Solo Season in Review.
As many of you know I have a sports car (A 2005 Lotus Elise so often seen in the background in shop photos) and I race autocross or SCCA Solo with it. The thing that was bit of a surprise to me is how many of the readers of this space are also car fans and some even race Solo. So………that said……….here is a quick review of my Solo race season.
The season started out a bit frustrating if I’m honest and while the car was quick I could never get comfortable in it. It seemed that I spent most of my time trying to keep the rear end of the car behind me and having to make constant small corrections to keep things in line – this is not the quickest way to drive. At the time I thought it was just the way that a rear engine car behaved and that I just didn’t know how to handle it. This was certainly partially true but it seemed like there was more going on. The issue was much more pronounced when I did faster courses and it felt like all I could do to keep the rear end behind me. This is not fun or fast.
At some point, about 4-5 events into the season I started to think it wasn’t just my driving technique but that it might be the car set up. I was doing a two day event in Helena, MT and day one had been very frustrating so at the beginning of day two I went against my own policy of only making one change at a time to the car set up and I changed everything in hopes of getting the car to be more stable at the limit and to have a higher limit. I adjusted both the front (much stiffer) and rear (softer) shocks, stiffened the front sway bar and added air pressure to the tires all round. And while the results weren’t perfect the car was MUCH better. The rear end stayed planted and the whole car felt more predictable and exploitable – and the limit was much higher. Subsequent events saw small tweaks of this set up and now the car handles very well on smaller, more technical courses as well as high speed courses.
With the set up changes made I was able to up my driving skills a notch and drive the car closer the it’s limit. It’s no doubt a positive feedback loop when it works right. The car is better so you can concentrate on driving it better which then points out a another small change that can be made to the set up which in turn will allow you to drive better………..and so on. This is extremely fun and rewarding in and of itself and when it also means getting better results it makes it all the more fun. The second half of the season really kicked ass.
I did 13 events in total this season – a good number considering how short the season can be here in the great frozen north. I managed to take 6 FTD’s (Fast Time of the Day) and 4 firsts in PAX. PAX is similar to a golf handicap and is a system set up so that one can compare the results of different types of cars on a level playing field. In other words PAX allows me to directly compare the results of my Lotus to cars with a more modest level of preparation (like a stock VW Golf) or more extreme levels of prep (like a highly modified 650 hp Corvette running on racing slicks) and makes it easier to compare the results of the drivers and not just the cars. As much as I like winning the FTD contest it’s the PAX award that I like the most.
Our final event of the season was on October 8th and it was cold and slippery in the morning but the sun eventually came out, the grip got much better and the event was really fun. And that was that. I think I may have learned more this season than in any season in the past 10 years. I learned about car set up, driving, and how my mind works. I love the learning part – there is nothing more rewarding for me. Now we are in transition to ski season. Now it can snow!
But as soon as the snow starts to get thin in the spring it will be back to bikes and cars. I look forward to it.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
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11 responses to “Solo Season in Review.”
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Do you do anything to prepare your car for winter storage?
I know little about cars and maintenance, but I thought there must be certain things done to a car like yours if it’s to sit idle in storage for a bunch of months.
What kind of mileage does your car get, or would it get, if it were a daily driver?
It only needs a few simple things – fresh oil, gas preservative, disconnect the battery and it’s good to go for a few months. I usually will be able to dive it a few times a winter when we get a bit of a break and the roads clear and that is a good time to keep everything moving and happy. So far it’s been a non-issue. And in the end it usually has to come off the road from late November to the middle of March or so. So not that long.
I often use the car as a daily driver and ironically I get better mileage in it that either of our ‘regular’ cars (a MINI Cooper S and VW Passat). If I drive it normally and keep the RPM’s down (it redlines at 8500 rpms) it will get 33-35 mpg around town. The beauty of a light car with a small engine.
Thanks for the questions.
Dave
That sounds like a pretty great season Dave. Hope you have a ton of snow this winter!
Cheers!
Jayme
Dave, cool story about your path to handling excellence. That reminds me: I have a specific question about my car that perhaps you can help with. I have a 2006 Miata with what Mazda terms a suspension package but while being somewhat firm rolls quite a bit to me. Quick transitions back and forth means the car is between rocking and settling a lot and I think upsets the car’s balance.
So the question is will a larger sway bar compromise suspension compliance? I’d like not to firm up the ride too much as it’s our primary car.
Thanks in advance,
Jim
Cool that you drive it to the track and it’s not a garage queen! Great season recap.
Hey,
Without knowing the particulars it’s hard to be sure (even when you know them it can be hard!) but I think you are on the right path.
You can reduce body roll three ways – spring rate, firmer damping, or a stiffer front bar –
Stiffer springs are a very good way to go if your current springs are on the softer side or if the car isn’t a daily driver. Depending on how much stiffer you go from where you are the ride could be about the same to much stiffer. If you go stiffer in springs you’ll need to up the damping to control that stiffer spring and keep the car from bouncing.
Firmer damping can be a great way to go. If you have adjustable damping I’d be wanting to adjust it for more rebound damping. This will help reduce roll without making the ride unduly harsh.
All that said I’m thinking the best way to go is with a stiffer front bar. It will have little effect on ride quality but can make the car roll much less and take a set much quicker. All good things. They usually cost a few hundred bucks and are easy to swap out – and back if you didn’t like it from some reason.
There are lots of aftermarket Miata companies out there and I’ll bet more than a few offer a front bar. I’d look into that. It can really make the car ‘pointy’ and precise. I love pointy.
Dave
A most excellent response, thanks. Pointy is where we want to go after all!
Very good.
If you can get an adjustable bar you can really fine tube things and find that ‘just right spot’ for how you use the car. If you set it too stiff it will understeer badly and then you can back it off from there.
Have fun!
Dave
Well, your comments make me think of more things: yes, I was thinking of an adjustable but is your recommendation to just go with the front sway for now and see how that goes or add also a rear? Sounds like you can tune the rear handling by adjusting the front…
You can do a pretty good job of balancing the the handling with the front bar. In some cases (for motor sport with sticky tires) a rear bar would be very helpful. Are you planning on competing with it? If not then I’d try just the stiffer front bar first and if you get too much understeer consider a rear bar.
dave
I’m too cheap to compete, even though I have a spare Miata just sitting! This wallowy, motion sickness stuff is for the birds though. I remember you’ve done a lot of thinking about suspension so this is like getting a quick master class. Many thanks again.