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I was gonna say the RE01Rs, but yeah, everything Fast listed are good.

If they fit, I'd shoot for 17x8s, you'd be amazed at how much the extra inch helps.

Yeah I'm sure 17x8's fit on my car, and I'd definitely love to hit that 8inch mark, but the guy selling on the forums has them in 7s. All four wheels for $225. I really feel like I should jump on it. Condition wise, I can probably understand the low price, but for (potential) eventual track wheels, I suppose I can care less on aesthetics. It's just minor paint peel and water marks.

Any input? Four 5zigen FN01R-C's 17x7 for $225 with no tires. I can get a fresh set of tires within my budget down the line.

What color? Price is good, though. I'd pick them up if they aren't going to look like crap.

Color is matte black. I'll see what I can do in the future about making them look peachy. Maybe powdercoating them into a new finish and use them as daily wheels or reselling.

I say paint them a wild color and use them for auto-x and road courses. Takata green looks pretty damn cool on black imo (your car is black, iirc).







Yes, I know those are TE37s. lol.

I was planning a while back to pick up a set of teddy bear rims and painting them pink for race wheels, then I found out they don't make them anymore.

Depends on what the stock wheel sizes are. If they are narrower, then spending money for a narrower wheel is dumb.

That actually just crossed my mind today as I was driving to pick them up. I kept trying to think whether the stockies were 7s or 7.5s. IIRC, though, they were 17x7s. Regardless, the wheels actually look pretty good considering I got them for 2 bills. So either way, I've picked up new wheels (at the least) for daily driving.

This is a good thread just recently learnt what autox is and found out the UK version is called autosolo (thanks wikkipedia) so yea its really helping on the advice and stuff to first mod on a car (planning to get my a Cappuccino for a first car and take it down to learn some skills )

anyway was thinking this should be sticked if we get lots more useful info as im sure everyone that might want to learn to get into motorsport and upgrade their cars might gain a good bit of info from this thread.

Is there a VERY significant difference between Autocross and track racing? I'm eager to try both, but Im wondering if one would begin to mess me up on the other if they're vastly different.

Autox is a lot different from road racing. There are no elevation changes to start, so that'd be something extra you'd have to learn to deal with on the track. I'd start with autox, because you'll hit the cornering limits of your car that much sooner and at lower speeds than you will on a track, so it'll allow you to learn the car in a much safer environment before you take it out to somewhere where a mistake'll total your car as opposed to leave a cone scuff.

There's a saying I picked up that's quite appropriate for this:

Understeer is when your front end hits the wall.
Oversteer is when the rear end hits the wall.
Horsepower is how hard you hit the wall.
Torque is how far you take the wall with you.

Good thing we use cones instead of walls.

Nice saying cmspaz. When I first started autoX, I had a tendency to stare at whatever cone I was cornering around. The more experienced drivers advised me always to look ahead on where you want to be and some other pointers to increase pace times which helped alot.

lol thats an awsome saying, im soo using it

btw anyone here by any chance that reads this in London and is into autocross or autosolo? (as its apparently called here)

I may have come up lucky in my quest for tires/wheels. I'll let you guys know if it goes through

Yep, always look ahead. You'll lose more time swerving to avoid a cone and having to get back to your line than you will by taking the +2 for hitting the cone, guaranteed. You need to concentrate on setting up for the next section and not every cone.

Most important part of not just autox, but any 4-wheeled motorsport: If you look where you want the car to go, that's where the car will go. Your hands will follow your eyes, 100% of the time. And if the car's set up right and you know it well enough, you won't have any issues with that.

Not all cones are bad, though, make sure you're spotting your apex cones, any cones you're using to gauge braking, etc. You need to be aware of the important ones, the others are just distractions.

So supposing I mess up my throttle control and manage to send my car into a spin because my right foot kicked the gas pedal during a corner.

What should I do to recover?

Keep looking where you want to go and make the corrections necessary to get there. Or just let it spin, since the run's already shot, and be more careful on your next runs.

Now I'm just wondering whether I can send an FF Corolla spinning.

I doubt that I'll total my car; then again it's likley many an overconfident teenager has said the same and ended up with a hunk of scrap metal for their daily driver. In any case, I'll let my instinct for self preservation lead me on the track and nudge the limit I set for myself slowly higher.

Though this talk of elevation differences has me wondering what that implies. Could you elaborate?

Get on the brakes really hard at turn-in, it'll spin, trust me.

Yeah, gauge your limits based on your comfort zone, not the car's limits. Because even if the car's capable of something, if you're not, it's going to be a mess if you try.

Now, onto elevation changes. It's really quite simple, it adds a secondary axis that the course acts on, which allows for a bunch of different types of elements that do more than just shift the car left and right, they allow for up and down suspension movement as well. Banked elements, designed either to work with or against the camber of your tires, can be used to control speed in a corner, a corner with good camber is a lot faster than one with bad camber. Hills are a great way to screw with a car's balance, because you're fully extending the suspension at the top and fully compressing it at the bottom, and so the effective grip of the tires is constantly changing as you climb, crest, and descend. Combine that with a banked corner and you can really screw with the suspension geometry. And the reason why you'd want to do something like that? It's that much more of a challenge to drive.

One thing I'd like to point out as far as distracting cones go: Every single course element has a simpler form than what you see. Good course designers implement elements designed to confuse or trick you, or maybe just to throw more cones in front of you in case you screw up. Remember, a chicago box is just a 3 cone slalom.

Another event this Sunday at Fontana Speedway woo. That's when I should be getting my wheel/tire setup too.

Hint:

SPOILER

RPF1s?

No, silly. That sticker is my setup!


On the real though, yes. 17x8s on RE01R's.

Really? Holy shit I'm good at this game!

That's gonna be a really good setup dude, not a whole lot of unsprung weight and tires that're made of glue FTW. BTW, how'd you get your hands on RE01Rs? I thought they discontinued them and liquidated the remaining stock months ago?

My friend who I'm buying them from(also an Autocrosser and was the one who got me into this business) jumped on Tirerack's closeout sale way back whenever they were discontinued and liquidated and (apparently) got them for $300 for the set. He's combo'ing the tires and wheels for an awesome price. Comparable to the price for wheels alone.

EDIT: Reason why he doesn't need them is because he's aiming for another car for spirited driving, namely a Miata.

This post has been edited by BananaSplit on Oct 23 2009, 07:24 PM

Went on the track in Clark today.

I was OKAY for the first few times I went on the track; Pretty much stuck in the Corolla's 3rd gear the whole time and did some basic lining work.
The first thing I noticed? SLIDING! Lots and lots of sliding!

At first I was hesistant to gas it on the corners; which usually led to me feathering the throttle too little and having the car drift to the outside. After I had reinforced the fact that it was not a rear wheel drive and thus I HAD to floor it, I got faster.
Also managed to spin myself out on the 3rd corner; overshot the entry and failed to give it enough gas. Surprisingly I didnt panic; just countersteered and braked.

Dont do what I did there.

Still; I need braking and engine control work to follow.