All 3/S's handle well. Some better than others however. (4WD) The only thing bad about them is that on corners our cars suffer from big understeer. The cars just don't seem to want to bite. But of course it's the safest.

 

I like how my car turns. It takes the turn on the front pretty quick then the back end slowly fades out and it aligns itself. Or maybe that's just my driving style. I think it mainly depends on how you take your turns and how you read the apex of them. If it's you against other FWD cars I think you might have a slight advantage on them due to more weight I don't think you'll roll your car as easy as some others. But you against AWD-AWS cars only pure luck will let you win or if they can't drive and you can.

 

AWD has absolutely nothing to do with autocrossing. Believe me I know first hand. I have Autocrossed numerous cars. RWD, AWD and FWD. And Lemme tell you this, it all comes down to the driver. I watched a Front Wheel Drive Nissan Sentra SER spank a vr4 and a Subaru RS in an Autocross. In an auto cross you hardly ever get out of 2nd gear, and it is all about knowing your car,the limits of your car, and knowing where your car is in relation to the coarse.
If you went out there and practiced enough and got to know the limits of your car, then You will start to see your self haveing better times then the cars w/ more HP and the inexperienced driver w/ the AWD car.
Go for it. At the very least you will learn alot about your car and your own driveing skills.

 

It takes the turn on the front pretty quick then the back end slowly fades out and it aligns itself. Or maybe that's just my driving style.

Since when did you have a RWD conversion done...

 

Since when did you have a RWD conversion done...

I don't that's just how my car takes turns. Is that how RWD cars take turns? I've only driven FWD cars so I don't know how RWD cars handle.

 

Yes your car will be very competitive.
Sunday I was at an autocross I was supposed to race mine, but my car is getting fixed from a wreck I had.
Their was a 97 SL their, with no mods except K&N Filter.
He ran a best time of 70. Now that doesnt sound good but the best time was a 55 in a go kart. Fastest car time was a 60sec. Most people got 63-67 sec times.
Being its a 97 he only has a 168HP, he also didnt have car lowered so it was ready for offroading lol. Stock tires and stock rims.
Interesting story at this autocross too. A 90 year old man races, he walks around with a walker. He walks the course once and takes notes on papers and draws the course out. Then he gets in his MR2 turbo and beats the shit out of everyone. Seriously, this man put out 60sec times everytime. Nothing above nothing below. Man can drive like no one I have ever seen.

When my local auto-x opens back up Ill be competing and I will let you know the results.


Jeff

 

Hey Darktrail - not to be mean .. but is that a BS story or did that really happen?

 

It doesn't matter

It doesn't matter how good your car is as long as you are just out to have fun. There are tons of different classes and times are adjusted based on your car type.

JeremyG was winning the Street tire index in SOuthbend before he had transmission problems and missed a race.

Next autocross see this thread

http://www.3si.org/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=48520

We had a great time at the last autocross see this thread

http://www.3si.org/vbb/showthread.php?postid=362712&t=5307#post362712

We both had our turbos handed to us by some modified probe GTs. On a hard corner the inside rear tire would be completely off the ground for so long it would stop spinning completely.
Despite being my first time I consistenly spanked a modified LSI Camaro which was is a stock class with some illegal mods for that class. Miatas and Neons and Focuses also seemed to do very good.

 

Miatas ROCK in autoX. They have enough power to go fasat, but not near enough to break the tires free, and you can THROW them around corners and the tires won't break free. I've seen one at my local autocross that's got modded suspension, exhaust and intake work and runs with 235/45/R16 tires. It's one of the fastest cars on the course. Last time I went, only a 94 C5 and a 90 (first year, whatever year that is) ZR1 beat it; aside from the motorcycle engine powered carts.

 

HELL YEAH for the non-turbos!!

Suthnr ROCKED in the Auto-X at the DSM Shootout in his nonturbo Stealth. I was lucky enough to get to ride shotgun (Thanks again, Eric...) You need to know your car (or rather, this is a good way to get to know your car), and as was mentioned, you don't usually get out of 2nd, so it is mostly how you carry your speed through the turns. Oh, yeah, and it is difficult to try and hold a digital camera to take video when you are a passenger during an autocross.

Hal

 

168HP for a '97 SL?!?!?!? Don't think so...

Being its a 97 he only has a 168HP, he also didnt have car lowered so it was ready for offroading lol. Stock tires and stock rims.
Jeff

WRONG, try 222HP for a '97 SL

 

Re: 168HP for a '97 SL?!?!?!? Don't think so...

WRONG, try 222HP for a '97 SL

Thank you, I was wrong. I was also wrong on the model it was a base model. with the SOHC.


And monza that is a true story no BS involved. I may have some video of him running, Ill have to check. I do have video of the 97 SL running that I will post soon.
At our local Auot-x's its either a Miata, Rx-7 or MR2-Turbo that wins. Well except for the gokarts.
Supposedly, I've heard one of the formula looking cars thier, has a vr-4 engine in it.

 

I think an SL would do pretty good. I had my SL understeering HARD (like going 40mph in a 5mph turn) and found that it handled bad in a way but not as bad as I thought in another way. I would head into the turn, break heavy, and floor it on the way out. With FWD though you have to worry about coming out at an angle. If you do and have the car at WOT it will start spinning the tires which will seem cool but you'll probably be kinda understeering and gaining speed at the same time. Anyways though, my plan was always 1) Go into turn fast 2) Brake HEAVY into turn as late as you can. 3) Ride thru the turn and when you feel comfortable (maybe while still turning) give it gas and eventually go to WOT 4) Don't hit a ditch, car, or in this case, a cone. I had Kuhmo's on my car too and they were simply amazing, it was the most fun I've ever had in a car. Gotta take the WRX up to the Tail of the Dragon in Pigeon Forge soon.

EDIT:

One thing I forgot was that when you get REALLY good at driving your car and REALLY comfortable doing it you can try ripping the e-brake going into middleways of a turn if you're understeering. If you're heading into a turn too fast and absolutely KNOW you're going to take out the whole corner of cones, carefully pull the ebrake so the ass end comes around a little, feather the gas and get it drifting or straightened up..

 

For those in SoCal.
visit www.solo2.com for events and information

I have only seen one 3000GT(red SL) run at the autoX in the past year. I didnt get a chance talk to the owner to see how well he did though.

 

I've autocrossed in my R/T non-turbo, and it's pretty fun. Beat the two TT 3/S's that I came with

It's pretty easy to find the limits on this car. 222hp going to the FWD makes it damn easy to break the front tires loose going around turns. You just have to practice and try to get as much speed as you can going through the turns without losing traction.

But on the whole, hell yeah it's fun - definitely try it at least once.

- Brad
92 Pearl White R/T