Saw one of these in person today

[Omega]

Not really familiar w/ the event but it sounds pretty awesome. I wish i could see some awesome cars up close. I must admit my ex-best friend sorta turned me in to a nissan fanboy. I think thats why i like it so much.

autocross (aka autoX) is a closed-course kind of motorsport.

the track we ran was .5mi long. It had 8 turns -- a short straight, left sweeper, right sweeper, chicane, right sweeper that tightened to the end, chicane, short straight, left sweeper, chicane and a tight to wide right sweeper.

Autocross is nice because you can run almost anything (ride height is the only real limit), and it's not as abusive on your car because you're out there for a minute or two tops. The highest time of the day on our course was like 57.xx. Shortest was laid down by this crazy time attack miata that did a 34.8x time. there were about 50 cars there (running, anyways, there was easily 75+ along the sidelines at lunch, when the grids were empty and the track wasn't being used) and maybe 7 of them got under 40 seconds.


AutoX is really cool, too, because it helps you to learn the limits of your car. I spent a LOT of time sideways today in a lot of different cars (mostly volvo 242s, though). When Noah was driving us home and we got sideways on the freeway (he wanted to hoon around a little bit), I wasn't worried at all because I know how his car handled out on the autoX course and so did he.

If anything, AutoX is fun to run in and helps you develop your skill as a driver on the cheap. It was $35 to register for one group (4 runs), maybe three minutes total of track time but in that time you learn a LOT.

Probably the most interesting run I got in on was a Mazdaspeed 3 with slicks. The first turn, the big sweeping left hander after most cars can get up to about 45-60 on that straight, we were going sideways. Not drifting. I mean like an honest to god, 90 degree slip angle. I look to my right out the window and that's the way we're moving....

Lets slow down a moment, for those who don't know what slip angle is.

Your car has an imaginary line running down it's length, lets say in the center for simplicity. Now there's a second line, the direction your car is moving. These lines intersect at the center point of your car. While you have grip, your slip angle is less than one or two degrees. While drifting, you might get up to 45-55 degrees if you're really pounding it. Our angle was 90. That means the way the car was pointing and the way the car as moving was a 90 degree difference.

Let us resume:

...Until the slicks gripped again and I banged my head (helmets were required, now I knew why) really hard against the headliner/door jamb/whatever. Which was interesting.


I used to be a Nissan fanboy and into Japanese cars in general, but now when I look into their engine bays, I see clutter. Pop the hood on a Volvo, even the 200hp+ ones we had (and keep in mind, that's 200hp with TONS of torque, and the two '83 Volvos we ran also had really stiff suspension) had simple engine bays with plenty of room.

[luciusad2004]

That sounds kinda cool. I'll have to look and see if there are any events in PA. I don't really know much about cars though. I like the idea that it's more about skill than your car's specs.

BTW: How was the ride in the Mazdaspeed 3 from an overall perspective? I just saw them online for the first time not to long ago and it looked like a fun little car.

As for European engine bays being more open, are they just like that or is it because of the amount of work that can be easily put in to them?

[The boy 4rm oz]

I spent the whole weekend looking at one lol. It was the cource car at the Adelaide Clipsal 500, there was also one you could go up and look at. I think it looks poretty nice but they are relying way to much on the computers/tech .The Australian ones are limited to 180Kmp/h but if you get them chipped they fly. Costs $150.00AUD and at stock it goes 0-100kmp/h in 3.8secs the Pagani Zonda costs 1.5mill ans does it in 3.7 lol, chipped the GTR is faster.

[Quakken]

As for European engine bays being more open, are they just like that or is it because of the amount of work that can be easily put in to them?

I think japanese cars are more "engineered," and sometimes tend to be smaller, meaning smaller and more packed engine bays.

On Autox, gearing is sometimes as important as power, and supercars aren't meant for autox. The miata is a perfect car for autox, because you can gear it so it's always in the powerband with a top speed of 110, and it will be quick due to its lightness. It couldn't touch the big "impressive" supercars on a full track or anything, but if you build a car for something then it will be very good at it. What are supercars geared to go at? 160 mph? Much more? They can't come close to that on a half mile track that consists almost entirely of turns. They're not built to be raced competitively on such a short chunk of asphalt. This is what's so interesting about AutoX. You CAN get an old miata, build it out a bit, and post amazingly quick times. More horsepower through a driveline that isn't built to go at ridiculously fast speeds will mean higher accelleration and more time in the powerband. And having a super torquey volvo engine can really only help with this.

The new GT-R's drive train is very interesting, indeed. It has two computer controlled clutches. It's definitely not a slushbox automatic, by any means. The transmission is pretty normal, if not for the clutch which you don't control. I still want one. It's like driving a video game, but I still want one.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I was under the impression that Nissan would be releasing a dedicated 6-speed "H" shift style manual variant in the near future, probably just rumors.

[Omega]

That sounds kinda cool. I'll have to look and see if there are any events in PA. I don't really know much about cars though. I like the idea that it's more about skill than your car's specs.

BTW: How was the ride in the Mazdaspeed 3 from an overall perspective? I just saw them online for the first time not to long ago and it looked like a fun little car.

As for European engine bays being more open, are they just like that or is it because of the amount of work that can be easily put in to them?

The MS3 was really quick when it had grip. Even with our little sideways bit and off the line it struggled, we posted a 41.something. turbo + suspension components on top of the 3's base package is a good thing.

I think japanese cars are more "engineered," and sometimes tend to be smaller, meaning smaller and more packed engine bays.

On Autox, gearing is sometimes as important as power, and supercars aren't meant for autox. The miata is a perfect car for autox, because you can gear it so it's always in the powerband with a top speed of 110, and it will be quick due to its lightness. It couldn't touch the big "impressive" supercars on a full track or anything, but if you build a car for something then it will be very good at it. What are supercars geared to go at? 160 mph? Much more? They can't come close to that on a half mile track that consists almost entirely of turns. They're not built to be raced competitively on such a short chunk of asphalt. This is what's so interesting about AutoX. You CAN get an old miata, build it out a bit, and post amazingly quick times. More horsepower through a driveline that isn't built to go at ridiculously fast speeds will mean higher accelleration and more time in the powerband. And having a super torquey volvo engine can really only help with this.

It depends on the course. The one we were running had big sweeping turns with plenty of room for mistakes, but it was also a drift course the day before. Some AutoX courses are set up for more straight-line with some big turns, some are really small and technical.

The reason being for Japanese cars being so small is a few reasons. First off, manufacturers are taxed on displacement. While Volvo can get away with putting out a 2.3l sohc n/a motor that puts down ~100hp, japanese carmakers would rather make that kind of power from a 1.3l dohc n/a, so they pay less tax on them.

Smaller cars means they can fit more of them on the road. Japan is a highly dense populated area. More cars = more sales = good.

Most people's strategy for the AutoX course we had was get it into second and hold it there. You should be able to run the course until the end in second. Most of the people that ended up trying to get into third around the last bend would miss the shift and it'd cost them time.

It's not so much the redblock itself as the turbo. I run a n/a redblock that I can rev the piss out of and go nowhere. But the Volvo Turbos make maybe 60hp more with a ton more torque.

The biggest part about an AutoX course is setting yourself up right. You can have a miata and run a **** time, and have a camaro (old one) and post a good time. I saw it happen. It's almost all about driver control. Suspension setup plays a decent role in it too, with power taking a back seat. If you can corner flat and really pull to the inside of the turns, you've got a huge advantage.

the Volvos, old ones anyways, are built the way they are (easy to repair, decent amount of room in the engine bay, very reliable) for a few reasons, I bet. Here's my theory.

1. Volvo's engineers were HUGE geeks and were given too much time to design the cars. Being Swedish (and therefore afraid of speed until about 1990), they just made the cars both redundant and less prone to failure by simplicity.

2. Because they're simple, they're easy to repair. Give the owner room in the engine bay and you can get people fixing their own car. In a country that doesn't have very high population density, this is good for the owner. If you're 50-100mi+ from the nearest dealership or repair shop, you're SOL if something complicated or hard to work on breaks.

It just so happens that when you put a turblow, some sticky rubber, stiff struts and a manual on a B23/B230 Redblock that it can go like stink, especially on an autocross course. Even when we have trouble getting power down, because we ran on street tyres. The cars were really tail-happy.