Autoxing a TA?
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On The Tree
Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Knoxville, Tennessee
Autoxing a TA? 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?
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Joined: Jan 2004
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From: St.Charles MO
Originally Posted by 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?
Check out the road racing section.
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
take a look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdFSt2xddFg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXT1l8Vja8Q
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From: Decatur, TN (N-W of Athens)
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.
Land, yours looks like it's AutoX pretty well, from it's stance in the pic there.
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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.
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.
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.
They were always intended to take off fast and corner fast.
Originally Posted by Captainofiron
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
take a look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdFSt2xddFg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXT1l8Vja8Q
Originally Posted by mattmartindrift
weight balance doesn't matter much at all compared to the car's polar moment of inertia...
On The Tree
Joined: Nov 2006
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From: baltimore, md
Originally Posted by 93transam
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.
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.
Originally Posted by 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.
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.