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08:27:20 - 11/17/2024
Dakota Performance
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xplikt
Dodge Dakota
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5/11/2002
19:36:08
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 Subject: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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Hello, I live in Montana and I am no where near a track really, but I am just across the street where a loal group of people do time trials with their vehicles in a parking lot with a sea of orange cones. I would be a V8 w/ street tyres, so that puts me with Mustangs, Corvettes, and Camaros! It's something kinda fun and sporty to do I think, being as how I am no where near any tracks.
I own a 2002 RC 4.7L 3.92 LS 2WD 5spd and all I know is to slow down on the straights and accelerate through the curves/twists -- basic physics.
I don't want to modify too many thing yet without practice since it would put me in a different class, but can you call give me some hints, tips, and experiences with autocrossing if any of you do/have done it with your truck, thanks.
BTW, I would be the only truck there :)
Think I should go for it?
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Chris W
Dodge Dakota
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5/12/2002
00:26:25
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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I think you should try it and have fun with it.
My brother races modded out Neons in SCCA events and I've raced a few myself. It's a blast. Even though I like oval track racing personnaly.
If youre gonna be running the cars, you will only have trouble in the turns. due to the inherent nose heaviness and light rear of trucks, especially trucks with lots of tourque like the Daks, you will probably not turn in as good as the cars, you will plow or push, and youre exit will probably have a bit more wheel spin than the cars.
On the short chutes, you should be ok cause of the 3.92 and the 4.7 torque.
Going into the turns you will probably have to breaksooner than the cars.
You can modify youre tires and suspension depending on what class youre in and that should help a little, but unfortunatly theres a reason we dont see many pickups in autocross competition.
I still think you should give it atry though, you might do better than you think!
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kota on 20s
GenIII
5/12/2002
01:37:58
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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you'd be suprised... a guy on the delphi board autocrosses his R/T, it lossed to a supercharged BMW M3 by only a few fractions of a second! i think the only mods on the truck were full hotchkis suspencion, raceing tires, and supercharger.
and it kicked the crap out of some other "perfomance" cars
Eric, 98 5.2 5speed, K&N gen II, 50mm TB, 2bbl M-1, 1.7RR's, JBA ciramic headers, carsound cat, dumped gibson, and a lot more
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xplikt
Dodge Dakota
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5/12/2002
02:41:28
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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I think I am, I mean, why not? Hehe, I know those corners are going to be a PITA, aww well.
I am looking forward to a hotchkis/roadmaster suspension sometime in the near future anyways..
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rtdkota
Dodge Dakota
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5/12/2002
02:49:21
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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I participated in an autocross event in 2000 in Detroit while attending the 1st annual Dakota RT Club meet... Got 5 passes. Never walked the course, never touched the tire pressure, and had to hold onto the passenger seat belt with my right hand and steet with my left. Did a 38, 36, 35.5, 35.0 then a 34.5 second pass (in that order). A prepped and very experienced BMW M3 was cracking off 29.0 second runs... A gentleman in a C5 Corvette got kinda PO'd when my 34.5 beat his 35.2 second pass.
It's a lot of fun, you should try it (make sure you have EVERYTHING loose inside your truck taken out-- otherwise you'll have it flying all over the place).
FYI-- Gary Pinkley (of Hotchkis Suspension) runs a V6- 5spd RC Dakota in the V8 class-- and WINS a majority of the time-- He's the reason I bought a RC and of course got Hotchkis suspension-- It's that good.
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xplikt
Dodge Dakota
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5/12/2002
03:03:02
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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I've heard of Gary Pinkley and his V6 Dakota, that what somewhat gave me the idea to try my truck in the sport -- might prove interesting.
Yeah, I've been told to strip my truck of everything inside so it wont fly all over and is a distraction. I think I may walk (ride a bike prefferably) the track before I race, based of what people have told me, it really does help, but my question is, does it make it less exciting?
Now all I need is a helment or something..where do I get one a those?!
One thing I noticed today was my RVM can be moved almost all the way out of my vision, I thought that if I did this when in the race it could help me. How many times do you look back on a solo race eh?
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Chris W
Dodge Dakota
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5/13/2002
10:59:16
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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No offense, but the guy in the C-5 did NOT know how to drive. But if it made you feel good then thats good enough.
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xplikt
Dodge Dakota
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5/13/2002
12:16:33
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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It's something to do since I have no drag or oval tracks. Maybe I shoulda taken the 4wheelin' route although I know I'd break too much stuff.
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kota on 20s
GenIII
5/13/2002
12:26:38
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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i have heard Gary's truck beats a lot of vetts, so i beleve a RC R/T could do it
Eric, 98 5.2 5speed, K&N gen II, 50mm TB, 2bbl M-1, 1.7RR's, JBA ciramic headers, carsound cat, dumped gibson, and a lot more
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Chris W
Dodge Dakota
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5/14/2002
01:08:54
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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Man you guys are killin me! The R/T is a great handling truck, but beat a C-5 on the skid pad? Whatever.
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rtdkota
Dodge Dakota
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5/14/2002
09:42:24
|  RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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Chris W... Never said I beat it a C-5 on the skid pad... Beat another driver (of a C-5), with my RT on a scca Solo II course. Now, probably a little more info to go along with that-- The course, give 5 runs, was a SHORT course (my 34second time shows that). Mph probably wasn't over 40-45 max. in the short straight they had. The Vette driver walked the course (I didn't), had autocross tires (I didn't)... He really didn't overpower the track either-- though he spun his tires when he slid out on one run. Granted, on a LONG course where speeds can go into the 60-75+ range, he'd have gotten me. Even so, I've gone the long course since then, and placed mid pack between 90s' Camaro/Firebirds, Newer mustangs. C-5s and '96ish and up Vettes were 2-3 seconds quicker.
I am not an expert solo II driver... In the hands of a seasoned veteran, the times at my last run could have been improved 3-4 seconds worth.
Gary does it with a V6!! Have you ridden in a Hotchkis prepped Dakota (RT or not)???? It's a real eye openner. Amazing would be an understatement. Problem is, you need to upgrade your brakes to compliment the full potential of the suspension!
:P
Sam
www.socaldakota.com
FYI-- The 8 people that I've either given rides to, or allowed people who were looking to go with blocks/hangars/a-rms to drive my truck-- all changed their minds and went with Hothckis. No lie.
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rtdkota
Dodge Dakota
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5/14/2002
10:13:37
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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Man do my English skills suck or what? :P Reading that last post I put up... MAN... Hate it when I don't have enough coffee in the morning-- hands typing 3 steps ahead of my brain.
Anyway, no flaming, just posted the facts. I still get excited when I start throwing the RT into the twistys (54k miles after Hotchkis-- it's STILL that fun).
Sam
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kota on 20s
GenIII
5/14/2002
12:45:44
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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sam, you shoud start selling hotchkis! that post made me want to go out and buy the kit!...lol
how come hotchkis dosent have more of a agressive drop? you know, for thoes of us who like good cornering, and the ability to scrape off road dots!
Eric, 98 5.2 5speed, K&N gen II, 50mm TB, 2bbl M-1, 1.7RR's, JBA ciramic headers, carsound cat, dumped gibson, and a lot more
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rtdkota
Dodge Dakota
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5/15/2002
02:16:00
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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I thought about selling it.. but there's already quite a few, and I've got my hands tied (as in busy busy) selling Crower, F&B Billet TBs and Positive Performance Headers... Maybe become an 'outside' rep or something *he he*.
The reason not lower? Well.. given the fact I only have about 1.5" suspension travel front and rear, I couldn't (and wouldn't) want to go any lower. Tire clearance at full travel is limited and at sometime (more common on CCs) the front tire hits the edge of the fender (rarely, but it does happen on big hits). Regular cabs is rarely happens-- like maybe 10 times in 56k miles for me. Another reason is ride quality-- running slammed isn't necessarily the best was for a 'handling' kit. For people wanting the slammed look-- go with Western Chassis (NOT DJM! The A arms restrict turning radius, and if you push it the inside of your RT wheel will get gouged... very bad). Alignment issues too with DJM. I saw this first hand from a friend that bought a truck with DJM already on it... He's got Hotckis now... Wait, that makes 9 people LOL.
Come down to San Diego sometime and I'll let you drive my truck and see what you think... Then let me take you for a ride... LOL..
Side note-- recently I've had 2 different RTs play with me on the fwy... Both times I was able to pull ahead (didn't know what they had mod wise)... One was lowered, one wasn't. Hit my exit (a 270 degree cloverleaf... ) Both times the other guy followed, but seemed to come to a near stop in comparison to my speed as I rounded the interchange.. Guess 70mph on a 35mph posted exit freaks people out (don't do that everyday, otherwise I've have 4 bald tires!) had something to do with it.
The only bad part is the harsh ride on ROUGH roads... I've got two ways to drive into work (downtown San Diego).. I take the longer route as the roads are less rough (1st intersection= go slow, big bump, 2nd-4th intersection = ok, 5th intersection bump in far left lane- avoid, 6th intersection hard bump (I call it a tail slapper as the back of the truck takes it the worst)- go real slow, interesction 7-10th no problems. Train tracks- not bad.. Metal plates in the road with a 2" instand rise (bad)... Not like riding a slammer (speed bumps, just slow down, no biggie), but stiff and you need to pay attention to the road. Drove to Detroit and back from San Diego June 2000-- worst roads were in Detriot and in Utah I-70 to near St. George (need to legalize gambing in Utah so the state can pay for the road repairs!)
Sam
www.socaldakota.com
(GOOD NIGHT!)
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kota on 20s
GenIII
5/15/2002
02:51:47
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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oh boy, here we go again.
well, he is the only person i know that puts a "public service anouncement" on his albums.
Eric, 98 5.2 5speed, K&N gen II, 50mm TB, 2bbl M-1, 1.7RR's, JBA ciramic headers, carsound cat, dumped gibson, and a lot more
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kota on 20s
GenIII
5/15/2002
02:59:03
| RE: Thinkin' of autocrossing.. help pls?
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$hit!! i posted on the worng thread! ooops!
anyhoo, you only have 1.5" of travel? is that to the bumpstop or untill the tire hits the fender? if the latter, couldnt you just run a shorter tire?
tell me if you think this would work... i currently have the 4/6 western kit on. if i replaced my 2" springs with the hotchkis, and raised the rearend up 3" and took it back down with the hotchkis springs... do you think it would work? i dont see why not.
Eric, 98 5.2 5speed, K&N gen II, 50mm TB, 2bbl M-1, 1.7RR's, JBA ciramic headers, carsound cat, dumped gibson, and a lot more
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