Rallycrossed the Jeep yesterday

[rslifkin]

I came in pretty much middle of the pack (9th out of 16) after everything was factored in. Was running some of the slowest times of anything AWD/4WD. But I beat all but 1 of the 2wd cars (and he wasn't much ahead of me) and enough of the AWD guys ate snowbanks to hurt their overall times.

I could have probably driven it a bit harder, but it needs a little tweaking. Running in 4hi, it did pretty [censored] well, but it pushes like no tomorrow in the slow, tight, uphill corners due to the locked center diff. At higher speeds, it's wonderfully balanced. I can probably work around the issue with driving style improvements and maybe a few suspension tweaks. I definitely need to try left-foot-braking it into corners like that to get it loose before it starts to push, which should let me keep the nose in a little better and power out of it. It does get a little loose on trail braking in the dirt, so I think it'll work.

The verdict is, my educated guess of a suspension works pretty [censored] well! Still could use a couple tweaks to the shock valving, but it took the pounding just fine, reacted predictably, etc. even when I was blasting through every last bit of travel up front at times.

Video is of my last 5 runs (forgot to turn on the camera for my first 3 when we ran the course the other direction). Ignore the squeaky camera mount...

 

[DoubleWasp]

What's your suspension setup?

 

[rslifkin]

Front sway bar: Addco 29mm (stock is 26mm) with quick disconnect end links
Rear sway bar: Stock 16mm
Front springs: 280 lb/in (stock is 190), sits about 1/3" taller than stock
Rear springs: 260 lb/in (stock is 160), sits about 1/2" taller than stock
Front shocks: Bilstein 7100, 400/100 valving
Rear shocks: Bilstein 7100, 360/80 valving
Front track bar: Rusty's with poly bushing
Rear track bar: Stock
Control arms: Mostly stock, upgraded front LCAs

The shock valving needs a little tweaking, mostly a reduction in low speed compression damping (especially in the rear). The front could use a hair more high speed compression damping as well.

Drivetrain-wise, it's got a 242 t-case in it and a rear limited slip (going to add a front one someday).

 

[3for3]

That's so cool. It's my dream to drive in a rally race. I have no racing experience at all, just dreams. I wanted to turn my Scion XD into a rally car, again, in my dreams.

 

[AZjeff]

How cool is that!! Is the track really rough? It's hard to tell in your video. Having spent a bunch of time getting dirt and paved stock cars to handle I'll say the fastest way is to ask the fastest guys about their setup. They don't mind telling a new guy stuff, until he gets fast. We always found the fastest setup was the softest we could run, not sure how that translates to snow. To get more front grip you could try the stock front A/S bar.

Nothing like racing with a low chance of damage. Do they run in the daytime as well?

 

[dlundblad]

It looks a little choppy!

It looks fun although I could never do that to my Jeep.

Good idea on the 242 t case.

 

[IndyIan]

Were you running in a gear with some engine braking? So when you chop the throttle you can get the front end to bite?
Maybe the easiest mod to try is disconnecting the front sway bar. Try lower front air pressures too.
I found for our slower autocross courses that having a crazy oversteer setup is pretty fast and fun. Not any good on a faster course but on snow with 4wd I think it would work too, you never use the brake for a corner, just huck it sideways to lose speed and then gas out as you are already pointed in the right direction.

 

[rslifkin]

I kept the trans in 1st the whole time, so it had more than enough engine braking. There was only 1 spot I touched the brakes on most runs.

The course was definitely pretty rough (these were some of the later runs of the night), as the ground was soft and we were chewing it up a bit. Some of the events are earlier in the day, but this one started in the late afternoon and ran into the dark.

Indylan - I thought about disconnecting the front bar (I have quick disconnect links), but I figured that might make it a bit too loose, and I wasn't loving the idea of sliding the rear end across the ruts (one guy de-beaded a tire that way). As-is, if I trail braked into some of the corners, it would get loose, and in the faster corners, I could get it loose under power too. Once I throw new clutch packs in the rear LSD (it's pretty worn), that might also help get the tail out. I definitely need to play with tire pressures though.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

That looks like so much fun! Where was this?

I want to try an autocross when cnyscca has something in Syracuse!

 

[rslifkin]

This one was at Walczyk's Farm in Weedsport (exit 40 off the Thruway). About an hour drive from Rochester, should be less from Syracuse.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Unfortunately, my Jeep is down for a bit

If they do that next winter, I'd definitely take my Jeep on it! I think it would be a blast in 2WD! Cherokees are so light in the back that they are easy to "drift" in low traction surfaces; they won't just oversteer and loop around.

Broome-Tioga sports park lets Jeeps / 4x4s run the motocross track. I hear that is loads of fun.

 

[rslifkin]

Next event there is March 28th, unless it gets rescheduled. 2wd might be a handful, depending on the course (and you'd probably be stuck running in a 4wd/AWD class anyway). The 2wd cars were losing a lot of speed on the uphill curves as they couldn't put down enough power.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

How much is it to run? I'm not doing anything strenuous on the Jeep until I get new motor and trans mount in. The transmission is bouncing off the floor at the moment.

 

[IndyIan]

If its rutting up a lot you might not want to get too sideways anyways. Upside down is never fun.
There are local rallycross events near me that are run in gravel pits, so they always rut up a lot and it turns into who is the best slot car racer... I thought about taking the Tracker, but I am pretty sure there would be a high chance of tipping it over once I got into it.
I am surprised you guys are rutting up the course in the winter though, is it not frozen solid?

 

[rslifkin]

Yeah, it turned into a game of be in the ruts or don't, but if you're not, don't slide into them.

Miller88 - It's $40 for the event, you usually get 8 - 12 runs total. If you're not an SCCA member, it's an extra $10 for a weekend membership. And they do usually have loaner helmets if you don't have your own.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Do you do autoX with CNYSCCA?

 

[rslifkin]

I haven't, I don't have a vehicle I can autocross at the moment (SUVs are explicitly banned unless they choose to allow it on a case-by-case). Plus, over in Rochester, I'd be with FLR SCCA anyway (they don't have anywhere to run rallycross, so I go to CNY for that).