Will autocross kill my car

I posted this on autocross too but this group gets more traffic: Hello I did my first autocross this weekend with the pca I am hooked! I have a few questions though: 1)Am I killing my car? (I mean more than the tires...and I was in second gear the whole time) 2)what is it going to set me back to change have a spare set of wheels with sticky tires...perhaps kumho...or similar (preferably used) 3)What other mods can i make to my stock car that will not void my lease but will improve handling? Thanks

Jason, Firstly I don't know anyone who've gone to an autocross and not get hooked. Secondly, I haven't met anyone who after attending autocross or two that didn't begin the upgrading process. I autocross my car as much as I can and I haven't had any issues (cross my fingers). I only have one set of wheels and tires, so I don't know the cost of a spare set but I would guess $3,000 or more depending on tires. As for upgrades that won't void your lease, I would re-align the car to just a touch of toe in (this should allow for quicker turn in). Next I would have the camber adjusted to 0.5 negative for the front and 1.5 negative in the rear (this should increase the tires contact patch during turns and reduce understeer).

Depending on the course layout, autox can be very hard on your car(M96 engine) IMO. The only time I have ever "heard" my lifters was after a hard autox run. Was it oil starvation?? Who knows. I track the car a lot at DEs and never had said problem. So I'll stick to the bigger tracks...

Adding toe in will make the car harder to turn. Making 0 toe or toe out will make the car turn in quicker.

As fare as toe, be careful how close to '0' degrees (front) you go as your car will wonder all over the freeway and you will have to constantly 'chase' the steering. By best suggestion is keep the car as it is and drive another 5 autox's before thinking about making changes, especially tires. Keep street tires on the car as long as you can. I believe its develops you as a driver better.. Just my .02 BTW, congrats on getting out there to an autox. Too much fun!!

DJ 996: I _think_ the 3.6L 996 motor was changed to reduce the oiling problems attributed to the 3.4L engine under sustained high lateral Gs. Or at least PMNA doesn't offer the mod kit like they do for the 3.4L engine.

Steve, Yes they do , the Motorsports Oiling kit is available from Porsche Motorsports for the 3.6. As a matter of fact the oiling upgrade is still a component of the X51 kit on the 3.6 as it was on the 3.4. While the 3.6 may be improved , it still seems to be susceptable to oil starvation in certain high G situations.

IMHO, autocross seems harder on the car then track driving. Acceleration, braking, changes in car attitude, all are more abrupt than what you would do in DE. On the big track, loading is more progressive, while it is more abrupt in autocross. I don't like to say "jerky", because it should never be jerky either in autocross nor in DE. In autocross, because it is so safe and the chances of hitting an immovable object are so remote, one has the tendency to push the envelope a bit more. I've never spun out on the track, but have spun out in autocross. Overall, I'm going to do a lot less autocross than the big track, maybe even just stick to the big track, due to the above concerns.

DJ 996: Thanks for the update, I hadn't noticed there was an oiling kit for the 3.6L. There is a reason I ordered a GT3.

thanks for the replies! keep em comin'!

Hardest on the tires for the short time that you run.

Well never had done an autocross but for those who have-any other cars that had blown up in an autocross. I imagine if other makes do autocrosses without any hitches the P-car would do fine. Are the g-forces in an autocross extended to a point oil starvaton would occur?

In my humble opinion, after going back to an autocross after years of club and vintage racing, autocross' unique stress is that you're on the red line so much. Because it's all 1st or 2nd gear, you're always gaining revs quickly. Although I only did 3 runs on the Tire Rack track in South Bend, I spent more time at 7000 in my Elise than I would in 10 laps at a typical road racing track. On a track, you more commonly use 3 and 4, so you are accelerating between 4,000-7,000 ( in that car) at a lesser rate. The only Ferrari I ever saw explode a flywheel was at an autocross. AS

No problem Steve, don't rub it in . When do you take delivery? Euro delivery would be awesome in that car! That GT3 is the best car Porsche sells IMO, just wish it had a rear seat for my boys.

DJ 996: No Euro delivery for me, I'm too cheap to spend the extra money. And if I drove it on the Autobahn I'd be having flashbacks every time I got it on the highway here so I tell myself I'm doing the right thing. Hopefully the car will be delivered in early April but I'm still waiting on the production date. I'll need to get it broken in quickly so I can attend the May 8th DE at Sebring (the last one before September). Now that I'm unemployed I should have plenty of time to put miles on it though so maybe AOL did me a favor with the layoff. It would have been nice if they'd waited until _after_ the GT3 had been delivered though.

there is a *perception* that autox is harder on your car than a road course is, but honestly its no harsher on your car than aggressive driving (with exception of tire wear perhaps) look at it this way - an autox run lasts anywhere from about 40 to 90 seconds, depending on lenght of the course. a track session lasts anywher from 20-35 minutes. thats alot more time youre putting stress on the car. in addition, autox only gets you up to 3rd gear max - the straightaway in autoxs last for only 100 ft or so - you don't go full throttle all the time, whereas you can be on the gas on a road course for a 1000' long straight or more. the turns and slaloms in an autox are much more abrupt than a road course, which is why people think its so hard on the car. but really the fastest you'll ever get on an autox will be at most 60mph. yes you're on the redline more, but you're doing it for a VERY short period of time. were talking 1 minute versus 30 minutes on a track. Robert

penguinking: You're right that the duration of an autox is much shorter than a DE on a track but you're over generalizing what one can experience at an autox. I've done autox events where peak speeds are >100 and a run (which was 2 laps of the course) was almost 2 minutes. Some autox sites are blessed to be a big expanse of pavement, some are cursed to be parking lots. There's a wide variety of driving conditions between the 2 extremes but the seat time is all good.

true - there certainly have been instances wherer people have flipped their cars at an autox. but in terms of how much stress is being put on the car, its much much less for an autox. final thought: porsches are track ready the moment they're driven off the factory. if a car can handle those conditions without a problem, then it would certainly be a walk in the park if you decided to autox it.

any car for that matter is 'track ready'. i don't do auto-x with the p-car 'cause it's mostly 1-2 gear work at or near red line (causes me to hit the rev-imiter more times than i'm willing to admit). i've trashed many a bimmer at club auto-xs and i'm over it. the wear and tear on the diff, stub axles and rear-end isn't worth the reward, imo. i'd rather save the wear for de's and road course work.

My gut sense agrees with Fahren. You won't overheat your car at an autocross- something that can be a problem in 10-15 miles of track driving on a hot day, but you can wear out lots of stuff. Start with the outside edges of your front tires if you're at stock camber, the standing start is harder on the drivetrain, you never get a chance to warm the brakes so locking tires is a problem on non-abs cars, and you're on the rev limiter a lot, particularly with the car generating lots of lateral G's and the oil sloshed everywhere but at the pick-up. A typical 1.8 mile track has about 12 turns, none as severe as an autocross. I didn't count turns at the last autocross I did, but I'd guess at least 20, and all with the engine screaming. AS