Custom Konis Jun 28, 2004
We installed Koni shock absorbers on the front of our SRT-4 on Friday night. This install took about 2 hours, mostly due to the install requiring that we cut apart the stock struts to install the Konis.
With the shocks just on the front, we found that the car is much more stable under braking and in transitions, while allowing more power to be put to the pavement. We finished first in DS and first overall on PAX index at this weekend's Buccaneer Region Solo II event in St. Augustine.
We plan on installing the rear shocks this afternoon.
Hot Hoosier Jul 10, 2004
The Peru National Tour was a success, with our driver, Mark Daddio, taking the win over sixteen other competitors. Mark came from .18 behind on Saturday over G.H. Sharp to win by .2 seconds over Richard Wise.
While the next large event that we've got planned is nationals, less than two months away, we plan on competing locally in the meanwhile, polishing our driving skills and fine tuning the potent little Dodge.
We've also got R3S04 Hoosiers on the way. We're thinking that since we're overheating the A3S04s so quickly, the road race compound will remain more consistent through a run.
Left Turning and Left Foot Braking Jul 15, 2004
We ran the SRT-4 at a Martin Sports Car Club event, finishing second to a well-driven BMW 330Ci. The car was making some weird squealing noises which we later tracked down to being a bad LF wheel bearing. It was allowing quite a few degrees of movement in the wheel. Hmm, might explain why it cornered better going LEFT!
We also started learning how to left foot brake and we ran the entire event yesterday using only our left foot for braking. It worked pretty well, but we know we don't have the hang of it yet. We need to go to a practice event or a school so we can get more seat time with this technique.
We've got a few months before Nationals, but we figured we'd get some new graphics and magnetics made in the meanwhile. We found some metallic blue vinyl which we had Tim at Hawkeye Signs apply to standard white magnetic material. The blue matches our SRT closely and look darn cool.
The left front wheel bearing and hub were replaced under warranty. Turns out that the axle nut wasn't tightened enough from the factory and this little bit of play killed the bearing. All is fixed now.
After 11k miles and a half of a season of autocrossing, we can unapologetically say that we love this car. Sure it's cheap. Sure it's unrefined. But when you stand on it, toss it into a corner and shake it by the scruff of its neck, it responds well. Now only if they spec'ed some wider rims!
Experimenting with Tires Aug 1, 2004
We attended a Central Florida Region Solo 2 event this weekend in Ft. Pierce, FL. On Saturday, a practice day, we got a chance to do three runs on our scrubbed in A3S04 Hoosiers and then compare those times to 3 runs on fresh R3S04 Hoosiers. On Sunday, which was a normal event, we repeated the test, with 3 runs on the A's and three runs on the R's. Once bedded in, the R's were a few tenths off the A's.
These results are intriguing, as we weren't pushing the A's past their happy point. The surface was smooth asphalt, we had only one driver and the courses weren't sweeper-intensive. If the R's can come close to the A's in these conditions, we think they'll be faster on long concrete courses with two drivers. We'll be testing at Whitehouse airfield in a few weeks. This should give us some data points on concrete.
SRT-4 Service Manuals and Solo Prep Aug 26, 2004
In our preparation for the Solo National Championships, we've ordered the factory service manuals. They cost $157 shipped to our door. They are required documentation for competitors at the Solo National Championships, and will help resolve any protest issues should they arise, which is unlikely.
We got to spend some time with the SRT on concrete this weekend. We finished first and second in DS at the Buccaneer event in Jacksonville. You can download the results here (it was Kim's first autocross!) and Per finished third on index overall.
Here's what we think. The R3S04's are definitely the way to go on the rear. With the A's on the front, when cold, the car rotates very nicely in transitions (maybe too much?) and works well. As the A's overheat, the car reverts to push. With R's on all four corners, as the fronts warm up, the car goes from slight push to being quite twitchy (oversteer) in transitions. Steady state is better because the front is still gripping.
Part of planning for the Solo National Championship is managing tires, determining which tires to use in certain conditions. Here's the tires that we have now:
A. pair of A3S04's that will be corded after next weekend
B. pair of scrubbed-in A3S04s
C. pair of R3S04s that have 19 runs on them as fronts, getting flipped today to wear the other shoulder. Will be certainly enough tire to last both drivers through the warm-up as fronts, then to the rears for Nationals.
D. pair of scrubbed-in R3S04s. Our plan is to use these as rears through the warm up, then rotate to the front for Nationals.
Of course, if it's really cold or if it rains, then our plans will change.
We also purchased a Mopar trailer hitch for a regular Neon for our SRT-4 this week, We've got a bunch of stuff we need to haul to Topeka in a few weeks, and our little utility trailer is pretty handy to have..
Unfortunately, the hitch interferes with the Mopar/Borla exhaust tips. This is why there's not a specific listing for the SRT-4 for a trailer hitch in Mopar's catalog.
This gave us a good excuse to do something about the gaudy and heavy exhaust tips. We cut the Mopar system in one spot and welded a short piece of 2.5" tubing to extend the system to the side. The end result is a 16 pound weight reduction. This will offset the weight we'll gain with the hitch, or we might remove the hitch at Nationals.
Since there were no mufflers after the main resonator on the SRT, the result is no change in the exhaust loudness. You notice that it's a little closer to the driver's door, but it's not objectionable. In fact, it's actually a little less buzzy under acceleration as the Mopar system was rubbing the rear subframe, no matter how it was adjusted.