For reference, I have a 1970 Plymouth Duster that I use for cruising and autocross. I’ve only been autocrossing for a 3.5 years and have approximately 175 autocross runs on the car. I’ve never driven anything else on an autocross course, only this car. Until the summer of 2023, the car was setup with a stock style torsion bar suspension with parts designed specifically for improved handing. My t-bar setup consisted of the following parts.
- Sway a way 1.08 bars
- Hotchkis front and rear sway bar, non-adjustable shocks, and leaf springs
- SPC gen 1 upper control arms
- FMJ Spindles
- Aluminum tie rod sleeves
- QA1 adjustable strut rods
- Fully welded biscuit type K-member and LCAs
- Borgeson steering box
- 14” front discs and 12” rear discs
- Falken Azenis 200TW 235/40-18 front tires, 275/35-18 rear tires
- Alignment- 6.25 degrees caster, 1.5 degrees camber
This combination of parts resulted in a very good handling car. Unlike drag racing where the car with the most HP usually has the fastest car, the same doesn’t hold true on the autocross. Having a properly set up car is probably 75% of the equation. Driver skill is the last piece of the puzzle and is the hardest to make up. There is no replacement for seat time! I’ve never won a big event, nor am I the fastest at any given event. If I were to describe my skill, I’d say I am slightly better than mediocre. My car is always the oldest at my local events and I’m typically within the top 25% of the cars there. Most of which are modern compact cars.
