I'm going to auto-x the 300D
 

I've always wanted to see how I can do with the 300D on the track and now I get the chance to.. well December 9th I get the opportunity to.

My friend was talking about it and I asked if I could come with the Benz and he said sure thing... Our other friend is bringing his corrola.. He said he is going to rape the Benz with the Toyota.. I was like .. naaaaah I've got skill


I'm going to need better grip... soo.. those 8 holes eagle-co94 are going to be mine soon(need spacers and crap)

I wish I had the sport springs Rudolph Green had made up...

25$ gets me 4 runs.. I Can't wait!

advice? I know Tom has some..

Haha, that's an interesting matchup, a 2200 pound corolla or a 3700 pound Benz, I wonder which one is more suited to an autocross... hmm... :)

its all about skill...

I've never driven on a track but I have some skill driving a fork lift around a loaded warehouse... I hope I don't get addicted to it

I said, more suited to an autocross. Heavy cars tend to have sucky handling/response.

oh .. I know.. I'll probably get sea sick from the horrible body roll

If this is your first, the car doesn't really matter.

Best advice I can give is to look ahead. Your head should be turned before the car turns. Like this:

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8...car2xo4.th.jpg
If you are looking at the star, you're not looking far enough ahead.

You might also want to say at registration that you're a newb and ask of there's anyone willing to walk the course with you. Autocrossers are a pretty friendly bunch.
If you have a portable air tank, it's a good idea to take it with you. Otherwise, just up your pressures ~7psi.

............same skill set...........you'll do fine............:eek:

thanks Brian... I should do fine...

I think both of my friends are not newbs...but not pro's

think about improvement
 

Don..

Best time is one approach on autocross, like trying to win a 10K foot race. Another approach is most time improvement. See how much you ( and your friend ) improve in each of the 4 runs. That may take some of the car differences out of the equation.

Have fun, autocrossing is a blast.

Chuck

left foot brake, right foot gas for launch. Blew people's minds when the SDL burned rubber off the line. After that, just be as smooth as you possibly can. Practice left foot braking now so you can do it second nature at the track. Take everything out of the car, spare included. Nothing loose anywhere inside. Have fun. My old 300D actually handled pretty well.

I'm pretty good at left foot driving on the fork lifts at work... I have this habbit of driving with two feet on the way home after working all day on the fork lift

my mom yelled at me today for doing it while we were driving to wal mart to get xmas lights

Joe:

Tom Walgamuth here, is the guy you need to talk to.....

He has a 1984 W123 280E euro that he autocrosses with, and he should have plenty of tips about autocrossing the W123 chassis, and track tips for you, as well.



Definately the man to chat with.

He'd probably tell you about the shocks, springs and tires that are best, and whether you'd need a skid plate or things like that on the car.

Good luck.

tip 1 ) replace 617 with a M110 ( or w/e gasser engine came with it)

Just put your foot to the floor and don't lift until the car is sideways.:D

You better beat that Toyota! MB pride is on the line!:D

I campaigned the 84 280e euro this year. It has bilstein hd front and koni reds on the rear. H and R lowering springs (about1"), standard 14" bundts with hoosier 225/50 slicks. It also has a welded rear and the interior is empty except for the driver seat. I have been running with a steel rimmed spare for ballast and a full tank. It will lay two nice wide strips of rubber until it hits the rev limiter unless you feather the throttle. The alignment is maxxed out for negative camber and has a smidge of toe out.

I also had the diff welded because I found I was losing to folks with limited slip rear ends. Since then I have had a lot of trouble turning the car and if I run it next year I will either find a lsd or put the open diff back in it.

I spent a couple of hours last night in fact, looking at the results of six autocrosses that I ran this summer and found that I had a fair amount of success running ESP. My competition there is much modified mustangs, camaros and the occasional firebird. If I could find a proper limited slip (preferrably a quaiffe or torsen) I think I could beat them all on a regular basis. As it was, if a decent mustang with an experienced driver showed up I would have trouble with them. I usually could beat most of them.

I always got a lot of attention, though, because the four door benz just looks so improbable.

At grissom in the summer, I beat a Honda s2000 driven with vigor by an inexperienced driver, and got beat by a few tenths by an 03 BMW M3 driven apparently with vigor and by an experienced driver. One meet I beat four out of seven of the new Lotuses. Those are all different classes. I included them as a comparison. The old benz has about the same power to weight ration as a 1970 porsche 911t.

The only trouble with the mb as an autocrosser is the lack of parts to deviate from stock. I have the lowering springs only because I bought them 15 years ago. They are no longer available afik. The basic chassis is so well designed that it handles really well just in stock condition, but the scca classes seem to favor new cars in the stock classes. With the variable cam and ignition timing even economy cars put out impressive amounts of power....

So a couple of weeks ago a client of mine gave me a 1980 BMW 320i which seems to be mechanically sound but pretty rusty. So I am evaluating my options and if I decide to campaign the BMW next summer I will be offering the mighty benz for sale.....

141,000 miles with only a few hundred on an engine freshening....driven only on short trips on saturdays and sundays by a mercedes buff grandpa!

Tom W