Autox, road courses, SCCA info?

[Leftlane]

So ive been thinking about getting into some road racing, autox events. Obviously my first thought would be getting to SCCA.
So for you guys out there in the SCCA or tracking at other events, whats all involved?
What kind of classes are there?(not teaching, but car classes)
What kind of training is involved, if any?
What all does the car have to have? As in safety or anything else?
How much do the events usually cost?
How often do the events occur?
Can you have team drivers for one car? Thinking bout asking my dad if he wants to drive also
etc etc...

Just shoot away. Open to any knowledge. Never done anything like this

Im going to start looking for a cheap rwd car to buy here soon. Maybe a mustang gt or a e36 3series.

[dakar318]

lolololol an e36 will NOT be cheap! haha


but yea for the car. the saftey requirements.... take drifting tech... and laugh in its face.

for time trials you will need a roll BAR, fire extinguisher, suit, gloves, socks, sa rated helmet, batter cut off i think, window net/ arm restraints.

road racing requires 2 schools, or 8 hours of driving. a roll cage, with right diameter tubing for the chassis weight. lots of other stuff.

i recommend improved touring cars, they are cheap (compared to others) , and the racing is close.

and check out sedivracing.org for the schedule of this area this year. races are less then 400, usually there are 2 races a weekend. i usually drive one and my brother gets the other.

[Leftlane]

lolololol an e36 will NOT be cheap! haha


but yea for the car. the saftey requirements.... take drifting tech... and laugh in its face.

for time trials you will need a roll BAR, fire extinguisher, suit, gloves, socks, sa rated helmet, batter cut off i think, window net/ arm restraints.

road racing requires 2 schools, or 8 hours of driving. a roll cage, with right diameter tubing for the chassis weight. lots of other stuff.

i recommend improved touring cars, they are cheap (compared to others) , and the racing is close.

and check out sedivracing.org for the schedule of this area this year. races are less then 400, usually there are 2 races a weekend. i usually drive one and my brother gets the other.


what racing association is this for? just curious?
reading on scca's website, this is what they had

Make sure your car meet all the requirements of our Technical Inspection. In Tech your car will be checked for:

• Tires - no cords showing or other damage such as bulges, nails, etc.
• Wheel bearings, shocks, steering, and suspension in good operating condition.
• Seat belts in good operating condition.
• Brakes - firm pedal with no detectable drop with car not running and proper level of fluid in reservoir.
• All loose items removed (radar detectors, floor mats, etc.)
• Hubcaps and wheel rings removed.
• All lugs present and tight.
• Throttle return action safe and positive (no sticky throttles)
• No excessive fluid leaks.
• Battery securely bolted down.

[4x4le]

lol at the drifting tech comment. I would go so far to say that once you start messing with pro am drifting it is just as bad if not worse. Practice days, maybe not so much.

[Eunos735]

Casey the problem you will run into with SCCA events is most are held on Sunday. But you can ride along or co drive. I can tell you the welded diff in your car would not work on a tight auto x course but to get your feet wet anytime you would like to co drive my car with me at a Auto-X you are more than welcome to. The weekend membership fee I think is $45 and you usually get anywhere from 6-10 runs. If you want to learn more just give me a call or come over any night this week.

[Brent]

As far as AutoX goes, SCCA is second to none. As mentioned above, there are several events locally on the weekends in Nashville.

As far as track stuff/road racing, I've done both and I think NASA is a much better organization. They actually groom their drivers to progress to the next level which, in turn, makes it much safer racing. You start out in HPDE(high performance driving experience) where you have several blocks of instruction in the classroom and an instructor ride along with you. You get 4-5 sessions a day. As you progress, you will be solo'd. There are 4 levels of HPDE in NASA. Once you make it through all of them, you can go into wheel to wheel racing or Time Trials. The next logical step is Time Trials. Alot of people stay in Time Trials(like myself) because the possibility of your car being completely destroyed during a wheel to wheel race is much greater. You still pass anywhere, but it's a more controlled environment.

In the SCCA, you could literally be racing with someone who has never been on the track before except for doing competition school. There form of HPDE, called PDX, is also much more limited than NASA. All of the ones I've done in the past, consisted of two sessions on Sunday that took place during quite hours.

There are hundreds of organizations that put on track days as well.

[Brent]

One other thing, either car that you mentioned would make good track cars. I think an E36 would make a good car. NASA now runs a Spec3 class that is open to all E36's. I have quite a few friends running them and are doing so for less than $5000. The SpecE30 class is even better.

Here's a friend of mine driving an E36 at VIR a month or two ago.

TA6L9HxoU_g

[dakar318]

i pretty much did the same thing through scca, started with solo, did some time trials for a few years. got another race car that pro build for spec miata/ ITA, did some more time trials to learn the car, and went to road race school at roebling in feb. 2009

we've only been doing 2 events, mainly the ones to support out own region. we really dont have the cash to run a season. so we just run nashville and barber since its a 2hr drive to both.

NASA is more friendly with classing cars it seems. i know in scca there are huge performance gaps between some classes. mainly to help out the grassroots guy vs the unlimited budget guys.

[HedTrip]

when is the next Autox? i havnt been to one in years & miss it alot.

[dakar318]

bmws sound great at first..... then you look at replacing the engine... with something NOT from the junkyard.... yea its more then 5gs

[85rx-7gsl-se]

Casey the problem you will run into with SCCA events is most are held on Sunday. But you can ride along or co drive. I can tell you the welded diff in your car would not work on a tight auto x course but to get your feet wet anytime you would like to co drive my car with me at a Auto-X you are more than welcome to. The weekend membership fee I think is $45 and you usually get anywhere from 6-10 runs. If you want to learn more just give me a call or come over any night this week.

6-10 runs? Is that including dollar runs afterwards?

[MCarp22]

The best advice I have is, if you want to get into wheel-to-wheel racing, buy someone else's racecar.

[shifty35]

6-10 runs? Is that including dollar runs afterwards?

TRSCCA doesn't do dollar runs.

[Eunos735]

6-10 runs? Is that including dollar runs afterwards?
No. I've never seen the TRSCCA group do "fun runs" But at the Twin Fountains event everyone got 10 runs. At the "on track" event this weekend they are saying 6 runs. At the ETR event this Sunday we only got 5 :(

[85rx-7gsl-se]

Here in Memphis you are lucky to get 6 30 second runs. We only got 5 last time :(

[shifty35]

The TRSCCA events are usually in the mid 60-low 70 second range at the superspeedway. Usually there are one or two crossover points, and generally two cars on course at any given time. Cars are split into two run groups, usually a 10-15 minute break between heats.

How many drivers do you have at a typical event where you get 5 runs?

[85rx-7gsl-se]

Any more info on this track auto-x this Sunday? I may be coming back this weekend and might see if my dad wants to take his Miata up to it.

[85rx-7gsl-se]

The TRSCCA events are usually in the mid 60-low 70 second range at the superspeedway. Usually there are one or two crossover points, and generally two cars on course at any given time. Cars are split into two run groups, usually a 10-15 minute break between heats.

How many drivers do you have at a typical event where you get 5 runs?

We had 76 drivers at the last event.

[shifty35]

Any more info on this track auto-x this Sunday? I may be coming back this weekend and might see if my dad wants to take his Miata up to it.

www.trscca.org

They have online registration for the road course event. I believe it was capped at 100 entrants, and is probably full unless someone makes a last minute cancellation.

We had 76 drivers at the last event.

76 drivers explains that!

[85rx-7gsl-se]

Well its full. Oh well maybe some other time :lol:

And do you all usually run all 6 with this big of a turnout?

[85rx-7gsl-se]

And 76 was a big turnout for our region. I finished 2nd in SSM and 6th in RAW. Fuck PAX :x

[Wheelman13]

At the ETR event this Sunday we only got 5 :(

Yeah, ~80 driver and (relatively few...but still) timing issues will do that. I think they probably could have squeezed another one in there, but they had to make that call before the end of the 1st group. 6 is more typical.


To the OP:

-SCCA autocross has the lowest entry barriers regarding car prep & cost. If you get a membership (~$50/year) you'll end up with between $25 & $35 for entry fee per event and you only need a car in decent repair (no leaks, battery tied down, no cord) and a motorcycle helmet to participate. Good way to learn car control in a safe environment & slower speed (and generally no walls). Classing can get a little complicated if you've just arbitrarily modded your car for street use, but I know with ETR you can jump on the forum (if you can't figure it our by the rule book) post your mods and someone can figure it out.

-X2 on NASA for the open track stuff. It seems to be a lot more accessible than SCCA for getting your feet wet. HPDE prep is basically like autocross except it's highly recommended that you get brake pads with that type of use in mind (Hawk HP+, et. al).

-You only get into roll protection, driving suit, battery kill, etc. once you get pretty serious, and by that time you'll know what's up anyway.

[shifty35]

Well its full. Oh well maybe some other time :lol:

And do you all usually run all 6 with this big of a turnout?

They'll probably get 6 runs in on the road course. No crossovers, they can probably start a car every 20-30 seconds... assuming no spinouts ;)

[5series_4_Me]

Quick question...Why are you trying to get something else? Why not use the skyline?

[shifty35]

Quick question...Why are you trying to get something else? Why not use the skyline?

Most SCCA Solo classes are restricted to USDM cars.

[5series_4_Me]

Ahhhh I see...

[chemwarrior]

Here' some videos of my autocrosses last Sunday (same day as IA) here in Atlanta at Turner Field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESSfI87dFik&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG3BYboxLoI&feature=channel

[Leftlane]

Quick question...Why are you trying to get something else? Why not use the skyline?

i want the skyline to be driven as a daily driver, dependable at anytime.

i was to get another car that i can tear down and do whatever with. lose the interior, a/c, etc. if something breaks, then the car will be down..and thats fine. if i hit a wall..or something..else...then the car will be down. and thats fine. if i have damaged body panels, no biggie

for the skyline...replacing parts is too much of a wait and hassle..and $$$. and i hate when the skylinee is down. drives me crazy. when when getting parts, i have to source around the country to see who has what. i have a network already, but its still a hassle
and i want to leave all the comfort features in the skyline(carpet, interior, a/c, stereo, etc.)

[Leftlane]

and thanks for all the info guys. really appreciate it!