Quote:
Originally Posted by hzycamaro
Your friend sounds like me 
I think his complain comes from the fact that fast acceleration doesn't give you much advantage in autocross because of tight turns and slow courses |
Physics at work here. As long as you're using much tire grip for cornering, you're limited on how much acceleration you can use (no matter how much acceleration
potential your car has). Second gear with 3.91's in the diff, the front wheels still turned and the car not pointed pretty close to directly down the straight, and you won't feel like you're using anywhere near the torque that you know is available because you won't be. Can't. The lower powered Miata won't be throwing away nearly as much of what isn't one of its strengths in the first place.
Quote:
|
My point is compared to light and small cars, Camaros are more difficult to get a good result in autocross. Maybe I should not compare Camaro with Miata in the first place. Maybe that's why SCCA has so many different classes
|
Classes are supposed to be set up such that cars of generally similar performance compete directly against each other. Small, light, and NARROW being good things (it can be mathematically proven that any given slalom requires higher lateral g's in your Camaro than in a Miata if you're going to run through it in the same amount of time).
FWIW, your performance through a slalom as a driver gets better (you'll at least come to hate them less) once you start consciously starting your turning to go around each cone before you get to it. It takes a finite amount of time to spin the wheel over, and the tires are only gradually getting around to where they need to be pointed, so you need to be giving yourself a head start on it all. That's when "getting behind the cones" starts making more sense.
Norm