The local Autocross guys are holding a drivers school again this year and this time I'll make it. The event consist of class Friday night, school Saturday and actual runs Sunday. I entered myself in STX based on what I have on my car. Though, being a student, I'm not sure if they will actually put us in classes or just let us all run against the clock as a whole.

The question I have is about my swaybar. I have the H-sport Comp bar set on the softest setting. I'm comfortable and familiar with how the car reacts on this setting. I know going stiffer would be better for autocross but at this point should I keep it with the setting I have? I'm considering keeping it there only because I'm not sure if it will be a good idea going into this with a new setting. What's the advice here on whether I should keep it the same or go stiffer before the school in a few days? When I say stiffer, I only mean the middle setting. Not the stiffest.

I'll also be putting my stock 16"s on with Yoko es100's

 

It would seem like the best possible time to me, to go stiffer.

 

You should set the way you are going to race it. Driver schools will give you lots of runs. Take advantage of it and learn you limits.

Caveat: All cars don't set up the same. Grip varies greatly depending on surface, tires, other suspension settings, etc.... What is good for one MINI is not the same for all. Experiment at Test & Tunes and driving schools when the clock is costing you less.

 

Thanks. Thinking about it. I guess this would be the perfect time to move up to see if it may be better. If I can't handle it with less understeer and mess up. I'm in a parking lot, not the street. I should be able to adjust it within 10 minutes while there so I'll experiment.

 

I had a blast this weekend plus I learned a lot. Even working the course was fun even though it was 50 degrees and very windy.

Saturday they had us go through several events. Driving in a small peanut shaped course. A 180 degree course which resembled an oval in NASCAR. A lane change where we were running about 45mph and were signaled which way to turn without hitting the cones. And my favorite. A skid pad. And the mandatory slalom. I have a total of 4 cone marks on the MINI from this weekend.

Sunday I got there early to walk the course. Unfortunately our group was first up to work the course. This ran about 2 hours with another 2 hours rest before our run. So about 4 hours after walking and learning the course. We were up. I hosed my first run with dnf because I forgot one section from the earlier walk. My second run I ran 6 seconds better but hit a cone. Finally my last run was up. I was able to pull off my best time of the day and made it without hitting any cones for a good run.

With the swaybar set to the middle setting helped me a lot this weekend. I was nervous at first about it but soon realized how much you can control the car with the throttle. Thanks for the advice.

I know all courses are different but here are the results of the timed runs Sunday. Final best time and Pax times. STX #6, Steve Banks. There were 4 in my class and I finished 3rd by a very small margin.

Final Raw Times. Pax Final Results. Final Results.

I may get out there and do a few runs this year on occassion to learn some more and see if I may actually want to start getting into this. If I do. I'll not stick with the pulley so I can keep with STX class. After having the swaybar on for so long. I can't live without it so I can't run GS.