Autocross Adventure w/ the 1LE

[nilfinite]

Was pleasantly surprised today and was prouder of the decision to get a 1LE when I came across this article: http://www.scca.com/articles/1997376...nge-at-grissom

Sam Strano tends to win a lot and has been autocrossing for a long time. It was great to see that he used what looks like a 2014 Camaro 1LE to win a CAM Challenge Shootout competition in 2015 which included an Indy 500 winner.

http://bangshift.com/bangshiftapex/1...hallenge-east/

I think he's since moved onto another car but yet another point that I should be able to kick those M3's butts once I fix the nut behind the wheel.

[nilfinite]

SCCA Nationals is coming up soon. Lots of Autocross opportunities between now and the start of September. Including a double feature the next two weeks. 4 Autocross events + 1 track day!

Was talking to some car builders about methods people use to "cheat" at nationals in the street classes. Apparently some people will purposely bend their suspension parts to get more camber out of them! Crazy the amount of money and effort people will spend to improve their setup.

[nilfinite]

Autocrossed last Saturday and Sunday at Stockton. It was friggen hot (100 degrees & 90 degrees). Got very tan over the weekend lol.

On the positive side, high ambient temps meant the Hankooks didn't need as much warming up as they usually do. Tires measured up to 130 degrees after a run. They were far better than @ Marina with ambient of 60 degrees.

Course was better than expected for Stockton. Not many opportunities for power but there were some good long sweepers. 50 second course so it was tight. I worked on braking earlier and less. Upset the car less before a turn, maintain a higher corner speed and exit corners at a higher RPM for better power delivery.

Was able to take home the win on both days in FS. Still waiting for the results to see how I did vs PAX. Was a fun weekend to get some seat time in.

Tire Update: 66 runs = 2-3/32" of tread. About $7/run in terms of tire wear.

[nilfinite]

Getting psyched for the track day @ Thunderhill this Friday.

It'll be my 5th track day ever. 1st one in the Camaro. Went to Thunderhill w/ G37, Sonoma Raceway w/ ActiveHybrid3, Laguna Seca w/ Abarth and a couple laps around Las Vegas Speedway with a Track-Prepped Ferrari.

Since it's going to be hot (100 degrees) and oil temps get pretty high on Camaros, going to be monitoring oil temps like crazy. Motor oil was changed by the dealer with their factory-recommended on Monday. Going to run on that this Friday and then flush with full synthetic (Mobil 1) this weekend.

Also going to take off the engine heatshield before heading on track. Brake fluid is DOT4 and was flushed recently. Also going to put some painters tape on the headlights. I have XPEL film on the front bumper and lower half of the car which should come in handy.

Time to study this thing.

[hammdo]

Cool...where do you get the xpel film from? I assume it's temporary just for the race, correct?

-Don

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by hammdo

Cool...where do you get the xpel film from? I assume it's temporary just for the race, correct?

-Don

So Xpel film is supposed to last several years and protect against rock chips. In my case I self-installed and the cheapest place I could find the film was on eBay.

Self-installed the front bumper using a kit and used bulk film for the bottom half of the car (wrapped the car below the body line)

Either it was $1000 for a kit install for the bumper, partial fenders, mirror or $500 for the film and self install. I got the bumper, bottom half of the front and rear fenders, doors and rocker panels. No easily visible lines except for on the bumper.





Lessons learned after installing it myself:
- Try to find a clean place to install, I did it in my driveway and wow it was a biatch to install. I might lay down a clean tarp next time.
- Do it in room-temperature weather. I did it during winter vacation outside in 40 degree weather so the adhesive didn't stick as well.
- Installation is very time consuming for your first time. Even worse if you don't have a clean temperature-regulated space to do it. You need a heat gun, felt squeegee, slip solution, tack solution, edge adhesive, lots of xacto knives
- Also the front bumper film doesn't last that long. Mine got a tear after someone hit my car with their shopping cart (grr) so plan on replacing it often.
- Buy more than 60" x 10' if you want to wrap to the higher body line. I recommend that because I got one chip on my front fender.

[nilfinite]

Tinted the Camaro's windows today! Went with a light tint. Mostly did it to block some heat when going to Stockton, Crows Landing and its 100+ degrees. Should be helpful this Friday as well at Thunderhill (high of 93).

Used Suntek CXP in 35%.

Tint will also protect the interior when the car is parked outside (like today; parked outside to help the tint cure faster)

Was actually worried that tracks don't like tinted windows (so cars behind can see through the windshield and your point-bys). Thanks to John (JR1LE) for his track skills and helping me confirm that it actually doesn't matter. Got my preferred 35% all around which is still very safe and not obnoxiously dark like double 5% limo tint. Easy to look into, blocks 55%+ of solar energy and 99%+ of UV.





This white & black color scheme is making me think again about the color of my future wheels.

[nilfinite]

Throughly scratched the Track itch today. Got way more than an hour of seat time. It was pretty much open track from 8am-5pm. I'm good for half a year now lol.

First time on track with the 1LE. 5th track day ever. My times on Thunderhill 3 mile course were:
2:43
2:34
2:30
2:26
2:23
2:22
2:20
2:20
2:18
2:18
2:16
2:16
2:25
2:23
2:26
2:23
2:18

Those were almost all clean laps with no traffic! A bunch of messed up laps in between lol. My left arm was strangely more tired than right and my mind was so exhausted by middle of the day. Kept on missing apexes. Took a nap and tired to restart but couldn't lol.

Still not happy with execution on turn 5. Always feel like I'm going to run off the right side. Scary stuff. Also couldn't help but lift at turn 8. Could tell that car definitely was capable of going flat-out there based on how much more room I had to push out after exiting. Tapping the brakes actually upset the car more than lifting. Also, what's this shifting nonsense? Hung out mostly in 3rd gear but had to go to 4th twice per lap. Definitely would have benefited going to 2nd a couple of times.

[nilfinite]

Wow, FS is going to be the biggest class this coming Sunday. 9 entries on MotorsportReg. Some really good drivers including John, Des, Michael. I'm sure Sean and Rich are going to register on-site as well. So 11 drivers total. Looking forward to learning from so many awesome drivers!

[nilfinite]

Reflecting on this Sunday's event (8/7/16) with SFR SCCA. Was one of the more talent-loaded weekends aside from the National Tour/Pro Solo. These guys were prepping for Nationals. They built the course nationals-style unlike the traditional bay area style. What that basically meant was a lot of new elements, lots of slaloming + some annoying offset cones.

Normally I'd guess the proper method of tackling 1 or 2 elements in the course. Had to guess on 5+ events on this course. It was fun getting exposure but was not happy with the 5 runs to perfect them lol.

Lessons learned:
- Need much more seat time, seat time and seat time. Especially on the technical courses. Looking forward to going to more AAS events since those are more technical than usual.
- Should get a co-driver to help warm up tires. Hankooks are inconsistent until up to temp. I found their sweet spot temp to be 130+ degrees after a run. The tires hovered at 110 degrees after a run this weekend. RS3s weren't sticky at all to the touch. The RE-71R or Rival S tires are consistently grippy cold or hot. Will get the RE-71R next year.
- "Drive the car, don't let the car drive you." Lesson learned during an Evo School. Do the best with what you have, don't force the car beyond its limits and then let the car drive you. The car drove me several times this weekend. Spun the tires a couple of times because I was ready for more grip. Was OK spinning a couple of times to get the temps up. But the tires hovered at 110 degrees no matter what I did. Didn't give up this tire-warming effort until the 4th run (3 cones) and was at least able to get a clean run for on the 5th run. Next time just make due with what I got!

Was great to hang out with a couple of the really good drivers. Des Toups in his V6 Mustang led the FS pack. He's going to co-drive with last years GS national champ (Mark Scroggs) at Nationals this year in FS in the V6 Mustang. Wicked fast guys. Michael in the M3 was his usual couple seconds ahead of me. Met John in the 1LE for the first time in person (met and been chatting over Camaro5). He's a really awesome driver. It was great to benchmark against known-good driver like him with the same car and to commiserate over the Hankooks lol. Sean and Rich did not show up in FS because they couldn't take time off to Nationals this year in the M3. They didn't care anymore lol.

[JRL1LE]

Originally Posted by nilfinite

Reflecting on this Sunday's event (8/7/16) with SFR SCCA. Was one of the more talent-loaded weekends from the National Tour/Pro Solo. These guys were prepping for Nationals. They built the course nationals-style unlike the traditional bay area style. What that basically meant was a lot of new elements, lots of slaloming + some annoying offsets.

Since I'm used to the bay area style, normally I'd have to guess the proper method of tackling 1 or 2 elements in the course. On this national-style course, I was guessing how to manage at least 5 elements lol. It was fun getting that exposure but was again not happy with the 5 runs to perfect them lol.

Lessons learned:
- Need much more seat time on the technical courses. Need to go to as many AAS events as possible since those are more technical than usual.
- Should get a co-driver to help warm up tires. Hankooks are inconsistent until up to temp. I found their sweet spot temp to be 130+ degrees after a run. The tires hovered at 110 degrees this weekend. RS3s weren't sticky at all to the touch. The RE-71R or Rival S tires are consistently grippy cold or hot. This is for next year.
- "Drive the car, don't let the car drive you." Lesson learned during an Evo School. Do the best with what you have, don't force the car beyond its limits and then let the car drive you. The car drove me several times this weekend. Depending on previous grip experience, spun the tires a couple of times. Was OK spinning a couple of times because to get the temps up. But the tires hovered at 110 degrees no matter what I did. Didn't give up this effort until the 4th run (3 cones) and was at least able to get a clean run for on the 5th run.

Was great to hang out with a couple of the really good drivers. Des Toups in his V6 Mustang led the pack. He's going to co-drive with last years GS national champ (Mark Scroggs) at Nationals this year in FS in the V6 Mustang. Wicked fast guys. Michael in the M3 was his usual couple seconds ahead of me. Met John in the 1LE for the first time in person (met and been chatting over Camaro5). He's a really awesome driver. It was great to benchmark against known-good driver like him with the same car and to commiserate over the Hankooks lol. Sean and Rich did not show up in FS because they aren't going to Nationals this year in the M3. They didn't care anymore lol.

William, great to meet you, too, had a lot of fun The course definately had some challenging aspects, but you really drove well and drop lots of time . I am going to tweak my alignment to help the understeer.
Looking forward to seeing you at the AAS events and having RE71's in our future.

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by JRL1LE

William, great to meet you, too, had a lot of fun The course definately had some challenging aspects, but you really drove well and drop lots of time . I am going to tweak my alignment to help the understeer.
Looking forward to seeing you at the AAS events and having RE71's in our future.

Haha, thanks John!!! I was really impressed with how you drove as well! It definitely felt good to see both of us improve with each run. It'll be fun to see how much we improve with those RE71's under our cars.

[PapaKlutch]

Originally Posted by nilfinite

Haha, thanks John!!! I was really impressed with how you drove as well! It definitely felt good to see both of us improve with each run. It'll be fun to see how much we improve with those RE71's under our cars.

I’d like to get a tire that I can leave on during the warm months (Spring – Fall) here in Reno for the street that would also be a very good Ax tire. We are almost w/o rain in the summer and my 1LE is a “good weather only” daily driver.

My Goodyear’s are lousy at Ax….too cold. You say the RS-3 disappoints a bit when cold, too.

You think this new 285 sized BStone RE71 would be a good choice for occasional Ax and summer time street tire for me? Thanks!

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by SteveZ28

I’d like to get a tire that I can leave on during the warm months (Spring – Fall) here in Reno for the street that would also be a very good Ax tire. We are almost w/o rain in the summer and my 1LE is a “good weather only” daily driver.

My Goodyear’s are lousy at Ax….too cold. You say the RS-3 disappoints a bit when cold, too.

You think this new 285 sized BStone RE71 would be a good choice for occasional Ax and summer time street tire for me? Thanks!

Yes! Really exciting that the RE-71R is coming out in 285/35/20. It's going to be the perfect tire for our stock 1LE wheels. They should be more widely available in a couple months.

Going for RE-71R means you are willing to give up longevity for outright performance. They are addictively sticky (had them on my Abarth). I estimated getting 150-180 runs on the Abarth assuming down to the cords. I'd guess 10K-14K miles if you did street-only miles down to the wear bar. So use those ratios to figure out how long they might last you. Maybe apply a 20% discount to account for the extra wear from swapping back and forth.

The RE-71R is better than the RS3 and Goodyears in every way but longevity. Dry traction, wet traction, cold, hot.

One slight negative about the RE-71R for DD is that they are a bit noisy on the freeway.

More opinions below:
RS3 Review: Now that I've run the RS3 for 60+ runs and 1K miles. They are at 7/32" in the center and outside. 6/32" on the inside. I'd recommend them for track use maybe spirited DD (noisy tires). Not AX. Tread lasts a lot longer than I expected but they are known to drop off in grip over time. In 2014, the RS3 was the tire to have for nationals. They are amazingly grippy for the first 10 or so heat-cycles and then they start dropping off to a different level. They come with 8.8/32" tread new. So maybe the first .8/32" is a different compound. They need heat to reach full potential. I recommend them for track use because they like heat. Negative about them for track use is that the sidewalls aren't very stiff. They don't feel great. I liked the Goodyear's feel a lot more.

RE-71R + Track: I wouldn't recommend the RE-71R for casual track usage because you'll go through tires very fast. Probably worth it though if you are trying to win competitions. Bring water to spray them for track use, I've read they will permanently lose grip if you seriously overheat them.

RE-71R + Trailer: I'm cheap when it comes to sticky tires and plan on using a tire trailer for the 19" GA3R wheels + 305/30/19 RE-71R tires. Trailering should help the wheels stay nice and tires should last a longer for AX. The 71R tires like to develop this ridge in center bar during AX/track use. Below is what they looked like on my Abarth after 13 back-to-back runs on concrete (Marina). You'll see that the left side is a bit more worn than the right side. This is the front driver-side tire.



I imagine swapping between DD and AX means the ridge will continue to develop then smooth out then develop. Will wear the center a bit faster. With the amount of events planned next year (40+), I'm hoping to squeeze a season out of one set. The 71R tires are also good until corded. So if you want to use every last drop, you have to trailer them below 3/32" tread.

I've read that the 71R tires are best when you wear that center ridge in both directions. So swapping the tire on the wheel is beneficial to performance and longevity.

Recommendation Summary:
AX-Only: RE-71R
Casual Track-Only: RS-3
Backroads Driving: Goodyear Eagle or Michelin Super Sports
Spirited DD Street-Only: BFG Comp 2 A/S

Competitive Track-Only: Don't track enough to have a recommendation here. RE-71R? NT01? Cup 2? R888?

My favorite mixed use (DD + AX) tire so far is the RE-11 but it is being discontinued. Got 12K miles + 60 AX-runs with those on my Abarth.