After a near 3 month hiatus, had my 3rd autox of 2019. Given that I am still making tweaks with the Evo, I decided to run it again. Since the last autox, I switched from 10k rear springs to 11k, and flipped the rear bar back to soft. This was to give me the rotation I desired without as much lifting in the rear, which seemed to be producing some hop. Regarding the latter, I also pulled out almost all preload in the rear springs to assist with that as well. The other tweaks were updated front and rear endlinks, with the cusco FSB bracket swapped for the stock one again – due to space and the fact that I was running the stock position anyway. There’s slightly more aggressive camber and a tiny bit more caster on the car, as well as a tiny bit of toe in f/r.

It was a brutally hot day, and in the last couple of runs, the evo’s coolant temps were actually between middle and H, until I would run the car again to cool it back down. The car is fine when driving/racing, but when it sits the heat seems to just concentrate in the bay and the overheating would occur.

The car is handling really well – there’s nothing I would change at this point with suspension. The added camber/caster is helping with the front grip, as are the stiffer rear springs, and the car is rotating well off throttle. The only bad part about the car right now is the OS Giken rear differential, which seems to be doing nearly nothing on power – I was getting wheel spin for the first time in a very, very long time in this car in a couple of corners that I was trying to accelerate out of. All that said, for next year I will swap out the whiteline steering bushings for the OEM bushings – something’s just not working well there.

Other than that, the car felt great. At least for the car’s main purpose, which is track, the diff is a minimal issue. I was able to go faster and faster through the day, which is rare for me. The course was great for the evo, and what helped most in dropping time at this event was focusing on the slaloms, which have traditionally weak for me in the evo. The other thing I noticed I was doing was looking ahead through corners – something that driving on the track has been helping with. Was able to drop about 7 tenths for my 5th run doing that, and another four tenths after that for my 6th run – which I failed to record due to user error. The 6th run was a good one, so I was disappointed that I didnt get a recording of it.

Set Up:

• 24psi tune, 93 octane, 310hp
• Ohlins DFV, 8k/11k; Shocks 6/5
• Tanabe FSB; WL 26mm RSB; Soft
• ER-ACD (65%) Tarmac; OS Giken Rear Diff
• Camber at -3.5, -1.9 rear,  -1/32nd toe front 0 (erring on negative) toe rear
• Under 1/4 tank
• CE28N 18×9.5; 255/35-18 Bridgestone RE71Rs
• 36psi all around on RE71Rs

Notes (Evo):

• Car felt great, dynamically, off throttle. Not a lot of push anymore, as long as I don’t try to go into a corner too hot.
• Focus on slaloms
• Look ahead and through corners
• 2019 Track days (2, 2 on RE71Rs)
• 2019 Runs (18 on Evo, 12 runs on RE71Rs)

2019 Run Count: 18 (+6 Evo)