new to the forums and a first time poster;

I started auto-xing this season (did some Mini and nasa events) and the bug really bit me, lookig at doing some g-stock racing next season and I want to try to be somewhat competetive. I already plan on picking up a set of 16x6.5 rota slipstreams and a set of hankook 215/45/16 rs-2's. the only other options I'm considering is a smaller front anitroll bar to ditch the understeer inherint in our cars and limit boiling the inside tire off corners. I've searched the forums here and haven't turned up much on this. My question is are there any manufacturers out there that makes a decent (possibly adjustible) front bar that's not stiffer than stock? any help on this would be great thanks in advance

Greg
04 BRG MCS

 

Greg,
Your profile isn't filled out so I am not sure where you live. Anyhow, unless you are running a street tire indexed class those tires won't do the job. Best tire out is the 215 Kumho V710.

 

I've read through a bunch of roll bar posts and it just makes my head spin. Even with the V710's I still end up spinning the front tires out of every corner, with considerable understeer...but looking at pics shows the car is really leaning in the turns. My other auto-x car (98 Corvette) did much better with a larger roll bar and stiffer shocks....then on here some people say use a smaller front and others say larger. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

sorry about that I forgot to fill that in (remedied now). I live in northern NJ and will probably be doing NNJ region SCCA and NASA-X northeast events next season. I'm looking at the Hankook's or falken azenis because I'm still new to auto-x and I'm not sure I'd see the benefits of a dot slick yet, that and I only have a budget for one set of tires and I don't want to be stuck if it rains at an event

 

In stock class autocross, you are obviously limited in what you can do. Ideally, you would use springs to dial in the car along with the shocks and swaybars, but since shocks and front swaybar is all that is allowed in Stock, that is all we have to work with. From what I understand, the front swaybar rule was implemented back when many cars didn't have front swaybars, so they allowed cars to add them (safety?). But you can't do anything to the rear swaybar. So if your car understeers, you would like to add a stiffer rear swaybar, but since you can't, you would make the front swaybar smaller, which would make the rear bar larger relative the the front. The bad thing is that you lose a little because you have to go with smaller bars and added roll, which will hurt you in transitions. However, you will keep that inside tire on the ground better in sweepers and should have less understeer. It's all about trade-offs and how you want your car to handle and feel.

Jake

 

Jake,

I hear ya on the springs. That's another avenue I was thinking about, see if there is a slightly softer stock spring (I've heard 05+ SS+ springs are slightly softer than 04 earlier springs, can anyone verify?) to give the front more bite; if I read the rules right I think this is legal. after looking around all I can find is a 16mm front bar from minimaina and possibly go with a non SS+ equipt cooper front bar or even a bar from a diesel Mini one. any other opinions out there?

 

You cannot change your springs. You must use the springs that came with your car, your year, your option package. The rules do say that you can change option packages, but not between years, and you have to do everything in that option package, except cosmetic things like paint. That's the reason you can't run the 16" wheels with the '06 JCW package.

 

You could try adjusting your tire pressures. If you go higher on the rear tires that should dial in some more oversteer, maybe try that in conjunction with the smaller mini bars from other models.

I never understood the fun of downgrading a car into a class.. why not tune your car to your driving style in a higher class and focus on driving technique (so many ways to make you quicker). I get slaughtered by some of the cars in my class, but i have a huge grin on my face everytime and part of that is setting up my car for my level of driving level. just my 2 cents.

phil.

 

The top 5 cars at Nationals last year (including my own) all ran Cooper non-sport pack front bars to get more rotation. The first time I ran with it I coned on the slalom since it didn't transition as quick, but after some getting used to I was much faster. Rumor has it H-stock cars like the MINI One front bar, but not sure how it would do in a Cooper S. Good luck.

 

I used the mini D from englands front sway on my HS last year. kept front tire from cooking and almost rotated to quick. I plan on using the cooper front sway on my S this year. I seen the 13mm D bar on MiniMania.com