Autocross Fun - Still not driving it fast enough

[HealeyBN7]

Here is a video of one of my faster times.  Compared to others I am not slow, but I am still not pushing hard enough.  I guess a little more seat time will help.  The car is staying together nicely.  Nothing needed attending to during the sessions.  Just made some minor adjustments to the shocks and air pressure to keep the rear end from coming around. 

I thought I had the Webers just perfect, then it stalls at the end of the run.  Doesn't happen on the street, just under these conditions.   

http://youtu.be/NzaY1XuYKXY

Dean 

[BDA]

Nice run and nice car! 

I think the Zetec makes a lot of sense for an engine swap.

[Lotusjps]

Very cool to see!  Looks like a mini road course compared to the autocrosses I run.  Here's some vids from my last autocross: http://www.youtube.com/user/Europajps/videos  The lot was an old lumber yard and VERY rough.

[BDA]

Very cool! The telemetry was really especially nice. It looked like you spent a lot of time at 1G so you obviously aren't having any problem in the handling department and the engine sounds pretty strong! It looked like your speedo wasn't working, though! 

[Lotusjps]

You're correct, I don't have the speedo hooked up.  The way I have the shift linkage set up it's in the way of where the cable would go into the gear box.  I've looked for a 90 degree adapter but so far haven't found one.  Another option is using a CableX box which converts an electronic signal into cable movement.  http://www.corvetteclocks.com/index_files/Page1148.htm

[BDA]

If you are considering an electronic speedo and if you're interested in a stock look, I'd advise the Smiths electronic speedo (at http://www.gaugeguys.com/classic-gauges.html SN5234-04CB). They can replace the half-V bezel with a round one. To drive it, I chose the GPS adapter (http://www.gaugeguys.com/accessories.html Part# GPS-01). It is simple to hook up and program. Your solution is good too but it looks like Part# SEN-0-1-5 on the same page is a more elegant solution. (edit: It seems this adapter doesn't fit the tranny as I had assumed)

My tranny ate its speedo gears and that is the reason I went to the electronic speedo. After mine went, I heard several other Europa owners' trannies did the same thing. Of course if that happens to you, you'll still have to open up the tranny and clean out all the shards of plastic, but if you use the GPS adapter, you won't have to worry about trying to replace the speedo gears or finding another way to drive the speedo.

Just my $0.02.

[StrawberryCheesecake]

Here is a video of one of my faster times.  Compared to others I am not slow, but I am still not pushing hard enough.  I guess a little more seat time will help.  The car is staying together nicely.  Nothing needed attending to during the sessions.  Just made some minor adjustments to the shocks and air pressure to keep the rear end from coming around. 

I thought I had the Webers just perfect, then it stalls at the end of the run.  Doesn't happen on the street, just under these conditions.   

http://youtu.be/NzaY1XuYKXY

Dean

I don't know if you're pushing hard enough or not. The car certainly goes well and sounds great. Inspiration for my build!

[Lotusjps]

Here's a couple videos from the last autocross of the season.  Really bumpy lot, caught air multiple times (though still managed top time of the day).

http://youtu.be/9PU4yN5ZXpM

http://youtu.be/f_5QT-f1L6M

[BDA]

Congratulations of the FTD!!! 

My only other comment is that I wish the soundtrack wasn't so loud so I could hear more of your car!

[4129R]

I have done a fair bit of motor sport including two World Championship rallies, and driving a Group B rally car (Metro 6R4).

In the UK an Autocross is three laps around a very bumpy field.

That looks more like a sprint or nearly a slalom.

Looks great fun in a Europa. I take it you get understeer, and hardly ever oversteer.

I did a Club Lotus sprint in 1978 in my first TCS and got second FTD behind a much modified Elan Sprint.

Happy days !

[Lotusjps]

This event was shorter than normal.  Must events tend to be around 1 min, though this one they did two separate courses, one am and one pm, so they made it shorter to get everyone through (though we still got 5 runs at each).

The higher speed corners oversteer is definitely more of the challenge, it's only the slow ones that understeer, and I'm sure it's mostly caused from a heavy right foot.

Second top time was a 700+ hp corvette with more contact patch in one tire than all four of mine put together.

The music was mainly to cover up the annoying rattle the camera mount was making.