Autocross/Solo Thoughts

[VaCat33]

Hi All

As I sit here getting ready for the next snow storm, I have been considering getting back into autocross/solo this seaon. I had such fun at the TE/AE United event back in October, I thought I might give it a try this season. My Tiger is pretty much stock except for the usual LAT options such as the F4b intake, Holley 4bbl and traction bars. I figured I would run with my Vredestein 205x60x13 tires on 6 inch cosmic wheels. From what I have read in the SCCA rules, it appears that Tigers are in the E class along with Miatas (which I understand are very good autoX cars and dominate the class), Datsun Z cars, RX-7, Alfa Spiders and BMW Z3…to name a few.

From my interpretation of the rules, it appears my larger wheels and traction bars will put me in the E-Street Touring (SR) class. For those of you with experience, how do our Tigers stack up competitively to the other cars in this class?

During the TE/AE event I was hearing some loud banging from the right rear under hard turns. I have not been able to figure out what that was…any ideas? Understanding that I do not intend to make any more significant changes to my relatively stock configuration, are there any other thoughts on things that could improve performance…other than good driving?

Thanks

 

[cobrakidz]

Was someone in the trunk?? haha, just kidding. I would check the pan hard bar and shock and spring mounts to make sure everything is ok under there....hard turns put a lot of stress on those points. As far as the rules I am no help. Good luck if you do it.....

 

[cadreamn67]

Echoing Cobrakidz's advice, give a very close look at the front rear spring mounting doglegs. A couple of years ago while at a SCCA local club event at Sebring, I had the same experience as you described. Upon later inspection, I found cracks in the doglegs on both sides. Do a good job at scraping off the old undercoat and look really close. I thought I was okay at first but a closer second look revealed almost invisible hairline cracks all the way through.

As far as being competitive, autocrossing is as much about the driver as it is about the car. As they say drag racing is for fast cars, autocrossing is for fast drivers. (My son is quite a few seconds faster than me in the Tiger, but also spins more!).

When I first started, Buck Trippel helped me get in touch with Tom McDaniel, who was very helpful with car prep etc. Tom put most if not all of the same info a Tigers Tales article a while back. He also recommended a how to-book, which I bought. It was very helpful. I will look for it later tonight and post the title if I find it.

Gene

 

[hottigr]

Even if you don't have any cracks in the rear leaf spring hangers and all of the panhard rod hardware is intact, the sound you are hearing could still be coming from the panhard rod. Mine is intact, stock, and OLD. It is tight, yet the original rubber bushings have worn and/or hardened, and I have occasional clunking under certain conditions. Replacing the bushings, or the panhard rod all together, is on my 'someday' list of things to do...

 

[cadreamn67]

Jim,

I cannot locate the book I mentioned earlier but am pretty sure it is "How to Autocross" by Andrew Howe. (It may be with my son in Florida.) I ordered mine through Amazon. There are numerous similar books of course out there but since Tom recommended this one, that was testimonial enough for me.

Some additional material I would recommend to you is an "e-book" titled "Autocross to Win" by Dennis Grant at Farnorthracing.com. The site is http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets.html

It is a bit heavier and technical than the Howe book in some ways, but I was impressed with the info in it. It probably makes more sense to read it after looking through Howe's book, but you might want to take at least a peak at it if the weather slows down delivery of Howe's book.

Gene

PS: I just noticed that Amazon now seems to only have a paperback version with black and white pics. There are other sources out there that have a softbound version with color pics. I found this one but do not know anything about the seller.
http://www.soloperformance.com/How-to-Autocross-by-Andrew-Howe_p_1531.html