Rode in a 426hp 4th gen camaro

[RdstrBlk]

Nice to know.. I think we are really breaking ground with FWD load balancing with modified racing lines and habits

[Advancedynamix]

Maybe it's because of the wheel offset or suspension design, or rear drum brakes not allowing me to left foot brake to turn the car. But yeah, that rear end grips. The car will push before it spins at 32 psi all around. With 34 in rear, pretty balanced. 36, just enough slide to have controlled oversteer (mainly for fun, I don't have times of these differences unfortunately.) I'm probably still not driving the car right honestly haha. The chassis needs more driver and more engine

I don't left foot brake when I'm driving any of my Festivas on the track. A slight throttle lift is all that's needed to set the front. Oversteer comes from lifting off the throttle a bit and then I counter it with throttle.
More power is a necessity. The stock b3 has trouble pulling the car out of a slide, so that means you can't come in as hot. If your having problems with understeer, come in hotter and use less brake. Some times I come in to corners so hot that I think there is no way on earth the car is going to turn, and it turns in great.
A festiva can use any line on the track effectively, but the fastest line is going to be really weird. It all depends on the corner itself, but I can promise you that most driver instructors will criticize your line until they realise that you are eating their corvettes back bumper in every corner, lol. I've been told several times that I'm unsafe on the track because of my lines and how I use them, by folks who think they know how to drive fast. I've yet to see any of them catch up to me after I've passed them in my Festiva.

[RdstrBlk]

Nice, your really should start a build thread, i want to see what you have
What are your alignment settings and how are you entering corners?
High speed and slowing through the corner? Holding speed? Slowing down before and speeding up through the corner?

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Momentum momentum momentum. Very little braking. Not enough power for slow in fast out so yes my lines are scary and dangerous

Ill update my build thread soon. Sorry yall! Just wanted to keep contributing to this very awesome threadjacked conversation

[RdstrBlk]

Seriously.. I've been tracking my NA for a few years now and the moment I hopped in the festy, I knew I had struck gold. The cars are quite comparable in a lot of ways, especially for those with the BP swap. But.. the NA received more love and attention, and there's a lot more of them.. so naturally there are more aftermarket upgrades and options. I think if the same resources went into festiva development, we would be seeing spec festiva racing! So while I will be comparing tires on the festy, I'll also be comparing the festy to the NA chassis.

As for autocross, the heat down in Texas works perfect with some tires right off the bat. You try and heat em up further and they start outgassing and get slippery. I see you are in AZ, maybe a summer UHP tire?

[ryanprins13]

Very far from it. Entirely custom made by PO and shops around town. Maybe similar to the advanced(tm) setup

Nice, your really should start a build thread, i want to see what you have
What are your alignment settings and how are you entering corners?
High speed and slowing through the corner? Holding speed? Slowing down before and speeding up through the corner?

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[Advancedynamix]

How does this car do in autocross? All you have to do us read some of the build threads.
Clifferton won his local FWD class championship with a stock b3, coilovers like yours and no interior. He was consistently one of the quicker cars at the events.
Theastronaut is having similar results with his carbureted B3, even though his spark plugs were about to fall out. He didn't think much of the festiva, and was ready to sell it after buying his mint condition NA Miata. He brought both cars to an autocross and ran 2 seconds faster in the festiva.
These guys, as well as a few others have all posted good results and verified that the setup works.
I haven't autocrossed in a decade or more, and when I last did it was in a Porsche, so I'm not the guy to ask for the latest autocross setup. I can only speculate how things will work, from a little seat time sliding these cars around.

You won't have a chance to get the tires hot, but neither will anyone else. This is why I recommend the 165mm wide tires for autocross. However, with 5 degrees of negative camber in the back, you'll be fine on those 185s.
To fully utilize the chassis in an autocross event, like what can be done on a race track, you'd need purpose made autocross tires and a whole lot of practice. For now, just enjoy yourself and try to be easy on the cones. Lol

[FestYboy]

^ a small torch in each wheel well?

[Dragonhealer]

So how does this car do in autocross then? If you have to do a hard crazy lap to heat up the tires it seems like i will never get them hot enough doing one (60 second) lap every so often. Then given my low speeds lets say 60mph tops how will i be able to get the rear to come around or corner hard enough to three wheel steer as you say?

Really good questions, but I don't really know. Last time I auto crossed a FWD was a long time ago, my mothers '81 Renault 5.
You will have to experiment, keeping good notes will help.

[RdstrBlk]

Very far from it. Entirely custom made by PO and shops around town. Maybe similar to the advanced(tm) setup

[ryanprins13]

Maybe it's because of the wheel offset or suspension design, or rear drum brakes not allowing me to left foot brake to turn the car. But yeah, that rear end grips. The car will push before it spins at 32 psi all around. With 34 in rear, pretty balanced. 36, just enough slide to have controlled oversteer (mainly for fun, I don't have times of these differences unfortunately.) I'm probably still not driving the car right honestly haha. The chassis needs more driver and more engine

Your still on stock suspension right?

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[mikemounlio]

I've never done a Skype meeting before, but I'd give it a shot.
RdstrBlk, the nature of your comments indicate that you have to try to get the back loose. This makes me wonder if your front end is sticking like it should.
I have to do everthing possible to keep the back from coming out. The faster I can go without the back coming out, the quicker my lap times. It's one of the reasons I warn against wide tires in the rear. Bringing them up to temp can be a scary experience unless your used to it, and I've been warned a few times at the track to, "stay in control" when I was sideways around every corner durng my warm up lap. That is what I've gotta do to get them hot, and I've gotten fairly decent at doing it without spinning in circles (sometimes, lol).
The worst is when the back tires cool off under yellow and then they throw green and the fronts are sticky and the backs are cold again. That's a sure fire way to spin off the track.
Keep in mind, this stuff isn't happening at normal econobox speeds, we're talking about speeds high enough to tailgate GT class race cars on slicks around corners.

So how does this car do in autocross then? If you have to do a hard crazy lap to heat up the tires it seems like i will never get them hot enough doing one (60 second) lap every so often. Then given my low speeds lets say 60mph tops how will i be able to get the rear to come around or corner hard enough to three wheel steer as you say?

[RdstrBlk]

Maybe it's because of the wheel offset or suspension design, or rear drum brakes not allowing me to left foot brake to turn the car. But yeah, that rear end grips. The car will push before it spins at 32 psi all around. With 34 in rear, pretty balanced. 36, just enough slide to have controlled oversteer (mainly for fun, I don't have times of these differences unfortunately.) I'm probably still not driving the car right honestly haha. The chassis needs more driver and more engine

[Advancedynamix]

I've never done a Skype meeting before, but I'd give it a shot.
RdstrBlk, the nature of your comments indicate that you have to try to get the back loose. This makes me wonder if your front end is sticking like it should.
I have to do everthing possible to keep the back from coming out. The faster I can go without the back coming out, the quicker my lap times. It's one of the reasons I warn against wide tires in the rear. Bringing them up to temp can be a scary experience unless your used to it, and I've been warned a few times at the track to, "stay in control" when I was sideways around every corner durng my warm up lap. That is what I've gotta do to get them hot, and I've gotten fairly decent at doing it without spinning in circles (sometimes, lol).
The worst is when the back tires cool off under yellow and then they throw green and the fronts are sticky and the backs are cold again. That's a sure fire way to spin off the track.
Keep in mind, this stuff isn't happening at normal econobox speeds, we're talking about speeds high enough to tailgate GT class race cars on slicks around corners.

[mikemounlio]

Do you check your pressure after each lap? A couple guys at my local spot bring yard sprayers. They will check their pressure after each lap and bleed out as needed and spray after the lap to bring temps back down.

[RdstrBlk]

32 psi hot is my go to tire pressure. Run a few laps, bring it in, check pressures. In this festy i bring the rear up to 34 or 36 depending on how loose i want the rear end.

I'm game for a group skype, we're throwing around tons of info.. never get to this detail at in person car meets.