Well I took the STi in for alignment last week and found the factory settings to be pretty conservative. My goal was to get the maximum front neg camber and set toe at 0 front and back.

before
front

camber -0.1 -0.2
caster 4.6 4.6
toe -0.03 -0.06

rear

camber -1.4 -1.4
toe 0.10 0.01


After alignment
front

camber -1.2 -1.1
caster 4.5 4.5
toe 0.00 0.01

rear

camber -1.4 -1.4
toe 0.00 -0.01



I set the tire pressures at 38f and 32r (stock tires), tried slightly higher pressures intially but due to low grip surface came back to 38/32. The car felt very well balanced with some understeer in the tight slow turn arounds then some mild oversteer as I powered out of the turn arounds. The understeer may have been more a product of my agressive entry into the tight turns, rather than an inherent tendency of the car itself.

The DCCD was left on auto the first two runs and felt pretty good. On my third run I set it at 35/65 and it felt a little better, I was amazed to see that my time dropped over 1 sec. So for the rest of the event I stayed at the 35/65 setting. I can't say for sure that the change in settings was the cause for improved times as I was learning to drive it a little better with each run too.

I'm sure many of you are interested in how the power felt. It is simply awsome! I thought that with the size and layout of the course, which was very small and tight, that I would just leave it in second gear. But the car shot out of the slow section so fast and hard that I went ahead and went to third going into a big sweeper. The shift was quick smooth and easy, also very easy dropping back to second in the next slow segment. I didn't try any shifting down to first as it simply wasn't needed. In fact I can't imagine any course that would require a shift to first in this car.

I ran in the Street Mod class for fun and was actually fairly competitive against some talented drivers with fast cars on race rubber. I was leading the class after day one. Day two a guy in a M3 dropped ~1sec and took the win. Another guy in a 525HP camaro beat me by 0.1 seconds. So I finished 3rd at our local autocross.

Is there anything I didn't like about the STi for autocross? I only wish it had more adjustment in the camber up front. My guess is that -1.75 or -2.0 would be near perfect. I didn't like the fact that the outer edge of my front tires got so much abuse. I guess I'll have to adjust my driving style or go up a bit in tire pressure to save my tires. Maybe I'll see if I can find some of those (eccentric?) bolts to increase range of adjustment if I'm going to be playing in a class other than stock.

p.s. there were no EVO's there for comparison, I hope they will start showing up soon.

 

Hey Danno!
I heard the DS'ers all breathe a collective sigh of relief when you showed up in the STi too!

My first autox in my (not your!) car is coming up this Sunday and I'm pumped!

Bill

 

Have you seen this? This may be you someday!

 

Bill,
So how did the autocross go in my old/ your new WRX? Did you run the Azenis? I've signed up for our next event which will have a guy in an EVO. We will be in the street tire class together. I registered my car as 2004 STi, EVO butt kicking machine. Hopefully I can outdrive him as I realize the cars are nearly equal.

 

The first autox is Sunday July 6th. I've been dying for it to get here. Seems like it's taking forever. I'll be running the Azenis and seeing what they'll do. Gotta figure out that back seat trick to get to the rear shocks first...

Good luck kicking EVO butt!

Bill