The Western Ohio Region of the SCCA had the 2010 Awards Ceremony on Saturday, and I finished first in SOLO II D Stock. Didn't do anything to the motor or suspension, and used the Yokohama Advan AD08 tires. As posted by others, the car understeers slightly, so you have to watch that, but compared to other cars in the class, it brakes well and seems to have good power.

To get competitive, I went to the Evolution driving school, and that was a big help. I also ran with both an in-car video and a G-Tech Road Racer computer. I was set up to view the videos after every run which also helped because things happen pretty fast during the run to remember everything. It was also very helpful to upload both the video and data at the end of the day to a laptop and view them at the same time to evaluate each run.

I'm planning on doing some upgrades in the off season, and may move up to DSP next season. I also finished first in the Miami Valley NASA club which had more competition in the Crossfire's class. The award ceremony for that club is at the end of the month, so I will post the results later.

THE CROSSFIRE PERFORMS OUTSTANDING AND GETS THE MOST ATTENTION!

Mike

Championship Points

 

I love following your progress, keep up the great work!

 

You got a mug? All I got was a couple of knives and a trophy. There's nothing like FIRST PLACE and I know how difficult it is. I went to a driving school. Without it I never could have won anything. I'm super thrilled to see others competing in Crossfires. Congratulations! (Where's Wedge, he's fast too)

Les

 

Congrats Mike, that mug is a useful trophy.It is great to read about you all that are tracking your crossfires. Maybe one day I will get the oppertunity. Tell us a bit more about the driving school you attended. Again congrats on your accomplishments!

 

Congratulations Mike! Way to represent the XF

I've done some "autocross" schools but never felt like I got a lot of instruction, just a lot of seat time. I may need to look into the evo school for that. Sometimes I wish I was back in the stock class. As soon as I moved out of it, the crazy modded Miata's and Porches started kicking my ****.
I'm glad to hear you were on the AD08's, that's what I'm wanting to run this season. Yeah, the pushing front end That's currently my biggest hurdle to overcome. I'll start addressing that after I finish paying for the Wave Track LSD

WTG Mike!

Hi Les

 

Hi Wedge, I did 2 PCA schools. The first was an eye opener for me. I got a ride in a GT3 and the instructor was trail braking until the apex. He explained that because the Porsche has the engine in the rear it pushes badly on turn in and you must force more weight on the front wheels to have the grip to go fast. He would enter the corner with much more speed than I would ever dare braking lightly all the way to give the front tires more grip. (too much weight transfer is bad however) Since my car pushes, for other reasons, I tried it and it works. It's easy to get it wrong and then your in trouble, but get it right and you can enter the corners flying! My second driving school I had a racer as my instructor and he gave me some "competition tips" of which the most helpful was looking far ahead. It slows everything down and makes it easier to get the entry speed correct. He forced me to be concentrating and looking at the next corner before reaching the turn in for the current one. Scary at first but after doing it for a while it makes you much faster. I didn't realize how much I learned about my car and going fast until after some practice. Take advantage of every one you can even if you don't think it's helping. One day you will learn something about your driving style and what works well on the SRT-6 chassis. 3 PCA driving schools are on my schedule for 2011.

Les

 

Completely agree with Les.

Evolution driving school (www.Evoschool.com) phase I is perfect for SOLO II. Focus is on smoothness, how to read the course, looking ahead . . . lots of the basics that are the foundation for fast driving. An instructor drives your car, and shows you what your car can really do, and then they show you how to get the same results. Getting your eyes up and looking ahead really makes driving fast easier. It takes practice, but it really is one of the "Ah-Ha" moments of compeititon driving.

Couple of good books:
1. Secrets of SOLO Racing by Henry A. Watts
2. Winning Autocross SOLO II Competition by Turner and Miles
(Turner teaches you where to go, and Miles teaches you when you will get there )

Tip 1: For the Crossfire, loading the front end properly going into a turn is key. I've got a setup using Gran Turismo 4 on a PlayStation 2 with a wheel and pedals. GT4 has a N/A Crossfire, and after driving over 100 SOLO runs this year, I can confirm the physics of the game are exceptionally close to the Analog Crossfire. It validates what Les has posted about Loading the front end prior to the turn, trail braking into the turn, and carrying max speed out of the turn, and therefore can be practiced until your eyes bleed for free! Makes for some good off-season training.

Tip 2: Left foot braking. In SOLO II, there is little shifting after the start. I have a video on youtube where I do get into 3rd on the home stretch, but most of the time you get to second and stay there. After closely evaluating the GTech data, you lose about .2 sec if you have to move your right foot at a critical time. If you are slowing anyway, it doesn't matter. But with left foot braking, you can help balance the car in sweepers, and blip either the throttle OR brake to keep the car on the edge.

The lighter weight cars can beat the Crossfire through the turns, but the CF is has more power. Learn to drive the CF effectively through the turns and it will be a fun day.

Mike

 

You mean ...... I'm not crazy after all? Yes, the lighter cars are faster in the corners and that won't change unless we get more tire in the front, can get more negative camber to use what tire we have better and get better control over the suspension. I keep thinking of getting an assortment of spring rubbers to experiment with. (I really think bigger sway bars would be a revelation on this car) We need to have some more idea exchanges to see who's tried what and what was a fail or success.

Les

 

Mike thanks for the write up and link to the Evo school. Les and Wedge your discussion and info are interesting reading.Trail braking and left foot braking are interesting concepts. The heads up eyes up is a concept I learned long ago in down hill skiing and moto cross. You can't go fast looking 50 feet infront of you. Keep this discussion going it is great info.

 

Agreed BigKid, really great discussion here Thank you Mike and Les!
I only wish I could contribute more to the tech side of this chat
I'm also an old motocross guy and only recently (last few years) got into
cars, so I don't have much technical experience to draw upon yet.

 

Congrats on the great results. I love that you guys are out there showing people that our cars aren't just for looks!!! I did one SCCA event with my XF & was AMAZED at what my car could do when the instructor got behind the wheel! What a fun time & nice people at the event.

 

Congrats Mike.

 

Let's be completely honest here. I'm a young man with many years and I decided 2 years ago, before I die, I'd like to see if I enjoy now what I thought I wanted to do, but couldn't, when I was a sprout. I started the wrong way. I went to a small track and went pretty fast for a stock car. Then I put on a pulley, CAI, and other stuff and managed the same time as stock. Then I lowered the car and adjusted and flailed in the dark. Same times. Then I went to a driving school. Times dropped dramatically. I began to learn the car, what it could do and not do. Not what I believed it could or couldn't do. Returned some things to stock and kept going faster. A second driving school and now I'm beating almost everyone. (in my class) I sometimes wonder what my times would be if I went all the way back to stock. The SRT engineers did a good job with this car to start with and it's easier to mess it up than make it better. I know for a fact that my car is still faster than its driver. At the moment the limiting factor IMO is not knowing the bump steer, front and rear, and insufficient adjustment range for camber. The car rolls more than I like but I've seen cars that roll more and still go fast. What does all this mean? I was clueless 2 years ago when I started enrolling in track days. I learned that the driver mod was worth more than gazillion HP. Now I have a feel for the car and what will make it faster. Keeping the tires happy is worth so much more then HP and that's what I'm looking to do. I believe that part of the problem is running a tire that is too wide for the front rim. My rules are liberal so I'm going to the widest rim possible with a tire relatively narrow for it's width. The tire should be supported much better. Depending on how it works or doesn't work, I'll get a Kmac camber kit for the front which can adjust up to -3º of camber on. I've seen cars with skinny tires go blazingly fast. But only because they were completely adjustable and adjusted correctly. Having a happy tire is the real deal. Ignorance is frustrating, I'm no expert, I'm a master of the obvious.

Les

 

MJ, what's a playstation? I played pong once.

Les

 

hehe, you guys rock!

 

I agree with the "too wide of a tire for the rim" comment. I just mounted 245/35s on my stock rims, and they are not much wider than the 225/40s because of the rim width. Getting your wider rims should really help you get a solid footprint on the track.

 

just keep in mind that pesky upper control arm bolt. woody ground his down for extra clearance and i have a mere 6mm of clearance with my 32 lowered. that sucker seems to get in the way when it comes to bigger or wider tires. get that offset away from it