Calling all AutoX/Track guys on coilovers -
 

I autocross my Z once or twice a month and I'm looking to become more competitive. This is my 2nd full season and I would love to get to more national events this coming year (got my @$$ handed to me at Pro Solo this year hah). I purchased KW V3 coilovers last year, and they ride fantastic, but seem way, way too soft for autocross. At the moment I'm using Nitto NT01's for HPDE and autocross, 275 front 305 rear. I would like to look at another set of A6 slicks for next year - I ran a set of used A6's and they were fantastic until the fronts wore out.

Anyways, without further adue... what sort of coilover/spring setup do you guys run on your track car? What spring rate did you go with? With the class I run (ASP) I would have to keep the OEM setup of a separate rear shock/spring.

I run AST 5200's with 1100 lb springs in the front and 900 lb springs rear. In the rear I have SPL mid-links that are modified for rules compliance (no spherical rod ends). I also don't run a rear sway bar. This is all on 315/30-18 Hoosier A7's (replacement for A6's).

Which Pro were you at this year?

What front wheels are you running the 315's on gomer? No rubbing at all? I had 295/30r19's on the stock Rays and they didn't rub (except for my brake ducting... which I had to replace after there was two nice giant holes in the side hah). I was at the New Jersey Pro Solo at Metlife. Did okay the first day, but my front Hoosiers were much more worn than the rears and I fell behind after they overheated and did nothing but push hard. How did you come to decide on the AST 5200's?

Volk TE37SL's 18x10 front, 18x11 rear even though I have 315 square all around. Someday I might go even wider in the rear although right now I'm pretty happy with the balance of the car. There's no rub although you can only get maybe a finger between the tire and the suspension upright.

As far as the AST's go. After talking to a number of my local region guys who always do well on the national level on the merits of 2-way versus 3-way shocks it was concluded that 3-ways would just be one more way to throw off the handling if not adjusted correctly.

Originally, I was looking at getting a set of Penske shocks from ANZE but after a few times of them not getting back to me in a reasonable time frame I decided to say screw them and just go with AST (AST always responded to me in less than 24hrs). I also consider Moton but as AST and Moton are the same company and the AST branded shocks were a better bang for the buck (IMO atleast) I went with the AST's.

Also remember when it comes to shocks you get what you pay for. I'm not saying KW, Stance, etc are bad but there's a reason pro racing teams are using Penske, Moton, JRZ, etc..

I ran double penske's on my BSP car. Also used Motons and custom double koni's. Motons worked pretty well, but I had difficulty getting the adjustment range to work in the window I wanted. The penske's have been great. I used 315's as well, but on wider wheels than Gomer. I generally ran 1250-1400lb springs up front and 1000-1200 out back with no bar.

Keep in mind, faster does not necessarily mean more competitive, if the changes you make bump you up into a much faster class.

You are probably beyond Street class at this point, so your choices are STR, ASP, or SSM. It's too bad too, because really, BS is likely the most competitive place for a 370.

If you want to stay on street tires with suspension mods your only choice is STR, where you'll need 9" wheels and 255 tires. Most people with 370's don't do this, I'm pretty much the only person running an STR 370.

Gomer's recipe is a pretty good starting point for an ASP 370. Personally if I were buying wheels for an ASP build I'd be going 1" wider front and rear (11's and 12's) but to each their own. ASP will be really tough, especially at ProSolos, because you have to beat some extremely well developed and well driven Evos.

SSM gets into nutso territory pretty fast - forced induction, carbon parts, rod ends everywhere, big aero, that sorta stuff. $20-30k just gets you started on a real SSM build.

Can't believe I'm going to say this but I think the 370 can be competitive in ASP, just not at ProSolos. In reality though Pro's don't really matter because of the 3 I did this year ASP never made class. At the Toledo Match Tour, I was only off Bill Rogerson (2014 national champ) by ~1.5 sec and that was almost entirely because I'm just not that good yet. Earlier in the season I had Matt Braun (past national champ) co-drive my car on a similar course on the same site and he was ~2 sec faster than I was. Doing the math, if he had been in the car at the Match Tour he would have won ASP or atleast been extremely close. And this is even with a Quaife diff in the car which is just terrible for autox.

In fairness, Bill Rogerson is not on the pace of the evo's when they are not broken. FWIW, he would have only been 5th in BSP. Having said that, IMO, a rule book build ASP 370 should be relatively competitive at Tours. Can't comment on the 370's specifically, but the 350's are crap off the line at Pro's.

I had heard that the Berry's Evo had issues but I take it that the Miller's Evo had issues too?

I seem to remember that answer being yes...

I always thought that's what must have happened but never heard anything about it.

Shot you a PM on those Stance Pro Comps we had been talking about, for reference I can have them build the Pro-Comps in OE style rear to your specs, but Swift does not make a spring that will fit on that set up currently.

Almost missed your question hah I was at the New Jersey Pro Solo at Metlife Stadium. Got my *** handed to me, but I'm a n00b on a car that's not nearly built to the max for it's class yet. I was also on extremely old Hoosier A6's. Since then I got myself an OS Giken limited slip and extra set of rear 19x10 rays. This year I'll be running 295/30r19 R888's square. I know it's not the best autox tire but I did fairly well locally on NT01's and got a good deal on them. The year after I'll probably move to Hoosiers again, but brand new this time.

As for coils I think I've decided to give the new BC DR line a try. I can get custom Swift springs and valving with a digressive shock and better tophats than I have now. It may not be anywhere near AST/Moton/Penske etc but I can't drop that kind of money and this should do MUCH better than softer KW V3's for the time being. Plus I can sell the V3's and pretty much break even on the BC DR's. Anyone have any thoughts on that? I know it's not ideal, and a lot of track guys look down on BC. Just curious.