Help with classifying my car?

[Jand3rson]

I'm sure there's probably a thread on this, but I looked and looked, and couldn't really find solid info. I'm not entirely sure what class my car should be in for autocross. At the first event last month, I was in DSP. This weekend, I was told that DSP was wrong and that I should be in STX, but was racing against Subarus and other stuff that just trounced me all weekend (yeah, the eta is slow, lol). But I still wasn't sure I was in the right class. Non one out there could really give me a straight answer about what the classifications meant, or what I should be in.

My car has nothing in the engine but a chip, and IE Stage III springs with Koni SA's. I have Powerslot rotors and Hawk HPS street pads, with SS lines. My tires are Bridgestone Potenza SO3's, on my Konig Remembers. Other than that, I don't think I have any other mods that put me into any higher categroies than STX, but I'm really not sure. Can anyone help out?

[DSP74]

you should be in STX.

You can also run in DSP, SM, FP, XP, and EM..........

STX is your best bet as far as competitiveness at your prep level....That 2.7 your building will bump you up to SM. That's gonna hurt.....

[Jand3rson]

What are the qualifications in SM, that will "hurt"? :D Mainly just being in a classification with other swapped cars?

Since I'm using the same bottom end that comes in this car stock, would my engine really be considered a swap?

Not trying to cheat anything, I just want to be clear of what I can race in, and be competitive, without being stomped constantly.

[DSP74]

The bottom end would be stock but the entire engine needs to be an as delivered unit. If you had an ES you could swap an entire IS engine in but not swap parts between them.
SM is home to turbo and supercharged M3's on 285's/315's, and overboosted AWD evo's on 285's.........And LOTS of mods. LOTS.

[Jand3rson]

So my only option once I get my engine finsihed is going to be to run autocross just for fun, eh? :D

I'm more into personal bests than points and beating the other guy, anway. At least right now.

I'll assume that at that point (even now), a few performance driving schools would give me at least some kind of edge, yes?

[rwh11385]

Just hope for a SMS class (Street Mod Street tire, like STX) in your region. It is for street tuners without giant budgets for 285 hoo-hoos.

STX is what is hypothetically most competitive for you, but Scoobies are quite good at dominating that class. I went DSP and got 3rd in class in '06 just cuz I showed up (and brought friend to co-drive which gave me more points and helped the class be larger). There were actually several veteran guys in class, like helping to run events, but because they took some off to help their kids run karts, etc. it ended up not mattering as much.

http://scca-milwaukee.org/Solo/carmodandclassification.pdf

Unless you're playing in regionals or nationals, Auto-X is just for fun anyway. I never considered it anything but a stand-in between DE weekends.

[Jand3rson]

Unless you're playing in regionals or nationals, Auto-X is just for fun anyway. I never considered it anything but a stand-in between DE weekends.

That's how I look at it, anyway. I'm not planning to going huge into championships or shit like that, this is mainly just a legal way for me to flog the hell out of my car.

[Jean]

SM is fun to be in, even if you are doing it just for fun. You have very good drivers usually in SM and consistant. So, even though you might be a few full seconds off their pace you can atleast judge how you are doing comparing your times to see if you are getting faster.... my 2 cents.

[backtrail69]

I am going to run my car in SM later this year.. too bad I only have 225s... I will get demolished. I ran my eta in STX the last two years.. I don't stand a chance there. Might as well do time only...

[Jean]

I am going to run my car in SM later this year.. too bad I only have 225s... I will get demolished. I ran my eta in STX the last two years.. I don't stand a chance there. Might as well do time only...

I don't know, I see guys who are fast even on 225s in SM locally, it depends on the car I think, not every car needs 285s ;) As long as they are good R tires .

[backtrail69]

Yea.. just running on RS2s with LOTS of torque.. Can't afford R comps as my car habit has to hit the back burner for the next few years till I finish college. I went a little crazy in the last year.. that was a mistake.

[Jean]

Yea.. just running on RS2s with LOTS of torque..

Get Kumho V710, BFG g-Forice R1 or Hoosier A/R6s. The Kumho's last longer, and BFG R1 from what I heard don't need to be cooled down between runs like the others.... RS2s are OK, but you need R tires in SM.

[Jand3rson]

Get Kumho V710, BFG g-Forice R1 or Hoosier A/R6s. The Kumho's last longer, and BFG R1 from what I heard don't need to be cooled down between runs like the others.... RS2s are OK, but you need R tires in SM.

I saw a bunch of guys spraying down their tires between runs, what's the purpose of that?

I noticed that about halfway through the day, my tread blocks all had a gummy little ridge of rubber running along the outer edge.

[nando]

Unless you're playing in regionals or nationals, Auto-X is just for fun anyway.

yep - you can still be competitive relatively at the local level in an E30/SM, but regardless of the class you're in it's going to cost $$ to be competitive nationally. Not to mention, few of us are good enough drivers that even if we had the budget of somebody like alex, we'd still suck it up (at least I would). :p

I would suggest to mod your car to your tastes, and have fun. If all you wanted to do was autox, then build a car specifically for it..

[backtrail69]

They are probably monitoring their tire temps and trying to keep them in a heat range. sounds like you need some more camber if you are getting that much wear on the outer edge.