AutoX'ing the SHO

[racerx78]

Well after 5 months of “gently” breaking the car in. It finally time for the racing season to begin. Besides some fun in the snow last year I really haven’t been able safely push the SHO to see what it can do. I won’t be going to hocking hills until sometime this summer, but should be able to do a HPDE as well in July. The cars main job will be AutoX running G stock in RTA. Two weeks ago was our regions first “Fun Event.” A ton of cars showed up in a GTR, 911 GT3, Lotus, and a GT40 Replica.

We had a fast course with some sharp corners to trip you up. Took the car out there and did much better than I expected. The SHO handled very well. The chassis is setup nicely and stayed composed and did have any excessive body roll in a car this size. I could easily induce some liftoff or brake oversteer when needed. The TT EB motor gives you more than enough power when you ask for it with no lag. I know now that I am not as concerned with getting the car tuned. I was never in need of power. I have the PP with the shorter final drive but even with this course I was able to manually shift to 2nd and just keep it there without it topping out.

Overall out of 100 cars I came 1st in RTA, 25th in PAX and 53rd overall. It will be fun to see how the rest of the season goes. I’m not sure of what competition will have this year. I had some problems with my SD card for my GoPro so I don’t have any video but here are the pics that were taken.

 

[jayro]

Nice!! Glad to hear it went well. What tires were you running? The SHO is pretty heavy, but I would thing the AWD would help.

 

[kevinspann]

Are those tires marked to see how much they are slipping on the wheel? Looks like quite a bit.

 

[racerx78]

Nice!! Glad to hear it went well. What tires were you running? The SHO is pretty heavy, but I would thing the AWD would help.

I'm running Pirelli P-Zeros. They are really good and holds up to the weight well. The AWD does help but its still just a backup system in this car. Unlike a Evo or STi where you can send most of the power back to the rear most of the time. But it does still help. keep from plowing through corners.

Are those tires marked to see how much they are slipping on the wheel? Looks like quite a bit.

The marking on the tires is to see how much sidewall rollover i'm getting, while trying to figure out my tire pressure.

 

[jayro]

I'm running Pirelli P-Zeros. They are really good and holds up to the weight well. The AWD does help but its still just a backup system in this car. Unlike a Evo or STi where you can send most of the power back to the rear most of the time. But it does still help. keep from plowing through corners.

I was kinda curious how well the AWD would work considering the way the bias is set up. Too bad it isn't RWD bias.

 

[racerx78]

Its not but its still in a good chassis so like i said i could get the tail to come out somewhat easily and it rarely plowed through a corner. So its not the best but it is a good system.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

At SHO Natl. Conv... I got to ride in a 2013 PP SHO and a 2009 G8 GXP on Brainerd Intl Track. Best moment of 2012!!!!!! Both handle well at the track. At least the SHO has a passenger grab handle above the window!

Seeing your pix, I'm jealous!!!!!

 

[racerx78]

Sounds like fun, and thank you. It is fun. I have a AutoX driver school this weekend so i have some more fun coming up.

 

[SHOspazz92]

That car needs some C71' or A6's, -3.5* Negative camber up front and biggest rear swaybar made in the world. That with real good driver would sure surprise some people!

 

[racerx78]

Neither of those come in my stock tire size and i can't run slicks in RTA. The closest i can get to a track tire is Nitto NT05's, which i will probably run next year. I'm working on the driver mod this year. This car is capable of a lot once you understand how to treat it.

 

[SHOspazz92]

Neither of those come in my stock tire size and i can't run slicks in RTA. The closest i can get to a track tire is Nitto NT05's, which i will probably run next year. I'm working on the driver mod this year. This car is capable of a lot once you understand how to treat it.

Oh I'm sure, Just saying...I bet it would be a blast. :sun: I'm sure it is now.

 

[dohcsable]

Looks like a blast, and it has less body roll than the awd Fusion I autox'd a few years back. I'm glad to see more people go enjoy their cars.

 

[racerx78]

Yes i was suprised about how little body role there is. But it is fun.

 

[Mac98SHO]

I was really impressed with mine at the Brainerd Raceway, towards the end I even switch the car into sport mode on the Advance Trac as the track was drying out.

I almost can not wait till this year... though I will most definitely need new tires after this event...lol

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

Speaking of SHO Natl Conv.... Anyone have any news and what track are we heading to????

 

[SHOdded]

Official posting here: http://www.shoclub.com/page.php?4

There is a thread on here discussing the convention, but darned if I can find it via search.

 

[Emtpbill]

What is RTA?

 

[racerx78]

RTA = Road Tire AWD, So i'm going against any thats AWD, stock and not on slicks.

 

[EcoBrick Bob]

How stock is stock? Can you tune if you don't do anything else? How would they know? How about a CAI or a catsback exhaust?

 

[Ian Macoomb]

You can get away with a tune. Nobody would know the difference.

My local group assigns a class from A to E based on the stock car and add points for mods. R Compounds is a big bump like 15 points. Cheater tires like Azenis, Star Specs, etc would be 10. Going with wider tires than stock would be a couple of points. You get the point.

Anyway, with my old SHO, I could have changed a bunch of shit and not claimed it because nobody knew **** about the SHO. It didn't matter because it wasn't really competitive (or I wasn't).