Autocross Sportsman or Jerk?

So a guy in my class autocrossing has published on Facebook his suspension settings that are a bit backwards. The fact that I'm hesitating telling him there are better alignment settings (public knowledge on a well know forum) that could make him faster.

I tend to think the wrenching and little things you do to a car is a part of the sport. Am I a jerk not posting "you might want to try X.X camber front and X.X camber rear"?

No, not a jerk. Competitive, yes. A jerk would be all like, "You douche, you don't even know how to set up your suspension properly."

no, a jerk would be telling him, "dang it, you stumbled on to the secret that I just saw posted by uber suspension guru! That's the HOT setup!!

Or the guy is actually posting the wrong stuff on purpose, hoping his competitors take his advice, when in actuality he has the "right" setup on the car

In which case, he's being the jerk.

At any rate, no. If the guy comes to you for advice, and he's not a direct competitor, then it's a little jerky to not point him in the right direction. But if he's confident in his abilities and feels he's found THE solution, then feel free to let him continue in that delusion.

freestyle wrote: So a guy in my class autocrossing has published on Facebook his suspension settings that are a bit backwards. The fact that I'm hesitating telling him there are better alignment settings (public knowledge on a well know forum) that could make him faster. I tend to think the wrenching and little things you do to a car is a part of the sport. Am I a jerk not posting "you might want to try X.X camber front and X.X camber rear"?

Depends... Is he DFL in your class regularly, or is he beating you???

In reply to Duke: Pax times makes everyone a direct competitor, at least for me .

If you're faster, even if he has correct settings, definitely tell him the best specs.

Not being a jerk...I've held off donating good tuning advice to the competition before If they ask for help I give them some but I might not go out of my way. My car's enough of an underdog already

But if he's not a threat to you in the standings I say go ahead and tell him.

grafmiata wrote:

freestyle wrote: So a guy in my class autocrossing has published on Facebook his suspension settings that are a bit backwards. The fact that I'm hesitating telling him there are better alignment settings (public knowledge on a well know forum) that could make him faster. I tend to think the wrenching and little things you do to a car is a part of the sport. Am I a jerk not posting "you might want to try X.X camber front and X.X camber rear"?

Depends... Is he DFL in your class regularly, or is he beating you???

I might be a little quicker, and my car is a bit of an underdog. I've missed events so our season points will be very close this year.

Duke wrote: In which case, *he's* being the jerk. At any rate, no. If the guy comes to you for advice, and he's not a direct competitor, then it's a little jerky to not point him in the right direction. But if he's confident in his abilities and feels he's found THE solution, then feel free to let him continue in that delusion.

I've even helped a direct competitor … he had set up his CRX (STS) with 1° of -camber on the front and 3° on the rear … and was wondering why the car was understeering … I suggested he reverse the settings … the next event he and I were less than a tenth apart

GameboyRMH wrote: Not being a jerk...I've held off donating good tuning advice to the competition before If they ask for help I give them some but I might not go out of my way. My car's enough of an underdog already But if he's not a threat to you in the standings I say go ahead and tell him.

my problem is that I"m the "car setup advice" guy for our rallycross group (at least the BMW guys).....and now I've given enough advice that they're starting to catch/beat me, lol....

then again, these guys were all friends of mine before we started rallycross, so I'm happy to see them do well, even at my expense.

I've helped a direct competitor at the last rallycross of the year (ScottyB, on these forums)when we were tied for first in the season points. He wound up beating me.

Good on him for being a better driver that day.

I always share all information about my car's setup, build, and how I'm driving the course. If people can get some helpful information from me, hopefully some of them will give me some helpful information in the future. If I give helpful advice to someone and they beat me it just means that I should have driven better.

CrashDummy wrote: I always share all information about my car's setup, build, and how I'm driving the course. If people can get some helpful information from me, hopefully some of them will give me some helpful information in the future. If I give helpful advice to someone and they beat me it just means that I should have driven better.

This.

Part of my attraction to STS is how open a lot of people (who trophy at nats) are about their setups. I know how to properly test things, but right now the time and money saved are vital.

irish44j wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: Not being a jerk...I've held off donating good tuning advice to the competition before If they ask for help I give them some but I might not go out of my way. My car's enough of an underdog already But if he's not a threat to you in the standings I say go ahead and tell him.

my problem is that I"m the "car setup advice" guy for our rallycross group (at least the BMW guys).....and now I've given enough advice that they're starting to catch/beat me, lol.... then again, these guys were all friends of mine before we started rallycross, so I'm happy to see them do well, even at my expense.

I'll help you as much as I can until you beat me. Then you are on your own.

A potential in-between would be to ask what testing he did to arrive at those settings, or ask what else he has tried and see where the conversation goes from there.

I didn't mean to imply that I don't share my information freely (for what it's worth). I just meant nobody could call him a jerk for not giving away secrets to a direct competitor.

Crazy thought: Maybe he could repay the favor by sharing some info that could help you.

I always share my setup, if someone had not shared with me I still would be trying to dial mine in. I wouldn't post it on Facebook, talk to him in person.

I'll see him at a practice event...I'll mention it casually and see what happens. I've had racers I admire share tons of setup info and helped wrench on my car. It's the right thing to do.

If we are competing for points, I'm going to be a jerk.

But on the other hand, I've told guys exactly what I am doing and they don't believe me.

And they cant drive my car as fast as I was able too!

I'd tell him but I was never competitive in autoX due to both my set up and my driving.