Competition cries "OOWWWWW-D"

[vrona@ix.netcom.com (Steven Verona)]

Hi again all you Audi people,

I want to start this message with a big *thank you* to everyone who has 
been helping me set up my 86 4kq for autocrossing.  I bought the car a 
few months ago with 92k miles on it.  The car has the original shocks 
and everything.  It was also used to tow a small trailer with motorcycle 
by the previous owner.  

I finally replaced the $17 175/70 tires on Saturday with a set of Dunlop 
D60 A2 (195/60)....wow what a difference.  The car doesn't squeel the 
tires while changing lanes!

I went to an auto-x race on Sunday and showed everyone what an Audi can 
do :-)  I took second in H-Stock with my ragged-out suspension (1st loss 
of the season.  I had never raced before this year.)  The guy who beat 
me was running a fully tuned and tweaked Merc. 190 with shaved race 
tires.  The tires alone make about a 2.5 to 3 second differnce per lap. 
 He only managed to beat me by .4 seconds.  I considered it a moral 
victory and everyone else in the class considered it to be the same.  I 
must say they were not too happy that I was 3 seconds/lap faster than 
the other cars on street tires and I beat 3 cars with race tires.  In 
fact I had the fastest time of any car on street tires in d, e, f, g, 
and h class!!!

Now that I have gained confidence in the car's potential, I want to ask 
a few more questions ( I always do this to you guys). 

1:  Do you honestly think that a 4kq can win a national auto-x 
championship with the right driver?  I don't want to invest a lot of 
money in a car that simply can't win it all.  

2:  As far as I can tell, I can change my air filter, exhaust, brake 
lines, shocks, allignment, and tires in stock class.  Is there anything 
else that I can change?

3:  What filter should I get?  Cost estimate?  Is it worth the money?

4:  Should I change the brake lines?  Cost estimate?  Is it worth it?

5:  I need to replace the badly worn original shocks.  What ones should 
I get?  Cost estimate?  Is it worthe the money?

6:  What size BFG R1s should I get?  Will a smaller overall diameter be 
a help (lower CG, higher ratio)?  Cost estimate?

7:  Using a price/performance analysis, in what order should I make 
these improvements?  I hope to make all the changes by the end of the 
season so I can go to the Nats. next year.

8:  One last thing.  Is it legal to use the diff locking on the car?  Is 
it legal to change the vacuum lines so I can lock the rear by itself?

Thanks again everyone.  I hope to represent AUDI in a favorable light.

Sincerely,

Steven Verona