I've had my car for over a month now and haven't even really had a chance to really ~drive~ it, if you know what i mean. My local SCCA club has several track events but this month was the standard cone set up at our local airport, and since its just a few minutes away so i i figure good opportunity to get to know my car. Im no master, but i have been racing and autocrossing for over 16 years and am more than decent.... however found my times quite lacking after my first event with the 355. I ran a 49s, 47s, 46s, 45s Most miatas, BZRs, Mr2, foucus rs, stangs etc were in the 40-45sec 03 z06 and an lotus were pulling 38s. Granted im running nearly 12 yr old A/S Michelins with nearly everyone else running slicks or comp tires, but the real reason the 355 sucks: I didnt want to hit a cone! Other cars ive had i either didnt care much about "cone rash" or i used painters tape to construct a "bra" for cones. All the fastest drivers were nailing cones left and right, counting on their one clean run for their best time. I felt like i have to take it easy, not to mention the thought that any wipeouts, mistakes would be posted to you tube by a dozen spectators lol. Either way, it was fun! I like the way it handles, although seems to be a little soft. Looking forward to a full road course next time! First run, my slowest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdc1EcFI0Jo Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the old tires you should have been slip-sliding everywhere (and drifting?). Makes for a nice show as well.
Yes, that looks like an awful lot of body roll for the sort of speeds you would have been doing. Stiffer suspension should help. And 12 year old tires..... Well, I'd change those out pretty quickly too.
Here is a mondial at an auto cross event. If I remember the story correct, it beat all but one lotus with 4 people in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76vtL1yFht8
thats gotta be one of the worst courses ive seen. Great driving, but if i was there i would use my remote control car lol.
R-Comps are usually good for ~2 seconds over good "street" tires. Your tires are far from good. However, it's usually all about the driver being able to push their car to the car's limits.
I was actually hesitant to drive the car back from where I bought it when I saw the date on the tires, but after closer inspection, they are in great shape with no cracks, still soft; stored in a climate controlled garage all there life. I'm positive they are significantly down on traction, and I will not be taking them over freeway speed. I am planning on replacing them relatively asap, but they well give me time to find either some challenge wheels or hamman pg2's ....and they will allow me some guilt free burnouts lol
f355 is quite good at autox, I've finished as the fastest car not trailered at a dry autox and the 2nd fastest non-awd car at a wet one. Tires are key, the wet autox I was running conti extreme DW's that were fairly new and the dry autox I was running well used Hoosier R6's (which are still better than street tires). A set of sticker A6's and I'd be in the running for ftd in the dry, but my tastes run more toward track running so they're not in the cards. Rain (5th out of 60 cars): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMzddIpseDc Dry (6th out of 72 cars): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X-mUl_Hqb8 I like autox as it helps you learn how to control the car and how it behaves in quick transitions, which is nice to have in your pocket before going to the track. It really doesn't help much with picking the line at the track, threshold braking while dowshifting, high speed corners etc., but you at least have a good feel for what the car will do and how to get it to change direction and attitude mid corner. Plus it's cheap fun and the ramifications for spinning are the lowest of anything you can do in the car as there's generally nothing to hit but some cones (and the rubber comes off easily enough if your car is waxed). Fwiw, in a dry autox testing day in which you get tons of runs, I played with tire pressure, suspension settings etc. and found that on the contis (which are good street tires and were almost brand new), the car was faster with the suspension set to soft as it had more grip. It wasn't as easy to drive and didn't 'feel' as nice, but it was quicker. I think a lot of people over-do it with the hard suspension. It feels better as the car reacts more quickly, but isn't necessarily faster. With the R6's, I leave it in hard as I think they have enough grip as to overwhelm things a bit in the softer mode, but in the wet autox above I was in soft mode and the car was extremely well behaved. I do have H&R springs so the car is a little stiffer, so that may be why I don't need as much from the shocks, but it's something to keep in mind before you start going down the road of stiff springs, larger arb's etc.
I have no doubt the 355 could be great, my main point was its ~tough~ to be great at autocross with out subjecting the car to the likelihood of cone rash. Ive done 100s of events and sometimes you get away with a scuff that wipes off, but many times you end up with spider cracks, deep scratches and even knocking of splitters etc some of those large cones are surprisingly heavy and many are enbedded with rocks from being run over. Hitting one at 60-80mph will cause damage. Here are some pics i found on google of cone rash from autoX Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
May have to try a set of R6 or 7 now, thank you I want to try the 348C at autox, it should do well it has serious grunt in the powerband and a real mean set of gears for a short low speed track
I just picked up some used ones that only had a few heat cycles. Problem with the r6 in autox is It's tough to get enough heat in them to work well. In that above run, it was my final run in the final heat during mid July hot weather and I was picking up almost a second a run as the tires got heat in them. A6 are definitely the way to go but I also wanted some tires I could run at the track. You can see my car has a decent amount of body roll but it sticks. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Unfortunately, your title is stuck out there with the misleading accusation. Pretty much every one else is concluding (correctly ) that it's the 12 year old tires that really suck at autocross... and are dangerous to drive on the streets as well. First thing I changed on my 308 QV when I bought it two years ago was the 12 year old Pirellis! Looks like other 355 owners, with decent tires, do very well at autocross.
Now try that with a GTS with the body flex and you may shave some more time off those tight low speed corses LOL
