FooBag

I bought an '09 Cobalt SS coupe this spring with the intention of autocrossing it in the SCCA STX class. I had previously been racing an '08 Saturn Astra (same platform as the Cobalt) in HS, but that car went with the ex in our split. I figured I could come up to speed quickly with the Cobalt given the handling similarities plus its hard to argue with the extra power of the LNF (about double).

The previous owner had installed a 3" catted Megan Racing 3" downpipe, K&N air filter, and replaced the muffler with a chunk of pipe. I immediately purchased a Powell XXX bar, Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 17x9 +30 wheels and some 255/40/17 BFG Rivals. There was enough evidence on these forums that I was confident that this wheel/tire combination would fit without issue. The bar and wheels (only 3 days from the UK!) came right away so i got the bar installed and test fit the wheels to confirm there would not be any issues. There is over a half inch of clearance to the calipers and about a 1/4 to the "ears" of the strut, which can always be ground down without problems. Check of the picture below for caliper clearance. I also got a set of camber bolts installed and the front aligned to -2.1 camber up front.



Unfortunately, my Rivals were back ordered for nearly a month, so I had to race the first event of the year on the all seasons that came on the car. This was a highly frustrating race day as the car wouldn't handle worth a damn. Despite this, I ended up 3rd of 5 in STX and 26 of 68 overall in PAX. While I would have liked to have been much higher, I really can't complain for it being the first time I raced the car and on crappy tires nonetheless. Here's a shot from the day; it appears I couldn't get much closer to that cone!



My Rivals of course showed up the following day so I got those mounted immediately and then tried them on the car. I believe the result can be described as "Mexiflush" as you can see below. There is no clearance issues whatsoever with these wheels and tires; I have not had ANY rubbing, even after driving on the street for 15 miles or so. As I was pulling off one of the all seasons, I noticed a huge crack that had developed on the sidewall, which ran around nearly the entire circumference of the tire. I checked all the tires for this and 3 of 4 had had this occur from racing. A picture of this can be seen below. I don't know what to blame this on, other than garbage tires. You can see the wear point/shoe polish where I took care to not have any rollover while racing. This resulted in me dropping another large chunk of change on a new set of Continental DW tires for every day driving and rainy day racing.





The following weekend was the next event; I'm lucky to live in the middle of three SCCA regions so I can race just about every weekend of the spring/summer/fall. I had yet to procure a hitch for the Cobalt to use my tire trailer, so I had to get creative on my tire transportation. See the picture below for the result! I was still scrubbing molding compound of the Rivals this event; they started off with disappointing amount of grip but got far better by the end of the day. I ended up 1st of 6 in STX and 7th of 44 in PAX. I was definitely still learning the car as I coned a lot and was still dropping time towards the end of the day. I have no pictures from this event, but will eventually get a video uploaded.



More to follow!

Blackbalts

Thanks for the tire transportation idea. I just ordered Montegi race rims with Rivals and was wondering how I would get them around. #1 important aspect of Autox is seat time, you could be in a completely different car and still do well if you have experience. Powell CAB's worth the money as well as the XXX sway bar. I've never had my back end kick out while racing until I got those!!

FooBag

You are welcome on the tire transporting idea! I hooked a ratchet strap to the child seat points to ensure the tires didn't come flying forward if I had to stop on the brakes. Depending on your tire width/height, you may run into clearance issues with the roof at the C pillars. I ended up sticking pieces of cardboard up there to prevent black marks on the headliner.

I've got about three years of autocross experience and totally agree with you on the seat time thing. I'm not sold on the XXX bar being the end all be all in the sway bar department. I had the adjustable Whiteline bar on the Astra and felt like it created a much stiffer rear suspension and eliminated understeer better. I'm going to buy a Whiteline bar before too long and swap it out for the XXX bar to try to do a comparison. Unless I am reading the rules incorrectly, the Powell CAB's are not legal for STX.

Grave

iTrader: (7)

If you're experiencing understeer with a XXX bar, you're not driving the car right. That's all I can say.

andrewcarr1993

iTrader: (5)

Why not send a message to Powell on here? He has the most race knowledge with cobalts and I'm sure with koni shocks and his springs your car would feel much better.

As a side note s*** I have those Goodyear Eagle GT tires on my car for my daily driving.

FooBag

Two weeks later was the next event that I attended. The course was extremely tight and technical, with some of the gates falling below the minimum sizes specified by the SCCA rules. I could not stop coning to save my life on this course! I was uncertain which cone I was hitting and was not able to get feedback until after my second to last run, preventing me from correcting my line. Due to my coning problem, I ended up 7 of 9 in STX and 18 of 67 in PAX. Had my fastest run been clean, I would have been second in STX and 8th overall. It appears that I will be able to be quite competitive with the Cobalt, especially once I upgrade the suspension more and learn the limits of the car a bit more. The Rival's performed flawlessly at this event; they have incredible grip levels and are wearing extremely well. I would highly recommend these tires if you're wanting to be as competitive as possible, even though they are a touch pricey.

There were quite a few pictures taken at this event; I've included a few. More can be see here.




After these two events, I began to contemplate getting a harness setup for the car as the G forces were pulling me out of the driver seat on left turns. I am very tall and have to sit cocked towards the passenger side to begin with to allow my helmet to clear the roof into the sunroof area. After some research, I settled on the Scroth Rallye 4 as being the option that I would go with. Several days later, a used set showed up for sale at less than half the cost of new, so I snapped it up. These came very quickly and I was able to get them installed yet that week before the next event. The installation was very easy, although I did have to bore out the bracket that bolts to the bottom of the door frame by about 30 thousandths to fit the stock bolt. I'd say the installation took about an hour total for both harnesses. Here's a picture of the finished product.



The following weekend was the next event. Attendance was quite light as the weather forecast was poor, but we ended up having good weather. I finished 2 of 6 in STX and 9th of 29 overall. My overall finish could potentially have been better, but on my last run the car shut off halfway through on a hard corner. I coasted out of the way and tried to diagnose why the car had died and would not restart. The car showed a P0087 code and 25ish psi fuel pressure on the RPD, making it appear the fuel pump had died. My racing wheels/tires and stuff came off the car and I pushed it out of the venue and called for roadside assistance. The dealership confirmed this diagnosis and a new fuel pump is being installed thanks to the powertrain warranty.



This brings us up to the current day. The next event that I will be able to race is not until 6/2, so it wil e awhile until my next racing update.

Mark Aubele

Check your oilpan carefully after having it wheelifted. Car should be transported on a rollback.