Hi there. It is nice to see others getting interested in this lovely sport that I have found myself so addicted to. I think if you ask around, you will find that most all the great drivers got their start in a slower (D,G,H) stock class. The mk2 is somewhat of an underdog in Gstock when you compare power/weight with the other cars (I also got shit-end of HP stick with an 1983 myself). Every car out there that will beat you at first weighs a good 300-400# less with equal or above HP. Take for example the MiniCooper-S (fastest car in Gstock in my region). I found that under acceleration, the mk2 has an almost perfect weight balance between the front and rear tires and will stick VERY well out of corners. This is what I give credit to for my pretty darn good times comparative to the rest of my class (most all are FWD).
My current setup:
Stock.
Two absolutely blown struts.
420tw, 50,000mile street tires.
I have run 8 or so small college events, though there were not alot of skilled drivers to watch and learn from, and the courses were designed poorly, with things like slaloms that made corners and stuff...
I am up to my third big regional event, and will continue running with them. Thusfar, I place usually within a second from the fastest car currently in Gstock (CooperS, 18yrs experience, Hoosiers) on a 50-60second course.
It is my opinion that everyone should start stock, and work their way up. Not only is this one of the cheapest routes, but it also allows you to see how well your skills do versus another driver's, instead of how well your mods do against another's mods. It has also been disputed that when learning a car, its best to run street tires for a while to learn the nuances of the vehicle's handling. This will make you slower at first, but supposedly allows you to progress more quickly as a driver, but again, without it being possible to be real fast real quick.
In my opinion, get a set of tokicoHP's (ebay, $160+s&h) or koni-adj's if you can afford them and keep your eyes open for an addco front swaybar. Stick a cat-back with a free-flow muffler on there and go out there and learn your car. Your first few events will be slow, period. But you will find the outermost limits of your car especially in braking. Its amazing how fast the mk2 can slow down, downright stupified me once I got it right. I suggest finding someone experienced in a rwd car similar in HP/weight that times well and just watching exactly how they run the course, and mimic that as closely as possible.
As usual, walk the course alot, tell someone at the drivers meeting that you are a novice and they will usually arrange a special guided walk-through with someone who knows how to explain apexes and braking points very well for all the novices. Also, make it a point to talk to people. Dont annoy a driver concentrating during his walk-through or immediately before his run, but make a point to bring about conversation with the regular drivers. I find the friendships are just as much to look foreward to as tossing my mk2 around the corners like a fool.
Also, lets get our own section in the forum. Us autox'r's need to stick together.
--BillyM
Viva La AutoX!