DocWalt's 2016 Focus RS

[DocWalt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OVneB9_XGw

I didn't drive particularly well, but oh well. Still had fun and had a tremendous battle today in B Street. I finished 4th exactly 2 tenths behind the winner in another RS, which may give you an idea of how close it was.

5 hour round trip to this autocross, ZERO drone from the new exhaust on the highway Super stoked with that. I hope it's quiet enough, I'll find out in a month or so.

[DocWalt]

First in B Street today (Sunday) at Hershey autocross. 2nd overall in PAX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kEaYpm8uwI

dirty run that would have been good for first overall in PAX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unGT01gVW2U

All of my SoloStorm runs are on the cloud if anyone wants to see

[DocWalt]

I got a pretty sweet picture of my car from autocross yesterday



credit goes to: https://www.facebook.com/XtremePhoto...c_location=ufi

[DocWalt]

finished the shock bypass resistors... they work, but I don't know if they make the car better yet

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

finished the shock bypass resistors... they work, but I don't know if they make the car better yet

Oooooh will this let you mess with the shock valving settings?

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

Oooooh will this let you mess with the shock valving settings?

Sort of... means I can disable one end of the car and leave it soft while the other end is hard.

unfortunately they're still crap dampers

[DocWalt]

My fastest from NNJR TnT today, good for 11th in PAX, I felt pretty comfortable with my pace today. Not perfect, but not too slow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92eEj8qLOgQ

[DocWalt]

blurple



Based on exactly one event on a not super grippy asphalt lot with a lot of elevation change and weird undulations. I have the modded stock front swaybar & 255/35-18 RE-71R's.

The rear shocks being disabled makes the RS feel almost exactly like my Mk2 GTI w/ KW V1s in sweepers. A weird oscillating mess... Nowhere NEAR as bad as having all four shocks stiff though. In slaloms the front end of the car feels composed and I really liked the feel. Nice and sharp turn in and it doesn't take forever for weight transfer to happen.

butttt..... I doubt the stiff front/soft rear combo is faster. I did a back to back test and tried to drive consistently. Times were essentially identical. I was just as fast in the slalom with the soft dampers. My lines weren't perfect in either case in the sweepers but the times were essentially identical there too.

I'll test the stiff front setup again at another event that I know will be stacked with slaloms and transitions instead of sweepers.

I have no clue what it will do on a grippier surface, maybe it'll be better there? Maybe it'll make the oscillations worse? Take a wild guess

[DocWalt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecy7Z365htA

1st in class, 13th overall. I had a run with a faster first half but I kept screwing up the second half, this was by far my best run on the return trip.

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

blurple



Based on exactly one event on a not super grippy asphalt lot with a lot of elevation change and weird undulations. I have the modded stock front swaybar & 255/35-18 RE-71R's.

The rear shocks being disabled makes the RS feel almost exactly like my Mk2 GTI w/ KW V1s in sweepers. A weird oscillating mess... Nowhere NEAR as bad as having all four shocks stiff though. In slaloms the front end of the car feels composed and I really liked the feel. Nice and sharp turn in and it doesn't take forever for weight transfer to happen.

butttt..... I doubt the stiff front/soft rear combo is faster. I did a back to back test and tried to drive consistently. Times were essentially identical. I was just as fast in the slalom with the soft dampers. My lines weren't perfect in either case in the sweepers but the times were essentially identical there too.

I'll test the stiff front setup again at another event that I know will be stacked with slaloms and transitions instead of sweepers.

I have no clue what it will do on a grippier surface, maybe it'll be better there? Maybe it'll make the oscillations worse? Take a wild guess

Would switching to soft front / stiff rear help you? (Aside from oscillation). Just thinking from perspective of front end grip for autocross

[DocWalt]

The car doesn't need more front end grip for autocross I mean, it could always use more grip... but the rear end needs it a lot more than the front. In the transitions at an autocross the ass end is all over the place. The #1 comment I heard yesterday about the two of us in the RS's (there was a NYC guy down here) was "holy crap, the way the back of the car moves around is wild!"

#2 was "dude, have you tried drift mode yet?" haha

[DocWalt]

Here's my fastest run from the Pittsburgh Match Tour. I pulled a fast run out finally on Sunday afternoon during the top dog challenge. Unfortunately I bumped my dial-in up by 6 tenths (think bracket racing, but instead of breaking out you just push your dial-in up for the next round) and had a little trouble staying close to it for the later rounds, but I squeaked out the top dog win Fair warning, a bit of profanity at the end of the video, I was stoked. I finally pulled out nearly everything that the data was there, the car finally felt "normal" on Sunday. My last challenge run was actually VERY close to this run (and looked faster!) besides a silly mistake up over the hill in the right handed sweeper. Simmons got to run out and check a cone that I wiggled on that run, I was really pushing to make time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmI9TDUQ7g

Saturday... what an exercise in frustration. The car felt pretty much awful all day, no matter what I or my co-driver did. There was no catching Alan (Audi S3, apparently much more balanced and easier to extract time, not discounting his driving at all, he killed us), even though we were much closer in the full wet conditions versus the mornings semi-wet unpredictable mess. Speaking of co-driver... I picked up a VERY fast co-driver at the event. He was very fast and really helped push me all weekend. I was definitely not planning on having a co-driver, so that was an experience. Quite a challenge keeping the car cool for the top dog challenge stuff with back-to-back runs. I sprayed the intercooler off with cool water between runs and the water steamed off, haha

[DocWalt]

All packed up and ready to roll



En route, somewhere on the turnpike:



About halfway through the drive, rest stop at "North Midway"



Big railroad bridge in the Pittsburgh area:



All stickered up and ready for action:



Middle of a thunderstorm delay on Saturday, car sitting in grid waiting to run:



Sweet trophy winner hat, it's even a similar color to my car!





A pretty badass modded Subie:





In impound after earning entry to the "Top Dog Challenge" rounds:



My bracket to get to the Final 3 of the challenge:



Gassed up and bought some dinner ~5 minutes from home after a pretty successful weekend

[DocWalt]

Here's a playlist of all of the videos I plan on uploading from this weekend's Match Tour autocross, including videos from my codriver's & my fastest AM & PM runs from Saturday and our overall fastest runs from Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...6yAOTQTTUFRsfI

[cavillac95]

i would daily that subi

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by cavillac95

i would daily that subi

I think many of us would, haha

[DocWalt]

Enkei TS9s wheels with 245/40-18 BFG Rival S v1.5 tires. My car needs a bath and then it's ready for the NJ ProSolo this weekend

[DaveSTi]

You're killing it with this car! Congrats on the win!

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

You're killing it with this car! Congrats on the win!

Thanks dude! Think you can make it up to Philly on June 25th? Autocross at Wells Fargo Center Take it for a spin!

I felt like an idiot at the last event. I set a faster time in the rain than I did in the dry...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aigwrUMOSHs

turns out that on one of my dry runs I was damn near the fastest car of the day (overall PAX wise) but I stopped for a cone that was misplaced by a corner worker... I never put together a decent dry run after that. Looked at data and knew what I needed to do to get back to that time but then it rained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHaS-jlCRo

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Thanks dude! Think you can make it up to Philly on June 25th? Autocross at Wells Fargo Center Take it for a spin!

I felt like an idiot at the last event. I set a faster time in the rain than I did in the dry...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aigwrUMOSHs

turns out that on one of my dry runs I was damn near the fastest car of the day (overall PAX wise) but I stopped for a cone that was misplaced by a corner worker... I never put together a decent dry run after that. Looked at data and knew what I needed to do to get back to that time but then it rained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHaS-jlCRo

June 25th is a go! I'll be there. Just gotta wait 10 days for registration to open up. about time I use this new helmet.

That mental aspect of autocross is something I struggle with a lot. There are a ton of inputs coming at you and it's so easy to lose the edge on a turn when you're out there in the moment.

It really seems like a great match of car to your driving technique while allowing you some potential to grow. That's a great car