hoche

Actually, I'm not sure what I'd do to your STi to run faster. I don't know how it handles, so I can't really say.

My POC has the stock suspension, with over 100K miles on it. It's soft enough that the wheels follow the ruts, without floating over the top. It could be a bit stiffer, but I don't think that's really a factor in either of the street-tire classes. A stiffer suspension will just make the wheels bounce over the ruts, particularly if you have stiff swaybars as well.

I currently run with the stock front swaybar and a 20-24mm adjustable rear one, set on its softest setting (20mm). The stock 13mm one plowed too much. Right now, I can get the back end to come around just by snapping it with a "Scandinavian Flick". I flick it just when I'm hard on the brakes, so all the weight's on the front end anyway. Once it's coming around, I'm back on the gas. I give it shots of LFB if I need to keep the back end swinging, and use the gas to modulate how wide the car slides out of the turn.

I've been considering going back to the stock rear sway bar and running without one in the front, but the time I borrowed real rally tires and ran, I discovered that the body roll was enough so that they banged into the fender liners. That pretty much tells me that the sway combo is just about right for my current mooshy springs.

Since the STi apparently has stiffer springs already, I'd just try disconnecting the front sway, and see how that is, without making any other changes. Brent runs like that, and he's *quick*.

I wouldn't bother changing brakes or removing the ABS fuse. I've run without the ABS fuse, and honestly, the dirt's too hard out here to make it worthwhile...and if you're out where the dirt's soft enough to where it does help, you're already screwed because you've gone into the turn too hot. You gotta keep the car out of the loose muck.

Horsepower's overrated. Torque is where it's at. WRX's are tricky on tight courses because first gear's too low, but second's too high. If you run in first, you have to careful that you don't just spin all four wheels when you get back on the gas...that's about as effective as racing on an ice rink. When run in second, WRX's tend to drop out of their turbo band and bog. In the OBS (or a 2.5), that's not such a big deal, but in a WRX there's NO torque off the turbo. I don't know about an STi...the low-compression 2.5-off-the-turbo should be about the equivalent as a normal-compression N/A 2.2, so you might be able to get away with it. At any rate, shifting is a no-no...nothing wastes time like a shift. (I run in 2nd the whole time...I started doing that last year because my 2nd gear synchro is shot. POC, remember?)

hoche

By the way, I'm pretty convinced that the way to beat that rat bastard Hoche and his stupid crappy Outback Sport is to buy him a real rallycar and get him to race in a different division. I don't think it'd be that expensive - he could probably be coerced with a Group 2 VW GTI or Ford Escort GT. He seems to like that RX7, too. Maybe we could all pitch in or something.

ish

iTrader: (7)

i didn't call hoche's obs a piece of crap (it might be a piece of crap) but i have never seen it. i was making a general statement about the importance of driving ability over car setup when it comes to rally-x

platypus

iTrader: (1)

Hoche, i know somplace you can rent a drive in an O4 car for the season

- oh wait never mind you hate turbos.

hoche

Turbos are for *******. I'm gonna swap in a big-block V8 and compensate for the weight by cutting more holes in my hood.

MoDrift

iTrader: (1)

Kicking some Hoche ***
by MoDrift

Step One: Buy a new car with the SuperFastSilver (tm) paint like he has on his OBS. It helps reduce friction through the dust since apparently his car never gets dirty.

pcowan

iTrader: (4)

Of course unless hoche is in SSM4 then we don't REALLY have to beat him.

MoDrift

iTrader: (1)

He's in SSM4 - rear adjustable sway bar.

MoDrift

iTrader: (1)

Pete - what tires are you going to run the rallycrosses with? With a ton of power, maximizing your grip will probably make the single largest impact on times. BTW, what kind of torque will you looking at when the Stage 2 is fully polished?

I'm hoping I won't regret opting away from KDWS' this year - I still think they're one of the best (if not the best) street-stock/street-stock-mod legal rallycross tire out there. They're pretty loud on the street though - so I'm opting for the Continental ContiExtremeContacts for my STi. The SDRs should be here Wednesday.

I'm not convinced that pulling the ABS fuse is a waste of time. The entire field is going to be (supposed to be) regraded and leveled out before the season starts and you're not always going to be on exposed concrete-hard dirt (plowing wide into the lose stuff aside). Besides, all of the little tweaks and weight reductions we do provide a cumulative effect and every hundreth counts.

pcowan

iTrader: (4)

I'm running the same ContiExtreme Contacts again 225/45-17. I do have my tire grooving iron this time though so I think I'm going to play around with the tread a bit >:). The car should be putting down ~300ft/lb of torque but I'm going to see what I can do to turn that down a little and have more consistant power across the powerband instead. Even with the Stage0 WRX I've never had a problem with lack of power.

You gonna drive up on the conti's or carry em' and swap them there?

weight reductions? ...how much does a fuse weigh? ;) So what sort of a surface will we be looking at for the course now?

I'd still like to get stainless steel lines and a skidpan on the car before the 15th. Is there anything else I'm not remembering?

MoDrift

iTrader: (1)

I'm just going to drive up with 'em on. I'm usually tired by the end of the day and don't want to change tires (or lug them around in the car).

Heh... I was just talking about the combined benefit of all the weight-reductions, handling mods, IC spray, etc (not the fuses). Maybe I'll start huffing helium before each run!

The surface should be... um... freshly graded. It should basically be the same I imagine but since we're be running on a newly-designed track the hard stuff won't be exposed yet. Even event-to-event last year it wasn't all hard packed where you'd want to be braking.

Oooo thanks for reminding me. I was always a bit concerned about tearing something up if I popped a bead but never got around to doing anything about it.

I've also been meaning to see if I can use my WRX slidplate on the STi (may need to drill a few new holes in the plate....). Have you found anyone that sells a rear diff cover for the STi?

pcowan

iTrader: (4)

skidpan will work, but no rear diff covers yet. I called Paul Ekland(sp?) and he has no intention of making one either. I've got a friend that does metalwork and welding, I may try and see what he can cob up for me.

hoche

My OBS is definitely in SSM4.

It's unclear as to whether I will be running in that class or in O2 this year. Probably I will end up paying to run in both at each event, and running in SSM4 for points and in O2 for times. I dunno. I haven't decided yet.