I finally got the Protege out to its first autox today, I'm pretty impressed with this car. Here's a brief overview -

Car - '03 Protege LX/5sp. Stock suspension, F/R toe set to 0, stock rear camber, front camber tweaked in as much as possible(~ -.6 deg.), 205/50/15 tires - cast-off Hankook Ventus 211's front/Yokahama A008R's rear. Initial pressures 43-psi f/r cold.

I knew the car would probably rotate well with this tire combination, but wow! At the end of the first slalom was a 180+ turn, probably ~100' diameter....the first run through was a complete drift, near maximum lock, though somehow I managed to ride it out(and the other 2 ~180-degree turn on the course...).

Needless to say, I dropped the rear pressure after that run, down to 43psi hot. The second run was my fastest timed run of the day, at 53.909 - slightly less than a second behind the class-winning MINI on Hoosiers. It was still a slippy/slidy run, but at least I was a little more prepared for it.

I didn't change anything for my 3rd run, but pushed harder - and it was more than the car could take. I almost spun again & took out a few cones.

I tried to work with these setting, and as a result, my fourth run was essentially more of the same.....

So, for my 5th/last run, I dropped pressures in rear to 38lbs. The car really felt great that run! On the slaloms, where I really had to focus on keeping the back end behind me, the car pivoted nicely w/o oversteering. On the sweepers, I could balance the car very easily between over-/understeer with left-foot braking....and then at the very end of the course, I decided "what the hell - I should be able to flat-foot it through the finish".......and I hit the timing reflector. Doh! Such a shame, too, because I'm sure it was faster....I just wish I knew if it was a second faster, or not. Definitely close, though....

Overall, the car felt really good. The bone-stock suspension felt great(the surface is old/rough Air-Force concrete, similar to Topeka). In fact, I can't think of any other completely stock car - except for the Evo - that I've autox-d, and thought this much of the suspension! Now that I think I've got the tire pressures figured out, I'm not in a hurry to change anything else. And as long as I can race against the Mini drivers(they're also friends of mine, and are heading to Topeka next week - which should give me *some* idea of what this car may be capable of).

Also, after 6+ years of me autox-ing, I finally got my wife out to drive in her first event....and of course, she's hooked!!!

 

you planning on doing any suspension mods? yeah i am gonna get back to autox once i get settled at my new job.

 

your first mod should be an AWR front motor mount.

 

Well, I'm planning on staying in Stock class, so the motor mount isn't an option.

Not sure if I'm going to do anything for a while. I may go for the largest front swaybar I can find - *if* I can get some rear shocks with enough rebound valving to lift(or nearly lift)the inside rear wheel. I've used that setup before on other Stock-class cars & have been very happy with it.....I know all the small-front-bar vs. large-front-bar discussions, but the large bar works for me.

On my last run, though, I was really happy with the balance & grip of the car, so I don't want to change anything until I run it as-is for at least one more event.

 

how can upgraded sway bars and bushings be ok but not a motor mount??

 

I understand how you feel - the Stock class rules can seem pretty absurd at times. As it was explained to me, the rule regarding allowing front swaybar changes dates back to the 1960's - when adding a front swaybar was sometimes needed to reduce body-roll within a *safe* limit.

There is *always* some debate about drastically changing the Stock class rules - who knows, maybe someday it will happen....I'm not too concerned either way. But I think the popularity of the Street Touring classes has grown out of the contempt some people have for Stock class - that, and the fact that Street Touring fits pretty well with what most people are already modding on their cars.

 

I like the "don't ask, don't tell" mods. Can they see it? Can they tell the difference between stock and not-so-stock?

 

gald you liked it Pete...you should try mine again on the autocross course...

Shawn

 

Cool! I'd like to check it out sometime, Shawn....just have to find time to get down to a Stl autox sometime!