[Autocross] Points Event #3 with TSCC: May 2024

Some changes, only to break the car in <24hrs

The rush to put the car together for the event:

Between the last autocross and this one, there were some changes I wanted to make and shake down prior to VIR… and in between that time and now I was also out of the country for a week. So naturally I procrastinated and decided to install things only a couple days before this event.

Whiteline lower ball joints (to replace the 034s)
Whiteline bump steer correction inserts (from KCA462)
Whiteline caster-adding sealed spherical-in-poly rear bushings (also from KCA462)
Powerflex offset camber forward poly bushings (to regain back some camber lost by going from 034 to Whiteline ball joints)
Replace the bump stops previously modified to something softer and more progressive - some Volvo bump stops from FCP that were trimmed down by 5mm.

And while they won’t make a bit of difference for autocross, I already had the car apart so I tossed some updated Audi 8Y RS deflectors and Audi 8V RS3 brake backing plates on. This was done mainly to prevent further ball joint boot and ABS speed sensor melting on the car when on track. The backing plates are vented and pretty neat looking if nothing else. The hope is for better brake cooling on track. There will be a follow up article in the future on these, plus a few other brake cooling mods that will be tried out next weekend at VIR.

*Current setup as run for the autocross*

So how did it go?

Overall the event was really good. The course was VERY fast. I managed to run a pretty respectable time on my first run (35.881)…

My fastest clean run: 35.881

… and then proceeded to cone away a 35.528 +2 and a 35.089 + 1 which cost me the win, since Rick managed to pull off a 35.863 in his IS20 Alltrack.

My third run was REALLY good... up until I tagged a cone around the 29 sec mark.

My co-driver, Logan did not have his best showing, and only got down to a 36.603. We’re not sure why he decided to park it in the slalom, but to be fair he only got 3 runs in (4 actually driving but one was red flagged and issued a rerun) before the car broke. I had 5, though my 4th and 5th were not any good.

Changes assessed:

The car felt really good overall, right up until it broke. I DO think that for autocross specifically the 034 ball joints had a bit of an edge (thanks to the tiny bit more camber) previous and the front end of the car was quite as “sharp” on initial turn-in with the Whiteline ball joints… but with them added + the bump steer correction inserts installed I am very much looking forward to driving it at VIR. It is far easier to ride the grip limit more confidently. Actual measurements will be done after the June autocross since we have a month and a half long break between events.

The bump steer correction inserts were not installed with the 034 ball joints due to still needing considerably more correction (since they are approx 17mm taller than stock (despite 034 advertising they provide 10mm of correction), vs the Whitelines which are only ~7mm taller than stock), and due to the close proximity of events I did not have time to measure everything out. The bump steer correction inserts sink the outer tie rod about 5 to 6mm further into the knuckle. This is enough to almost completely compensate for the RC correction that the Whiteline ball joints provide. There will be more on all of this to come.

The bump stop change seemed good as well, though it’s effects were more noticeable in daily driving situations than at an autocross. A future article on bump stop tuning basics will be coming soon. So far I’ve “dyno’d” a few different kinds and modified them and rechecked, just need to put it all together in an article/video maybe.

What about the failure?

One of the parts installed during the scramble were the Whiteline rear LCA bushings, which are actually a sealed spherical bearing encased in poly which is bonded to the outer sleeve that gets pressed into the arm. They add a bit of caster (which is important since the Whiteline lower ball joints lose a bit), and I had zero problems during install. It is worth noting that the bushings must be flexed slightly beyond what the spherical bearings have travel for, and there’s maybe a tiny bit of flex in the poly at full droop. There is zero problem around normal ride height or full bump. I suspect they’d last longer if I had coilovers with less droop travel or maybe even Bilstein B8s (since they’re internally limited by an inch).

By the time this article is published, the car is already back together replacing the bushing with OEM and on the way to VIR for the Tidewater Sports Car Club Memorial Day HPDE.