2010 Rallycross Pilot

[hondamaint]

Ok , yesterday we did our 2nd Rallycross event.
Here are our thoughts.
1-The car will now TURN when you go into a corner. It always came out good but now it turns in better. Still needs work. We will test a few ride height settings and maybe check and adjust caster. I know it is not normally adjustable but we have Chris so on our car it is adjustable. We are thinking that when we changed the rake from a stock nose down to a slight rear down that the caster is off a little +. At this point we do not understand everything about this stuff but ,we will learn.

2-We need mud flaps.I bet there is 50 Lbs of mud under the car now. We need mud flaps.

3-We are working on an adjustable launch control system. This way we can control how much wheelspin we get at launch and not change normal rear diff. control. We want to be able to get it at a higher RPM before launch so we will be more in the torque curve. If we had a manual transmission we would not need this.

4-We will redo the harness bar to fit Chris better. He is a big guy and needs more room than I do. As soon as we have time we want to still do the cage.

5-We were limited on the adjustment we have for controlling the rear diff. We could not get it to come on at low enough throttle position to make us happy. If it were good conditions like we tested on it would have been fine but we need a wider range of adjustment. That is an easy fix and we are already working on that.

6-We still need to get rid of some of the weight.The stock windows are pretty heavy.

7-No matter how fast you think you are going, you can still get out ran by a 50 something year old man in a Neon with 1/2 the HP and no helmet. We more than anything need more seat time. We are at present the weak link, well I am Chris is a superstar. Chicks dig Chris!

May the 2nd we rallycross!

[dirtdog]

Paul your so kind to an old man who long long ago past 50 something. My motto is you have to get old, but don't have to grow up.

dirtdog

[Cholewa]

Why not just leave the car the way it is and get used to it? Every time it's out it's a different car, so you can't really expect any driver improvements to come from relearning the car every time out.

I understand the urge to make it perfect, but if every time out you make some new adjustment, you stop controlling the car and the car controls you. Treat it like the accord, afterall, you agree that it's all about seat time. But you can't get good seat time if you're driving a different car every time you go to an event, and that's basically whats going on with the pilot.

[hondamaint]

That would work if we were starting out with something like a STI or Evo. We are starting with something that was never intended to do this. Everything we have done so far has made it easier to drive and therefore faster.

[Cholewa]

I'm not saying what you guys are doing is wrong, but what happens to a lot of people is that they get into the groove of driving, then adjusting, then driving, then adjusting, then driving, then adjusting, so on and so forth. And in a competitive world thats fine, but on a local level it's kind of silly. Especially for a team of relatively new drivers.

It's my .02 that you guys will grow much more as a team and as drivers if you just leave the car alone and deal with what ya got. Racing isn't supposed to be easy, and learning a car doesn't happen in a month or two.

There's a point where making it easier to make it faster doesn't help you progress as a driver. It's relatively easy to take a fast car and post fast times, but anyone can do that (i'm being subjective), but not everyone can take a slow car and post fast times.


Everything you guys do is awesome, don't get me wrong on that, I want you to know that I love what you guys do, it's beyond cool. But to actually become better drivers you can't fix the car to do everything you want it to. You have to fix yourself. You guys have progressed immensely since you came out to your first autocross, and it shows, it really does. But you can only get so much faster by making the car faster.


And as far as starting with something not meant to do it, take Chris Warren's 88 Integra. He WON the event, if you can tell me that integras were built to rally with a straight face... why, I don't even know what I'll do.

sorry for making long posts. bored at work

[slowautoxr]

but messing around with your car can be sooo much fun.

Shelton and I co-drive the RallyX-7 and Captain America. Driving styles do influence how the car "handles." Shelton more often than not complains that the car pushes when I think it feels great. It may be that he's trying to extract that maximum of his driving ability and that I'm a little better at compensating the handling deficiencies of the car.

With two driving the car and if you both complain about the same thing, I'd be adjusting or fixing something.

[hondamaint]

I'm not saying what you guys are doing is wrong, but what happens to a lot of people is that they get into the groove of driving, then adjusting, then driving, then adjusting, then driving, then adjusting, so on and so forth. And in a competitive world thats fine, but on a local level it's kind of silly. Especially for a team of relatively new drivers.

It's my .02 that you guys will grow much more as a team and as drivers if you just leave the car alone and deal with what ya got. Racing isn't supposed to be easy, and learning a car doesn't happen in a month or two.

There's a point where making it easier to make it faster doesn't help you progress as a driver. It's relatively easy to take a fast car and post fast times, but anyone can do that (i'm being subjective), but not everyone can take a slow car and post fast times.


Everything you guys do is awesome, don't get me wrong on that, I want you to know that I love what you guys do, it's beyond cool. But to actually become better drivers you can't fix the car to do everything you want it to. You have to fix yourself. You guys have progressed immensely since you came out to your first autocross, and it shows, it really does. But you can only get so much faster by making the car faster.


And as far as starting with something not meant to do it, take Chris Warren's 88 Integra. He WON the event, if you can tell me that integras were built to rally with a straight face... why, I don't even know what I'll do.

sorry for making long posts. bored at work

With all that being said( and in most cases it is all correct) I guess we should have left it a 4400lb 2wd leather and nav Pilot and just drove faster. The idea is we learn as drivers yes but if we do not learn about the car the company will not get behind us and the program will stop.Unlike Chris and his Integra we must be a team while we drive and while we build and learn. The car now is getting pretty good and is at the point we could just leave it. Look at the Accord,we are doing just what you suggested.

The first autocross was not the first thing we had done. Most of us have a pretty good bit of track experience on some of the best tracks in the country. The main reason we started doing the autocross's were to teach some of the new guys car control. But we like it a lot and also we got our budget cut so that is all we could do . We also got into the Rallycross in part because of a lack of money for the team and WOW both of them are great and we continue to learn SO much each time we do either. The only real big part on the Pilot other than safety things that is not 100% stock is the Muffler. Everything else and we are just getting the most out of what we have.

We will continue with the present path we are on and work on the car and drivers. Thanks for the input.

[VroomGrrl]

snip - The car now is getting pretty good and is at the point we could just leave it. Look at the Accord,we are doing just what you suggested.
We will continue with the present path we are on and work on the car. Thanks for the input.

The first autocross was not the first thing we had done. Most of us have a pretty good bit of track experience on some of the best tracks in the country.

Paul! I miss seeing you out & about! Are you ever coming back to regular old autocross with us regular autocross folks or have you been sucked into the rallyx vortex for good??? JerOmy was out Saturday, hopefully he gave you a special greeting from me. Hahaa! :-) See you soon?
Kathy

[hondamaint]

Yes. We all did the first points event of the year. Saturday was a porduction day so I had to work. Jeromy gave me the message,thanks. We like the Rallycross and the autocross both and plan to attend both. We are doing the TT in 3 weeks and are looking forward to it.

[TouringBubble]

Something crossed my mind for the Accord today ... have you guys considered relocating the cat to the exhaust exit, al-la WRC fitment? that would allow you to keep the cat and avoid issues in the grass with better clearance. Just a thought. Might be a neat idea for the Pilot too, just for effect ... lol.

[hondamaint]

The one from the Pilot is already gone. The plan is to do the Accord like the Pilot,remove everything from the 2nd cat back and replace it with straight pipe and Magna muffler. Just have not got around to it.
Now that we have the Pilot cleaned up we are going to take the next week or so getting the Odyssey ready for the TT in a couple weeks.

[Welacey]

Man, know having a job like that has to be really tough. There needs to be a green smiley for envy. Enjoy reading your posts.

[hondamaint]

Thanks . But we have to work on the cars on our own time,which is still ok. I am on 2nd this week and came in a couple hours early to add an additional bar to the cage in the Odyssey that Rich requested we add. We got it almost ready to weld in tonight after the shift. He requested a few things when we got the inspection done and this is the last one to do. It will be the only minivan with an SCCA logbook.
We are really looking forward to the TT. Chris and I are waiting for all of the Nomax stuff we have coming.

[hondamaint]

A few recent pictures.
Autocross Pilot on Saturday



Rallycross Pilot on Sunday

[hondamaint]

A few more at the plant. Our shop is just inside the door in front of the cars.
2 Pilot HDV's ( Honda dirt vehicles) together.