My First Autocross with the Chevelle

[airrj1]

Here are a few photos. I'll add some details in the AM when I get to work.

VERY Cool time! :3gears:

[ProdigyCustoms]

Damn dude, you went so fast you blew the paint off the left side!

[Steve Chryssos]

Lookin good R.J. Glad to see the car is back on the road. Whattya got for springs?

[69boo307]

I'm jealous! I didn't get any pics when I did that in my chevelle :(

I'm looking forward to your report...

[airrj1]

Damn dude, you went so fast you blew the paint off the left side!

I'm hoping if I go even faster it will blow the rest of the paint off.

Overall the event was a blast. I ran a total of 6 runs. The first was a very slow shakedown run to see what the car would do/what would fall off. 67.972 seconds with the car in 1st the whole run. The next run I started to push the car more and I ran a 60.668 again with the car in 1st. The third run I took an instructor with me and ran a 60.171 in 1st gear and spinning the tires pretty well. He showed me a few areas that I could carry more speed in 2nd and I wasn't using enough brakes. So, the forth run was a 58.036 in 2nd the whole way and I was running deeper into some of the faster corners. Again he showed me some corners to work on and mostly how to get through the 180 turn around at the far end. The fifth and final event run I ran a 57.312. Now I was using allot more of the car. I had the rear sliding some and I am sure that I still wasn't braking hard and late enough, but it was a good run. And then I got one fun run at the end and I dropped to a 56.745. This time I found the limit of the stock rear suspension. I had some really good wheel hop under power going through the slaloms. So running it in 2nd help me get allot more speed in the fast section and the slight Q-Jet bog helped delay the tire spin and get me off of the corners better.

The car is now really set up for Autocross yet, but it was a great time and I wasn’t the slowest car on the course. But I did get beat by a Neon.

The front suspension has QA-1 coil-over setup. I think they are 435#/in. And the rear is completely stock. I don’t recall the stock spring rates. But they are too tall for sure.

[69boo307]

Sounds like a successful outing. I wouldn't get too worried about getting beat at an autocross No matter how good it is set up, a big car just isn't going to compete with the compact cars for racing around a parking lot. I found that out with my chevelle. When you can get it on a road course though you'll show them what's up.

[Steve Chryssos]

Great review. Auto-X will expose low spring rates. The same springs that seemingly work well on the street will turn to mush during rapid course corrections. In the name of science, just add spring rate and go back. Keep the same shock settings on the first two rounds. The difference will be pronounced. Then tweak the shocks startinng with the third pass. Does a Q-Jet have tuneable accelerator pump circuits?

Now I've got the itch.

[CAMAROBOY69]

Sounds like you did well and had a great time. Looking forward to the other pics.

[airrj1]

Great review. Auto-X will expose low spring rates. The same springs that seemingly work well on the street will turn to mush during rapid course corrections. In the name of science, just add spring rate and go back. Keep the same shock settings on the first two rounds. The difference will be pronounced. Then tweak the shocks startinng with the third pass. Does a Q-Jet have tuneable accelerator pump circuits?

Now I've got the itch.

Agreed, what seems stiff on the street becomes under sprung quickly. I don't want to beat myself to death on the street just for the short autocross sprint. Any major downsides to stepping up the swaybar size? Right now it is the stock 7/8". I am thinking that an aftermarket bar may be a good idea for a stiffer wheel rate in the corners without a major spring in there.

As for the Q-Jet, it doesn't have the adjustablility that a Holley does, but I can increase or decrease the size of the shot some. Also, I have the primaries dialed in fairly close, but the secondaries still have a very rich metering rod in them. The A/F is pretty low @ WOT (about 11.5: to 12:1). I am planning to keep workinng on them this fall.

Really this AutoX was just to get me and the car some time on the course. The day before the first AutoX in the spring they hold a drivers school, which is $20 for the day and you get an instructor for the entire day and tons of seat time. So I just wanted to get a little time in before that.

Right now my to do list before spring AutoX is:
Better Steering Wheel
Better Front Sway Bar
Some type of Posi
12:1 Steering Box
Shorter Rear Springs
Talent

[Orngcrush69]

Nice to see another Chevelle running out there! If you don't want to step up your spring rates, sway bars front and rear can compensate, I'm running 1 1/8" with 850# in the front and 175# no sway bar in the rear. You could step up to a 1 1/4 up front and a 7/8" or a 1 inch. in the rear.

[vanzuuk1]

Awesome, I am glad you had fun. Wish you were closer I would have someone to run against.

I thought i would tell you a nice steering wheel makes a surprising difference.