Newest SC Autocross vids

Mercutio

SCCoA Member
This year the SCCA has a new class called CAM: Classic American Muscle. The idea was to create a class for the pro touring guys to come play with their muscle cars, but they forgot or decided not to put a year-of-manufacture cap on it. Basically, if you have an American car over 3,000 pounds and with 200+ treadwear tires, you can run in CAM. Want to run a 2015 Z06 with twin turbos? Sure, have at it. The rules are very, very loose.

Anyway, I was all over the place on my first run, since I wasn't really sure how much grip I'd have--I haven't autocrossed this car on street tires since maybe 08. That run isn't worth watching, but my second run was interesting--gave the car a little too much gas in the short slalom.


I can only upload one vid per post, so: to be continued.
 
The phrase "go slower to go faster" is really true with a heavy, powerful car on street tires. It's extremely easy to overdrive, trying to take too much speed into a corner and going too deep. My third run was okay, but nothing special. My fourth run would have been my fastest, a 45.478, but I was sloppy and hit a pair of cones. No real excuse here: I should have missed them, could have missed them, and I just didn't.

 
My fastest clean run was my fifth, a 46.141. Remember what I said about overdriving the car? I got greedy and took too much speed into that last sweeper, killing my corner exit and blowing what should have been a 45.xxx.


My last run was slower thanks to trying too hard, spending a lot of time sideways, and also nailing a pair of cones.

Can't say I was surprised to finish 11/12 in our Pro class today. We have some good drivers in some very well-prepped cars. I'm not sure I can beat some of them in any car, and I knew I wouldn't have a chance in this one. Losing is never fun, but since my choice was to lose in my MR2 or lose in my SC, I decided to lose in the car that's more fun to drive. Also, the crowd really likes this car. Got a lot of compliments from owners of all kinds of different cars, and I had passengers on probably 4 of 6 rides, including my would-have-been fastest.

If you haven't autocrossed your SC, find your local SCCA chapter and just go have some fun.
 
Cool vids! It's nice to see another guy auto crossing their Super Coupe. I autocross mine and it's a blast. What wheels and tires are you running?
 
Back when I was racing this car more seriously, I ran 275/40-17 Hoosier A6s on 17x9 95 Cobra R wheels. I wore out the Ho-Hos, so this time I was just on 255/45 F1-GSD3 Goodyears on 17x9 Anniversary Cobra wheels.

I'll need to replace those tires too at some point. If I stick with the same size, I'll probably get the Continental Extreme Contact DW--it's not great, but there aren't many good 17" tires out there taller than a 245/45 or 275/40. I'm sort of considering trying the 285/40 Kumho Ecsta XS, but that would be pretty pinched on a 9-inch wide wheel.
 
Cool stuff! I've always wanted to try Auto Cross but wasnt sure the auto would be the best for it. I could always take my 99 cobra i'm sure it would be fun :)
 
Cool stuff! I've always wanted to try Auto Cross but wasnt sure the auto would be the best for it. I could always take my 99 cobra i'm sure it would be fun :)

My Thunderbird is an auto with the stock rear end gears and it works great for autocross. First gear tops out at 47mph so I just leave it in first gear when autocrossing.
 
Auto isn't ideal, but it will work. If you don't want to leave it in first, you can just launch in first, shift to second and leave it there, relying on torque to get you out of the slower corners.
 
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