autocross advice

autocross advice

Hey guys! Are there any autocrossers in here? I need some advice on modding my car for better performance at the autocrosses. I went for the first time yesterday and boy did I suck. I had crappy tires on so I think that was it. Anyone know any good tire/rims setup for autocross? And suspension work. I had no grip at all on any corners, I was basically e-braking the entire course. For those of you out there that do autocross, you know how some cars tire screech at corners.... I was doing that the entire course. If i didn't ebrake I would hit every cone I think. The guy writing down the time at the end of the course said it looked and sounded like I was drifting the whole course.

So if anyone knows some good modding tips for autoX or even driving tips..that would be awesome. Thanks.

first advice...don't use the e-brake.

As for tires, I hear the falken Azenesis are probably the best for autocrossing. If you're going for speed and no looks, get the smallest rims you can.


Other mods, grab a strut bar and some springs.

hotchkis seems to make their springs setup for auto-x cuz they're stiffer in the back so more oversteer effect. plus their swaybars are adjustable. if you think the azenisis are expensive, u can try the yokohama es100 too. then get a TRD strut bar and TRD rear member brace if u wanna go all out

edit: accidentally posted same message twice and deleted it

what was ur time? and what class were u in?

I don’t want to sound like an expert but that’s what I do most of the time. I am in love with autoX. Here is my scoop on the whole thing. First of all corollas are kind of heavy and are not the best cars for autoX. From what I have seen MIATAS are very fast. But lets get back to corolla. First thing you got to do is to stop using e-brake. You’re wasting a lot of speed that way. Second, the best way to drive is to stay as close to the cones as possible. So if you have a 90-deegre turn it is much better to go slowly, tightly around it, then go fast with bigger radius. Corolla has a good torque, which will help you accelerate at the exit of the corner. Try not to use too much gas on tight corners, the more gas you use the slower you will accelerate at the exit. The best and the hardest technique is to use two feet driving technique. When you go through the corner you brake with your left foot and accelerate with the right. This will shift the weight to the front and give you more traction plus in some cases you can actually slide the rear to clear the corner. It is hard to learn. First try it with every day driving. Simply start breaking with your left foot. This will help you to feel the car better when you race.

Now about the mods. The best thing you can get is an LSD (limited slip differential). This will help you keep your speed through the corners. Then get new wheels. I use 205/40/17. Which seem to work very well. The rims are not to big so they are not heavy, the profile is low so it grips good on the corners, and the radius of them is smaller then the stock ones so the car accelerates faster. I have hotchkis springs sitting in my room but I didn’t put them on yet so I don’t know how much they will help. When you want to stiff up the whole car the set up that works the best is front strut bar and set of sway bars. Member brace and rear strut bars don’t help at all. I remember one more thing. It is good to set up your camber so the wheel will be on the angle. This will help you take the corners faster. It is important to have good tires like Nitto or Falken. I always roll on falkens and they are awesome.

The first question here is what class do you plan on driving in? That will tell you what parts you can and cannot change.

Thats right U should figure out what class u want to be racing in, Adding an LSD would Put in in STX which would be wrxs, evos, and other cars equipped with LSD,

On the first run take ur time to figure out the best lines for the next several runs, and the stock tires arent that bad, theyre great to learn how to drive better in preparation for better tires, stickier tires tend to cover up ur mistakes,

Here is the classification chart that could help u out in choosing the proper mods and finding out what class u will be in. http://www.buccaneerregion.org/forms/carclassification.pdf

Thanks for the advice and keep them coming....I plan on running in the STS class.

To: RexPelagi.... I ran in the STS class and my time was 1 minute 7 seconds. It was a fairly fast course. I saw the lowest times that day was 50 seconds. In my class the lowest time was around 1 minute.

Thanks for the chart white rabbit that really takes care of the guessing.

Where are you from?

huh i thought the rolla was in HS class?

The Matrix and Rolla are both STS if I'm not mistaken, that's what everyone is on MO that I've heard of :wink:

Any car falls into the ST class if it has aftermarket rubber/wheels/springs/rotors. Unless the car is primarily stock, (changing drop-in air filter is okay) it will fall into the ST class.

A subclass of the Stock class is H-Stock (where the Corolla falls) or known as HS.

If I were planning running a Corolla in the ST class, I'd opt for R-compound rubber. It's still DOT legal, but grips like glue!

So if im totally stock, im in HS then? how stiff would my competiton be if ive never done it b4?