Getting back out with the VN, had a rough event today. The temps weren’t all that bad (~63 degrees), but it began to rain in the morning, enough to soak the track and stayed consistently drizzling throughout the entire event. The Vitour P1s once again were not up to the task – in the wet, these turned into giant rubber blocks. The blankets didn’t do anything to help, though they did maintain relative temps in the rear. Apparently they were testing a different compound at nationals this week, one that will be more suited for autocross. The times just slipped further and further away as the track got wet, so it was an opportunity to dial in some of my inputs.

I think the Evo would have really exceled at this track. The Evo has zero issue putting heat in the tires – especially the fronts but all four in reality. The VN struggled to put down power everywhere. If I had any amount of steering angle and I hit the gas, the car just wouldn’t turn and would only plow straight ahead until I backed off the throttle. I realize it’s tires but was still a little disappointed in the diff not allowing me to get on the power a little bit better. The tires were actually so bad that I nearly rear ended someone just from a semi-sudden stop and I was foot-to-the-floor on the brakes, ABS kicking in, and just barely stopped in time. So not only in corners, but also straight line braking has been awful on these tires. I got some decent practice in using partial throttle to keep the car more planted, and that seemed to help, but with the lack of mechanical grip, the car was still just all over the place.

I thought I had a set of RE71Rs that I could put on the VN, but realized while typing this that those are 255/40-17s, not the 255/35-18s that I had gotten from the previous Evo set – unfortunate there. These are strictly a dry, warm tire option, though I do think today would have been ok if it were dry. I don’t want to swap the rear bar, so I may get a tiny amount of toe-in in the rear for my next alignment, which should help with the snappy back end. I tried 33/31 for my 5th and final run, and while I was pushing it, the results were inconclusive because I lost the car twice on that final run. It’s frustrating because the course looked awesome and I was looking forward to tackling it, but with the way this car is set up, the tires, the rain, it was impossible to get much from it.

Set Up (VN):

• DS
• 255/35-18 Vitour P1, 35/32, then 33/31
• WL 24mm RSB on soft
• Camber at -2.0 0 toe, -1.5 0 toe
• Brakes: Stock

Notes (VN):

• 2025 VN: 6 autox / 0 track
• In the wet, the car is awful

2025 Event Count: 7 Autox, 1 track day