Auto-X Events
 

I have been searching for a while for upcoming autocross events in Socal but I haven't found much useful information or any events until next season. Does anyone know of any auto-x races this year in Socal?

Thanks in advance.

Check MotorsportReg.com, they have a few events listed in your area.

That site is amazing, thanks Chris! I was searching the SCCA site all night and could not find a way to bring up local events on their site, the link you provided is perfect. Solo is autocross right?

Yep, solo is auto-cross.

The motorsportreg.com site has been a great thing, it only started a few years ago but now most all of the local clubs put there events there so people can find them, otherwise people would have no clue about half the clubs out there. It makes the payment process a lot simpler as well.

No kidding, it really does. I would not have ever been able to find 75% of those events it has listed. I need to get a helmet now I think, I know that I can probably find loaners at the events but I want to participate in a bunch so it probably will be a good investment. I really want to learn the true limits of the car in a more controlled environment, I figured I would start with autocross and then move up to track work once I get some driving experience and get my brakes up to par.

I have a feeling my open differential will be a huge disadvantage though!

Note that you will need a SA2005 or higher rated helmet for most clubs, a few allow M rated helmets but not many. The SA2010 helmets are just starting to come out but will be a premium, look for discounts on SA2005 helmets to start. SA2005 helmets are good until the end of 2014.

I recommend open face for auto-cross for maximum visibility and relatively low speeds. People like full-face for track. I would go for a cheap SA2005 open face now and then grab a SA2010 full face when you start getting into track and the helmets are more available.

The open diff will hurt but not as much as you might think. It will mostly be on the hard long corners where the car is heavily loaded in one direction and then you try to get power down on exit.

I was thinking about the cheap open face Pyrotect helmet as a way to start off, especially because I don't know how much I will actually be tracking/autocrossing the car. Good point on the diff, I feel like it really hampers corner exit speed on slow tight corners but I read some of your advice in other threads and will concentrate on myself to become a better driver before looking at hardware.

The open face Pyrotect is what I use for auto-x, fits the bill. It's relatively light so your head doesn't feel too weighted down.

With the open diff (or even the VLSD for that matter as it sucks) you have to experiment a little. Rather than being slow in fast out, you can increase entry speed a little and as you start to turn in you give a small throttle lift to get the rear to step out just enough so that you can zero steer (turn the wheel back to center while the car is still rotating). As the car starts to settle down and you've got it pointing towards the next gate you can start to squeeze back on the power without too much wheel spin. It's not easy to do but it is rewarding when you get it right.

That is something I will try to work on. I have been working on getting the back to rotate a bit more mid corner since I would either go slow or I would go into a turn a bit too fast and get some understeer. My issue has been that I feel like the car is pushing a bit even if I keep my speed up through a corner but maybe I am not feeding in enough throttle at the corner exit as well.

I was also thinking about a performance driving school next summer potentially as it would be awesome to get some in car driving advice.

Look for a auto-x school. The BMW club runs one and there is a fancy one called Evolution Performance Driving School that runs once a year in each area. They can really help you with a lot of the fundamentals and even some of the more advanced stuff.

In stock form the car does tend to understeer a lot. On street tires you will find that you have to keep some brake applied as you turn in to keep the front end loaded, especially with stiffer sway bars. I eliminated most all of the understeer by increasing camber. As you are already out of stock class that might be the way to go.

Stock car not turning is an under-statement

I figured I could play with the settings in the rear sway bars if it pushes too much, I hope the Swift springs I have on order (stiffer rate in the rear than the front, f/r are stiffer than stock) will help that as well. Thanks for the recommendation on the driving school, it is definately a worthwhile investment since I want to be able to get the most out of the Z and while I am learning as I drive it more, it can't beat having an expert give you pointers!

Just be careful about how stiff you set the rear bar, you don't want to be wasting time spinning the inner rear off the corner

The front Stillen bar is 28.6% stiffer than stock while the rear is 37% stiffer (hole 1) and 70% stiffer on hole 2. I am holding off on the stiffer setting until I am more comfortable with oversteer, the joys of my first RWD car!

The problem with adding really stiff sway bars to stock suspension is that you get the joys of understeer and oversteer at the same time, occasionally in the same corner. The Stillen sway bars are pretty mild so I don't expect them to cause any real problems, increasing overall spring rate a little will help as well but then you will probably be kicking yourself for not just going with coilovers with adjustable damping.

What is the spring rate on the Swift springs?