First Autocross

[DreamNforSpeed]

I'm signed up to do a novice day for the first time at the Atlanta SCCA group. I had a few questions if anyone was willing to drop some knowledge.

First - does anyone have the rules for classification? I figure they will do it at the novice class, but I figured if I knew before, it might speed things up. The changes I have made are as follows - SVT UIM/LIM/TB, high flow y-pipe, Borla single exit cat-back, custom superchip, Injen short ram intake, front strut bar, and aftermarket 17x7 wheels. I don't think I will have the ST200 rear strut brace in by then, if it would change it. After some of the stuff I read, I figure doing the SVT swap will change my class and prob put me in will some fast cars (not that I am all that worried about it, I'm more looking for someplace to drive fast).

Second - are the courses usually setup where you stay in 2nd gear all the time? Just curious - read something like that somewhere and wanted to know general impressions from Cougar drivers who have done it before.

Third - anybody do it who lives here in Atlanta?

[reptar]

Looks to me like you could run in Street Prepared (DSP); although I don't run in that class, so I'm not 100% sure. The SVT stuff bumps you out of STS.

I've never driven on an autocross course that required anything beyond 2nd gear. My advice as far as shifting goes is this... don't shift out of 1st gear too early, and once you do shift to 2nd, stay there until the end.

Good luck, have fun!

[DreamNforSpeed]

Thanks for the heads up - I didn't want to have too many false assumptions my first day out.

I hope it's fun, I am looking forward to it. Thanks again

[jaged]

I ran my first autocross this weekend and have the svt stuff and y pipe and dual and they put me in STS with scubies and honda crx's. I didnt do too well cause I cant compete with awd and short wheelbase yet, but soon. But I had a blast

[reptar]

I'm positive that the SVT stuff will bump you out of STS, you're only allowed to change things upstream of the throttle body. Most of the time though, it doesn't really matter which class you put newbies in... autocrossing is all about the driver.

[DreamNforSpeed]

Well - my first autocross went off without a problem, and thanks to having some seat time at other events (Mazda and BMW) I think I was 2nd or 3rd among the novices - and that's just cause some guy in an S2000 was putting down times that was better than some of the SM guys. Each run got better than the last and I even figured out how to adjust a couple of turns my last run a shaved a sec off my time. No cones and I didn't get lost. So a great success.

I did have a question though, it was mentioned the SVT parts would out me in Street Prepared (which I thought, too from reading the rules some) - instead of STS. Well, at this event, there weren't a whole lot of SP and only 5 DSPs - of which, my car looked to stack up pretty well against them. Better than the STS class, at least. Which is the tougher class, usually? I will wait to see the posted results and compare times, but DSP had a couple Fiats, an 88 Grand Am and an Olds Acheiva. I saw a couple running when I was working my corner - and it didn't seem like too tough competition. Maybe it's just our local scene, but STS was packed.

[reptar]

Glad to hear things went well. As far as which class is more competitive, it depends on your region (I know in Detroit, STS is more competitve than DSP). I think STS is probably more popular in general right now, so you'll tend to see bigger fields at events, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're competitive. You should be able to tell from the posted results which is faster in your region, unless it rained or something else unusual happened. In theory, DSP cars should be faster than STS cars, mainly because they get to run "race" tires.

[DreamNforSpeed]

I got the results - and DSP and STS had about the same times. I think what you said about STS being popular is right, it and STX had a ton more people - and obviously good drivers, I think the guy who is the point leader in STS went to the Mazda competition this year from the Atlanta group. And he was second this time. So I'd get my rump handed to me in either class. :tongue:

What classes and setup do you guys run?