Auto-X...How does the alti hold up?

[rcboy514]

Thinking about trying auto-x for the first time this spring/summer.

Let me know your thoughts and feel free to offer any advice to a total newb. I have a few questions

Would a DOT approved motorcycle helmet work?

My coupe is cvt, should I keep it in D or try manual mode?

How did you stack up to the competition? The closest local auto-x I've been researching has a lot of pictures of the cars on their website. There were some late eighties early 90's Z cars, quite a few miatas of different years, some older 911's and 944's, couple old and new stangs, seems like it could be pretty competitive with my car, but I'm new to this


Any info and advice is appreciated!

[dldjros69]

Its not the arrow. Its the indian!!!! Good luck

[QR25DE]

The best things you can do to get it ready are:

1. Suspension mods: RSB, Lowering Springs.
2. Stock or Light Weight smaller rims and a sticky tire.

Honestly you may find it difficult to track it with the auto trans. You might experience some understeer though because of it being FWD. It was never really designed for this action unlike the other cars you have listed.

The car in stock format will have a LOT of body roll when trying to go through the turns. Lowering the car and putting on the RSB will eliminate a lot of this, even more if you have coil overs.

It will be fun regardless though

[rcboy514]

yeah I've got the bases covered minus the coils. There were quite a few civics and Carollas so I cant possibly do worse than them lol

I'm lowered, lightweight nismos, STB,RSB. Would the spare have any effect at all?

[QR25DE]

Spare tire not too much, it doesn't weight that much. Just keep in mind the car is heavier at the front than the back. If you're going fast and turn you may get some understeer. Should be all good though.

The civics and corollas may not have the same amount of power, but they are in a different class than the Altima. A sentra would be in the same class as those cars.

The Altima (just an assumption as I am too lazy to look up weights lol) probably weighs more than a civic or a corolla. Depending on model year. I'm assuming those models would be from the late 90s, particuallary the civics from that era with swapped motors or being boosted.

More details go! haha. Have a track layout or anything?

[rcboy514]

No track layout, they change it at every meet, but from what I can tell from past meets via youtube vids, they tend to make them pretty technical.

Also I'm def not doing it to competitively compete, strictly fun only so I'm not worried about breaking any record or impressing anyone. I have noticed though that out of the fwd cars i've driven, my car has the least amount of understeer and torque steer that I've ever experienced. A lot of reviews of the car I watched back before I bought mine, brought attention to this fact also, and that was with the car in stock form.

I have a friend with an 02 GT on coils and 10 inch wide tires and I took him for a drive on a really curvy road around a local lake and he said he has never been in a car that handled so well. Granted the his stang is prolly a little heavier, but I really like the way my car handles.

[AviBen]

I'm doing autocross in April, as well (training weekend through SCCA) -- I have the same attitude you do, I'm not there to beat anybody, just to have fun. My understanding is it's all about steering, braking and acceleration -- I'll just put the CVT in sport drive mode (Ds) so it downshifts quicker to accelerate and see if I need to do more than that. I took my AC on a track last August (an SCCA Training PDX at Autobahn CC near Joliet, IL) -- lots of fun, the car can take it. My biggest issue, I think, is going to be whether my tires and brakes will stand up to another beating on the track -- they did fine before but now they've got 16,000+ miles on them. I'm thinking of upgrading the brakes -- any suggestions out there?

[rcboy514]

im jealous lol 08's don't have Ds mode. :-(

Did it wear your tires down bad?

[AviBen]

In answer to your question, the driving in August didn't hurt the tires too much, since it was a 2+ mile road course and the actual racing time was only about 40 minutes in two 20-minutes stints (shortened by rain and lightning).

[LongBeachCoupe]

I drive autocross anytime i get the chance with the AC...
Been to several SCCA events...
Check my youtube vids with the gopro
this one i made fancy lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PeQbmT2yUY