It takes me 3 shifts and about 80 turns lock-to-lock just to turn my car around in the driveway... I drive around the block to avoid parallel parking... I lean over and hold the roof to merge on the highway... couldn't imagine autocrossing.... but it would be fun to try. I once saw a Lamborghini doing an absolutely pathetic job on a low speed course. Wapping cones until he spun it. Too much work at too low a speed. I guess anything's possible with steering and gearing.
2800lbs really is not that heavy IMO. I drive my maverick on curvy roads to my house (I live on Dale Hallow Lake in southern KY) and I don’t have any problems with the handling of my Maverick and I drive anywhere from 34-40mph (low speed curves) 40-65 in the (intermediate curves) and often run 70-80mph on the straits if not a little faster.
Best thing to do for starters would be to make sure your shocks, springs, and suspension rubbers are good. Once all that is taken care of you should be at a very good starting point. The rest just takes time until you get up a little nerve to push your car to what its capable of, just make sure you don’t try and push too far.
I tried auto crossing once, its amazing how many cones you can fit under the car before it comes to a stop.
from what i understand, tires tires tires. having really good tires on the car is esential. then weight balance. trying to achive a 50/50 balance from front to rear. having good stable suspension. a biger sway bar adjustable shocks, pollyurithane bushings in the leaf springs and any thing to stiffen the chassie, sub frame connectors, a roll cage of some sort.
With autocross you have to start with a rigid chassis: Sub-frame connectors Front and rear sway bars After that you need to lower your center of gravity as much as you can, control the camber on turns and use the very best shocks to control the jounce and rebound of the car. Shorter and heavier front springs Less arc and stiffer rear leaf springs Perform the Shelby drop on the front suspension Set the neutral camber at -1 to -2 degrees (more negative is better for handling) Set the neutral caster at +1 to +2 degrees (less is better for easy steering) Use some Koni or similar shocks that you can adjust for rate but make sure they are 50/50 shocks. This is a fair starting point for your goal. What have you done to your Maverick to get it down to 2800 lbs? The 1966 Mustang weighs 2800 lbs and it was mae before in-door guard rails, 10 mph bumpers and had less sound proofing and a lot less metal than our Mavericks have. You are looking at more weight than you think - go have your car weighed on a set of scales - like at a truck stop.
