New to autocross.

[IceCold4x4]

So had my first event last sunday (points 3, ok so i did one event like 8 years ago lol) and had a ball. Even on 4 different brand / type of tires.

I'm curious what catagory I should run in next time as the mod bug has bit and i should have most of them done by the next event.

car is a 2006 Volvo S60R

Mods currently on it are

Resonator delete (this is in the catback section)
245/40R18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports on stock rims with 10mm spacers in the front and 15mm spacers in the rear.
And some washers that make a factory "strut" bar actually work.

Mods that are in the mail are

Rear strut brace
Downpipe
Poly subframe bushing inserts that go into the stock bushing area to help stiffen it up.

With the way the car sits now I think it would be in STU right?
and with everything else what class would it be in? looking at times from last weekend with mainly the tire improvement and boost lag improvement, I would imagine that i MIGHT be competitive in STU.

[JohnW8]

The best mod you can do to a car starting out is seat time. Lots of it. A matching set of tires would be a solid improvement too.

[boony1968]

I worked when you ran, you moved that Volvo around pretty well. I can't offer any advice on classing or mods, but definitely get your tires straight. More seat time will help you more than anything else. There's an event in Huntsville this Sunday.

[IceCold4x4]

Yup no replacement for the driver mod. But she's my daily driver and figured after 2 years it was time to start with the basics and try to fix some of the barge like handling she exhibited on sunday.

I'm VERY impressed so far with the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, it's put the limit well above what i feel comfortable trying to reach on the street. never figured tires would be THAT big of an improvement.

[IceCold4x4]

I worked when you ran, you moved that Volvo around pretty well. I can't offer any advice on classing or mods, but definitely get your tires straight. More seat time will help you more than anything else. There's an event in Huntsville this Sunday.

lol it didn't feel that good, felt like a huge barge that was resisting everything I wanted. I can't wait to see what it does with the new tires. But I may be in Santa Fe this weekend if not I'll definitely try to make it to hunstville.

Ya the old tires were shot past the wear bars on 2 tires. the new tires were put on monday afternoon.

[rodhx]

First of all..thanks again for taking the pic of me & my sons during the lunch break.

I highly recommend downloading a copy of the current rulebook which can be found here.

Searching the rulebook for "s60" shows your car in GS, STU, & ESP. As it sits STU is the correct class as the spacers take it out of GS. Street Touring allows replacement of downpipes, so I think you'll stay in STU with the changes you list. Note that Street Touring does not allow for forced induction cars to change boost levels, intercoolers, or boost controls.

Regarding tires...the Michelin Pilot Super Sport are consistently considered the top wet weather high performance street tire you can get and they are pretty darn good in the dry. Ultimately though the current crop of "extreme performance summer" (as tirerack calls them) are better dry weather choices. The most common three tires are the Hankook RS3 which just came out with a new "version 2" compound, the BFG Rival, and the Dunlop Direzza Z2 (which is being phased out 'cause there is new version coming out later this year). Another choices is the Bridgestone RE11A. Keep in mind that next year Street Touring and Street will require a minimum 200 treadwear rating, but all of the above meet that criteria.

[IceCold4x4]

No problem on the picture. Just wished I would have thought about it and brought some way to record my runs.

Ya the pilot sports got picked because it's still my daily driver, and they offer a 30k mileage warranty. Though next time I may do 17s as daily and keep the 18's for pure track use if so then ya the rs3 would likely get the nod.

Ya I was reading the rulebook last night but it's laid out so weird it was hard to follow the class path. Though from times it looks like I might be semi competitive in student, if tires alone do as much as I think they are.

[jledford]

I agree with everything Rod said about classes, just one note that in STU the car still has to have a cat. The stock cat can be replaced with a highflow but there must be a cat on the car. If there are more than one cat in OEM configuration you still only need one cat to be legal for STU. I just wanted to mention that as I know a lot of aftermarket exhausts (downpipes) for turbo cars eliminate the cat to improve flow and spool time.

[cdambrose]

Oh is the rear strut brace legal in ST if there wasn't one before? Not that I need an extra doodad to spend money on or anything and is that different from a shock tower brace?

I was unsure how to read 14.G.1.

[rodhx]

14.g is the correct reference Charles. Two-point strut bars can be added in ST. It is the same as a shock tower brace.

More importantly for you...keep your money in your pocket. Such braces really don't help your car. Just extra weight

[cdambrose]

Suspicions confirmed! I think I'll just keep on adding lightness.

Thanks Rod!

And welcome to ST IceCold4x4, we're loads of fun on a budget here.

[IceCold4x4]

just put the rear bar in today, and it does make a hell of a difference, the old girl feels tight and happy to change direction now. Well looks like i will be solidly in STU then which is fine by me, at least i won't be competing against accords but rather BMW's and IS300's. Hopefully I won't be lagging too far behind, sways might be the next upgrade but i'm not sure they will help more than just making the car a bit more tail happy. looks like i'll be in santa fe this weekend but I'll def make the next one, this might be more addicting than shooting, and that got expensive quick.

[cdambrose]

I'm glad you could tell a difference!

Mr W8's advice is sound. If you've got the bug to do modifications then I would take it a bit slow. Do one mod, and then do at least one event to learn how it changes how the car feels. Once you have a handle on that, then do another, and then learn some more. That way you keep the learning curve bent as shallow as you can, while you get your car prepared to your class, while you are still learning the sport. Or throw it all in now, just expect a very different car at the next event!

You may lag behind now, but so what? The thing about seat time is that it is very incrementally cumulative. You may walk the course 5 times at the next event and just 'know' which line you are going to take. And then on your first run, you find out that that line is impossible because your car becomes unruly, due to whatever reason [insert new tires, cold tires, wrong tire pressure, new anti-roll bar, stiffer suspension, locked up the brakes, entering corner too fast, forgot to disable Traction Control, not looking ahead, et al]. What more seat time does is it informs what you know you can do, not only with the car but with the course too.

I know the urge to prepare the car to be competitive to your class. But even if I had a gun to my head to enter into a national level event tomorrow, I wouldn't make any change to what I had right now. I'd go knowing I would be beat but at least I'd get good seat time, plus I'd have confidence that the car would act just like it did at the last event!

My $0.02

[IceCold4x4]

Ya the mod bug bit pretty hard. But I think I'm done for a while until like you say I get some more seat time and can actually figure out what it needs next to fix any problems with the handling. So far the braces have gone a long way to improving steering response, just about eliminated the nasty side hop i was experiencing. So ya it'll be a few more event's to see what needs to be fixed next.

First and foremost it's my DD, and will remain as such.

I walked the course 3 different times last weekend, and the weird thing is all the mental notes i made about where i "wanted" to place tires and what not went right out the window as soon as the right foot hit the floor. Once again the smooth is fast approach works better. I'm hoping next time to have some data acquisition going to make notes in between runs with video backup so I can at least learn when I'm pushing too hard. for now it's just I feel the front end washing out and have to go well that's pushing too hard, and can't make the informed decision if it was too much throttle, or carrying too much speed into it.

OH well, now if the next event would just hurry up and get here.

[SamC]

Well looks like i will be solidly in STU then which is fine by me, at least i won't be competing against accords but rather BMW's and IS300's.

and..... a 350z. It's so hard for a Nissan to get any respect around here

I'll just drive faster