Anyone a member of SCCA and have you participated in any of the events especially in the stock class? What is your experience? I have no clue if this is for me or not.

I'm just wondering because I would love to do the hill climb events just for fun , and of course the time trials . But I do not want to kill the car or go pull out the insides to put a roll cage in, I still want to be able to drive the car to work.

 

Give it a shot. Never hurts to try it once.

 

Have you tried auto crossing? It might be a cheaper option (just need a helmet and the entrance fee). SCCA events sound fun to me too, but I don't have any experience with them. I, too, would say, just try it out and see if it is right for you.

 

Spoke to a buddy who has done some autox and I'm considering going out to an event here in the tri-state area, see how that goes. Thanks guys.

 

I went to an AutoX a month ago with a guy I met through the local Evo forum and happens to be a Moderator on these forums - Otter ( SmikeEvo's good buddy ).

It was an SCCA event at a small airport using one of the runways. WOW. That's what I can say. It was REALLY fun!

My car didn't go into "Limp" mode, but I did get "Slow Down" messages flashing.

Auto-crossing isn't nearly as hard on your car as actually tracking it for 20 minutes straight. Most autocross laps last anywhere from 50 seconds - 1.5 minutes. Not long at all. Youtube some videos. It's nice to go with someone who's done it before. In my case, I went with a 5 year veteran of auto-crossing, so he showed me some great pointers. Try it once. It's cheap and you can get great deals on simple helmet's. Open face helmet's are the cheapest way to go.

 

If I go it might just be solo, but it would be nice to go with someone who's been there but I'm up for an adventure. Hope I don't get any messages flashing.

 

There has to be a few Evos in Philly that AX. I am sure some of those guys can help you get started.

 

Yeah SmikeEvo, there is at least one EVO driver doing the hill climbs in Pennsylvania.
This video (low quality but the sound is good) shows one of them at the 17:38 min mark on the Giants Despair Hill Climb, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Sunday July 8, 2007:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...39830587814569

Love the hill climb vids out on the net:
Here's a well crafted video of the 2009 record breaking Pikes Peak hill climb video by Rhys Millen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvEVfjrFfQ

 

SCCA member here and have been autocrossing for about 4 years. I wouldn't recommend doing time attacks (time trials) or hill climbs in your daily driver. Risk of damage is really, really high, and you don't want to do events like that without all the proper safety equipment.

I would highly recommend autocrossing to anyone. Safe, relatively low risk to the car, and very low risk to the driver. Also doesn't require a large investment. All you need is a safe car and a Snell approved helmet, which can be had for about $65-$80 (most SCCA events have loaners, too.) Something else to consider, if you don't mind getting your car really dirty, is rallycrossing. It's the same as autocross, except held on a dirt course. I tried it for the first time yesterday and loved it

 

Going to try to go to this event here in my area:
http://www.phillyscca.com/forum/view...php?f=8&t=5650

Hope I can make it and find a couple of forum folks from my area there, would be nice to see a fellow Ralliart owner. I'm probably just get lost in the crowd of EVO guys that will be there.

Going to be out there in a totally stock Ralliart. At least I will be able to compare it later to a tuned version.

 

This, I do time attacks (solosprint) in my daily driver and next year, if I still do it, that will change. As the water weasel pointed out, the risk of damage is high if you push hard and no one wants to wreck their car at the track and have to make payments on a lump of useless metal sitting in the junkyard. People say it can't happen but it does, all it takes is one slip up, one bad day and you're SOL. If you stick with your daily, you're stuck with two options, live with the risk or dial back your driving and don't push it. I went with option two. I've never truly pushed my car because no matter how hard I try, I can't get the voice in the back of my head reminding me that it's my daily driver to shut up.
The second problem is parts, if it's your daily, you can get stuck in some very annoying situations where you desperately need a part but still have to drive the car to work the next day. Brakes are a common example, tracking a car (especially a heavy AWD car like the Ralliart) is hard as hell on the brakes and you will eat pads and rotors, not to mention tires. Currently my pads are down to may 2 mm, the squealers are grinding on the rotor but I have to drive the car to work. It sucks. Personally I think autocross is as far as you should go if the car is your daily, it's a lot of fun, low risk and a great way to work on your driving skills. Save the big track for when you have a car you can walk away from in the event of a wreck or part failure.

 

Start with AXing, then HPDEs, then Hill Climbs and Time Attack.