RE: 91 200TQ 20v to autocross?

[glen powell <gpowell@acacianet.com>]

>> Can someone give me the necessary improvements and the "nice to have"
>> for use as an infrequent autocross machine?  Do I need to change pads?

Tahrs. Tahrs are everything. Stock pads are prolly OK at less than very experienced 
or pro levels.

>Are yougoing to run real SCCA Solo II events?   If so, which class do you 
>want to run?   That car I believe runs FS or ESP.

GS I think. As a general rule most stock turbos run in GS. Ur-q definitely is in GS.

>If you don't want to get into ESP, then you can't do very much at all 
>except shocks, pads and stock-sized wheels.   The stock wheels are 
>probably some of the lightest you canget forthat car, so there wouldn't 
>be much benefit to going into aftermarket.  You should at least mount up 
>some sticky tires to those wheels.   Get the biggest you can fit on your 
>wheels.

Pretty much agreed. Tahrs are by far the best investment for auto-x. Do not
necessarily go with the largest though. There are a couple of factors to consider
here. Too wide a tahr for the wheel will give you wobbly sidewalls, will hurt your
ultimate cornering due to excessive flex and will also hurt turn-in and overall
predictability and stability. Also, too much tahr will result in suboptimal tire
temps. You need to be able to get the tahr up to the optimal temperature very
quickly in auto-x and with too much tahr you may never get the temps up enough.
This is a real problem with the light and underpowered 4KQ, should be less of 
a problem with a turbo 5K, but the tahr temp factor is one still worthy of consideration.
I would suggest the lowest profile possible/practical in whatever width that allows
the tahr to get up to the optimal temp for the chosen brand/type of tahr.

-glen