I ran my first autocross today with my Max.
What a blast, I should have started this looong time ago. NASA-MA ran it at Va Motorsport Park. Just over 1.2 mile course with 41 drivers. Some of the cars in the field were, STi (2) R32, Mustangs (5), Mr2 (2), A4, S4, Z06 (2) BMW's (3), civics, S2000 (2), a few others, and 1 Maxima.
After 8 runs I cut 5.381 secs off my time.
Going to get stiffer springs and better struts up front, and some tires with grip for next season. I got a new hobby.

Here's a link to my personal best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgdUTC86D24

 

nice...make sure to check out the autocross/road racing forum here for setup and classing advice (if you're running SCCA events in the future).

My only advice: enjoy it for the sake of enjoyment, because no matter what you do, the maxima will only be marginally competitive in the classes it is legal in.

I always did, though, think it was fun to autocross a maxima since it was unusual to see one at an event. Now I have a WRX and they're a dime-a-dozen at events

 

well next year it will be 2 maximas!!!

good job

 

btw, love that camera view. that course looks like it was open enough for the maxima to really stretch its legs a bit and not too tight/technical.

From watching your runs here is a suggestion: jack up your rear tire pressures a few lbs higher than the fronts - it will help the rear end rotate a bit better through the transitions and slaloms...

 

That was my daughter up on the grandstands with the camera.
Yeah, wide open throttle here and there. But the tight turns near the end were alot harder than they looked. These Maxima's turn like a barge.

 

I loved the autox's I did this 2 seasons, the locals were making fun of the grocery getter at first but when I started putting down better times then the little miata's and topping out the day in the top 10 overall the laughter stopped. Its an awesome experience unfortunately I couldn't finish out this season after some thing broke and did some damage to a couple things so I had to sit out for the season. I hope to head back out sometime in April, man are they in for a surprise.

 

I had a few people comment on the difficultly of this type of car on the track. I was definently the largest car out there today. I dont expect to be competetive, just looking to have fun and better my times. I got alot of feedback from other drivers definitly going to return.

 

Very cool. I would have like to have seen the difference with your suspension setup. Too bad you didn't make it today

 

Yeah I got that alot too in the beginning, the car is large but with some serious work to the chasis, this car can handle pretty good, we won't be a porsche but we can hang with the miata's and the likes. I'm going to keep doing it with the Max for now and don't see me stopping any time in the near future.

Look for my vids this summer with a proper camera mount.

 

i have an RC (radio control) set up guide that will work with a real car too, i will show it to u. Like Irish said, softer fronts by going down on pressure in the front, or up on pressure in the rear, achieves the same thing. exactly like my 1/10 scale touring car.

 

I had 40 psi all around. couple of guys suggested 42 in the rear and 38 up front. Next time.

 

i actually gotta try this...it looks fun lol

 

Nice vid. I've been saying I've wanted to auto-x since 2006... so now I'm saying maybe spring 2009.

 

Your daughter's pretty good with the camera. Nice shots. Make sure you shut it down after the finish line. Looks like you wanted to take back to back runs!

P.S. Tires and suspension can really help w/o sacrificing classing changes w chassis bracing. I've still got various good autox tires available cheap...
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...els-tires.html

 

wow, I've wanted to autox for sooo long, I really got get to that, looks like so much fun.

 

so whats ya next move brudda