[Camaroguy22]

Hey what is up everyone in am new to the web site.

I need some help I live in Ohio and have a 2000 Camaro SS that I am starting to Autocross. I am new to the Autocross world as well an need some pointers. I am currently racing with a porsche club that holds there own events and I am a couple of seconds off there times. Could anyone tell me what upgrades I should start with to help me be more competitive?

[sgarnett]

Get a performance-oriented alignment. Assuming your car is stock, max out the negative camber (tires leaning toward the center of the car at the top, farther apart at the bottom), but keep it matched side to side. Then max out the caster to whatever you can get, again keeping it matched side-to-side. For now anyway, set the toe to zero. You will want to ask the alignment shop whether they will do custom specs first. Some will only align to the factory specs. If so, find another shop.

Assuming you are on street tires, set the front pressure to around 40 and the rear pressure to 30.

Attend an Evolution driving schoolas soon as you can. There's one coming up in Virginia if you can make it, or make a Halloween road trip to Florida. Otherwise, keep an eye on the schedule next spring for something closer. Meanwhile, ride along with some experienced drivers and have them ride along with you.

At this point, you could be in the fastest Porsche ever made and you would be several seconds behind. Seriously. What you need the most is seat time.

Later, the three biggest improvements you can make are the shocks, swaybars, and tires. Get a set of Koni shocks, a 35mm front swaybar, and unless you have a local street tire class you can run in (or possibly STU if your mods or lack thereof allow it), you'll eventually want race tires on a spare set of rims (they make horrible street tires).

There is disagreement on whether it is better to learn on race tires or street tires initially, because they handle different. However, once you go to race tires, life becomes a lot more expensive and complicated. For now, while others are spending their time swapping tires, spend your time walking the course as many times as possible in the morning. Walk it at least once with one of the experienced drivers, and at least once by yourself with as few people around as possible so you can see the course farther ahead without being distracted by conversation.

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Aug 5 2008, 12:04 PM