, 93 Performance Tune, 93 CAI Performance Tune. So it had tunes for stock cars at the most popular fuel octane ratings, or with a Cold Air Intake. You just plug it into the OBDII port in the car, and click "Performance Tune" and it does the rest. You can modify the tune if you want, but it is not necessary.

And by regional section, I mean the section for your area of the country. For me it is: Northern California http://forums.corvetteforum.com/nort...alifornia-126/

 

Here is a detailed video of loading a Predator tune into a SRT8, I couldn't find a detailed video on doing it with a Corvette....but I assume it would be similar. Just watch the first 4:30 of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq3EhRpQn5k

 

FWIW, I just finished my second event in my Z06.

First event I did entirely in competition mode, and spent most of the time using the active handling to help me control the car. I learned more everytime I went out and improved a lot.

Today, at the second event, I accidentally left everything on the first run. Turned it all the way off the second run and WOW what a difference. I was able to go much faster and after some time getting used to the car began to actually be able to drive it. I think if you can manage to get around the course at some speed with the nannys off, you'll be better for it. Like Grimlock was saying, it is the perfect situation to learn the limits of the car.

I'm a lot less afraid of what the car is going to do now while driving it. Now I know what to expect and know I *usually* am able to dial in the corrections needed if things get a little wild.

 

Where is the video man?
Instructor spun your car out in a parking lot....gee he sounds cool..I would have kicked him out.

An alignment would help alot.....negative camber on all four, and front toe out!
The c5 is limited on settings but as much as you can get.....depends how often you are going to the auto-X.

On the transmission thing....be careful.....but predator thing sounds cheap enough...still $300.....I'd rather have some nitto sticky tires.

If you can leave it one gear and focus on your driving.....you will learn alot.
The key is understanding where your grip is going to break loose on a turn and how to recover......if your instructor knew that he wouldn't have spun out.
When people go to drive your car, tell em you have a "you break it, you buy it policy"........keeps em from thrashing your car.

 

Even the best driver's in the world win spin their cars from time to time. I would rather have an instructor explore the limits of the car so that he has a better idea of how to coach. And spinning on an autocross coarse is nothing. So who really cares?

I remember when Johannes Van Overbeek was selling his Porsche. He flipped it onto a golf coarse during a test drive. This guy drives LeMans, so he is one of the best drivers in the world. At one point he was considered the top, non-factory Porsche driver in the world, so it happens to the best too.

 

I ride in Comp mode, car feels extremley firm on the ground and predictable. It was my impression that that turns off active handling, but leaves traction on, or have I got that backwards?
I have yet to turn them all off due to the pesky lightpoles on the course :-)

 

Off is better for speed and learning how to control the car, but it amazes me when posters rant on about how nothing bad can happen to your car at an autocross course...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/articl...-into-curb.php

The correct answer is that the course should be designed to avoid hitting anything. however, it might not be, and there might be parts that look safe but can still bite you. Parking lots often have curbs and posts in them. A car can slide a fair distance doing 85mph. If you look at the cones, the above course ran parallel with that curb a bit and he slid sideways through the cones that were turning the course back away from the curb. Everyone likely though it was laid out just fine and nothing like that would happen.

A guy at work has a Diablo tuner for his F150. There's an employee from Diablo he's been in contact with a number of times and he's even had a customized tune or 2 sent to try out.

 

yeah that video is pretty scary, especially since it appears he is going through a pretty tame (slalom) part of the course and did not 'appear' to be going that fast.
Can't take anything for granted out there, but definately a poor design on that track, hardly any wiggle room at all

 

Learn to use competitive mode, turns traction control off, but the lineiar transducer prevents you from spinning out, and it takes a lot of G force to do that.

 

Honestly, if you want to autocross and learn how the car handles turn everything off. I HATE the traction control in my 97, it's almost as bad as my C4 was slapping the pedal back at ya!

 

These might help:

Pfadt Corvette Alignment Recommendations
These settings are a guide based on the experience and testing of Pfadt Race Engineering.
Front: min / max
Camber (deg) -0.7/ -0.9
Caster (deg) 7.5/ 8.5
Toe -1/16"/ 0
Rear:
Camber (deg) -0.4/ -0.6
Toe -1/16"/ 0
Notes - These settings provide performance and little tire wear.

 

my .02 is if you have to ask, leave it in competition mode

personally, i would never autocross with the TC on. part of being fast at autocross is getting the car to rotate. the biggest problem with active handling is that it will cost you time when you run into it. the second you start to walk the back end out, wham, throttle cut-brake pulse.

really just depends on your driving skill level

 

This was my take on it as well and after 3 track days i have a pfadt diff mount in my car cause the rear end felt so damn sloppy. I tuned off the traction control for the 3rd time since i owned the car cause it was so damn scary in the first couple weeks cause the back end snaps so hard by default. Lots of reviews state that the diff mount corrects this and make the break point more intuitive, which it does, but I am getting off topic. What i found by turning the traction control off is that the unsettling of the rearend, though aggrivated by the ****** soft stock diff mount, is primarily a function of mid corner heavy breaking by the stability control system due to the fact that you are starting to induce a slip angle. When you turn it off you find that the limit of the car is far beyond what you though if you always drove with the car in comp or standard traction mode. Because the braking it does will unsettle the rear end making it feel like you are at the cars limit of adhesion when you aren't even close.

So if you can handle the car, run with traction control off. Specifically if loss of control has no reprocussions, like in autocross. On a road track a lot more can go wrong and i will likely run in comp mode for another season till i am super comfortable with the car, but i may get ballsy on the last couple sessions each day if i get real comfortable with the track.

 

Would you happen to have a link to the Pfadt diff mount?

There are two different pieces to stabilize the diff and I am trying to figure out which one you have.

Thanks

 

http://store.pfadtracing.com/pfadt-c...mission-brace/

I have this. Makes a pretty legit difference in how the car handles traction loss in the rear, be it when going straight or when turning. As everyone says it adds a significant ammount of nvh, and the install is a bunch harder than i thought it would be. I only track my car 3-5 times a season and I still think it is worth the nvh. I am 33 though and fairly tolerant of rough noisey cars.