Cage material Q's

[Mtang4life]

Ok, few questions for those of you who have a current SCCA rulebook. The car will be used for Solo I&II hopefully. That is if the car ever gets finished, and I dont become incapacitated in some way between now and then.

1. Is 1-3/4" by .120 the right dia/thickness for cage material? I've been told that this may vary depending on the material used. Can anyone give me a breakdown on what exactly I need for a car weighing (hopefully) about 2600 pounds?

2. I believe its 6" X 6" for the base plates? No idea on the thickness though. Once again if someone could spell out what the rules state that would be awsome.

3. Where/how many inspection holes do there need to be?

4. Any other specs/rules I'm forgetting?

5. Yes, I need to buy a rule book, but I need to have the materials purchased ASAP, hehehe.

6. Im sure there is more I am forgetting.

[GuidoThePenguin]

Originally posted by: Mtang4life
5. Yes, I need to buy a rule book, but I need to have the materials purchased ASAP, hehehe.

That should have been your first step....



Order me!!!! (http://www.scca.org/news/index.html#comp_regs)

[Mtang4life]

OK, I just got all of the 2004 rule books in the mail yesterday. Answered all of my questions. Those books are an interesting read. Unfortunatly for me, it looks like im going to be in the solo "prepaired" class, which will be fun as thats the same catagory my boss's car, and several other customers cars are in. I am going to get walked all over though. Not to sure on the "A, B, C, etc" breakdown though. Good thing I have a very experienced builder offering a lot of advice.

EDIT: yes I should have aquired a book a long time ago. Luckly I hadn't shot myself in the foot yet and done something to the car that wasn't allowed.

[sonza68]

I looked through my rule book and couldn't figure it out myself, so I asked over at solo2.org and the thought is that'd a "Prepared" Cougar would be in CP.

[Mtang4life]

Thanks for the info, that will help.

[reptar]

What do you have done to your car that will require that you run in a Prepared class? You might want to also check out the rules for Street Modified, Street Prepared and Street Touring and see if one of those might fit better. I'm just thinking you'll have a tough time being competitive in one of the Prepared classes... which is usually populated by real race cars... at least around Detroit anyway.

[Mtang4life]

I know I am going to get walked all over in prepaired. I have almost no hope of the car being anywhere near competitive. I'm not going to fool myself in to believing the car is going to do well. Hopefully there is someone that is similarly hadicapped running Solo in my area. That at least would make it a little less depressing.

Its impossible for me to have rear seats anymore which eliminates me from some of the lower levels. I have gone further than the allowed 1" port matching on the heads and especially the UIM/LIM which cant be ported, as I understand it, between the upper and lower sections. That eliminates me from street prep/mod as I read it. Its really the engine work that seems to have hurt me. The suspention and chassis mods leave me rather open for class, but I went to far with work done to the engine. I could have a mis-understanding of the available work allowed, which would be great.

I am also under the impression that I would have to run stock? interior pannels for a lot of the classes as well. The big problem there is running door bars and still being able to use OEM door trim pannels. The rear int quarter arent nearly as big of a problem. There simply doesnt seem to be enough (if any) clearance between the seats and trim, and I cant move the seats any further inward from where they are at without having them to high up due to the tunnel. Narrower seats may solve this problem but not by to much. Also, head clearance is already a problem for me with being 6' and how upright I like to keep the seat back while driving. Different seats may also solve this problem, although sparco sprints arent that much thinner on the seat base from the ones I have. Eliminating the sliders would give me another half inch though.

I could ante up and buy stock parts to replace the heads, UIM, interior pieces that have been broken/lost/sold, and LIM (if the machine shop hasn't started boring it out yet) to drop me back down in class, but I am already way over budget for the year on the car. With 90% of the parts already paid for/modified I have a hard time mentally with not finishing what I started, for better or worse. My fiance is already upset for me spending "enough" on an impractical car. Supposedly I should be saving up for a wedding or something.

[sonza68]

I'd have to check my rule book to be sure, but engines are pretty much open in SM as long as the block is from the OEM. I believe the missing door panels will bump you out as the only interior parts you are allowed to remove (aside from loose things) are the rear seats.

[reptar]

Right, engines are basically free in SM except there is a maximum size and the block has to be from the same OEM... the size limit is something like 6.0L for NA cars though. Removing the door panels would technically take you out of SM. If you felt like wrecking the panels you could probably notch them and still be legal.

In reality, I don't know if you'd really be much more competitive in SM anyway. In theory, a SM car should be a little slower than a CP car, but on a local level, I suspect they're about the same. In fact, since SM is a very competitive class in the Detroit Region, it's common for the top SM cars to be faster than the CP cars.

I guess if I were in your situation, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You'll have fun running in a class with people you know.