some pics from a little while back with capital driving club in md. did horrible....course was absolutely tiny....

 

Dam, what suspension setup are you on?

 

this is from two weeks ago. got third in class. stx tire class.

 

racingline fstb, f&r endlinks and springs. stock struts...=/ BC coilovers are next in line and kcmax' rsb is on the way

 

Jeez your roll center must have be dragging the ground.

 

nice stuff.

 

Looks like a lot of fun. Some sway-bar upgrades might be helpful. I was thinking of trying auto-X at Maxus this year. At least i'd be up against cars with similar disadvantages.
Did they class you with the Subie and the Neon in the pictures?

 

Jesus....for all that lowness, you still have mad roll wtf?

BTW, how did you run "STX" with CDC? I've run with CDC for years and they've always used a "handicap" system rather than SCCA-style classes.. Or have they changed it?

bryan163 - STi would be running STU at very minimum. Choi, how is your car an STX car anyhow - aren't your wheels/tires wide enough to bump you to STU as well?

I ran an event at Bowie (that same lot) last month. CDC doesn't use the lower section of the lot (I ran with BMWCCA, who did), so yeah, it's a pretty small lot.

 

The 2WD STX wheel/tire allowances are fairly generous at 265mm tires on 9" wheels; although a wider wheel would be beneficial.

 

was that a recent change? I could have sworn when I was running the maxima in STU a few years ago it was because my 8" wide wheels were not STX-legal (max 7.5")....

 

STX sounds like a regional class vs. national specs.

That car is WAAAY too low. raise it up an inch or two and put some better springs (and shocks) on it and it will handle way better.

 

haha i'm still pretty new at this so i am not sure how to properly answer your question. my buddy who got me into this told me that i am to be in stx class...so i run stx. the guys at tech never asked questions and agreed that i was stx so

btw cdc was my least favorite people to drive with so far.

 

yikes. i am running 7.5 and 8" wide wheels in those pictures. those are the track tires that i use not my se'r wheels. but if what you're saying is true....then i'd rather not be in stu...haha

 

It's a SCCA national class, and has been for many years. There are several national street tire (touring; ST*) classes: ST, STS, STX, STU, and STR (provisional).

It's been a few years. Current ST* tire & wheel rules:

14.3 TIRES
Tires must meet the eligibility requirements of the Stock category (excluding 13.3.F), with the following additional restrictions:
A. Tires may have section widths up to and including the following:
ST, STS, STR (AWD) – 225 mm
STX (AWD), STU (AWD) – 245 mm
STR (2WD) – 255 mm
STX (2WD) – 265 mm
STU (2WD) – 285 mm
B. Tires must have a minimum UTQG treadwear rating of 140.

14.4 WHEELS
Any wheels are allowed with widths up to the following:
ST, STS, STR (AWD) – 7.5”
STX (AWD) – 8.0”
STX (2WD), STR (2WD) – 9.0”
STU – unlimited

EDIT: rule book: http://scca.com/documents/Solo_Rules...solo_rules.pdf

 

lol, you know who Matt is, right? He's been autocrossing for like 2 decades....

I think he means that the "STX" at CDC events may be a local classing with different specs from SCCA "STX" class - CDC is not SCCA-affiliated.


yes, I already looked at the rulebook. I last ran STU in the Maxima about 4-5 years ago....the last few years I had it I was in DSP and then EP. ONce I left STU, I didn't care much what they did with the class. That is, until I got the WRX, where I"m once again in STU

 

I don't know him, and didn't interpret his statement as you did since the Altima does meet the SCCA national ruleset. I also don't know the CDC, but there are many local clubs which are not affiliated with the SCCA, but run their classing structure.

I don't think the STU AWD wheel/tire allowance has changed since the class's inception. Although I fairly certain they have given the STX/U 2WD guys more to increase their competitiveness.

Out of curiosity, what put your Maxima in STU?

 

and a vid of my best run...some language....

 

The commentary is hilarious. Is your passenger doing a WRC co-driver impression? Left...left hard...right...punch it...

 

hahah yeah pretty much. he does a good job though, no?

 

That's basically my point. Many regions (and car clubs like PCA, BMWCCA, etc) will have different classing schemes- I wasn't sure exactly what ruleset you were using.

In addition to the nat'l ST classes, Houston also has their own regional STA-STF classes. http://houscca.com/solo/solorules.php
3-4-5-6-7 years ago, Houston region also ran STU & STO which was a pretty much "anything goes as long as you're on street tires" class. it was quite fun.

I also haven't autoXd in several years. I quit running in STX years ago (which was a brand new class when I started and offered regional only points at the time.) in favor of SM, and ran there until I quit autoXing to save my play money for road course events.

Also keep in mind that the chief steward (or classing/tech steward if your region has one) may also elect to bump a car down in class or allow certain mods on a certain car on a case-by-case basis to allow a n00b driver to compete in a lower class so as not to be whooped by the big boys.

i.e. when I first started 10-12 yrs ago, the local steward put me in STS even with full subframe connectors, BBK, 8" wide wheels, and engine mods because I was in a heavy FWD Maxima that didn't stand a chance of even placing in STX or SM since the current STX nat'l champion and his co-driver lived in our region and double-entered in STX and SM.

So I ran in STS for 2-3 events until I was beating most of them and then moved to STX, which I was still over-modded for. finished a season there and went to my proper place in SM (yeah, in a Maxima) so as not to interfere with the local STS and STX drivers who were racing for points to go to nats, even though the local region would still allow me to run in a lower class.

 

Like I said, I thought at the time it was the wheels/tires width I was running. But that was a while ago and I don't much remember....and I only ran 2 STU events before I started jumping around between DSP, SM, and EP depending on what the "featured mod of the month" was with my car, lol....

 

looking good Choiii

 

Choi, if you're in this area, you should come out to the NCC autocross up at Summit Point next month. Should be a couple org guys there at least...

 

lowwwwwwwwwwwww

sick pics

 

was this done by the baysox staduim in Bowie???

 

yes.

 

Whoa lol it looks like its 1" off the ground there Chris! Nice job running autocross

 

Stock struts, explains alot. Body roll like **** even than low, 3rd pic, rear qt pnl.

 

so much body roll haha

 

word? alright i'll think about it. not lookign to go too far though...where's summit point?

 

Almost pissed in my pants listening to that; then the wipers to top it off! I wonder if that's how most co-drivers/instructors really sound to the drivers though - punch it. brake. turn. punch it. turn. sorry brake. turn. turn earlier. punch it. no I mean really punch it. no not now. brake brake....

 

Struts have no effect on static body roll.

 

Summit Point Raceway - they have an autocross area as well....Google maps it...it's about a hour from me in Fairfax County, out toward the panhandle of Md.

 

But they determine how quickly it rolls to that point. When driving around a parking lot, the turns are sharp and short so sometimes there's no time to roll that far with good shocks.

 

^^^ What he said.

the Koni Reds at full stiff have a tendency to 'jack down' the car during slaloms so by the end you're riding on the bumpstops.
they compress easily/quickly, but they don't extend very fast. during a slalom, you just keep mashing down each side, but the car doesn't have enough inside corner spring to counter body roll + compressed struts, so it never fully picks up again before you're turning the other way and mashing it back down again.

 

You're both correct.

Dampers can effect roll rate, but not steady state roll. It is important to note that very rarely does one experience steady state roll during an autocross, the elements are usually too transition intensive.

 

Are those wheels on the Altima the OEM ones? They look thinner than the stock SE-R wheel.

 

I like the video. I have always wanted to do that but Im just scared to brake the car.

 

The chances of breaking are slim for a mildly prepared car. Gotta try it once to appreciate it!

 

I broke more in 5 trips to the drag strip than I did in 4 years of AutoXing.
I'd say the same for road course, but I've been breaking a lot of stuff there recently.. but that's due to me trying to push my limits and going past them at 110mph...
(You never get over about 60mph at an autoX, and the only thing there to hit are little orange cones....)

the worst you're going to do at an auto X is wear down your tires and maybe put a few cone marks on your front bumper.