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Well, I had what I would consider the car's maiden voyage this weekend. Yeah, I ran it at an Aggie event in January, but that was on "real" street tires with blown shocks and M3 springs. So that one doesn't count. 
Now the car is much, much better prepped for STX with the obvious exceptions of no camber plates, still running stock M3 rear shocks, and other smaller items like seats and such.
We had a roughly 40-45 second course with three low speed corners where a few elected to go to first. These were all followed by relatively fast sections so it really favoed cars with torque that could pull out of the corners well. There were also two long sweepers. Overall, it was a pretty fun course, but wasn't technical, IMO.
The first thing I noticed was the slow steering. I hate the fact that the stock wheel is so friggin' huge. It doesn't help that the steering ratio isn't too fast, either. But, I dealt... The other bummer was that with the new harness mounting config, my helmet was still rubbing on the headliner, but just barely. It was still distracting, though. And given the bumpy nature of San Antonio Raceway, my helmet contacted the roof more than once per run. Nonetheless, it was nice to be planted in the seat finally.
The car did quite well. It transitioned nicely and was exceptionally well balanced. I think I'll be happy with this spring combination that John (eventually!) helped me decide on. It was easily controlled with throttle input around the longer sweepers to adjust it's attitude. Honestly, I couldn't have expected more. In fact, I was quite shocked (pun intended) that the rear felt as controlled as it was given how grossly underdamped it is right now. The diff was great, too, BTW. No hint of one wheel peel whatsoever.
BTW, I started off with 40 psi all around and due to lack of sidewall rollover and tail happiness, I ended up with 36f/34r with the "old style" Azenis. That brings up another point. I was suprised how cool these tires remained. In TX heat with little time between runs and in a nearly 3000 lb. car I expected to have to hose the tires down, but they barely got very warm at all. The FWD guys in my class were hosing their fronts down religiously and couldn't believe how cool mine were. Helps to have nearly 52% rear weight.
I ended up winning my class, but I don't think I faired very well in the PAX rankings. Will be curious to see once the results are posted.
T
Here's a pic:
Now the car is much, much better prepped for STX with the obvious exceptions of no camber plates, still running stock M3 rear shocks, and other smaller items like seats and such.
We had a roughly 40-45 second course with three low speed corners where a few elected to go to first. These were all followed by relatively fast sections so it really favoed cars with torque that could pull out of the corners well. There were also two long sweepers. Overall, it was a pretty fun course, but wasn't technical, IMO.
The first thing I noticed was the slow steering. I hate the fact that the stock wheel is so friggin' huge. It doesn't help that the steering ratio isn't too fast, either. But, I dealt... The other bummer was that with the new harness mounting config, my helmet was still rubbing on the headliner, but just barely. It was still distracting, though. And given the bumpy nature of San Antonio Raceway, my helmet contacted the roof more than once per run. Nonetheless, it was nice to be planted in the seat finally.
The car did quite well. It transitioned nicely and was exceptionally well balanced. I think I'll be happy with this spring combination that John (eventually!) helped me decide on.
It was easily controlled with throttle input around the longer sweepers to adjust it's attitude. Honestly, I couldn't have expected more. In fact, I was quite shocked (pun intended) that the rear felt as controlled as it was given how grossly underdamped it is right now. The diff was great, too, BTW. No hint of one wheel peel whatsoever.BTW, I started off with 40 psi all around and due to lack of sidewall rollover and tail happiness, I ended up with 36f/34r with the "old style" Azenis. That brings up another point. I was suprised how cool these tires remained. In TX heat with little time between runs and in a nearly 3000 lb. car I expected to have to hose the tires down, but they barely got very warm at all. The FWD guys in my class were hosing their fronts down religiously and couldn't believe how cool mine were. Helps to have nearly 52% rear weight.
I ended up winning my class, but I don't think I faired very well in the PAX rankings. Will be curious to see once the results are posted.
T
Here's a pic:
One more reason I wanted an E30. 
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