EFA #3 - Fall Season



Date: Lap #1 Lap #2 Lap #3 Lap #4 Lap #5 Lap #6 Lap #7
11/7/99 46.284 47.363 47.675 46.103 46.418 45.715 59.866

So far so good in "CSP Open". I beat Eric again by a pretty good margin. I will really have to mess up at the next race to lose to him for the season.

I still have to find trophies for this season. Getting kinda nervous about that. The cool thing is most likely I will get to pick out what trophy I will get!

This was a great flowing high speed track with only a few tight turns in the very start. Unfortunately Brandon took advantage of the "flowing" course (he was able to keep his speed up) and really smoked me in PAX points (921 vs 900). I was down 10 PAX points from last race but this was also my first event on Kumho's and I'm still trying to figure them out and fine tune their pressures. I went to a 205 vs 225 so they would fit better on my 7" rims. They still stick out past the rim a little but not nearly as bad as my Hoosiers did. I was hopping I would get a little more response from the smaller size and stiffer sidewall but they really don't feel any different. Even the grip is very similar. The nice thing is hopefully they will last a lot longer. Now that I understand the dynamics of a cars suspension and how the driver can vastly affect the handling balance, I've adjusted my driving a little and my car is handling wonderfully! There's still a lot of fine tuning to do but at least I have it in the ballpark I want for now. I think the next step is to go to coilovers with stiffer springs. On the street the Neuspeeds are plenty stiff and maybe almost too stiff, but when I mount my race tires on there, they feel pretty sloppy/soft from the extra grip. Assuming Neuspeed didn't lie to me 15% stiffer in front and 20% stiffer in the rear would give me 600/500 lbs/in springs. Sounds pretty brutal on the street but I think it will be worth it when the car is on the track. Plus it will give me a little more rotation in the rear and I can soften up my shocks a little back there. Currently I'm running 1 turn in the front and full stiff in the rear. I'd like to see about .75-1.25 turns front AND back so I'll have room for fine tuning. When my shocks start to go soft I'm going to have Koni custom valve them to match my springs.

I still have a lot to learn out there on the course. I'm finding I know what to do, I just need the experience to be able to get my car to do what I'm trying to do in my mind. My biggest thing is I'm not turning in early enough and I'm missing a lot of apexs by a few FEET! I need to get within inches of them everytime if I ever want to really move up into the top ranks. I also need to slow down more. I take my first run fairly slow and keep it smooth. Then for my 2nd and 3rd runs I turn up the intensity a little and what happens is I'm entering corners too hot and push to the outside, messing up my flow and line. I think this is the 3rd autox event now where I've done worse after my 1st run. I need to pound it in my head, "Go slow to be smooth! Go slow to be smooth! Not go fast and be sloppy!".

Comparing my times to Victor's (if I use my best time only run 45.715) I was 2.7 seconds slower this time (43.003). This is a LOT better than last month were I was 4.5 seconds slower on a shorter course! Both Neil and Victor co-drove Victor's CRX and Neil beat him this time. I his best time was 42.7xx. Top time of day was set by Steve in his Corvette with a 42.3xx. I've found that the best benchmark that I have though is comparing PAX times with Brandon and raw times with Scott Meyers (current Phoenix region autox director - 240SX). Brandon and I started about the same time and his PAX times have always (except for last month) been better than mine. Lately they have been getting closer and closer. So either I'm learning faster than he is or my car is getting setup better than his or a combination. I think we're both learning about the same rate and it's mostly due to a better car setup. Brandon hasn't touched his car besides race tires since he started. Me on the other hand, I haven't stopped tinkering with the car. Since I started autocrossing, I've added polyurethane bushings everywhere, upgraded to Koni adjustable shocks, stiffer Neuspeed Race springs, Type-R rear sway bar, and several different ride heights and alignment settings. Just recently I've noticed that my raw times are VERY close to Scott's. He's in a stock 240SX (w/R-Tires of course) but he's also been doing this for years. I think I was .2 seconds slower than him this race but I believe I've beaten him a couple times. When I can get to the point that I can consistently beat his raw times I know I'm making progress. Next year the Integra is moving to DSP with a revised PAX factor so beating Brandon's PAX times should be a little easier... hopefully (unless he starts buying race goodies and preparing his car better!).

Official "CSP Open" race results

PosDriverCarFast TimePAX TimePAX%
1Tage Evanson95 Integra GSR46.28439.064900
2Eric SNeon48.xxxxx.xxxxxx