autocrossing

[KnappstamaN]

well today i went to KFC and while paying for my food at the window i got a nice compliment about my car and was asked if i autocrossed (guy has a modified del sol) and i was like nope, but have always wanted too. So he tells me every sunday at this huge parking lot in our town they have autocrossing for 25 bucks, and you need to bring your own helmet and be there at 8am. This sounds like great fun, and ive seen people autocross there before, and some people bring their seriously modified cars. But its devided into classes. What should i know before i go and participate? Should the tire PSI be high or low? Do they do exhaust checks like cat converters? are we allowed to gut our interior? Any tips? ETC. Id love to try it out and do it this sunday. Maybe rhyno1221 could run with me too, seeing he has a slightly modified cougar like me and works across the parking lot :)

[fordrule]

gut the interior just leave your driver seat in that it, take out hte passenger seat and rear seats, take off ur new wheels and put ur stock rims with some nice sticky tires ....read GMK weight reduction sticky.......read the autocross posts i am sure there is soem posts on people setups.....hopefully that helps

[KnappstamaN]

theres really no info in the autocrossing section, why i posted here. I thought for autocrossing, a stiffer sidewall was better? thus why i plan on using my 18's with skinny tires compared to my 16's with big thick tires. But yeah, i will definately gut it

BTW joseph, i love that signature pic of yours

[jaged]

Hi random trolling going on here.

Just did an autox yesterday. If it is a SCCA your CF hood puts you into the Street Mod (SM) class like me. A stiffer sidewall might help you, but with our low torque motors you want to run a small diameter tire. Smaller should be lighter. If you dont have access to a portable air pump put your tires up to 50psi or so and let out air as you go to find the best psi, plus as you go the air in the tires will heat up and the pressure will go up. as for the interior you can take out the back seats but not the back trim pieces. If you take the trim out it puts you into SM2 (two seaters) If you take out the passenger seat that would put you in the G modified class ( i think).

they should do a tech inspection to make sure that your car is safe, check the battery to make sure it is tied down, no loose stuff floating around, tires are good(no cords) seat belts are safe. Go with at most 1/4 tank of gas and take out the spare tire

Best advice is to look ahead and not worry about hitting a cone. Depending on the course you could leave it in 1st gear and possibly shift into 2nd on a long stretch. If your not sure put it in drive on the first run and see what happens, make sure to turn off overdrive.

2 cautions are that you probably wont win, but could end up doing well with the car being heavy and an atx(just like me) I finished 10th ouit of 40 cars on sat so it is possible to do well so dont get frustrated

other one is that you will love it and want to do more of it so be ready for that.

To find out more info go to scca.com to find your local region and find specific rules and regulations for solo II info. PM me if you have questions

[fordrule]

thats a great bit of info there

[KnappstamaN]

thank you :) i ended up not racing, but i went down and watched it for a few hours. Looked awesome