[Autocross] Points Event #5 with TSCC: July 2025
Driving… the long way.
Autocross has been low on my priority list this year due to scheduling conflicts, so since I wouldn’t be running a full season I figured I’d see if I could codrive something that’s the same… but different. I asked and Rick agreed to let me codrive his 2017 Alltrack which is IS38 powered. You might recognize it from when we swapped a Golf R steering rack into it last year. I figured driving his car would be particularly interesting since it’s essentially the AWD wagon version of my own car, but with much higher spring rates.
Last year Rick and I went back and forth at most of the events and he ultimately ended up one spot ahead of me decided by the very last event. This would be fun to compare driver vs driver - which I know is what he was really after.
For reference, this is the mod/spec list that Rick sent me:
2017 Alltrack S - running in XA class
EQT IS38+
Unitronic GESI downpipe
APR Stage 3 93 octane/DSG tunes
Tunezilla Haldex tune with Race spring
Mishimoto intercooler
MK8 PCV Full Retrofit w/CTS TIP
Golf R dynamic steering rack
Silvers Neomax coilovers (re-valved by Randy O’Brien) with 10k/14k Swift springs
Eurocode front chassis brace
RS3 81A-407-183 control arm bushings
034 roll control ball joints
H&R 27mm front sway bar
H&R 25mm rear sway bar w/Moog end links
034 Rear Subframe Mount Inserts
Ferodo DS2500 front pads
RS3 brake ducts
-3.7 front/-2.2 rear camber, zero toe
Apex VS-5RS 17x9/ET42, with 235/45-17 RE-71RS.
Misc. stuff: GTI front seats, Leyo paddle shifter extensions
All on-course photos are courtesy of Josh at Sixth Media Group. The rest of the album from the event is located HERE where there were plenty of other MQB cars plus a bunch of other cool stuff in attendance.
My impressions of the car
Overall the car felt pretty good, particularly in transitions. You can definitely feel the additional weight in the rear of the car vs my GTI, but it’s hard to say how much was due to the AWD system and how much was due to the wagon body. I was expected the car to be a lot looser than it was, but it really never stepped out even when driven like a complete idiot through the fast slaloms.
Power-wise, the car was good at full tilt, but the APR ECU tune was nowhere near as responsive to small pedal inputs as the DIY tune one on my GTI (now 148 revisions in for reference).
Also it was kind of nice launching the car without much wheelspin… a far different experience from my wrong wheel drive GTI.
The single biggest issue I had with Rick’s Alltrack was how it behaved under braking: The thing just plowed if you gave more than a moderate amount. My initial impression was that the car needed the front shocks softened. I’ve co-driven 20+ cars, with a bit more than half having adjustable shocks. I have NEVER once gotten into a car and thought the owner needed to stiffen them up. This is an observation I’ve made time and time again where people think that because stiff “feels” good that it is better.
I asked Rick about it but he didn’t want to do that so we left it be. Reflecting back after the event, the car wasn’t particularly pushy in the slaloms, it was only under braking or when doing combination braking + turning so I think the problem might be a bit different than what I initially thought. More on this towards the end.
About the runs themselves
It was HOT outside, so I was glad that we happened to be driving in the first run group. I was up first, and I haven’t autocrossed at all in 8 months since November so I was pretty much just planning on having fun with no real expectations of placing particularly well. Due to relatively small run groups, we were basically back-to-back driving the car with just barely enough time to set pressures and spray the tires in between runs. Because RE71RSs tend to get greasy fast, we began spraying immediately after every single run. The narrower 235-wide tires on 9in wide wheels were never particularly greasy until the last couple runs. While I do expect a narrower tire on the same size wheel to feel sharper, I wouldn’t expect such a prominent issue under straight line braking from the narrower tires alone.
I managed to throw down a pretty decent 35.690 on my first run in the car, and Rick immediately one-upped me with a 35.623. I chipped away time with a 34.903 then 34.544 on my 2nd and 3rd runs while Rick struggled with cones, getting a 35.111+1 and 37.870+1.
My fourth run I knocked another couple tenths off and pulled a clean 34.324 which would stick as my fastest run. Rick finally got a clean run but was still a second off me with a 35.301. My fifth and final run I managed a 34.570 because the tires getting greasier while I entered the slalom with too much confidence. Rick on the other hand pulled off a 34.889 which would be his fastest run, about 0.5 seconds off of me.
Reviewing the video and data, nearly all of the time I made on him was done so on the sweeper immediately after the start. I made some time on him in the turnaround at the far end of the course, but he had a cleaner line through the final left before the finish beams where he got just a bit of time back.
Results Summary
1st (of 10) in XA, 4th for Rick
1st (of 24) in the Provisional Class, 5th for Rick (PAX based vs all CAM classes and XB as well)
6th (of 96) in overall PAX, 13th for Rick
3rd (of 96) in raw time, 6th for Rick
Winner winner chicken dinner
I wasn’t paying TOO much attention to the rest of the field until towards the end of the heat, but was surprised to see I had gotten 1st in the Provisional Class, while Rick finished back in 5th. 2nd place went to Jeremiah who is a national level SMF champ in his Mini Cooper, who I was not expecting to beat. I would later find out from a post on Facebook that he had a boost leak and was probably down a good bit on power. Stephen in the Mustang in 4th was another driver I was familiar with and who I struggled to beat on PAX last year. Sometimes you get a bit of luck, and it just happened to work out in my favor this time.
What the car needs (in my opinion)
I think what the wagon primarily needs is to have the suspension travel evaluated similar to what I did here. Because of the coilovers, it would differ slightly by setting the body height (lower collar adjustment) so that the tire at full stuff is just shy of making contact, and possibly using softer and more progressive bump stops to milk as much usable bump travel as possible. Then I would use the upper collars to set the actual ride height and corner balance. This video covers how to do it correctly with the explanation of why preload is bullshit. I think sorting this aspect of his car out would be worth another 0.3-0.4 seconds on an average course. This is based on going through the exact same thing with my Mazda2 years ago.
As far as the powertrain: I know that some of the lag was due to the 1.8L vs 2.0L and the changes that define them: 10% less displacement, no VVL and no VVT on the exhaust cam. I’d be curious to see if this was notably better on a cooler day because it feels a lot like how my GTI felt during the early tuning process when I upped the boost but hadn’t done anything with the timing yet. Adding some timing in the mid range REALLY wakes the car up and helps the turbo spool quicker.
Otherwise the car is really good overall. Pending what the suspension adjustments above yield, playing with spring rates and sway bar settings might be worthwhile as well if it still refuses to rotate.
Because I know someone will ask: no the 034 ball joints aren’t an issue autocrossing. You’re not running over curbing at high speeds. As long as you’re OK with being bumped out of street and street touring classes, they’re a budget option to get a ton of camber for autocross. I do think there are advantages to getting camber in other ways (the CSS knuckles in particular), but they cost more money.
