So, I just went to FATT (Friday at the Track) at Summit Point Raceway in WV. That was the most fun I have had in years and from a thourough thrashing, I have comments about my experience. First off, I have never autocrossed any car.

1) This car is MADE for autocross! Completely neutral. I could not get oversteer or understeer...believe me, i pushed that thing as hard as i could.

2) Manumatic is a fantastic way to go. no need to blip the throttle for downshifts, yet you get the advantage of engine braking and holding a gear for a speedy turn exit.

3) Brakes need 3 things to effectively autocross. SS brake hoses, Performance fluid and pads.

4) The supercharger would be right at home in this situation. I had to carry alot of speed through the turns to keep up with the GTO and CTS-V in the straights. (granted, i was likely pushing my car more than they were).

5) I was completly shocked at the cars I was able to hang with (I had an instructor and an instructor assistant in my car). I was right there and/or passed M3, CTS-V, GTO(6.0L), esprit, RX-8, 944turbo, corvette, G35coupe, Z28,WRX. Yes, I know some may not have taken to performance driving as quickly as i did, but don't burst my bubble.

6) S2000 is one of the most amazing vehicles! try as I might, I could not keep up with that little bugger in the turns...by a long shot. I did, however, catch back up with him at every straightaway.

7) About my car. '04, AT, slotted rotors, AEM CAI, Comptech Cat-back, Nitto NV-555.

It was just the most amazing experience and I couldn't have asked for a better vehicle to do it in. For basically stock, it was fantastic and really shows off Acura's racing backround. It made a first timer like me look like have done this before...the instructors accused me of lying about never having done this before. Can't wait to start my SOLO II classes...next Saturday!

If any of you are in the MD/DC/N. VA area, I strongly suggest looking up bsr-inc.com and trying out the FATT event.

 

Looks to me like you did more than auto-x. The auto-x that I'm familar with is usually done on a small course with cones. You usually never get your car above second gear (manual) and no need to use the brakes much. It sounds like you did more of a large track event type thing than an auto-x. If that's true, then in my opinion what you did is a lot more fun than auto-x'ing.

 

Glad you had fun. How did the AT brakes hold up???? I warp mine on the 1/4 mile.

 

Great review and that is impressive to hear that our TL can hang with or even go pass cars like the M3, CTS-V, GTO(6.0L), esprit, RX-8, 944turbo, corvette, G35coupe, Z28,WRX!!! Did you manage to take any photos??

 

Yes, when the driver lacks the skill that the TL driver has.


Glad you enjoyed yourself and keep it up!

 

Have you ever been to VIR?

 

OK so I'll burst your bubble. There is no way the TL will keep up with an M3, s2000, corvette or a WRX at an autoX. The other drivers must have been absolutely horrible.

Hard to believe that there was no understeer on the TL. What tire pressure were you running?

When I use to autox my s2000 it did very well in its B stock class but could not even come close to the times of theM3/Vett, but it was probably the driver. I do believe a couple years back an s2000 won the national, but it wasen't me. I did keep up with the WRX's and managed to smoke a few Porches but it was very hard on the car and required major cool down in between runs.

That being said you might have had fun at the beginners autox class and were a better driver than the other beginners, but buy no means is the TL suited for the tight courses with much success.

If you could take your TL out on the road course it would certainly hold its own especially if you had a MT A-spec.

Glad you had fun.

 

Guess i mispoke on a couple of things. you are right, it wasn't autocross. i was corrected on that by a racer friend of mine. this was an actual track. next week's event is auotcross. that's cones in a parking lot. my tires were not NV-555's (those are drag slicks). mine were NT-555's (3 season performance tires). I realized this when i pulled my tires off to change my brakes...so that answers that question! Actually though, with the slotted rotors, I had no warping problems. guess i didn't boil my fluid either cause after changing my pads (replacing OEM with OEM), all my pedal "squishyness" disappeared.

but, like i mentioned, i know that driver is key here, but i just couldn't believe even with lesser drivers (everyone on the track were either green or it was their second time), i was hanging with or passing higher horsepower cars.

i was really suprised at the lack of understeer. i could barely even get them to break loose! i did have the traction control off, cause out of one of the faster turns, ther was a bit of choppy pavement that would activate it and cut my power while exiting the turn. yeah, this car is totally a point and shoot car.

 

I've AutoXed my friends stock 05 6SP TL a bunch of times and I felt it was a fairly balanced car and all the torque helped pull it outta the tight spots real nice. There was a lot of body roll though, and 1st was just waste because of FWD. Overall even though it felt a little boaty at times it was a very fun car to AutoX IMHO.

 

What other mods do you have?

 

nothing. its as stated. comptech cat back, cai, slotted rotors nitto tires.

the car did feel heavy, but body roll seemed very minimal...my only comparison is my stock suspensioned mustang gt though. not sure how i could post a pic, but i have one of me in the esses. you can see just how much body roll there was. the rear did squat alot on the passenger side, but i attribute it to having 2 guys on the passenger side.

 

did the autocross on saturday...yeah, showed its true colors there. understeered quite a bit. it was the little, underpowered, short wheelbase buggers that were tearing it up! i found it odd that a neon srt-4 acr (autocross club racer) was in my class. that car is so far out of my realm, its not funny. it was still alot of fun and i can see myself getting competitive with it.

 

So, you're running on stock suspension? Just curious b/c I didn't see any suspension upgrade listed.

 

The A-spec suspension will take care of that. What class does the TL run in?

 

Sounds like you had fun.

But yeah, if you weren't noticing understeer on a relatively stock TL on a road course, then you either weren't pushing it really hard, or the turns weren't that challenging.

Which track lay-out did you run at SPR?

 

it is the stock suspension. not sure if an a-spec suspension would put me in a different class, but its worth looking into. i am currently in G Stock. i raced the summit point circuit, not the shannendoah circuit. actually, i will be doing that one in june. on the road course, it seemed as if i was pushing the car to its limits because i was getting minimal 4 wheel drift in the tighter corners. any more speed and i'd likely be picking grass and gravel out of my teeth.

 

Since it is a factory option there should be no change in class meaning you should put the A-spec wheels on too. Very sticky tires is the key to good runs and changing the tires to race tires does not effect the class you run in. The difference will be very dramatic.

 

I disagree about upgrading the tires so soon. I believe that road racing is about finding the limits of your driving skills and the chassis, and driving at those limites but not beyond.... not of the tire's. The tires can be swapped easily, and sure, you can run really sticky tires but that's only increasing the limits of the tires, not your driving skills. Put the old tires back on, and you're right back where you started.

I remember this one guy, right? My buddy basically had the same car as him, and he was running R Comps. But the guy just ran street tires because he said he didn't need tires to make it look like he could drive better... and that he couldn't outdrive the traction of those street tires yet. And he was right, he couldn't. Yet he was driving faster than my friend running R Comps on the same track, on the same day, on the same model of cars.

I haven't seen him since that event, but I heard he finally could outdrive the limits of the street tires and upgraded to R Comps... imagine how fast that fucker is right now compard to my friend, both running similar cars and similar tires.

I mean, if you just want to have fun, then by all means, get track tires and have fun. But if your goal is to become a better driver, then I don't think that's the best way to go. But that's just me.

 

Driving Turdanza's on the track is an accident waiting to happen.

I'd certainly get a different set of tires if I put my car on a regular basis. True they don't need to be R compounds but there are some good street tires I'd consider taking to the track as well as driving on the street. I'd certainly track my 255/40/18 Michelin Pilot Sports and feel very comfortable doing so.

I agree a good driver always beat a bad driver with sticky tires but as your times go down and you want to be more competitive in your class, tires should be your the first thing you do before any other upgrade.

 

At that point, yes, definitely.

My point was that I've seen some people get all yippy and feel like they have to buy some super sticky tires to do well on their first outing. There's no need.

Just a set of decent street tires will do.

 

I feel ya Pure Adrenaline! I am happy right now to learn how to drive my car as it is and then upgrade as my driving limits exceed the car's. In autocross school, I did get 0.1 seconds better lap times than my instructor did (took 20 runs verses his 2, but whatever), but he did it with much less tire complaints.