Took first place in F Stock, on the horrible P zero tires. Lots of fun. $20 to race is cheap enough. We got five runs in this time. The Bullitt Mustang is the most competitve car in this class.

 

Cool! I spy a knocked over cone?

 

Like my friend always says, if you are not hitting cones nor getting into the ABS then you aren't trying hard enough.

 

I ran 2 1/2 seasons with the stock tires in autocross. I played with the tire pressures and always ended up at the recommended 30 psi for the best performance. If you can get those tires hot enough, they do quite well.

I didn't get to race much this year, the wife worked on Saturdays and I had the 3 kids to look after and most events were on Saturdays. Oh well, I am looking forward to next year.

 

I need to get my new '08 Mustang out for the last event of the season. The last couple of years I've been autocrossing my '01 Bullitt locally in FS with Konis (DA in front) and 275/40-17 Kumho V710 race tires, but this year it just wasn't enough as we had a well-prepped Shelby show up (on Hoosiers) for most of the races, who ended up trophying at Nationals. I might throw my Bullitt's race tires on the '08, but then again I'll probably just run the stock tires and see how bad it is (comparatively) on the all-season Pirellis.

As for the picture, it could just be a pointer cone (those are supposed to be lying down) and not a downed cone.

 

Just a couple of friendly questions, was this an SCCA event and did they tech your vehicle? I'm interested in getting back into autocrossing again but if the club is running SCCA rules how do you get around the UDP and CMDP. From the photo it looks like there are a few aftermarket parts to get your car lowered and I thought that that would push you out of F stock. For my vert I just wanted to change the LCAs, panhard rod and add a strut tower brace. Only the strut tower brace was legally allowed. Cosmetically I wanted to swap out the factory wing for a GT500 wing and was advised that doing so could be an issue at the regional level.

BB
Semper Fi

 

How are you at 312hp / 335ft lbs and still F-Stock?

All I have is a C&L Intake and tune, and that puts me in E-Street Prepared.

 

Several questions I will answer:
The club is not an official SCCA club, rather it exists as one of the first autocross clubs and has not bowed down to the SCCA hierachy. Several members run nationals, including a 9 time/consecutive champion. They do follow the SCCA rule book.

Do they tech, how do I get away with my current setup? They do tech and annual tech, and parts tended to float on in the mean time. I am converting my GT into a Shelby GT, that also is in F Stock, so 90% of the modifications are legal once I get them ALL on. But the club has given me time to progress to the end. Yes the UDP and the CMDP are not stock legal. The UDP is visible and obvious, but the CMDP is really hidden. If protested, I would move classes, but since its not a suspension modification, they are content with me running F Stock.

The suspension is stock and must go soon, my rear struts bottom out, so I am goin with the Koni/FRPP Springs, too stay in stock classifications.

Yes, the FRPP front Strut tower brace from the Shelby GT is also a legal modification, when it is done as the Shelby package. Stripes, grills, wings, etc are cosmetic and should not be required.

So the question is F-Stock SCCA legal, no. At a local SCCA level, it should pass inspection. At a regional or higher, I would tread lightly, potentially, you would get protested if you do very well.

E-Street Prepared is very hard to be competitive without a full prep. The Roush Mustang S2 has to run ESP at our events, I wish he would run F Stock.

 

What kind of prep are you guys doing before an event? Do you bother removing the spare tire?

My biggest problem in the few events I've done this year has been severe understeer.

 

I never understood the reasoning behind removing the spare tire, do they suspect that it is filled with concrete? I chatted with one of the suspension gurus on another forum about setting up my vert for autocrossing and I'll give you what he said. Stock camber is -.75, he recommended going to -1.5 as the maximum for decent tire wear on the street and added cornering capability. This will probably cause me to wear out my stock tires about 2K to 5K sooner than factory settings. He also recommended Tokico D-Specs.

The additional modifications would in most cases knock me out of F-stock but I'll list them anyway.He recommended a front strut tower brace, an adjustable panhard rod in the rear and it's matching heavy duty panhard bar brace. At this point he said call it a day and go enjoy.

P.S. As far as understeer is concerned, I've had to deal with that from as far back as 1975 when I was running a '75 Firebird F-Stock. I usually have to pick a wider line, get on the brakes sooner and power through the turn letting my added horses help me out. You are not going to finesse a pony car in a tight X-cross course so you have to rely on your ponies under the hood. A Poochie it ain't.

BB
Semper Fi

 

For me, a bad driver, it doesn't matter whether I'm in E-Street Prepared or F-Stock. With factory all-seasons I get owned either way. Super-modded camaro's in slicks own me in ESP. Shelby GT's own me in FS. Heh.

RE: Understeer
I tried running with 46-48 lbs in the front tires and stock 32 lbs in the rear, and that really reduced my understeer on stock tires. (Previously I was running 46-48lbs all around)

And yeah.. I always run autox full weight. I even leave my 40lbs sub in. Who cares.. not going to be seriously competative without R-compounds anyway.

 

Thanks Bob. I agree, I was thinking, absent of some F-Stock legal modification/adjustment, that I need to brake sooner and maybe go a little wider.

Me too, although in the few events I ran earlier this year I felt I improved each time, I was getting beat by cars I wouldn't have thought in the combined open street tire class. I guess I expected too much from the car and I really need to adjust to this unsdersteer issue. I am wasting too much time in turnarounds and 90 degree turns.


Interesting...I would have thought higher pressures up front would increase the understeer

 

Sounds like alot fun. This is something that I gotta try.

 

diddo

 

Yeah, I know it's counter-intuitive for me too. I don't know why.. maybe low pressure in the front tires causes the car to sink down more into the outer wheel, reducing traction on the inner wheel? ..and maybe firmer tires in the front allow the car to stay more level and maintain more equal traction on both front wheels.. I honestly have no idea, I'm just speculating, but it worked for me.

http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/Tech...verunder.shtml

 

Thanks Steve, I am going to try that tomorrow!

 

I have been autocrossing my GT500 in AStock street tire. It is not as competitive in its class as my Miata but great fun! The GT500 can not compete with an S2000 or Boxster on a normal autocross course.

I will shortly qualify for social security and am not as fast as I once was but I have fun. When I run the GT500 I usually have passengers on all my runs. These are usually novices, wives, girlfriends or otherwise someone that wants a ride. This hurts my time, not because of the weight but because I am playing around to show them what the car can do. Most of the passengers say it is a great E-ticket ride.

As a result of this playing around, I end up doing a lot of tail out driving. This is not the fastest way through an autocross course but it is fun. Because of this, the local drift club wants me to run in some of their events. They say they enjoy seeing nearly 4000lbs of American car going sideways. I tell them if they think it is fun to watch, they should buy a Mustang and try it.