I used to think that I was a smooth driver; smooth with my inputs, smooth with the throttle, and smooth with the brakes. Then last Sunday, a brutally cold Sunday, I co-drove Dan’s Holunfie Honda S2000 at the NNJR SCCA season opening autox. Boy was I in for a handful of opposite lock! Turns out being smooth in an Evo is like the 300lb gorilla saying he can eat a lot of bananas.
My first run was not only an introduction to the S2000, but also a re-introduction to autox. I did three events last year, two in early spring, and one in the fall. I knew what I was supposed to do, but my muscle memory was a little lacking to say the least. I was a mess – and Dan didn’t spare any creative comments to make sure I knew that. “YOU FUCKING SUCK! YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AHEAD! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO AUTOCROSS?!?!” Thanks Dan. For those who don’t know, co-driving with Dan is like having that annoying voice inside your head, just that it’s now sitting next to you and constantly shouting at you, at the starter, at timing & scoring, at Perry, at the cone that just fell, and at anyone else who’s around. It only gets worse when he’s driving. There’s no surprise that the only noises you hear from the sealed microphone of the GoPro camera is Dan.
Anyway, back to the S2000 which I had never driven before until I lined up at the start:
- Power – the Evo is a torque monster compared to it, and I found myself naturally shifting up at 6500rpm instead of using the extra 2500rpm. Let the v-tech sing baby!
- Steering – yes the Evo had a quick rack, but this is crazy fast!
- Turn-in – because of the fatter swaybar I added for AStock the Evo needed a lifting of the gas or a tap of brake to induce turn-in. No effort needed in the Honda for turn-in. In fact, the AP1 was thought to be too tail happy, so Dan has added one of those nearly extinct Gendron front swaybars.
- Grip – this is where the S2000 was lacking. Shot Bridgestone RE-01Rs in the front, and shot Kumho ASXs in the rear. Fred Flintstone probably had better grip than we had in the rear.
- Brakes – to compensate for the lack of ABS in the Evo, Mitsubishi gave it a firm but communicative brake pedal. The S2000 on the other hand had a relatively squishy brake pedal and a trigger-happy ABS. In conjunction with the shitty tires, this led to a few moments where the ABS hit ice mode
Needless to say my first run was a throwaway. Dan jumps in and shows me how it’s done – or should I say how it’s spun! “THERE’S NO GRIP!” My 2nd run I start getting a feel for the car, or so I thought. I hit ice-mode on one of the braking zones and fly past an offset cone. Then after the turnaround I pin the gas and throw it into 2nd gear just as the tach sails past 8500rpm. I was expecting the tires to chirp and launch me into a surge of acceleration. Instead I found myself clouded in tire smoke and pointing the wrong direction. “YOU IDIOT THIS ISN’T ALL WHEEL DRIVE!”
On his 3rd run Dan puts it all together: sick launch, slick shifts, smooth on the gas, and snakes it through the slaloms for a blistering run of 75seconds. Just about 25seconds slower than his previous best. Thanks timing & scoring – there goes the money run!
After a few spins and much shouting from Dan I was getting the hang of the car and learning to push it. But my times weren’t improving. It seemed that every time I thought I had reigned it in the Joker would pull out another trick from up his sleeve. Dan was sitting on a clean 51.031 run, and I was constantly pulling 53s. But miraculously I managed to put it together on the last run of the day and pulled off a 52.497. 1.5seconds is a lifetime on an autox course, but for me that’s just 1.5 seconds away from figuring out how to drive a well balanced FR car. Win!