Hello there :)

uhm, i'm a total noob to legal racing, but trying it out seems like fun. what do i need to do , to compete at the upcoming event in febuary ? :) do i need a driving helmet? uhm. any special courses or something i need through the scca ? are there any dirt / snow events in the area ? wet tracks maybe ? :)

Well, as long as your car will pass tech (clean out all the junk from the interior/trunk, tight lug nuts, good seatbelts, no leaks, no NOS) you can just show up and run! We've got loaner helmets, and a Novice program that will help guide you through the process of racing in an autocross.

Price is $35/day for non SCCA members, or $25/day if you're a registered SCCA member. Also, novices can run both morning and afternoon to get extra seat time, and the afternoon session is only an additional $10.

Since you're new, I'd suggest coming out to the annual Autocross School being held April 1st if you can make it, as there will be instructors available for ride-alongs, more track time than at an event, and lower stress since there's no competition going on.

Sweet :) thanks :cool: any instruction would definatly be helpful. haven't registred for the scca though iv'e taken a few looks at their website. I have played colin mcRae rally 2005 is that gonna help at all ? lol lol ... oh .. ya i'de better take that class.
lol i'll still have my Ski rack on and snow tires come april, (besides that not being exactly optimal setup) that gonna be allowed on the track? Oh i have a K&N Short ram air intake kit too ;)

Tech would probably ask you to remove the ski rack (at least take it down to just the rails).

You probably won't want to run on snow tires, since autocross will chew 'em up good.

Mods aren't a big deal, since Novice is a "rung what you brung" class, as long as the car passes tech.

Its almost easier to take it off completely then to take the ski rack part off of the rails. i suppose i'll have to take my snowboard out of the rack too ? :P (j/k) so the course is long enough to really give you some tire wear? hmmmmm. i may have to buy a summer set of rims + tires before this event. i have some summers i wouldn't mind totally destorying (they don't have much legal tread left, the stock tires 070s ?) but i'de have to get them remounted onto my rims and my snows taken off, and then vice versa right after the track day / weekend... anyone have a hookup on brand new prodrive rims? or anyone have that tire mounter / demounter machine (well i guess i could use a crow bar to unmount the tires ? / after letting the air out ) sounds like other people buy specific track tires ? they get rims just for their track tires ? hmmm (thanks for the info btw) :)

(probably better to remove my ski rack before i go down ? and tire swap if i have a 2nd set of rims by then? or are they gonna care if i jack my car up there and make a pile of tires / ski rack stuff ? , its way more likely to to be dry down there, then at my apt parking lot is why i ask , and i can't always find someone readily to help me put my ski rack back on (i'm always worried about scratching my paint)) :)

We don't have an autocross until April. Are you thinking about some other driving/racing event?

Welcome to the club.

It's not so much the length of the course. They're pretty quick, and autox emphasizes handling over pure speed, so you spend the majority of your time negotiating turns, chicanes, slaloms, etc.

Since the idea is to take your car's handling/traction to the limit, it'll chew up your tires pretty quick.

That and you'll just flat-out have shitty handling on a set of snows. . . :P

wasn't sure if this was new thread worthy

*Edit*
okay did find a small post about insurance, it just said not all polocies cover events, and not to lie about it afterwards , insurance fruad. but nothing about additional insurance .. ?

(Thanks again for the info btw ) :cool:

Do you need to buy special race / auto cross insurance ? does my normal full coverage insurance cover auto X events ? I'm not 100% sure i want to just call them up and ask if they cover auto Cross / races, cuase then they will think (well know) i'm interested in racing... (guess they can't raise my rates/ drop me for asking) does anyone already know this ? i'de rather race with lots of insurance, then crash and be out of pocket. of course i've never seen any of the courses, maybe there are no walls/ trees to hit.. ??
is it april yet ? If i really want to get into auto cross, but i want to keep my tire budget reasonable what do others recomend. i don't mind buying 1 set of summer tires every year, but will my normal summer driving + auto crosses be way to much for 1 set of tires per year? (assuming i do use dedicated winters from nov - april/ may) do i just need to plan on needing 1 set of auto Xers per season ? in addition to my usual tire requirements. do others keep an extra set of rims just for auto-Xing? or do you swap your tires (or have this done) every time. (that could really add up, and cover the cost of some cheap rims sooner or later) ... ??? should i think about getting 18's or 19's for auto x (i don't know if 19's would even fit ) any one recomand a Rim for the STI that is LIGHT and CHEAP (Just for auto-x's i wouldn't care if its ugly or not)
as usualy, everyone's favorite Auto-Xer noob ;)

You don't need insurance for autocross. If you injure yourself or someone else the SCCA's insurance should cover you. You won't find insurance to protect your car at a competative event... unless you're willing to pay $500/day or so, you might find something. But you really don't need insurance for autocross... worst thing that happens in a street car is hitting an orange cone. Unless you're insurance agent is someone like ArthurS who's done autox... you probably don't want to call your agent.

A set of summer tires will usually last most of a season, including daily driving. You *don't* want to get larger wheels. 17x8 is what you should run, in fact, the STI has excellent, light BBS wheels from the factory that you should race on. Those are light, and strong, and the correct size for staying in stock classes.

Since you should be running in the Novice class, all you need to do is show up w/ $35/day, about half a tank of gas, 40 psi of air in the tires (the stock wheels and stock RE070 tires are *excellent* tires for autocross... lots of people actually go out of their way to get those wheels and tires to race on), and an M95 or SA95 or newer helmet (since the loaners suck). A tire pressure gauge is useful, but you can probably borrow one.

What Scott said. Most policies have specific exclusions for timed, or competitive events. So basically, from some time after you leave your grid space to when you get back after your run, you are not covered.

It is highly unlikely you will hit more than cones on course, but the possibility does exist. Says the man who missed the fence by about 5 feet last year.

Again, depending on how your exclusions read, High performance driving "schools" at the track may be covered, but competing in Time Trials would not be.

Thanks :) and thanks :) yes novice, unless they have something below that :P and i Do have a tire pressure gauage (shouldn't every sti owner?) hmmf. great info :) I will want to stay in the stock class , i will probably have a full stereo system installed by then .. hopefully that will be fine to race with (speaker box, big amps, capacitor) maybe i'll wait until after my first auto X , i expect to lose , but to learn a lot. ah hell i don't think an extra 40-60 lbs will matter that much , would hate to be told i can't enter becuase of a speaker box and amps and wires in the back though ... lol . (definatly am eager to try this out) basically i expect to go in , thinking i'm a great driver, and leaving , Realizing that i have much to learn . :) . guess the best 1st time plan would be to remount my RE070's (just for that day/weekend) and then get them remounted .. if there is snow on the pass (431) i will have to drive down to reno, have my summers mounted there, and have my winters put back on just to drive up... i should have bought cheap 17's for winter (my stock ones are a lil beat up now) doh doh doh . oh well.
thanks for all the advice. lol who ever else races in novice should have an easy win come april. ... Maybe ... :)

aah all cones :) music to my ears.

Stereo stuff is perfectly legal, but if it's not properly secured in the trunk, it won't pass tech inspection. Make sure all your stuff is well bolted down and mounted solidly, or you'll be spending the morning un-hooking a lot of stuff. :mad:

Also, if you unhook your amp, be sure to disconnect it from the battery too, so you don't have live wires rolling around in your trunk.

Or tape up and zip-tie down the wires.

just pull the fuse.

My first experience, I went in thinking I'd perform decently, took a few runs and nearly spun myself off the course, sat for a minute wondering what the hell I was doing, took a few more runs, and left knowing two things: a) I had a lot of practice to look forward to, and b) I had some necessary suspension and traction upgrades to look forward to. :lol:

It's certainly worth it, and you certainly won't find a better group of guys and gals to help you out than on this site. :)

Important:
http://www.scca.com/_FileLibrary/Fil...e-accident.pdf

SCCA insurance provides coverage to some extent, much less if you are Not an scca member. A1337sti - not to scare you, just want to make sure you go in with eyes wide open.

That said - in my experience autox has been a safer driving experience than the open road (2 totalled cars in 2 years).

When was that?
(Says the girl who ran over the Lovelock airport runway light last year.)

Pic
Thread

NOW I remember, great pic! haha!

Sounds like it worth joining the SCCA for the auto insurance. i like insurance. insurance is a good thing. eeks a fence... guess i'll have to take that corner a bit slow . lol don't be suprised if i end up saying something like "But that works in Colin 05 / Toca Race Driver 2 " :P

Unfortunately, I think the event insurance only covers injury liability and medical expenses, not vehicle damage. However, as far as I know, only 1 car ever actually sustained damage at the Stead site, and that was some old beater Datsun or Toyota sedan with way soft springs and r-compounds that rolled itself. :lol: Minor damage is a definite possibility if you go off at Lovelock or Hawthorne at speed though.

MAX SPEED !!! ... errr maybe not :p hehehe okay time to hook up my momo steering wheel ;) play some racing games. hehehe

Actually, their springs were too stiff, and the new tires too sticky. The car's high CG toppeled it over in the 1st corner because there was no give in the suspension to slow the moment that turned it over. Luckily it was a fully caged track car, and no one was hurt. But it did total the car.

Whoops, wrong suspension extreme. Man I wish I would have been there for that though!

Where is Todd when you need him? I'm pretty sure they were totally used up stock struts/springs and providing almost no damping.

So the car just bounced over? :lol:

I heard that the car was basically driving "without suspension", which to me meant the car was so stiff, it was like a kart... not "the struts are so blown they might as well not be on the car". :lol:

*boioioioiooing!*

okay okay probably a dumb question, i've never tried this in RL, just in my racing sim (toca race driver was made by using actual telimitry data from cars right after / during races) it's meant to be realistic , etc, etc,

anyways in the racing sim in the STI at speeds of over about 40 -50+ if you give a very hard steering input ( say 1 wheel crank ) and pull the ebrake the car seems to slide rather nicely (slowly spinning, slides, bleeding speed) then you can drop it into 1st and take control of the slide (there are Certain corners where this technique is of any value, as any corner that you want to take at over 40, i found this to be less then ideal in the simulator) the physics behind it seems fairly solid but i dunno about trying this in my real car. (some things are best left in video games only )

the sti has a low enough Center of Gravity that if you are sideways on tarmac say 40 + and sideways, are you going to slide flat ? or roll over like that toyota er what ever ? :P

(might like to try that type of an Ebrake - tarmac slide out if i have enough room to do so with out worry of damage, plus it has to KILL your tires eh? flat spots maybe ? )

You are unlikely to flip an Impreza, even on stock suspension on smooth tarmac. There just isn't enough traction with the tires.

E-Brake turns are much harder in real life to execute well.

It would be very hard for the STi to start a traction roll unless it was going really fast (I'd say 50-60+, but I don't exactly recomend trying to find the MPH where you can start a traction roll), or you run into a sudden drop off or curb.

I was thinking on the lines of the same (that the sti won't just roll over / flip) if i started one . But i'm also thinking repairs are expensive, tires aren't even that cheap :P probably best not to attempt that until i have a perfect opputunity. (endless tarmac, tires i can thrash, and instruction from peeps who know a lot more then me) . i have no clue if there will even be any turns were a slide would any faster then a traditional turning techinque. (in my sim a slide only seems to help on severe Tight 90 degree type turns, or turns that are greator then 90 degrees after a long straight away) and its easy to mis judge and over slide and crash (in game that's a reset, in real life ... :( lol some things are best kept in game) but if anyone can show me a controled one, i'll be mighty impressed. (and maybe taking notes) :P :)
lol arg is it april yet ? (first time that i've been excited for spring/summer, i'm a snowboarder)

They are pretty easy in low traction situation. Go find a snowy, icy parking lot.

I played around with them during the last snow. The trick is to remember all you are trying to do is break the rear traction, not lock up the rear wheels.

A little Scandinavian Flick helps initiate it as well.

First of all, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being your generic arcade racer, 10 being real life, Toca is about a 4 on the realism scale. GT4 is also about a 4. GTR, GT-Legends, rFactor, are about 7's. I wouldn't take anything from the "fringe" aspects of a racing simulator as a way to practice or try out new driving techniques.

Second, in real life, with modern tire and suspension technology, you will *never* be faster on tarmac e-brake sliding the car that you would be driving with grip. Even those fancy rally drivers that like to e-brake turn 1st gear hairpins are probably not going any faster than they would by just driving the corner with a proper apex. Sliding would only be faster in a corner that would require a 3 point turn otherwise.

Finally... if you're just getting into racing, concentrate on the basics. There's no need to complicate things by trying to drift or e-brake turn, etc. There's already so much to do just picking your line, picking your gear, shifting, braking, steering, looking ahead, being smooth, etc. I've been racing for 4 or 5 years and I've still got more to do than I can concentrate on with just basic techniques alone.

i'll have to check out those other titles, and keep the ebrake action to in game ;)

good to know :) is the upcoming autoX subaru's only or open to any-all cars that fit a certain weight / power/ drive train configuration ? do a lot of people go to these? dozens? hundreds ? :O :) hehehe :)

Open to all... run what you brung as long as it isn't a minivan, SUV, or other high center of gravity vehicle.

No special preperation of any form is required. Anything from a Bone Stock Kia/Saturn to a race prepared Z06 Corvette.

Don't you mean "Anything from a Bone Stock Kia/Saturn to a mildly prepared Subaru STI"? After all, the STI's were faster than the race preped Vettes. :lol:

From solely a money/effort standpoint, he's correct in ending with Vettes. :D

Oh yeah? If I had a Vette, it would have saved me money.

I think most of us will agree that your situation is unique. You said, "mildly prepared STi," not, "Frankensuby." :P

Not really. How much money would you drop on your Vette after you got whooped by a handful of Subarus? :lol:

A sane Vetter owner would sell his Vette and buy an STi after getting whooped by a handful of 'em.

...unless they've got a Chevy tatoo already, I guess. :lol:

I'm going to venture into this forum to disagree with this statement. Yes in general grip driving is faster on tarmac and definitely in a track enviroment. However, in rally they aren't really driving on pure tarmac, they are driving on a road that is mostly likely covered in dirt and debris if from other rally cars if nothing else. Sliding is occasionally faster in a rally situation and definitely safer (crashing is ALWAYS slower, haha). There is a thread by a WRC driver on NASIOC that talks about this, it's pretty insteresting.

Okay, since JC disagrees with me, I'm changing my statement. A1337STI, you will absolutely be much faster if you e-brake slide the corners. JC says so, therefore it must be true. :P

JC, my point wasn't really to comment on rally... it was intended to keep a new autocrosser form going out on his 1st run w/ images of Petter Solberg in his head trying to dorifto all over the place. I understand that in rally, slip angles are *very* high, and on low traction surfaces (uncluding dirty/wet tarmac) that hanging the back end out is sometimes the fast line. But I still contend that on a good patch of tarmac, like we run on at Stead, even an experienced rally driver will have a hard time improving on their lap times by using the e-brake.

I was not the one to put cute little astereks around never. Of course it's not faster in auto-x, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you getting away with your damn blanket statements.

I still stand by my blanket statement that A1337STI will *never* be faster on tarmac using the e-brake than not.

If he goes to rally school and trains for a few years, he might have a chance and I'll be happy to eat my words after he proves me wrong, but until then, I think my statement is true. And even after he's a world champion rally driver, I still think not using the e-brake will probably be faster, but I wouldn't guarentee it.

ebrake turns are only faster when they allow you to carry your speed further in to the corner and/or exit with more speed.

Remember that the only purpose of the ebrake is to facilitate rotation, not slow the car. tight switchbacks (about 120-200 degrees) are probably the primary place where that rotation significantly enhances corner speed on asphalt. The gotcha is that doing it acurately enough to be of benefit requires way more talent than I have. Maybe I'll practice at test and tune in April... :)

What if he was towing a trailer for the non e-brake run?

:) i got it well put 4 passengers in my car for the non ebrake run. and just me for the ebrake run. i've never used my ebrake to slide my car out yet. ever . and i did just find a great little sand parking lot in carson (really fine soil, no rocks/ gravel) :) guess i should hop down there and test out the ebrake stuff. (since all we are getting is rain and no snow) that 100-120 degree type turn is what i'm picturing where a highly skilled driver could use the ebrake for benefit. ya i don't think i'll be any faster like that in 06' unless i did a very wreckless slide and got lucky, but chances are good that will just have me plowing over mad cones and looking foolish. (unless i scream D1 4 Life while i do it ... err... cancel that idea) :P

any one know where to buy cones ? lol i may have to set up a sharp turn on dirt (maybe snow) and see if i can even make an ebrake turn with any amount of control. ..

The only time I ever saw someone try to use the e-brake in a race was MattR's run in Lovelock.

It started with him at the line... "Hey ya'll, watch this!". Then he drove out the taxiway, on to the runway, and executed a beautiful rear-wheel lockup/pivot around the turnaround cone. Then proceeded to power-on drift the car right off the tarmac and into the desert. :lol: Then at the other end of the runway, he decided to drift the right-hand sweeper off the runway down the taxi-way, hitting like 5 cones with the left rear fender of the car... cones that dknv had to go pick up. I was the next car out and got red-flagged because Debbie couldn't get to that many cones before I arrived at her corner. :lol:

So yeah, the e-brake can be a ton of fun... but driving a proper apex is still faster.

Edit: oh that's not the only time I've seen an e-brake turn... Theo's used it to stop after the lights before. :lol:

Actually it was me that yelled that before Matt's 'exhibition run.' :D That's going to remain the single most entertaining moment in my autocross career for quite some time I'm sure!