autocrossing

[radibob]

thinking of autocrossing a stock sprite. what would be the best and essential mods i should make, just to have fun and not embarass myself

 

[jlaird]

Nothing, just up the air pressure in the tires about 3 lbs each from stock.

 

[Hedgehog]

When I autocrossed a stock Spridget I upgraded the front swaybar and added a rear one to help keep the drive wheel to the ground. That was before I went to a limited slip diff. Then I had Peter at NOS Imports rebuild my shocks for autocross.

Tires make the biggest difference though. Buy a good compound that works for you. I ran Bridgestone R rated tires and ran them all the time, not just for autocross. Yeah you go through tires a little more often, but every corner you should stick to the max. :laugh:

 

[Baz]

Here's the thing, in stock, you'll be up against MINI Coopers and Honda Civic Si's and such like.
Doing some simple upgrades, will put you in a street prepared class such as adding, or making your sway bar thicker.
Any increase in your wheel width past 20% of stock will do so also.
Most of the time, most other drivers won't mind if you stay in stock class with mods, until you beat them.

You can simply add tires as David mentioned, and do nothing else will get you best the chance. Put somewhere around 38-42 psi in yer tires and have fun.
Chalk them to see if you get any roll.
Top up your shocks and check your tie-rods and wheel bearings for wear.

Sway bar, poly bushings and end-links will get you most instant gratification, along with tires, BUT, things will wear out very quickly if your Sprite isn't in good condition.

Tech inspections will look for battery hold-downs, throttle return springs, brakes (NO LEAKS, good pressure) and suspension and steering.
Any other leaks from the car will usually fail it as well, because other drivers don't want to drive through our much loved ooze, no matter where it comes from, engine, tranny, diff or radiator.

HAVE FUN!! It's addictive, and it leads to other things.

 

[VelodromeRacer]

I would like to hear more about tire pressures....I don't autocross, I race my Bugeye...but I found 19psi in the fronts and 17psi in the rear has been the best for me, but od course I am running Hoosier Street Tds...but they are 13x5.

What is stock psi? Does Autocross heat the tires up...I gain about 2psi all around in a 30 minute race on a 2 mile course....I will say that rear and front sway bar upgrades made my car handle fantastic!

 

[no_cones_ever]

dad talken

1380 huffaker prepped a-series with 120hp, datsun 5-speed, 3.73 diff, 3/4" front sway bar, frontline upper A arms, tube shocks all around, disc front, w/c hardened axles, 185/60 dunlop formula ford tires @18psi all round.

we also run GP class...tried to make a vintage g class since your up against old tuner mods, we are about 6 sec. behind csp, asp, but we are having a ball.

this is the 4th year we've been autocrossing and its been a blast, and were still trying to sort the car out.

a few pix of the ride.

the 2 sprites in GP, plus some competition in other classes.

 

[no_cones_ever]

PS...you may have to fast foreward a little bit, but here's a vid of us racing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD5bJ71mJYo

 

[glemon]

I don't know if you have a local club, but we do a couple of autocrosses a year, its is mostly old LBCs, we have stock and modified classes, as well as a supermofied for v-8 conversions, turbocharged cars etc. We also let modern iron run, but it they are not in the club they have to pay membership dues.

Most everybody is pretty cool about it we try to go fast, but also help and let others drive our cars.

Biggest challenge is getting enough cones, everyone has a blast, lots of Sprites run from stock to supermodified, as well as MGBs, Spitfires, a lady who comes in a pretty much stock Sunbeam Tiger. New style minis are popular and we get some real minis as well sometimes, just all sort of cars. Did I mention we have a great time.

A stock Sprite is a pretty good autocrossers, especially on a tighter course

The Elise came from Dollar Rent a Car--Birthday present from a wonderful wife, we took turns driving it!

 

[BugEyeBear]

The Elise came from Dollar Rent a Car--Birthday present from a wonderful wife, we took turns driving it!

Gotta LOVE IT!!

Reminds me of the Hertz Shelby GT350H "Rent-A-Racer" Mustang in the 60's...
This was a REAL Shelby (not a wanna-be like the ones Hertz rents today...), and they were frequently returned with holes in the floor. These holes were the result of renters bolting in roll cages for a little fun on the race track!!
Other clever Mustang racers would rent these cars, pull the engine and put it in their race prepared cars and go to the track. Come Sunday nite, the engine was replaced in the rental and returned to Hertz. One of the reasons this was done was that insurance was very expensive through Hertz and if you did not buy their insurance, you had to sign a waiver releasing Hertz from liability should you wreck the car at the track.

I would guess that THIS Elise renter used the "don't ask, don't tell" rule of rental racing...

Good Fun! Wish I'd been there for a turn at the wheel!

"Cheers!"
-Bear-

 

[jlaird]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]essential mods i should make [/QUOTE]

A Bugeye can be autocrossed right out of the box. No mods are necessary, however, many can be made your choice. How fast do you want to go, how big is your wallet?

Standard tire pressure on a Bugeye is 24 front 26 rear. When you up it a couple of pounds you are better able to slide the front and rear as necessary on a tight autocross. If it is a wide open course I think I would leave it stock.

The Bugeye front end always wants to dig in on sharp hard corners let it slide a bit and help the car get around. Not for raceing by the way, slow autocrossing. Shucks all autocrosses are slow in a Bugeye.

Go to Youtube and search for Bugeye. You will see me there in a Bugeye 40 years ago when I was winning my class every month for over 3 years. Car was not modified only tire pressures and it was the family car the rest of the time.

 

[no_cones_ever]

i believe that front end slide is called "under steer".

and we pretty much found that its much better to have the rear slide out a little than the front, because when the front slides, or "under steers", you sometimes hit cones...which is bad.

 

[ChrisS]

Get a copy of the rules that the club / organization will be using and see what mods are free. You want to try and stay in HS, maybe move up one class but you probably want to avoid a modified or prepared class if you are starting out. Your rules may very but generally "free" items include:
Tires - with size and compound limit
Anti-roll bar
Shocks
Differential ratio
Welded / limited slip differential
Non class bump weight reduction
Air cleaner
Braided steel brake lines

Not free but recommended:
Panhard rod
Headers

 

[glemon]

RE: The Elise, yes the the rental company had two Elises, one was in the shop, we joked about why one would rent an Elise, to get the groceries? No; to help a freind move? No; for work use? Not likely? To drive the stink out of it for a weekend--yep.

Interstingly the Elise was in the same ballpark for time as some of the modified cars, including a V-8 Sprite (the Yellow car you see in the pics, called affectionately the "Frite" and a TR7 which has been specifically modified for autocrossing.