Sooooo Any Suggestions?

[w. leavitt]

After my performance this weekend I KNOW I'm replacing my front struts with Monroe Sensa-Traks and hopefully (if I can sneak it past the wifey) a pair of Firestone Winterforces for up front (I'll change them out before and after the events.)

For those of you that were subjected to my attempts at driving do you have any suggestions on how to improve? I know I need more seat time under RallyX conditions. I figured out on the second round that sometimes I need to back off the pedal to be more smooth through certain sections and on other sections I just needed to floor it and hold on... I knew if Sarah looked like I was doing it right. Like we used to say in the Army, smooth is quick and quick is fast. I'm going to scout around for people I know that may let me tear up errrrr I mean drive on their property. If you have anything you're willing to share with me on how I can improve based on your observations please tell me, you won't hurt my feelings, I don't have many left

[X-RAT]

1. As you have already realized and mentioned, you need some new suspension bits. You were bottoming out on a lot of the bumpier areas. I'm guessing that whats on the car is probably the tired original equipment, so just getting NEW REPLACEMENT shocks/struts/springs would probably help it alot without going out and spending big money on a performance suspension setup.

2. A month or so ago, Tire Rack was having a sale on the Winterforce tires. Not sure if the sale is still going on or what sizes might still be available. I picked up a couple for the rabbit for I think about $30 each. You can't even buy passenger car tires for that cheap, hardly. I forget the actual size I got, something around a 175/70/13. A little narrower than stock, but pretty much same height. I only purchased 2 for the front since the Rabbit is FWD, and just used some street tires for the rear.

3. If you haven't checked out the TeamTAC forum (Huntsville), then do so as there are several avid VW guys there who are good sources for info and/or parts. Rabbits, Golfs, Jettas, etc. John Barnett (YellowHammer) or Greg Marvin are just 2 names that come to mind, who I'm sure could give you lots of pointers. They do RallyX, AutoX, Time Trials, etc in those VWs, so their advice will come from practical experience. Oh, that's www.teamtac.org

[w. leavitt]

Thanks M.... yeah, tired suspension is being generous. I think the extra weight of my co-driver was causing some of that

I'm looking at the Winterforce, think they're like $45 now.

Thanks for the link, I'll head over there now.

[X-RAT]

Oops, forgot to add the most important one:

4. Attend as many RallyX events as you can get to. B'ham, H'ville, whatever is in commuting distance for you. Ride with someone in their car and watch what they do and how they handle different areas of the course (be sure it's a car similar to yours, riding in a AWD Subie won't help the Fox that much).

Then have someone drive your car as you ride along so you can see what they might be doing differently. (Also gives you a good idea of how much is 'car' and how much is 'driver').

When working the course, try to not work the same corner each time so you can get a look at how the different cars handle the different course features. Listen for shift points and look for when they brake and when they get back on it.

The more you RallyX, the more you learn the car, the more you can experiment with the course, the better you become. Don't get wrapped up in the competition aspect, look at your first year as just training. Do something different each run, then check your time (or have a crew member check) to see if the change paid off any.

[w. leavitt]

Great suggestions.....

I wanted to do a ride along and let someone drive my car but the weather ya know

I'm doing the upgrades to make the car more survivable, not so worried about better performance but I can't be doing the car any good hammering the bump stops every 10 seconds.

[Cholewa]

Stage 0 should be your first step. Return the car to like new status, and then go from there.

That involves replacing worn vacuum lines, coolant lines, electrical bits (just get a whole new set of fuses), brakes, suspension, plugs, wires, etc.

You want a good starting point for your fun car, and if you don't start with a stock car in like new condition, you'll kick yourself later when something breaks that could have been prevented. It shouldn't cost more than 100 to fix the easy stuff, and then the suspension might run you another 2 or so.

Stage 0 before anything else. And of course, seat time.