thecarman Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 My friend Marek and I bought a 1989 GL-10 4WD Turbo wagon from NKX on this board. Our first rallyx was this weekend, and I thought I'd share how it went. The car -------- - 1989 GL-10 4WD Turbo wagon - Pretty much stock drivetrain (ea82T, 5-speed fulltime with diff-lock, 3.7 axle ratio, rear LSD, rear disc brakes, no rear sway bar) - almost 200,000 miles on car - MSD coil, air intake with cone filter in inner fender - stock full exhaust with stock cats and "performance" muffler - manual boost controller set for stock boost level - stock 13-inch alloys with new stock size generic brand snow tires - stock struts, springs, everything - interior ***stripped*** except for dash and power window motors - Corbeau race seats in front, no other seats - Our goal is to keep it cheap, fun, and cheap. - Not licensed for the street, because I already have a tow rig and trailer, we want to keep it cheap, and we would be trailering it to the event anyway to make bringing all our stuff easier (and in case something breaks). The event ---------- This was a rallyx "school" put on by the Tarheel Sports Car Club in central NC. It was only $30 per driver to enter. The track is a smooth one, no jumps, no rocks, no bug ruts. The instructors are the more experienced rallyx drivers in the club, and rode with the participants, giving advice. They broke the course up into 3 sections, and each group of participants had an hour to practice on each section. 1) short timed section where you could practice launch and a right-hand sweeper. Could look at your time each run and try to get faster. 2) 4 cone slalom, different difficulty depending on whether you started left or right 3) mini course with BIG left hand sweeper, you could slide into the trees if you got real crazy on the exit of the sweeper (such as full-throttle never back off driving style in a modified 2004 STI) Then in the afternoon a full course was set up and each driver got 6 timed runs. It was ***MUDDY***. It rained all morning while we were there. Her's All AWD/4WD cars are grouped together in one class for this club, regardless of car model and modifications. So we can change whatever we want on the car. How we did ----------- It was so much FUN!!! So much fun we forgot to get pics of our car in action. Marek has some pics of the other cars, so I may post those later, just so you can see what the track was like. Here's what the car looked like after: http://www.triadfoundry.com/richards_pictures/subaru/GL10rallyMar08_1.JPG http://www.triadfoundry.com/richards_pictures/subaru/GL10rallyMar08_2.JPG http://www.triadfoundry.com/richards_pictures/subaru/GL10rallyMar08_3.JPG It was awesome to launch the car, go through 1st gear, then slam the shift to 2nd and feel the whole car drift, and listen to it kicking up the mud and gravel as it dug in. Our skinny snow tires really worked well. I'd say we had the best traction of any car out there, given that all the other AWDs were newer cars with wider tires, some without rear LSD. The other AWD cars that were there were a stock plain 1.8L Impreza coupe, Impreza 2.5RS with new tires and a few mods (he had the fastest track times, and was a great driver), Impreza Outback Sport, WRX 4-door, and 2004 WRX STI with mods (wheels spinning full throttle the whole course, very entertaining, still fast times). The fastest time was the 2.5RS with a 26.xxx second run. I saw the STI get a 27.xxx second run also. Most AWD class runs were 30+ seconds, with some 29s and a few 28s. My last run was my best run, at 27.6 seconds!!! And that was taking it a little easy on the car (see Mechanical Issues below), and screwing up big in a slick left hand sweeper that I never got just right. It was definitely faster to get a little wild, really push yourself, and not be afraid of some tail-out action. You had to find the balance between pushing it enouh and pushing it too far. Again, this was so much fun, and as this track was smooth it really didn't feel like we were beating on the suspension of the car. The beating on the drivetrain depended entirely on the driver. The course was set up such that no reasonable driver would get their car even near any trees (it was an open field, bordered by trees). Mechanical issues ----------------- See this thread for my pressurized crankcase issue: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86881 The tailpipe had a cold weld (no penetration) just in front of the rear axle, so after the first timed run someone told me my muffler was hanging down. No problem, we popped it out of the rubber hanger and removed it, as shown here: http://www.triadfoundry.com/richards_pictures/subaru/GL10rallyMar08_4.JPG We didn't care - we had planned to removed most of the stock exhaust before the next rallyx event anyway. What we learned ---------------- - The car is very fun, and works great as is. Definitely works for what we want to do. Might not win, but is fun, which is what we are after. - Even with stock-ish power levels (which is what I assume this car is making), it was a BLAST to drive - I changed my driving style. Initially I was either full-throttle or no-throttle, just off and on around the track. But it is faster to be smooth with the throttle. - Sometimes (especially in really slick mud) you need to "slow down to go fast", meaning go slow getting into a corner and make sure your car gets turned in, rather than just full-throttle pushing through the corner and off into the deeper mud. Also no time benefit to doing full-throttle slides off the track into the deeper mud. - When it's real slick, go wide into undisturbed ground if you can, and get turned in to a corner before you hit the slick stuff where everyone is running. - When it's real slick, look for ruts or dry spots that you can use for traction. Basically be looking for any traction you can find. - The course changes as more runs are made. The AWD/4WD class ran first, and at first the traction wasn't bad as the grass was on the course. But by the 2nd run the grass was gone, and it was SLICK. Then by the end of our class, we had sprayed the mud off sections of the track, reaching the dryer clay below, so the FWD classes definitely had some good traction in some areas. - We will be making a skid plate out of aluminum. No need for one at this track, but the other local tracks are rougher. - We need mudflaps. - Need to work on getting the car to turn in better in the really slick stuff. All the AWD/4WD cars had trouble with this. - In the (semi) dry sections, turn in was great, and was easy to get the tail out, even without a rear sway bar. - Would like to see how the car works on a totally dry track before making any changes that affect handling. - We could be competitive (on this track at least, and against these drivers) against the newer cars. Again, we're not hung up on winning, but it was nice to see that we were not left in the dust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecarman Posted March 30, 2008 Author Share Posted March 30, 2008 More learnings I should mention: -If you have a chance to have someone you know, say maybe the co-owner of the car, ride shotgun for like *12 runs*, one of the two of you should have sense enough to think that the passenger could watch stuff that the driver doesn't have time to look at, like the boost gauge, so you won't be wondering after the event what max boost you were hitting. - We're going to remove the passenger side headlight (we don't run at night) and put the cone filter there, rather than in the front lower corner of the inner fender where it is now. The very bottom of that inner fender is torn open, and let mud get thrown on the filter. I think we'd get more air from the headlight opening anyway. - Come prepared to the event in terms of clothing. It was not supposed to rain, so I was wearing jeans with a t-shirt, with a sweatshirt over it. Then it started raining as soon as we reached the track. I was so freakin cold! I wore my helmet all day to keep my head warm and dry. My shoes were soaked all day. I should have at least taken my jacket and an emergency poncho, just in case. And a hat. I had brought all kinds of tools and spares, but no spare clothes! - Corbeau race seats are nice! I was so comfortable all day. I fit in the seat really tight, which is nice because I never had to brace my leg against the door and slide around in the seat like in the autox cars I used to run. - Defrost, heat, and windshield wipers are nice!!! Don't take them out of your car! I was so glad we had these for this one event, and will keep them working, even if we never need them again. - A full day event like this is quite an effort. The club ran a rallyx for points on the same track today, and we were pre-registered for it, but decided since it might rain (and was going to be colder) that we would skip the 2nd day event. I was sad about this (see next learning below), but after waking up today, I'm glad we decided to skip it, because I AM BEAT! I am so sore and tired from so much driving, cheering, standing in the cold and wet, and working the track while other groups drove. - This is ADDICTING! I want to drive like that all the time now! Can't wait until the next event in May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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