Porsche Club Autocross - July 8th

D_sensitized wrote: Here is a video of my fastest run...

I can see places where you could've got on the gas more, but yeah, I could also see/hear the problem your street tires were having trying retain their grip.

Motor sounds good though!

karnak wrote: Ya, Great day! i am late to the computer since i did break down on the way home. go figure.  i was putting thru a park zone really close to home and my outer CV joint unbolted itself from the hub and i had to have Colby push me home with the Formula. all fixed now. i will post a video soon.

Kinda funny, I am assuming that its the same as the VW's from the 70's, when I was much younger my sister and I were riding in my Dads VW Bus, the bolts came loose from the inner pot, I don't know if it was a screw driver or a pry bar, but he jammed something in the pot and braced it against the chassie essentially locking that side of the diff and we managed to drive the remaing mile or so home like that.  Fortunatly we were that close to home or I don't know what he would have done.  I think I was about 10 and my sister was 6. 

     Would have been a cool site to see a Fiero pushing a Porsche though.

How were the tires....are they dead now?...lol

Cheese wrote: I think Patrick will be pleased with how he ranked, despite losing to me again.

Not bad for an old man driving a 28 year old car with (less than) 90 HP. Too bad Tristan couldn't have been out there to witness the power of the mighty duke.

[EDIT] It just dawned on me that I'm exactly twice the age of this old Fiero!

Yes, I am rather pleased. I've always felt so constrained by the limitations of driving on street tires on the track. You'd think it would be the lack of HP with the 4-banger '84 that would be the most frustrating (it doesn't help, believe me!), but not being able to corner at any kind of speed has been the biggest handicap up 'til now.

I'm looking forward to Saturday to see if I can continue do this well with Brian's R888's still on my car.

Brian will be relieved to know that I've actually ordered some tires, so I won't be wearing his out over the rest of the summer.

I've got some 225/50/16 Kumho Ecsta XS tires on the way. I'll catch Colby yet!

Patrick do you still have the original control arm setup on that 84 or have they been updated to the 85.  GM did find an issue in the front of the 84 Fiero, something that altered the turning radius they made an improvement in 85 which can be retrofitted to the 84.  

  Even though, you are doing one hell of a job with that duke, congrats.  Side note, you are running the Isuzu, so be careful with sticky tires and 2nd gear, the 2nd gear in the Isuzu might as well be made of glass.  Running a semi sticky street tire 225/50/16 on my V8 with the Isuzu I would get 6 months, I would guess with track use even on a duke, probably only good for a couple years assuming you are shifting hard into 2nd. (face it you must be driving the living hell out of that car, which is a huge feather in your cap, but just be careful)

Capt Fiero wrote: Patrick do you still have the original control arm setup on that 84 or have they been updated to the 85.

I was originally going to update the lower control arms to the later design when Clynt and I cut the front springs, but I didn't have the replacement arms when we did the work. I should've changed them when Gary, Colby and I took the front end apart to cut the metal bump stops down, but again, I hadn't yet acquired the later control arms.

I believe the only advantage to the later style is a tighter turning radius, but yes, I could very well still do it.

Capt Fiero wrote: Side note, you are running the Isuzu, so be careful with sticky tires and 2nd gear... assuming you are shifting hard into 2nd.

Oh believe me, I run the duke as hard as I can on the track.  Right from the starting line I floor it in first gear and then slam it into 2nd as soon as the power begins to drop off. Once into 2nd gear, I'm either continuing to floor the accelerator or I'm jumping on the brakes. There aren't many places on the track that the throttle isn't either fully on or fully off.

Bassman wrote: Na, drive it the chit out of it, if your not breaking something, your not driving hard enough:)...lol

Exactly. The duke has been very resilient, despite my best efforts.

I suspect one reason my times are as close to Colby's as they are is that Colby is reluctant to "break" his one vehicle. Therefore he doesn't push it as hard on the track as I do mine. I don't want to break my car either, but if I do I have other ones I can drive.

As Gary has commented at the track... I drive it like I stole it.