Autocrossing a Stock Pro5??
 

I was wondering if it would be worth it to travel to dallas(~2hrs to track) and autocross... if i could even place with my stockness. Anyone have any experiences with their stock proteges in autocross?

DaveB runs auto-x in his P5 (automatic) with only an injen CAI. Last time out he came in 6th beating 2 porsches. He ran with the mid-ohio porsche club.

haha thats awesome

If no well-driven Mini's show up, and you drive well yourself, you could take H-Stock. Corner-exit wheelspin will be your major foe, but the P5/Sedan is a very forgiving car, easy to drive at it's limits. Most fun you'll have with your pants on.

i'd suggest a motormount to help with wheelspin as much as possible.

i'd suggest a motormount to help with wheelspin as much as possible

Ah, Grasshopper, but not in H-Stock, it's illegal. It's OK for STS though.

yes, rusty is right.....stock all you can do is a drop in fliter,dampers,cat back,tires and brake pads..oh and a front sway bar

STS (where I am) is much more open

you would think a motor mount would be considered accepable before struts/sways....oh well. I dont ever auto-x so you guys know best

you're missin out, its fun

I'd say do it... I Auto-X my sedan about a month ago and was keeping up with MSPs and some Miatas. The P5 has a little better handling than the sedan, but I think the sedan weighs less... Anyhoo, go for it and have fun, know I did. BTW, make sure you're ready to buy new tires after you're done... The Auto-Xing ate mine to pieces!

I'm not sure if i'll do it this weekend... I'd like to put some stuff on it first(new rims and tires) and then i need to get 3 magnetic 6's so i can be number 666 lol that will be badass. I'm not satanic but i live in the bible belt haha that will piss ppl off(lots of old conservative ppl here). I think i'll just drive in a parking lot and see the limits of the car... then goto the next autoX event. thanks for the info

I've got the SCCA application ready to go. I plan on racing my P5 solo next summer. I'll be a novice, but I'm not out there to impress anyone - only to have a good time.

The best thing about the Protege has to be how well it handles. Braking is not too bad, either. And, the steering is communicative, the seats are supportive enough, the ergonomics are just right for my 5'11" body. If I've ever owned a car that was ideally suited to racing, this one is it.

You couldn't be more correct.

I've been trying to get the wife to let me autocross her automatic P5 for months now, but she keeps telling me I'll "tear it up", so I havn't had a chance to put it through its paces yet. I've wanted to though, as it does indeed feel like a very nimble car.

I've been racing my cobra all season, and jumping in her car does a nice job of reminding me what a small, light-weight car can do for braking and handling. It's good to hear you guys confirm what I expected the car's performance to be like around the cones. I'll sneak it out one of these days. :D

For those of you thinking of autocrossing but have never been, it's definately a must! Your cars are never going to be fast in a straight line, but you will be surprised how many vehicles you will be able to take down at an Autocross event! HP doesn't mean much around the cones, and you'd be amazed at how fun a mere 40mph can actually be. :winky:

tru dat my friend.... Tell your significant other that autocrossing really won't tear up the car that much, just the tires. Be prepared to invest in a new set after you're done. I had to. Its mostly because of the understeer push that occurs in the car. Just a warning on that end. You're gonna have fun, and good luck. MB if your wife came and tried it too she might feel better about it...?

Just tell her if you don't do it, all of that good engineering is going to go to waste!

You won't ruin a set of tires after just one event either, but try telling her that. :D

Since January, I've run 10 autocross events, 2 drag racing sessions, and one 2 day road course event in my Cobra on the same set of 200 treadwear tires, and they're going to take another beating this weekend! :laugh:

They're holding up fairly well. They've got almost 7k miles on them right now, and I expect to be able to milk out about 3k more before needing new ones. This is on a daily driver too, so my right foot doesn't help matters much. :evilgrin:

I've taken her in the car with me for a few laps at an autocross, and she started to get car sick, so THAT plan didn't work out too well either. I suppose me getting sideways all the time didn't help much, but it's all for fun. Maybe I'll just buy my own and make a track car out of it, and leave hers alone. :bt:

Well, I gues I forgot to mention that I had 22k on the tires already and took 8 laps during the autocross event.... not to mention the fact that I drive REALLY hard on twisty back roads... If you do decide to buy a Protege and turn it into a track car, I would reccomend going with a 2000 sedan like the one I have. Performance wise, you have all the same options open to you as the '01+ guys have, but it weighs less than the P5 and the 1.8L motor (like in the ES) has a better power band. A 1.8L stock ES sedan will usually out-drag a 2.0L one. Have fun with it either way!