New Racer

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sachilles
Posts: 1189
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2003 3:11 pm
Location: Waitsfield, VT

Re: New Racer

Post by sachilles »

My opinion, and I hillclimb a 02 wrx, and have a decent amount of subaru experience and exposure.
Leave your suspension stock, or if you are determined to change, upgrade to Sti struts and springs and group N tophats. Leave your sway bars stock.

I run Sti struts, and H&R springs, which I really like for this stuff. I have a adjustable white line rear sway bar, that I will likely remove in favor of going back to a stock rear bar. The biggest issue being that it doesn't allow the rear suspension to droop enough, which means your rear wheel will pick up in a corner, then you can't put the power down to get out of corner. I will likely go to a stock bar, or go without one entirely.

I get the impression this is a daily driver. To start, get a decent street autocross tire, if it's in your budget. If not run what you have. Examples of the type of tire I mean, Kumho XS, Dunlop direzza star spec, Toyo R1R, and the like. Something with a stiff sidewall, but not a dot slick.

My car is usually in the top 15 overall. My modifications are very limited. I have a full exhaust. A mild tune through a device called UTEC, Sti struts, h&R springs. Whitline rear bar, cage/race seat/harness. I run hankook DOT slicks, which are excellent, but I feel unwise for a novice hilclimber.

The single hardest thing for any novice to come to terms with, is that car modifications have very little to do with time improvements at a hillclimb. Experience and seat time is the most important. It takes a long time to learn each hill. The key to being fast is knowing the hill like the back of your hand.

Make the car safe and reliable first and foremost. You can't learn the hill if you are stuck at the bottom tinkering with a car all day.
Again I can not emphasize enough your oil level. Make sure your oil level is touching the full mark on the dipstick.
Sachilles
02 Subaru impreza (Donut) #66
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BugEyeRex
Posts: 142
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:52 am
Location: Colchester, VT

Re: New Racer

Post by BugEyeRex »

The single hardest thing for any novice to come to terms with, is that car modifications have very little to do with time improvements at a hillclimb. Experience and seat time is the most important. It takes a long time to learn each hill. The key to being fast is knowing the hill like the back of your hand.

Make the car safe and reliable first and foremost. You can't learn the hill if you are stuck at the bottom tinkering with a car all day.
Again I can not emphasize enough your oil level. Make sure your oil level is touching the full mark on the dipstick.
This is the biggest piece of advise that I would back 300%!

Learning the hill- I have been driving the save car for a few years without changing a thing until 2 hillclimbs ago. Even in the past few years I could still find 1 or 2 seconds on the hills by learning more details of the hill.

Making the car safe and reliable- Gets you more seat time and lets you focus on the hill and not the car. After a rough year of blowing up transmissions, the car only made me miss ONE run in the past few years.

Oil- Turbo Subaru do burn oil when pushed hard. New oil and making sure it is topped off is important!

One thing I would add is relax and have fun. Being competitive on the hill takes time.
Chris Rielly

93 Blue Impreza 4dr (toy)
02 Blue WRX Wagon (toy)
98 Green Civic 4dr (basic transport)
08 Red GTI 4dr (toy when given permission from the boss)
Artorias
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:02 pm
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Re: New Racer

Post by Artorias »

Yeah, I am about to replace the rear brakes and along with a radiator or radiator hose job, it should be all set to go in the reliability department.

And yeah, I had a question about the tranny and if they will be fine as long as I don't miss gears and don't launch all the time and just take off normally.

First few races I would take my time to get everything down and make sure to do it safe so I don't end up totaling my car or worse. You can totally still have fun at slower speeds so I'll keep it slow for a little.

Again, thanks for all the help!
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