Firebirdfan

Anybody autox a Trans Am? I'm curious to see how well the car would do. It seems as though TAs and Camaros are pure straight line cars, but can they be made to handle as well as (or close to) a corvette or even an STI (or other 4wd car)? I know the car has a solid axel and had a LOT of weight on the nose. Any way to even the car's weight out a bit?

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

Use a ballast system to 50/50 it, but then again if it's like 60/40 as is, then you're looking at adding a bunch of weight to the rear :\

Firebirdfan

What's a ballast system? Like adding weight to the rear? Will the extra weight in the car balance out with the closer 50/50 weight ratio?

JD_AMG

They actually do pretty damn good. And their stock F/R weight distrabution is 56/44, so its not that bad.
Check out the road racing section.

Firebirdfan

Oh crap, I didn't even know about the road racing section, thanks!

Captainofiron

iTrader: (1)

I go to the SCCA solo 2 events, havent raced mine yet, but like said above, out of the box they do really well, with some better tubular pieces they are scary fast around a road course

take a look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdFSt2xddFg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXT1l8Vja8Q

landstuhltaylor

iTrader: (6)

go to www.frrax.com its all about autox and road racing the f-body

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

Yea, adding weight to equal out the 50/50. Being 56/44 might not be all that bad, help from over-steer.

Land, yours looks like it's AutoX pretty well, from it's stance in the pic there.

landstuhltaylor

iTrader: (6)

not really. the swaybar links are broken and ill be putting the stock springs back on soon.

EchoMirage

iTrader: (3)

i autox mine. theyre good, but remember what youre driving and what youre up against, and also that most autoxs are very tight, short courses in parking lots. not the best for our cars. theyre big, heavy, powerful cars, much more suited to a track where the LS1 can open up and breathe. but, some people do, and do well, in autoxs. check out frrax.com, as said before. r comps or slicks are a must to be competetive in the least. look around for a cheap set of used rims and put race tires on them if youre planning on getting into it. if itll be a few times a year, then try your street tires, or go for max performance summers.

side note, they were never designed to be pure straight line cars. at least not since then mid 70s. pontiac always prided itself on the handling of its cars, even of the early firebird/TA over the camaro. especially with the 4th gens, they are just as good in handling as they are straight line. you just have to put them in their best element...ie: not tiny little autoxs.

DrkPhynx

What makes you say that?

Captainofiron

iTrader: (1)

they have been marketed as road course cars from the beginning, look at the early Widetrack commercials for the 67 and 68 Birds, then in 69 they came out with a car called the Trans Am, which they wanted to have compete in the Trans Am racing series (but engine size limitations excluded every production Pontiac v-8)

They were always intended to take off fast and corner fast.

93transam

iTrader: (1)

What kind of springs and shockes are you running, and did you stick with the stock roll bars? The body roll on your TA is almost non-existant on the second run. That course seems like its designed for a lighter car so good job with dog of a TA (compared to a Civic or Miata). I've actually had a chance to drive a new Honda Civic SI around some twisties and I was really impressed with the chassis even thought the engine left something to be desired. I always wanted to test my cammed TA on a track versus that little SI. It's a fun little car and I'd own one (in addition to the TA of course).

Captainofiron

iTrader: (1)

haha I wish that was my TA,

I was bored one day at work and I was just typing in stuff on Youtube and I saved that video to my Favorites.

y2k_ta

iTrader: (80)

Moving to Road Racing Forum...

Viper

iTrader: (6)

Been doing it since 2001, it's a real blast! Like any other sport, money is king. How fast do you want to go AND stick?

mattmartindrift

weight balance doesn't matter much at all compared to the car's polar moment of inertia...

93transam

iTrader: (1)

I think it determines amount of oversteer and understeer. It feels to me that my TA has insane amounts of oversteer when I step into it in a turn but when I am on part throttle it feels like it has slight to moderate understeer (compared to that Honda Civic SI). Throwing my car around alternating turns (left turn to right or vise versa) brings out the under steer problem a little more. Of course I never Auto crossed so I think more experienced members could shed more light on a stock suspension TA's handling on a road course.

mattmartindrift

that could be sheer suspension setup, tire size/weight ratio, a million things, you can't have a problem with a car handling and point your finger at one thing.

Oversteer is easy in a heavy car. newton's laws.... An object at rest wants to stay at rest, therefore, the heavier it is, and the more torque it has, it's going to want to spin the tires instead of move the car.

93transam

iTrader: (1)

A heavier car I think would be more prone to understeer than a lighter car I thought. Any understeer problems I encounter is easily fixed with a heavy right foot. Of course if I had some more sticky tires the rear end would not be so easy to swing around when I step on it with my current HP rating. Of course a lowered TA with bigger sway bars really good tires and lightened would not have as much problem with understeer as a stock TA (depending on setup) but that goes without saying.