So, INTERESTING weekend. There was a school/practice (sat school & sun practice) in So Cal.

SHORT VERSION:Although coilovers/brakes/better tires help a lot, there is A LOT to be learned from stock suspension... especially if you are still getting into racing.

I actually found out some of my shortcomings as a driver by going BACK to stock suspension and seeing where the better setup in my other car was basically "hiding" some of my mistakes and giving me a slower time - and me not being able to figure out why/where I was doing bad before.

The vert is actually pretty decent chassis wise. Not flexy @ all compared to coupe/fastback 240. I'm nowhere good enough to exploit the weight difference btwn coupe vs vert right now anyway.

LONG VERSION:As some of you may know, I've been doing autox since late last year, and in the 240 coupe (coilovers, most arms/rods, swaybars, zbrakes, etc w/ decent tires).

This time around, decided to take the ol' vert out for a spin. Learned a lot from running stock suspension, hahaha.

So the prep work done was putting on 17" rims w/ Kumho 712's (borrowed a buddy's), changed oil & bleed brakes & front cusco bar. Set tire pressures to an even 35 psi cold (got up to 36-37 hot) for slightly more grip than I normally run on my other set.

Class composed of basic run downs of course approach, slalom training, skid pad training, and then the actual course itself.

On the slaloms, the vert was bottoming out like crazy. Did it in about 16-17 seconds. Faster cars (elise, miatas, vettes) were getting it done in 14. Each time, I bottom out about 5-7 times. My instructor, Steve, took the car for one run - showed me what weight management and smooth lines were all about. MUCH less steering input bcs he did it way early and only sort of bottomed out the suspension one time!!! On his run, timing light was messed up, but it was more about the way he drove the car.

Skid pad, learned about throttle steering. Optimal speed for my car was 27mph around that huge donut. Let go of gas, got in closer, More gas - UNDERSTEER!

Course itself was simple but had nice areas you can speed - a couple slaloms, some gates, chicago boxes, etc. I was all over the place. Started @ 77seconds. Instructor drives the car - 70 seconds. Best I could manage between the 2 days was about 73.5.

Friend in the kouki kicked my *** (tanabe seven coilovers & kumho spt's) - she got down to 70.8 seconds, instructor got ~68.9, her bf rolled by, got low 68 in her car. That car should be 65-66 second car.

BoxsterS buddy in STS class was getting low 65's-66. Modded corvettes were getting 59-60's. Crazy blue miata got down to 57 (top time of the day, totally mod level car w/ super veteran driver).

I'm not fully using the track (not taking the right lines), turning too slow/too late (especially apparent w/ stock suspension), not managing weight correctly, etc. Getting better though. A lot of my problems I haven't previously seen when I was in green car bcs coilovers & brakes really covered them up (especially late braking and late turning). Those kumho's are plenty powerful for me. I only maxed them out at a couple places (long sweeper), but have so much more to improve on them @ other parts.

AMAZINGLY, the car was very rigid - chassis flex was not worse than the coupe at all, or vs the kouki or other 240's out there. Guess that extra nissan factory bracing makes a major difference. Understeer was present, but not unmanageable - not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The main problem right now is the driver & the suspension. I still have a few seconds left to improve in just stock car... who knew, haha. The open diff did get me fishtailing one time too, but I recovered after knocking down 5 cones - whereas the vlsd would have slid a little better.

It's actually not bad at all.

Acceleration is pretty damn good, but not as fast as I would like it to be.

Just thought I'd share w/ you guys, haha.

Very awesome, thanks for sharing your experience with us! I really enjoyed reading about it!

It's very common for ppl to forget the skills that can be learned from using the basics; basic car, basic skills.

-Dan

I was waiting to get some coilovers before headin to the track school, you are saying I best do the school before coilovers? There is a school madd close to me offerin classes soon

It all depends on the way you drive .

Fortunately for me, I've gone to 2 different schools, 1 w/ full suspension setup, 1 w/o. Regardless of car, you will learn. All I was trying to point out was that there is a lot to be had from ANY setup. Too many ppl seemed to be worried about "o, I have to have X, Y, and Z installed before I go race, etc."

The only thing I'd make sure is that you have at least some decent tires (i.e. no $20 all seasons), and you'll be great! I didn't learn as much as I wanted to from taking the stock sentra for a practice event because the tires were an extreme limiting factor (crazy mismatch that created a lot of understeer). Everything else is driver preference.

It was really funny because when I emailed my buddy about it, his reply was along the lines of:

"Congratulations, you just learned how to drive a stock car."

HAHAHAHAHA.

Thanks for the tips. I'll definately try my car, Current tires are barely used, I havent been home in a little over a year now. I got them before leaving for a "higher learning" Cant remember the brand, but they werent no 20 dollar all seasons

Perhaps when the time comes ill post on my experience