Sunday CT Autocross.

[cudazappa]

In the interest of fun, I attended CART's AutoX in Bristol CT.

It was a nice "basic" course.  Started out with a 4 cone slalom through some double gates where the first time through hung a right into a 100' skidpad and second time through the gates floor it straight into a 180 degree left turn.  At this point I'd shift the slapstick into 2 for the "long" 100 yard straightaway into a decreasing radius right hand turn that was about 200 degree total.  At the pivot cone after a brief sprint another left hand 180 and a quick jog before the final right turn into the finish box.

Overall I did ok... I off coursed at the final pivot cone 4 times in a row.  I managed to see it the 4th time, so try #5 I finally had a time, plus a cone I slid into the finish.  Sixth times a charm as I actually had a faster time than all the others (even with my "short cut") and no cones.

Notes on the challenger: definitely needs More suspension, more tire (street tires don't cut it) and I really need to find out whats going on with the fuel delivery and timing in the engine.  Power steering pump wouldn't be a bad idea either.  Some faster people said the last two runs the nut behind the wheel didn't do too bad considering what he was driving.  *sigh*

On a positive note: I definitely did feel the difference of the subframe connectors!

anyway, interested in pics?  you can find them here: http://www.cartct.com/07-25-10p.shtml

[BB73Challenger]

We have an "open" type autocross group here in Ohio too that I have had the pleasure of joining a few times.

The most "muscley" car I have taken was Mom's 89 W-56 Formula Firebird.
Had a blast in it!

For the most part I have a friend who is WAY into Mazda's and he was kind enough to let me romp his Mazda Speed Protege. Not fast enough to get into trouble with but enough fun with the factory turbo and beefed up suspension.

Started doing enough events and even did some track time in BeaverRun.
If you have not had a chance, it's a nice change from cruisin and parking.

The Challenger ( Mine anyways ) no way...
It has enough of a time on the streets 

[EB3-GranCoupe]

Looks like you wrinkled the vinyl top, twisting that challenger around the course!

[cudazappa]

Looks like you wrinkled the vinyl top, twisting that challenger around the course!

actually that's part of my strategic weight loss plan for the car to get it down to its minimum weight...  RUST!!! 

[Road_Runner]

Sounds like you had a blast.  I used to do SCCA autocrossing in my Trans Am.  Great time, but even the TA was on the large side depending how the course was set up on a particular day.  High speed sweepers, great fun, tight chicanes & turns were tough in a bigger car.  Some of the smaller cars jogged around corners I had to get my cars back end out to get around with any speed.  I would really like to do this again in the Barracuda but would rather do a less 'formal' form of the racing than the SCCA does where sway bars would put me in a modified class against cars I couldn't hope to compete with.   I especially like the way your event was photographed, too cool.  That would make it worth wearing a years worth of rubber off the tires in an afternoon!

Later, Jim

[drewcrane]

get some Qa 1,s for shocks and reduce your body roll,get a ps pump with a cooler,and yes fuel delivery you should use an electric pump with a return line.

looks like you might have the road racing bug, looks fun 

[autoxcuda]

1.22" torsion bars with 350 lbs/in rate

I put 1.14" with 350 lbs/in rate on my Barracuda with Hotchkis Bilsteins and it rides better than with the QA1's with .99" T-bars I had before. I just had QA1's in the front thought.

[cudazappa]

Who still sells the 1.22" bars?  Largest I can find are the 1.18s...  Looks like a call to hotchkis is something I need to do afterwards, too.

[autoxcuda]

Who still sells the 1.22" bars?  Largest I can find are the 1.18s...  Looks like a call to hotchkis is something I need to do afterwards, too.

Did MP discontinue that size. I bet Firm Feel could make a set that big.

[HP2]

I'm pretty sure MP discoed them about a year ago. But, if you could get someone at the local dealer to get  into the network search, you may be able to find some on a shelf somewhere. Otherwise, you mayhave to ask Firm Feel to tool some up.

[cudazappa]

ok, one last question, with the MP bars, wasn't there an issue with the clocking of the Torsion Bars.