(05LGT's current racekar... and the former relic)
Wow, go Cole! Top 10!
Thanks Jelly!
I'm pretty surprised and excited about my results, considering it's my first time driving this car at an autocross event,
Before I went to Fort Macleod last weekend, I was reading through one of GrantC's earlier posts in his S2000 thread... specifically his thoughts from after he attended his first Autocross event in it. I think I have to agree with him on most (if not all) of his points)
1) "It turns".
It turns so well, in fact, that the wife (my codriver) killed every cone in her first slalom with it, by turning into them and running them over. Even coming from a coilovered/swaybared/prepped Subaru this is on another level. It grips (thanks to the double-wishbone suspension, as opposed to the mac strut in a Subaru) enough to make you wonder, and when it does slide (which the wife did a lot) it's very, very catchable & controllable. There's still more adjustment available on the FSB to stiffen the front further & tame the rear end more, but I don't know if I'll go for it.
A lot of this is due to the tire to weight ratio. If you want to bench race for auto-x... You don't just look at power/weight ratio, or power. I think tire/weight ratio is a good indicator. This car has more tire (255 x 4) and less weight (~190kg less based on my trips to the weigh scales).
2) "If you get on the gas, it turns more"
In a Subaru, you get to the apex, you roll onto the gas, and you deal with the understeer pushing you to the outside of the corner & widening your line. In this RWD, I get on the gas, and it starts to rotate. It turns more! You can turn a RWD car with not only the steering wheel, but also that good ol' right foot of yours.
3) The powerband.
Yes, it doesn't have the torque that Soobie did (it's ~ 1/2 as much, despite making a similar ~200whp). But it revs to 9k RPM (which, BTW, the wife launched at). It accelerates in a way perfect for auto-x/track. It feels fast, but it's controllable & 100% predictable. On an N/A car, xRPM & ythrottle = zHP... It's repeatable, it's consistant, and it doesn't matter what gear you're in, or what the temperature is, or what your throttle position had been for the couple moments previous. (hint, it does matter for all these things, and more, in a Turbo car)
4) It will punish you if you're ham fisted (or footed)
I did not spin it, I went through some parts of the course crossed up or sideways but I was not the first to spin it. That honor goes to Any, and even then she had caught the initial slide, but failed to unwind the steering. So the pendulum effect as it came back again spun us.
This car is only going to make me quicker, it's like a kart, it's like the formula cars with Allen Berg. It will do exactly what you ask for, so be careful what inputs you give it.
At autocross, the S2K genuinely feels like one of the go-karts at speeders. Any sharp inputs with the steering and the throttle will upset the car, but the turn-in is so responsive it feels more like a go-kart than a street-legal roadster, and if you are able to drive the car smoothly then it will really reward you.
I had no idea what a sissies car either of my subies were untill i drove this thing
Some pics of the event taken by Rejio at the event:
