hey every1,

I'm looking into an SCCA membership, but im a little confused on which events i can participate in with my 94 FD. I know Solo II has plenty of classes i can join, but what about the Club Racing? If you have ne info, please share it!
-Zach

 

not sure if you've done some track days before but you definately want to do that before you go club racing. Especially since anyone can take a written test and get an scca comp license.

Cliff notes: scca club racing has lots of goobers who will crash into you.

 

That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard.


The FD can be club raced but the neccesary safety modifications will essentially make it unstreetable or at least a huge pain the *** to get in and out of. You would fall into one of the catch all catagories. Meaning that cars that aren't neccesarily classed in other classes can compete against each other.

And for that matter if you really wanted to you could find a rally class that will let you run. All depends on what you really want to do with the car and how much money you want to throw away.

 

if you want to run on a track you should look into soloI or trials. basically autoX on real tracks.

 

Wow, what a fascinating thing to say in the race tech forum.. Seeing how there's a ton of club racers here.. I know I certainly don't go running into people intentionally.. Body work costs are expensive enough without intentionally getting to contact.

PaulC

 

contact someone from SCCA, thats one great way to find out, what's required. i talked to someone from SCCA at the LA AUTO SHOW, and got good info.

 

If you take the turbo and intercooler out of your FD then you can race it in GT3 with a 12a J-bridge and GT2 with 13b OR 12a PP OR JBridge with various weights to equalize the motors.

 

Are you looking to actually RACE on a road course or just have a fun time driving fast on the track. If you are just starting out and your FD is your street car, I STRONGLY recommend you do not RACE your car (auto-x obviously doesn't count). Go to some HPDE (high performance driving events) in your area. Usually, a club will rent out a track for the day. Benefits include smaller run groups (depending on the club) and less chance of damage to your car.

 

Thats precisely what i want to do...enjoy driving my MODIFIED STREET CAR fast on a track. I was hoping the SCCA had some street classes but it doesnt look like that. Guess ill have to have my dad join a Corvette or BMW club so i can use the track, lol

 

You usually don't have to be a club member to participate.

Here's an example club -- I run with these guys:

www.speedventures.net

They're not in your area, but should give you an idea of what to expect from a well-run club.

 

My point is based of the experiences of friends who have raced both SCCA and NASA spec miata. There are far more crashes in the SCCA series because the comp license test is a written one for scca.

It's just some food for thought. I never said the people here are all headhunters.

 

Huh, I must have missed the written only license schools.

Your "friends" have misinformed you.

As proof a friend of mine that leases my car on occasion was required to fulfill his SCCA classroom (read: track and classroom time) while he can claim a number of ARCA starts on his resume. SCCA's requirements are every bit as stringent as those of NASA.

 

Zach,

Some regions will allow you to enter your car in SCCA SOLO 1 (time trials- various classes), ITE, ITS, and SP race classes, providing the necessary safety modifications are accomplished.

For all of the above, your region may dicatate which class you can participate in, particularly as regards to the modifications performed on the car. Here in the Northwest my car, a 1993 FD, is classified in ITS with DOT slicks, IC, intake, ECU, stock twins, exhaust, suspension, brake mods, etc. This region is rotary and turbo rotary friendly- some aren't. Basically my car is maxed out on external engine mods except for a single turbo. I'm planning on a single turbo upgrade and some aero which will put me in ITE and possibly SP/SPO. The race classing may differ from the Solo 1 classing.

For Solo 1 you need a 4 point roll bar or better, 5 or 6 pt. harness, 10B:C fire extinguisher, SFI 3.2/1 + race suit, gloves, shoes, nomex underwear, balaclava, and Snell SA 95 or 2000 helmet. The roll bar should be the appropriate diameter, thickness, material and configuration for the class and vehicle weight. Refer to the SCCA GCR (General Competition Rulebook- available from SCCA headquarters). M2's roll cage and Autopower 4 point are legal for SCCA Solo 1, BTW. Others may be as well.

For race classes you'll need a better suit (2 layer +) and a 6 point bar. Again, please refer to GCR. I think only the Autopower 6-point is only race legal bolt-in cage, but IMHO this is a poorly designed and unecessarily heavy cage. Better off with a custom fabbed weld-in cage (probably $1,500-$3,000).

Some more information can be found on my website: http://www.mantissaracing.com/Mantis...a%20racing.htm Got to SOLO I, 2002.

With regard to the SCCA written test for licensing, there is no such thing. Occasionally, there are special cases for someone with racing experience in other organizations of prior SCCA experience where paperwork can be submitted in lieu of a race school, but no test. I that case, drivers typicallyl have to attend a one-day SCCA school and are issued a novice race permit.

My wife and I just acquired our SCCA racing licenses yesterday (acually a novice racing license) with no prior racing experience. This requires an SCCA sanctioned two-day course with lots of in-class and tons of on-track instruction. There is particular emphasis on safety, flags and passing. Once you pass the course/get your license, you are considered a novice and must compete in two races (for regional certification), incident free (including adhering to flags!) where you are evaluated by the race steward. For national licensing, you must do the same for 6 races.

Once the regional or national steward signs off on your novice permit, you submit all of your paperwork (including a physician's exam, BTW), pay the necessary fees and will get an "official" SCCA racing license.

Good luck. E-mail or PM me if you have any more questions.

Gene

 

Where does all this misinformation come from? Most people I talk to would rather run NASA because the requirements are not as stringent as SCCA.

Gfelber gave a good outline above go to scca.org for more info.

I've never run Spec 7 but I understand it gets a little crazy.

 

LOL... there it is right there. "Wreck-me Otter" is well known to be a contact class in both the SCCA and NASA.

I wouldn't base M2M contact levels of an entire club on a class that attracts more and more new/rookie drivers every year. Rookies should be forced to drive an ill handling, bad braking, low powered carbureted car for their first 10 races before they are allowed a to race well engineered car

 

nice!

that would make it a demolition derby!!!!!!!

count me in .

 

M's,

Yeah, Spec Miata is it's own entity. I don't think they necessarily bump into each other for fun and games, but when youv'e got cars with NO advantages over each other, it's all about the driver, and if you get frustrated or tired, you're going to do stupid things sometimes. With 50-60 car fields, it can get crazy. Other classes are much more sedate.


Wait, like a 1st gen RX-7? LOL

(oooh, sorry)

Ahem

Ok, i'm going to go hide in the corner now

PaulC

 

Exactly what I was refering to!!! No need to run and hide

 

I race in Spec-7 and it gets a little hairy sometimes but mostly because we have some ******* drivers who don't care about their car getting hurt. I have a lot of fun and can keep up with cars that have double the horsepower. My motto is, you don't need horsepower if you don't slow down.

 

Amusing thread. And I thought you only got those kind of a$$holes in regional karting Some people just watch way too much NASCRAP - rubbing is NOT racing.

 

nascrap is mainly about engineering and the manipulation of rules, much like any other form of racing. Don't be ignorant. There are several spec miatas that are set up with a greater advantage than the others. there are some guys out there getting 10 or more hp to the wheels than the rest. It's not all even but it is very close. The fields generally have a really diverse skill level hense the crashing.

 

Spoolin 7, if you want to "race" your FD (on track with other cars) then forget about keeping it streetable, and you'd better have a very healthy checkbook. If you just want to go fast and have fun, try Solo 1 ot High Performance trials; enough speed to scare you and not to big an investment, and you can still drive it home. Or just go to Solo II -autocrossing - where you can run in either SS, ASP, or SM2 classes depending on how much modification you've made to your car.