[bidaci]

Hey guys. I picked up a 2019 Ecoboost with the performance package with autocrossing in mind. Since it's been a while since I ran a street class in a bone stock vehicle I'm hoping someone has a baseline setup as a starting point for me.

With only 600 miles on the odometer I'm still trying to sort things out. New car, never race a turbo car before and no RE71R is leaving me scratching my head.

Thanks
Bill

 

[13773]

Welcome to the forum. There's a few members that auto cross. They will chime in.

 

[Squid]

Camber bolts to get some negative camber into it
RE-71Rs on the 9" wheels ... up to 285 width

 

[zhent]

I never ran mine in DS, since I started modding almost immediately.

Get the re-71rs and as much negative camber as you can manage. The rear bar is stiffer on the PP car than on the base anyway, so shouldn't need to swap that.

 

[bidaci]

Thanks for the tips. I like to sneak up on learning the limits of a car. Miss without knowing what a car can do can lead to bad decisions and a slower, but faster, feeling car. Been there done that and don't want to do it again ☺

A proper alignment is priority 1. Other than full camber (what can I expect?) Do I leave everything else stock?
I'm going to kill the stock tires before I do any upgrades. Any suggestions on pressures?
I got the 10 speed (bad knee) and I like it better as a daily driver. So, sort mode or track? Let the car shift or manual shift?

 

[zhent]

Other than max camber, I run the rest of the alignment specs in line with the stock settings.

I've seen a few different things with tire pressures, and the best pressures are going to vary by the tire brand. I run my RE71Rs at 34 lbs front 30 lbs rear. Most street tires are going to need higher pressure to keep from rolling over onto the sidewalls.

I can't comment on the transmission, my car is a manual. I do run every dry event with full "Advancetrac off".

 

[Squid]

Thanks for the tips. I like to sneak up on learning the limits of a car. Miss without knowing what a car can do can lead to bad decisions and a slower, but faster, feeling car. Been there done that and don't want to do it again ☺

I stress that to newer autocrossers. Learn what your car can do and improve on your skills before throwing buckets of money at the car. I ran a couple of years in stock trim before upgrading.

A proper alignment is priority 1. Other than full camber (what can I expect?) Do I leave everything else stock?
I'm going to kill the stock tires before I do any upgrades. Any suggestions on pressures?
I got the 10 speed (bad knee) and I like it better as a daily driver. So, sort mode or track? Let the car shift or manual shift?

The rear has a bit of camber in from the factory. Just get everything cleaned up. Nothing was in spec when I first aligned mine. Ford did a really bad job of aligning at the factory. You can get 2 degrees with camber bolts.
Go with what you feel as far as pressure. I tried the "mark the sides with chalk" and tried to determine if they rolled over, but I could never get the hang of reading the results. I ran my P-0s at about 30 front and 32 in the rear.
Nannies on the first few runs until you get used to it, then start turning them off as you become familiar. I run mine in track mode. (again I have a base, so its either on, track or all off)
Shift into 2nd as soon as you can on the run and leave it there, unless you hit the limiter ... I don't know how "tall" the automatics gear is so it may need to go to 3rd, but shift manually and for gads sakes, don't shift in the middle of an element!

 

[bidaci]

Thank you all for the replies. Got enough answers for my baseline ...The rest is all about personal preference and feel. New car, new location and new club. This first event will be a test and tune for me. I have nothing to compare times yet so tinkering will be the game day plan

 

[Squid]

Thank you all for the replies. Got enough answers for my baseline

Glad to help. Let us know how it works out for you, and if you can post up some video. It's all in great fun and sometimes in the heat of the moment I don't even turn the camera on.

 

[bidaci]

Finally got an autocross in. First event was cancelled due to weather so I had to wait until last weekend to get one in. I ended up being beat in class by a WRX by just under a half second on a high 45 second course. I'm sure with more runs if have gotten him as his times were flat and mine where dropping.
Yeah, yeah, everyone says that, but keep in mind this was my first event in the car, the first time I ever drive a turbo in anger and the car is in showroom stock configuration (I also never took it out if sport mode so the nannies where on). Between the learning curve and setup there is much more to be had.

That being said:
30th out if 91 in pax
41 out of 91 in raw

I have my next event this Saturday and can't wait to build on what I learned in the first event.

Question on driving a turbo. Since there doesn't appear to be a lot of lag with the Ecoboost, is there a desired rpm range that I should be trying for? I'm guessing higher the better for boost reasons?

 

[zhent]

Congratulations! Good Job!

Once I get into 2nd gear, I just leave it there and drive, but... The turbo falls on its face above 6500 RPM, so as long as you're below that you're good. The real sweet spot is between 3000 and 4000 RPM.

 

[Squid]

Oh gawd and the rev limiter sucks!! It pulls your power and you have to get out of it and back in. God forbid if you're in a corner.

Great results. I short shift to 2nd and leave it there, unless it's a long course. My stock shifter didn't like the 2-3 and 3-2 shifts.

 

[bidaci]

Congratulations! Good Job!

Once I get into 2nd gear, I just leave it there and drive, but... The turbo falls on its face above 6500 RPM, so as long as you're below that you're good. The real sweet spot is between 3000 and 4000 RPM.

3k to 4k? That surprises me. I would have guessed 4-5k would be the sweet spot.

Any tips on tires pressures with the stock setup? I had the at 36 but think I could go lower but the course was real sorry do it was really hard to tell.

Here's a video of my best run.

Needed to be more aggressive. The car responded well when I could get it to dance.

 

[Squid]

Any tips on tires pressures with the stock setup? I had the at 36 but think I could go lower but the course was real sorry do it was really hard to tell.

Depends on the sidewall. As the sidewall gets taller, you'll need more pressure to keep them upright.
32 front, 33 rear is what I run my Bridgestones at. You'll find what makes you happy and then can adjust to that. Just be aware that the pressure will come up as the tires heat up. I usually see increases up to 5 psi on the first 4 runs, then it tapers off. When they get cold again, (assuming you let pressure out in between your runs) they'll be down to somewhere around 20. Make sure you check them before you drive home.

 

[Nater Potater]

3k to 4k? That surprises me. I would have guessed 4-5k would be the sweet spot.

Ford's done a great job at making these cars very streetable by optimizing the whole system to build its torque down low. Keep in mind that, for any gear you use, the max acceleration will be at the torque peak, since that's where it applies the greatest twist to the rear wheels. See Cobb's map, eyeing the dotted blue line for stock torque:

 

[zhent]

I'm with Squid in that I usually short shift the 1-2 shift then leave it in 2nd for the run. And we're both running Cobb based aftermarket tunes pushing peak torque earlier than stock. So yes, with a stock tune, 3-4k is the sweet spot.

I'll also echo Squid on tire pressure, though I run things reverse of what he does, 34 front, 32 rear. I will also admit that my Bridgestones are nearing 2 years old and getting worn thin and harder than when new.

 

[bidaci]

Did my second autox and boy did I have issues. But issues are a learning experience. So for anyone that wants to know...

When using the paddles the 10 spd will not hold a gear if the floor shifter is not in sport. Even if you have the switch set at sport +. Sport/Sport+ and use the paddles (if not Sport/Track) should be the minimum.

The shifting I'm still trying to get use to. It reacts differently based on throttle input. At this point I say shift early while under throttle seems to be the most consistent.

Build just a little boost on the line. Not too much. Wheels doesn't help the launch in autocross. Hold the brake, build some boost and go. Sitting on the line building boost for any period of time doesn't help.

The steering setting is a funny thing. When you switch the car into sport+ or track the steering goes into sport mode with it. While it feels good on the street, and maybe on the track, normal mode allows for a quicker steering input for slaloms. I haven tried luxury, easy or whatever it is called. Ran out of time testing. But it seems easier is better.

Stock tires are okay but they are not RE71Rs. I had them as line as 36 but they felt soft for my liking. I will need to get more seat time to figure that out but I'm leaning towards 38 as a starting point just for some consistency while I figure out the rest of the car ☺.

The order of settings is: shifter into sport, switch to sport+ or track, then set steering preference. Click paddle into 1st before you go to the line. Once you turn the car off all these settings are gone so you need to do it Everytime.

Next event is this Sunday. Hopefully I can redeem myself a little

 

[zhent]

I'm afraid @Squid and I aren't going to be much help getting the automatic set up, we're both manual drivers. I do short shift with my car into 2nd at the first opportunity and leave it there. Not sure how far up you have to go with the 10 speed though.

Yes, on launch, don't build too much boost, as wheel spin at the line doesn't help anything.

I set my steering mode into sport when I bought the car and have never taken it out. Steering feel is going to be entirely based on how you drive and what feels best to you.

I always set advancetrack off before a run. I don't want any of the traction or stability control to interfere with what I'm telling the car to do, and much of an autocross run is at the limits of adhesion where those systems will kick in to "keep you alive".

Autocross is always a learning opportunity.

 

[bidaci]

In sport/sport+ I still have some of the nannies on. Sport/track will turn them off. With all the variables I wanted to leave some of the nannies on just to get a better feel for the car. If they have been activated I haven't noticed, so if they did they work well (I could always tell when they kicked on in my Subaru).

This week I'll have them off fully and leave my pressures a little high at 38 do eliminate those variables for now.

I've been going into 3rd with the auto but my cheap elm doesn't talk with the car so I haven't got a lot of data to look. I may even try downshifting in the turnaround this time to see how it reacts and digs into the next element.

I daily the car in "sport" steering but was surprised at how lively the car felt in "normal" steering through tight slaloms.

I know the manual is preferred by most autocrossing. That's why I'm sharing what I find. Just in case someone else decides to try autocrossing the 10 spd as there is limited info on it.

The beauty of this sport, car setup. Everyone is a bit different and can like the same car setup differently. I've driven cars that felt terrible to me but the owner was super fast in it. So if anyone thinks this is "the" setup for the automatic, don't, it is only a guide based on my preference.

 

[bidaci]

Last Sunday's event was much better. I spoke with a guy with Camaro ZL1 with the 10 spd and he suggested just putting it into track mode and going for it. So I did and wow he was so right. I was overthinking things and trying to manhandle the car into doing what it already knows what to do.

While it was a small turnout this week I ended up in the top half in raw time (17th and 15th pax). If I had only realized that even in traffic mode you need to manually disable Advancetrac or it will kick in (and it will)

Stock tires must have a soft sidewalk as they don't like low pressures. I ended up with 38 front and 36 rear. Anything else just felt soft and squishy..

Setup for this event:
38f 36r
Floor shifter in sport
Switch to track
Steering to normal