White95's Autocross thread

[white95]

Will you be at the same site for the next autocross? If the course is going to be open and fast, I'd start on the middle setting.

It might be worth timing how long it takes to swap positions on the bar to see if you can do it between runs.

I agree; I wouldn't go lower than 25 PSI.

I've seen that s197 in some of your other posts. Nice car! Every Mustang should be autocrossed at least once.

Yes, it will be the same venue. There was roughly 15-20 minutes between runs. I’ll pick a setting and try that out because I always change it at lunch for the afternoon heat.

That said, I’ll have the chance to test it on some light open track duty on the 21st. Three 20 minute sessions with plenty of time in between to make adjustments.

The red car is a lot of fun and makes plenty of low end grunt with an Eaton supercharger. The Michelin Super Sports are decent on the road but I think it was be a drift event as is lol

 

[white95]

Tomorrow’s course layout! Another fast course! Going to apply some of @Warhorse Racing ’s advice and see what happens!

I’ve talked a local Mustang buddy into attending and another will join us at the following event.

 

[Warhorse Racing]

That course looks like a ton of fun! I'm looking forward to seeing your run videos from the event. Thanks for getting more Mustang drivers to give autocross a try!

 

[ttocs]

It does look like a good time. give it hell.

 

[white95]

I am beyond exhausted but over all I’m very pleased with the car. @lwarrior1016 made the trip out for moral support and even made some idle AFR adjustments while we did the course walk through.



We took the car back to the cones but this time it was a night event! My instructor buddy, Brent Bravata, co-drove it for the event and took first place in CAM-T!! He couldn’t stop raving about the car, which felt good. This thing is a rocket! He initially had issues with brake hop in the rear, which was mostly him not being used to the non-abs brake system, but he figured it out. This time out I was more aggressive but still need to work on exit speed between elements and that will come with time. However, his unbiased opinion helped expose some weaknesses in the brakes and we found the steering shaft contacts the header. We messed with tire pressure and found that 31/29 (hot) seemed to work the best.



Videos and pictures will be added
tomorrow.

 

[white95]

An appetizer..

 

[white95]

These are some of Brent’s videos:

 

[white95]

Here are mine:

 

[white95]

That look you give your buddy before you do something sketchy.

 

[Warhorse Racing]

Thanks for posting these videos! That course was a great example of the benefits of being early on the throttle, and running a tight line in sweepers. Those sweepers were really, really long. It's a little hard to tell from the camera angle, but it looks like you were running wider than your co-driver in the sweepers. That will add a lot of time. You got smoother with each run, especially your transitions from the throttle to the brakes (and back on the throttle again). And you were really aggressive in areas where you could look ahead to the open spaces.

A course like that will force you to bring the car right up to the limit of traction and hold it there for long periods of time. Did it feel like the car was about to go sideways in the sweepers? If not, I think you can be a couple of degrees more aggressive on the throttle (and tighter to the cones) in elements like those and your car will hold that shorter, faster line.

The car looked really composed out there. And, as the runs went on, your inputs got more precise. Prior to your next event, watch these videos and focus on raising your aggression level by one degree on each run (in the elements where that is possible). You want to avoid "plateauing" (running a similar time on each run). I always try to get my students to break that habit as early as possible (but, honestly, I still do it every now and then). And, most importantly: trust the car.

Did you experiment with pressures lower than 31/29? Did you feel any understeer in those sweepers?

Great job out there. I'm excited to see how your next event goes.

 

[white95]

Thanks for posting these videos! That course was a great example of the benefits of being early on the throttle, and running a tight line in sweepers. Those sweepers were really, really long. It's a little hard to tell from the camera angle, but it looks like you were running wider than your co-driver in the sweepers. That will add a lot of time. You got smoother with each run, especially your transitions from the throttle to the brakes (and back on the throttle again). And you were really aggressive in areas where you could look ahead to the open spaces.

Yes. Brent was much tighter on the sweepers than I was, especially after the “six pack” heading back to the start leading into the mid course section. There I did struggle with this and I feel I was losing leverage with steering input by sticking to a 9/3 without deviation/“shuffling”. I did seem to “shuffle” on the last, much tighter sweeper but carried too much speed to stay close to the apex entering the slalom.

Live and learn right?

A course like that will force you to bring the car right up to the limit of traction and hold it there for long periods of time. Did it feel like the car was about to go sideways in the sweepers? If not, I think you can be a couple of degrees more aggressive on the throttle (and tighter to the cones) in elements like those and your car will hold that shorter, faster line.

The car only felt as of it were going sideways when it did go sideways LOL!! Really, I was fighting the g-forces trying my damndest to stay in my seat so much that it affected my steering and line. Kinda alluded to this in my previous answer. My next move is a five point harness for the driver seat.

The car looked really composed out there. And, as the runs went on, your inputs got more precise. Prior to your next event, watch these videos and focus on raising your aggression level by one degree on each run (in the elements where that is possible). You want to avoid "plateauing" (running a similar time on each run). I always try to get my students to break that habit as early as possible (but, honestly, I still do it every now and then). And, most importantly: trust the car.

The next event will be a new venue and a much more technical course. I am getting a better feel for recognizing how to piece elements together and thinking of this on my course walk helped this.

Did you experiment with pressures lower than 31/29? Did you feel any understeer in those sweepers?

Yes, we brought them down as far at 27/25 (hot) and it plowed horribly at one point.

Front



Rear



Great job out there. I'm excited to see how your next event goes.

 

[white95]

@Warhorse Racing - There are several more videos on my YouTube channel.

 

[white95]

Local photographer just posted up her pictures from the most recent event.

 

[white95]

@lwarrior1016 and @white95 in all their majestic glory

 

[white95]

First event of 2022 season today and it was a bit of a challenge. Ambient temperature was 20° F when I left home. By the time the first car went out, it was around 36° F and traction was obviously an issue for the RWD guys. It was a surely a limiting factor for me as I have no TCS or ABS and cheap 200tw tires.



Nonetheless, I tried to be more aggressive but that just exposed a new issue. The electric power steering, in its current state, has proven to be a severe handicap. The pump has nothing that speeds it up when it requires more line pressure such as simultaneous hard braking and steering. What happens is basically a sudden “dead spot” in the steering that feels exactly like when the car stalls and the steering gets super hard to turn. It works great on the street, not a huge issue on the open track or even the larger, fast Autocross layouts but it’s no good for smaller course layouts. It has to go.

Soo.. Back to the drawing board. Anyway, here are a few videos from the day. The sunlight washed it out somewhat but you can plainly see the steering issues.

 

[white95]

 

[white95]

Few more from Sundays event:

 

[Warhorse Racing]

It's great to see your car back out on course! Thanks for posting the videos of your runs. It must have been interesting out there on the cold surface.

The glare made it hard to see how you were attacking the cones, but I did notice an area where you can improve: You are moving your hands around on the wheel too much. On most courses, you should be able to keep your hands at 9 and 3 and not take them off the wheel. Shuffling your hands or going hand-over-hand isn't ideal. In some instances, you might have to pre-position your hands to turn the wheel more.

I realize you were having issues with the electric power steering, were you moving your hands to compensate for those issues?

If you haven't already watched this video, it might be helpful:

 

[white95]

It's great to see your car back out on course! Thanks for posting the videos of your runs. It must have been interesting out there on the cold surface.

The glare made it hard to see how you were attacking the cones, but I did notice an area where you can improve: You are moving your hands around on the wheel too much. On most courses, you should be able to keep your hands at 9 and 3 and not take them off the wheel. Shuffling your hands or going hand-over-hand isn't ideal. In some instances, you might have to pre-position your hands to turn the wheel more.

I realize you were having issues with the electric power steering, were you moving your hands to compensate for those issues?

If you haven't already watched this video, it might be helpful:

Solid advice! Yes, the steering issue was 100% why I never looked comfortable on the wheel. My brain kept saying 9/3 but the nag just wouldn’t turn without extra leverage.

I had to “work” the weekend after the event and I binge watched ALL of your content. Especially the video about setting up for the next element, I watched it a few times. I’m going into the next event with tackling the course on my mind more so than worrying about the car.

Edit: The glare, lol.. The screen on my GoPro stopped working so I couldn’t set the focus point and it just picked the interior up. I’ve replaced that dude and new videos will be easier to watch.

 

[FullstackViking]

I'm jealous of your ability to AutoX, closest thing to me is hours away. Looks like a blast!