First place in first autocross!

[spindoc]

I ran my Sport in the NC Region SCCA autocross held yesterday 3/27.  I only ran in the morning session, as I had a mission meeting at church that afternoon.  But I'm pleased to report that I had 1st place in H Stock for the morning, and in fact the car had the fastest overall PAX time of the morning!  PAX time is an index for comparing cars in different classes, so that there's a level playing field for all cars regardless of horsepower and modifications - and the Fiat was first out of over 50 cars!

The car was in fact bone stock - I didn't even remove the spare tire or the jack.  The course was wet, so having street tires was not a disadvantage (and I left the ESC on for all three runs).  The only thing I did to the car was put a few extra pounds of pressure into the tires front and rear.

I hadn't autocrossed a front-wheel drive car in a few years, but the only thing that took a little adjusting to was the launch from the start line.  The car was able to carry a lot of momentum through corners, and seemed to transition well between turns.  As I've posted elsewhere, the 500 feels eager to be driven hard.

I registered the car in H Stock - although apparently it hasn't been officially classed yet by the SCCA, this is undoubtedly where it'll be, along with the base Mini, Honda Fit, etc.  I haven't seen the final results for the event, and it's certainly possible that my time was beaten in the afternoon runs after I left, since the course was drying.  Regardless, the Fiat's morning performance was really impressive, and I'm looking forward to a fun autocross season with it.

[Mike S]

"The car was in fact bone stock - I didn't even remove the spare tire or the jack. "

You didn't have to, Fiat did it for you.

[Minuszka]

Spindoc's car is not a PE so maybe he got these items with the car.

[RacerRon]

Good job. I think the 500 will be classed in H Stock. Did you run against any Minis? The Mini Cooper rules in this class. Would like to see what the 500 will do with Hoosier tires and a proper "autocross" alignment. What did the other competitors saw when they saw your 500?

[Mike S]

More like this.

[spindoc]

RacerRon wrote

Good job. I think the 500 will be classed in H Stock. Did you run against any Minis? The Mini Cooper rules in this class. Would like to see what the 500 will do with Hoosier tires and a proper "autocross" alignment. What did the other competitors saw when they saw your 500?

Thanks Ron.  No Minis showed up (attendance was down as it had rained).  People liked the car and were interested to see how it did.  A lot of them didn't know about the 500's US release.  The guy running tech loved it - sat in the driver's seat and said "I never sit in people's cars, this is so cool!"  I got kidded by a friend doing timing and scoring, who said "What are you trying to do, set FTD (fastest time of the day) in that thing?"  And the announcer made a big deal about the fact that a car with temporary tags was running first in overall PAX.

We'll see what it can do with a full set-up.  It may be a while before anyone gets the alignment dialed in.  At this point we don't even know what the alignment specs are, nor how adjustable it might be.

[Mike S]

It really is a surprise that it is this well behaved, just point and go. The power is much better than I thought it would be.

[RacerRon]

The first ones to autocross the 500 are the guinea pigs. They are the ones who have to figure out what works to make it go faster. I have a Mazda Miata and there is a ton of information on the internet on how to setup this car for autocrossing. Of course, this car has been around for 20 years.  The tuning companies in the U.S. are just now getting to play around with the 500, so it's going to take time for good performance parts to appear and for tuning information.

I said in an earlier post that a proper autocross alignment would help. Now that I think about it, there may not be much to adjust on the 500. Up front it has struts, so I'm thinking that the only adjustment might be for toe. But, then again there could be an adjustment for camber, which would be nice. Anyone know?

[spindoc]

The 500 did it again!  Took first place again in H Stock in an autocross last weekend.  Like last time I was only able to run during the morning session (had another mission meeting that day - going to Guatemala this Friday!).  Still was able to beat the second place car by 1.3 seconds.  Looking forward to next time when I can run throughout the whole event.

[RacerRon]

Congrats Spindoc on another autocross win. Did you do anything to the car since the last autocross?

[spindoc]

Thanks Ron.  Got some lighter wheels and R-comps.

[RacerRon]

The R-comps must have made a big improvement in grip. Where they the same size as the stock tires?

[Ron DiFerdinando]

In northeastern (Philly SCCA) Half the people are telling me I cant run my 500 and it is banned and the other half are saying ST,SP, or SS and that isn't fair.  The only thing that everybody seems to agree on is no H stock.

[Fiat500USA]

Ron DiFerdinando wrote

In northeastern (Philly SCCA) Half the people are telling me I cant run my 500 and it is banned and the other half are saying ST,SP, or SS and that isn't fair.  The only thing that everybody seems to agree on is no H stock.

Hi Ron,

I moved the forum over here: The NEW Fiat 500 USA Forum

Go over and register there (it is a totally new forum) and enjoy.

Here is a link to the same post on the new forum:  Second autocross, second win!

[livcyxing]

In northeastern (Philly SCCA) Half the people

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