Before I buy my base model S13 coupe, I'd like to know how competitive this car will be in AutoX. I want to compete in stock class first, to have a better feel for the car. When my skills improve, I will slowly modify the suspension.

What are your thoughts?

 

It should be quite competitive, but it's all up to the driver.

 

yea the suspension and handling on the 240 is pretty nasty out of the box on top of the whole beauty of rwd. so its up to the driver to push the car.. you should prolly invest in a nice set of coilovers by the way.. maybe teins or tanabes

 

Yeah I know it's all about the driver, but I wanted to get into a car that can be setup nicely for AutoX. I used to own a nicely setup AE86 (mostly suspension mods) which handled awesome on the touge runs my friends and I used take part in. I sold that car due to other priorities & am now searching for an S13 because I have the time/money for AutoX.

I want to stick to stock class (includes stock suspension but upgraded bushings) for at least one season. Coilovers & other goodies won't happen for a while yet.

 

For stock class, I think Miata's are awesome(you might call me biased lol). Be prepared for the understeer, thats the biggest tip I can give ya.

 

Yeah, Miata's are awesome right out of the box compared to S13. Thanks for letting me know about the understeer. I'll try it out completely stock & will likely get beefier swaybars to deal with that.

 

240's are pretty good to Auto-X with. There are a couple of problems that you will have deal with if you want to be competitive in a stock class. The FIRST thing that you need to get before you go racing is a good set of tires. This is the easiest way to make the car go faster. If you run on crappy tires in a 240 ( or any other car), you will fight the car when going through tight transient turns/corners. You can literally feel the side wall rolling over when you turn the car. After you get good tires, you will need to deal with the car pushing. You can get a larger front ARB and a good aligment to solve this problem, Switching to a larger front ARB is legal in stock classes. The next problem you will encounter with the car is trying to put the power down ( yes, with all the power that those stock KA's have ) during mid corner and corner exit. A LSD will help you out GREATLY. Allthough this isn't legal in stock classes, if you compete at local events, this shouldn't be a big deal. By the time you get the car sorted out, you will want more power and less body roll. When you take the car out for the first time, it will be apparent of the downfalls with a stock 240
Vince

 

Great advice Vince. For my initial AutoX season, I want to run full stock to find the limitations of the car. When funds permit, I'll find a set of cheap stock wheels & throw on some sticky rubber. Upgrading to larger swaybars (ARB) and an LSD would be a bonus. Hopefully I can find a coupe with factory VLSD so I'll have money left over for the swaybars.

The search continues...