Three Rivers Festival Autox @ Verizon: RESULTS

I'm not very pleased with placing 38 out of 95 entries on Pax. With street tires I could have placed higher. But even though I ran on all-season tires, I think I still set some respectable times. Here they are:

Driver: Vincent Vergara
Class: DS

Position: 1
Vehicle: 05 Dodge SRT-4 silver
Runs 1-5: 56.284 / 53.082/ 52.767/ 52.932/ 51.798
Best: 51.798



Driver: Micheal Kouris
Class: DS
Position: 2
Vehicle: 05 Subaru WRX black
Runs 1-5: 60.085/ 57.680/ 57.757(1)/ 54.939 / 55.953(1)
Best: 54.939

***Time Comparison***
Run Difference: 3.801/ 4.598/ 5.990/ 2.007/ 5.137
Fastest Average: 4.3062 seconds faster
Fastest Time Difference: 3.141 seconds

I also ran faster than these cars:
(XP) 86 Porsche 951 52.402 Placed second
(GS) 95 Nissan 240sx 52.887 Placed third
(STU) 07 Subaru WRX STi 51.939 Placed fifth
(2nd place in STU had a 51.197 which is .601 seconds faster than my fastest)

Almost beat:
(SMS) 00 Honda s2000 51.759 Arghhh! Just .039 more!

What I needed to run to be Top ___ in Pax:
First Place: 46.675 sec. (5.123 sec. faster)
Top 10: 49.038 sec. (2.760 sec. faster)
Top 20: 50.225 sec. (1.573 sec. faster)
Top 30: 51.425 sec. (0.373 sec. faster)
My Fastest Time: 51.798 sec.

Current & Future Mods List ***UPDATED 12-24-07***

This is a photo-shopped picture with my car number/ class and all of the brands of all the equipment that will or already is being used towards my project SRT-4.
INSTALLED MODIFICATIONS:

• Progress Technology: 27mm Front Sway Bar
• Energy Suspensions: Sway bar bushings/ end links
• CG-Lock: CG Lock
• Hawk: HPS Ferro-Carbon Brake Pads
• Autometer: Shift Light

TO DO LIST:

• 16lbs light-weight Flik Ftd (matt Titanium) 16x7 inch race wheels.
  
• 225/50/16 Falken Azenis Rt615 tires
• Lower spring perches on the strut.
• Adjustable Koni Yellows
• 19 mm ACR rear sway bar.
• Eibach: Camber Alignment Kit
• Koni: Adjustable Yellow Dampers

Better than Hotchkis?! The Small BIG Bar.

For the two years I've been researching my suspension setup, I was planning on going Hotchkis for sure. Nothing changed my mind until three days ago when I realized something. I e-mailed and confirmed with one of Hotchkis's engineer that their 29 mm hollow sway bar is really 44% stiffer than stock. By using an equation to compare stiffness, I found that their 29mm hollow sway bar is actually equivalent to a 26.292mm solid sway bar in stiffness. So I thought to myself, "Are there any solid front sway bars larger than 26.292mm?" I searched and found one. A solid 27mm front sway bar made by Progress. Using the equation again, I calculated and confirmed with Progress that their 27mm solid sway bar was 60% stiffer than stock. That means that Progress's 27mm sway bar is around 26% stiffer than Hotchkis's 29mm sway bar! And even though it weighs around 16 pounds, the greater torsional stiffness makes up for the weight.

_____PROGRESS___VS.___HOTCHKIS
Front: 27mm +60% ________29mm +44%
Rear: 19mm +56% _______* 19mm +56%
F-R #1: +307% ____________*267%
F-R #2: 17mm +536% _______17mm +472%
Weight: 16lbs ____________.7.94lbs

ACR SRT-4: 22mm (10.73lbs)/ 19mm = 80%
F-R: 80%
Non- ACR SRT-4: 24mm (12.85lbs)/ 17mm = 297%
F-R: 297%

Driver Mod: CG-Lock

For $33.61 on e-bay, I was able to get something that yields 80% holding power of a full harness seatbelt that typically costs 150+ dollars! The best thing is that it meets the D-Stock rules. This contraption simply modifies a standard one loop seatbelt to keep the lap portion in a secure, tightened position. This will prevent me from sliding around in my seat during aggressive cornering maneuvers. Because of this, I will be able to concentrate solely on where I will need to turn the wheel rather than death-grip the wheel to stay put, and then worry about where to turn the wheel and by how much. The package should arrive in about a week. So until then, I'll see if it lives up to what it's claimed to do.

Three Rivers Festival Autox @ Verizon

Event Details:

Hosting Organization(s)	Fort Wayne Region SCCA
Event Date(s)	July 22, 2007
Event Description/ Schedule	Registration & Tech: 7:30am to 8:30am Novice Course Walk: 9:00am Drivers meeting (mandatory): 9:30am First Car on course: 10am
Event Location	8001 West Jefferson Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN 46804
Location Description Driving Directions	Event site is across from Luthern Hospital on Jefferson (US 24) near Coventry. Turn Right at the stop light (left takes you into the Lutheran Hospital).

*****This is my car behind the opposition who is also in D-Stock. It's a 2005 Subaru Impreza with the standard four-wheel drive. The driver said that the only mod he had were the Falken street tires all around. I knew that I had to drive perfectly because I was at a severe disadvantage! Being front wheel drive was okay with me because I've been driving that all my life, but the all season Kumho ASX's was too much of a handicap! The only thing that I could rely on was my driving, which I was pretty sure improved a lot since last year.


***** While we waited at the grid, I was worried about how I'd know whether or not I was doing better than him because he was in front of me on the grid. That meant that I would never hear his time because I would still be on the track by the time he finishes his first run and the announcer announces his time. That sucked. So on the first run, I ran the best I could. But on the second run he came up to me impressed with my time and told me his time. It turned out that I was about four seconds faster than him on the first run! Whew! By the final (5th) run, I beat him by about 2-3 seconds and took first place!


Here are some pictures of other cars at the event:
















Autocross Progress (Pax Results):
*FWSCCA Region*
First Event

• 2nd Place DS @ 06' Navistar International: Top 58% (47/81)

1 month 4 days later...

• 1st Place DS @ 06' Navistar International: Top 71% (56/79)

1 year 1 month 11 days later...

• 1st Place DS @ 07' Verizon: Top 40% (38/95)