Been auto-xing my 03 Mini in STX and then SM since 2003. Had lots of fun, but competition is really tough in those classes.

Picked up my new R56 6 weeks ago and auto-xed in April, finished 3rd on stock wheels and tires. We have 2 street tire classes here where you run with a pax factor. Bought some lightweight 16"s and Falken Azenis R615's 215/45-16 and finished 1st.

Really liking the LSD, my 03 didn't have it. I had all the usual suspension mods on the 03 and am now enjoying the stock ride. The car is fast and very controllable at it's limits.

Results: http://www.azsolo.com/results.html

 

Azenis rule! You've got some serious ground clearance!

 

Congrats on your results.

I think the rear clearance is enhanced by some weight shift during braking.

What air pressures front and back are you using???

 

I drove Keith's R56 Saturday during a practice event. Both our cars were on Kumho V710 race tires, but my car had shocks, alignment, sway bar, etc... for G-stock prep. His car only had tires. (same size as mine)

The car's were similar, but the R56 had a bit more power and MUCH better brakes. My car rotated better (maybe too much).

Keith finished the Sunday event about 4 tenth ahead of me. (I don't have the actual results yet)

I bought the wrong car, but I still plan to enjoy it the rest of the season.

 

I'm running 42 front and 32 rear. I have maximized negative camber in the front with the slotted strut mounts and minimized in the rear with the adjusting cam bolt.

Ran again this Sunday, finished 2nd just a tick behind a Audi TT.

I also had a friend who after racing his 07 R56, drove his wifes 06 JCW with coilovers, rear sway, camber plates and could not beat his R56 time! Both on street tires, but the R56 had Falken 615s and JCW had Falken ZE-512

 

My wife and i raced our 07' R56 for the first time this past weekend at the Nat tour in Houston(previous 05' MCS owners w/no LSD), We ran our Rota's w/ V710's( 40 runs before event), put the harness in Saturday morning, no alingment or camber adj. etc.
We ran close to standard pressures of 45 fr. and 48 rr. ASC off, Sport button on, car felt pretty close to neutral, slight push out of tight turns, tail hanging out a little in fast sweepers.I had slight wheelspin coming out of 1 turn that basically fell away from you after the apex, and we never had a problem with the ASC kicking back in as some have had.
Power definitly comes in quicker.....probably should have shifted to 3rd. at the finish as i ran out of revs or gear. Long tracks may require some gear changes.
Saturday i led by .054 over Ron Bauer from the show Setup on SPEED, in Beth Strelniks car (05 or 06 MCS), Sunday he nipped me by .1 and i ended up .044 behind him.
Really happy with the car, looking forward to tweaking it, and getting some new tires, hopefully my 05' Koni's will fit.

 

Tires can make a huge difference. ZE-512 are pedestrian street tires for your daily commute built for comfort and long wear. ST-615 are Max Performance tires built for autocross and other high performance driving.

Swap the tires between the R56 and the JCW and you will see the difference.

Sometimes after the autocross I will take off the R compounds (V710s with race wheels) and put on some stock street wheels with street rubber. Usually I can't get within about 2 seconds of my best time but sometimes if I've learned enough I can get pretty darn close with some additional practice (experience driving the course).

 

Don't know about "pedestrian", but the Ziex is an ALL SEASON tire with a very hard compound.

Ziex 512: UTOG=360
Azenis RT615: UTOG=200

That is going to make a HUGE difference.

P.S. I heart my Azenis.

 

OK, Pedestrian was not fair for the Falken Ziex Ze 512 $62 19.8 lbs an Ultra High Performance All Season tire vs Falken Azenis Rt615 $110 22.5 lbs Max Performance Summer tire. Both for 215/45-17 size.

The Ze 512 is a good value and general all around good tire but it's not an autocross tire. Using for autocross would wear out the tread extra fast especially if you have stock alignment and minimal front negative camber.

 

I can confirm this!! I'm on my 2nd set of 512's and they are a great bang for your buck tire for daily driving. Not bad for an occasional autocross, but it wears VERY fast once you start driving'em hard. My 2nd set are never seeing an autocross again though. The RT-615's are the best street tire out there for autocrossing and wear much better than you might think for daily drivers. Of course, once you go R's you don't go back

 

I'm definately going to need to get my lazy butt out to the next auto-x and hit you up for a ride-along! I'm seriously considering getting rid of my (non-a/c equiped) CSP 88 CRX and the 01 silverado I tow it with (that doesn't fit into small Phoenix parking spaces too well) and replace them both w/ a MCS and would love to get a feel firsthand of how it handles.

 

Louie,
You are more than welcome to come out and ride along. I am not running the summer series in Phoenix because it's too hot. I am doing the Flagstaff series now. We will be back at Firebird for the fall series on Sept.16th. http://www.azsolo.com/schedule.html

 

Thanks for the offer, I might have to try to get up to flagstaff then as I'm hoping to have my mind made up by the time September rolls around.

If things go the way I'm thinking I'll place an order in Nov/Dec time frame. I plan to take the CRX to the next PHX event with a for sale sign in the window to gauge interest.

 

Congrats, let's just hope you can keep that friendly GS pax...

http://scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/07...solo-final.pdf

Check out the top of page 4.

 

I went back a few times

I get so sick of changing tires in the paddock, so the last 2 years, I've run HS on Azenis. I like it, just arrive, blow 'em up, run, deflate 'em, and go home. I do miss being a pax monster, but I don't miss it enough to switch back to the sticky tires just yet.

 

th3118,
Congratulations!
Billie

 

Out of curiosity, doesn't slotting the front struts bump you out of GS to STX.

 

You can't actually slot the strut tops (physically remove metal) until you get to SM or P. But you can take advantage of the existing slots on the R56.