A lonely Ralliart in a sea of cones

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Hey guys, made an intro thread earlier and looking forward to getting to know some enthusiasts. After buying the car last August I was finally able to get the Ralliart to its first SCCA autox event this past weekend :)

As a complete novice to autox and with my car completely stock, I had very few expectations. At the end of the day tho, these cars were definitely built to handle nicely. I took the novice school that NNJR provided this year and it really helped me with my mechanics as to how to approach the course and make adjustments. It was an eye opening experience.

As for the car I really only had two complaints to start off with considering my limited experience. The car has way too small brakes and the OEM tires are just god awful. Unfortunately I want to remain in the stock class so there is not much room there. I can either stay in street tire 4wd stock class or I can slap on R compounds and remain in the regular stock class. I am leaning more towards the street tire right now.

There are some minor upgrades I can make to the car and still remain in stock so in the next couple of weeks I will be attending to those. I can upgrade the CBE and only one swaybar (along with endlinks bushings etc.). People say the ralliarts understeer alot and to upgrade the rear swaybar but Im not sure if I succumbed to any understeer, although the adrenaline would limit the ability to notice things like these.

I'm just curious how many members on here actually autox and if so I am looking forward to picking their brains. Cheers.

[BravoZero]

To me, I'd rather have a bit of oversteer than understeer, and upgrading the rear sway bar helps with that. At least with oversteer, you can correct yourself a lot easier by just going into a short controlled drift if you get the car out of hand. Understeer... not so much.

[GAbOS]

Understeer means you have reached the limit of lateral gee for the front end. IE, slow your entry speed and or entry angle. A lot of the balance at these slower speeds can be changed with alignment. Toe Out in the front will aid in turn in, but dumb down steering feel. Toe out in the rear will increase oversteer. I know a few local AWD guys run it like this.

\ / / \
\ / \ / One or the other.

Not sure which racing body you are running with, but I run SCCA D-Stock. They allow any tire above a 140 (unless it changed this year) UTGQ rating to stay with the 'tire time modifier'. There are some great tires out there that meet that. Dunlop Star Specs and Kumho XS. There are more expensive tires (read: nearly twice as much as the two previously mentioned options) for "only a slightly better feel". But in Solo, it comes down to tenths, so.. how big is your wallet?! ;)

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Understeer means you have reached the limit of lateral gee for the front end. IE, slow your entry speed and or entry angle. A lot of the balance at these slower speeds can be changed with alignment. Toe Out in the front will aid in turn in, but dumb down steering feel. Toe out in the rear will increase oversteer. I know a few local AWD guys run it like this.

\ / / \
\ / \ / One or the other.

Not sure which racing body you are running with, but I run SCCA D-Stock. They allow any tire above a 140 (unless it changed this year) UTGQ rating to stay with the 'tire time modifier'. There are some great tires out there that meet that. Dunlop Star Specs and Kumho XS. There are more expensive tires (read: nearly twice as much as the two previously mentioned options) for "only a slightly better feel". But in Solo, it comes down to tenths, so.. how big is your wallet?! ;)

Lol yea as I said in the other thread, just gonna burn thru the stock tires and then slap on ventus v12s (although i do have my eye on the star specs as well). Dont wanna make these judgements tho til i got the techniques down (braking early, late apex, powerin thru the turn, etc.) ima be attending the evo driving school in may and im pretty pumped about that

[GAbOS]

What you will want to do is first decide what class you want to aim for. You will need to squeeze every inch out of what the rules allow to be competitive. If you have a class you are aiming for, know the rules inside and out and you wont go buying stuff that isnt allowed and be able to focus solely on the mods you can use.

[AutoX_Ralliart]

For sure this season i will be DS. ima try to upgrade the exhaust asap and prolly midway upgrade the sway bar depending on how my technique develops.

It looks like Ralliarts can squeeze into the STX catagory tho by staying with 245 tires instead of getting stuck in STU. Also looks like u can tune but no boost controllers? Just curious cause I wont be bumping up until next year

[GAbOS]

Just looked at the 2012 rules. This is where it breaks my heart as from ST up, we are lumped with the Evo. Looking at the 2012 rules, I show the Ralliart as STU. I think both the Ralliart and Evo were STX last year.

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Could you briefly explain why 2012 has the Ralliart classed STU instead of STX? My understanding was 2.0L forced induction and below which includes the Ralliart but the rules exclude the Evo. This was the only reason STX was even enticing competitively, otherwise its do what I and enjoy the sport without getting frustrated I am getting destroyed

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Also, I noticed STX states you can tune the ecu but not directly alter boost levels? How exactly would this be accomplished?

The whole "yea you can add bolt ons, no, not an ic" is kinda upsetting

[TrailBrake]

Lol yea as I said in the other thread, just gonna burn thru the stock tires and then slap on ventus v12s (although i do have my eye on the star specs as well). Dont wanna make these judgements tho til i got the techniques down (braking early, late apex, powerin thru the turn, etc.) ima be attending the evo driving school in may and im pretty pumped about that

You might want to avoid the Ventus v12s if you are tracking the car. I have participated in threads on other boards focusing on the on the v12s vs other tires, and they don't fair well under track use. The Star Spec, of Conti ExtremeContact DW is probably a better choice.

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Are we talking HPDE or autox? Ive herd the v12s are fine for autox considering they heat up quickly. With the star specs I couldnt find them in OEM size and this season i am making it a point to stay in street tire DS so i focus more on technique and mechanics than anything else. I will have to look into the conti

[Exyia]

v12's and Star Specs are not even in the same category

Star Specs are comparable to RS3's. V12's are just a strong pure-street DD tire with great tread life

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Ive been looking into dedicated autox tires, OEM spec and ive noticed there isnt too much out there to offer. For those running DS what specific tires are you running?

Ive looked into it and most people just jump to STU and put on good tires.

Question, am I understanding the rules correctly? Do I have to run 215/45 tires to stay in D-stock or can I run 225/40's provided i keep the OEM wheel? These classifications are a doozy to read thru

[TrailBrake]

Are we talking HPDE or autox? Ive herd the v12s are fine for autox considering they heat up quickly. With the star specs I couldnt find them in OEM size and this season i am making it a point to stay in street tire DS so i focus more on technique and mechanics than anything else. I will have to look into the conti

I only asked about lapping (HPDE), as that's what I do. The feedback was the v12s overheat rather quickly and have rapid wear. How they would fair in autox use I can't say.

[GAbOS]

The rules only state you must use the OEM height and width wheel. You can use different rims, but you can only go as high as 10mm on your track (or +5 offset per side with your wheel). You can use any tire you can fit on the rim, excluding the tires marked out (P-Zero's so far I think). The Evo and the Ralliart are now classed together in any class above Stock. I don't recall last year, but was pretty sure it was the same in 2011 as well. As for the tires, as long as they are not on the excluded list and meet the below rule, which the Star Spec and Kumho XS do (140 UTQG exactly, for obvious reasons to be used for Auto-X). The Conti DW is a good tire, but it's a 340 UTQG. I would prefer a tire that is engineered for Auto-X use.

"Tires must have a minimum UTQG treadwear rating of 140 and a
minimum molded tread depth greater than 7/32” as manufactured."

I bought a set of used Evo X wheels to use for summer, daily driving and use the OEM wheels with track tires.

[Exyia]

yeah Ralliart's pretty fucked as far as classing. oem width is pretty brutal for it's weight

I wonder how it would do in ST or SP though. sometimes I miss mine - wonder how far I could utilize that weight difference

[AutoX_Ralliart]

The Evo and the Ralliart are now classed together in any class above Stock.

Thats a bummer considering the WRX is classed in STX. It would be ok competing in STX but its gonna get outclassed in STU. And for that matter anything beyond that. So DS it is with 225s, one sway bar based on driving preference, CBE, and alignment adjustments to stay competitive.

Hmm SCCA should look over that classing

[GAbOS]

You can mail them and make a case.

The newer year WRX in STU and older ones are in STX. They are in teh same boat, sorta. The Ralliart is very competitive in Stock and it's more down to driving skill there than any other due to lack of mods.

[AutoX_Ralliart]

Yea thats what its looking like. Well then I guess its D-stock until the mod bug gets too much to handle and HPDE thereafter