I'm planning to run the SF region autocross series with the SCCA next year. I'm still wondering which class I should join. My research has me a bit confused, but here's what I have so far.

A Stock - I'd love to run this class but some of the mods I'll be doing over the next few months will bump me out

Street Touring - can I join S or must I join X?

Street Tire - ?

Mods I will do soon:

Xede, Cat-back exhaust, 4-point harness, different brake pads, SS lines. These bump me out of stock I believe, but just how far up the ladder will I have to go?

Mods I'd like to do, but could skip if any of them would put me into an even higher class:

Larger rear sway bar, end links, stiffer suspension bushings

And of course another big consideration is tires. I will have to buy another set of rims and tires. Yarg! Hello racing, goodbye money....

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Joe
http://www.joe250.com

 

Last I read, the Evo is excluded from STS. You may also be excluded from STX, but I cannot find that ruling. Street Mod is another option. Check out this link for more information:

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Rule...t_touring.html

Cat-back exhaust, 4-point harness, different brake pads- you can stay in stock

SS brake lines, Larger rear sway bar, end links, stiffer suspension bushings(limited somewhat)-ESP (E Street Prepared)
See link:

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Rules/sp.html

Tires? R-compound DOT radials in stock, SP, and SM.

At the Nationals this year, an Evo finished 2nd in ESP, granted it was driven by an exceptional driver who has competed for years. I think ESP is the class to shoot for in an Evo. It can be competitive in AS, but the C4 Corvette is not a slouch, along with the Boxster S.

My 0.02

Jason

 

Run stock class... The SF region is extremely competitive, if you are in fact excluded from the street touring classes then you'll be much better off staying in stock class.

 

Jason - thanks for your input. I wanted to avoid going all the way up to ESP, but I suppose the mods will push me there anyways.

Type III has a point too. I'd love to just max out in stock and save some $$$. I just can't believe I can't put SS lines on the car. What a crock. Besides, I'm definitely doing the Xede and that alone will push me out of stock.

You are correct - the SF region is very competitive. Lots of fast people w/ fast cars. However, I've done one autox to get a feel for things and I think I could have a shot in ESP. Take a look here:

http://www.sfrscca.org/solo2/Results...round2.html#ss

I ran Fun Runs (non-scored) with 3 passengers on my first 3 runs and empty the last run. Best run was a 44.726. Best run that day in ESP was a 44.937. Granted, this is not the regular season, but my car was bone stock and this was my first event with her. I figure with all the mods I have in mind, including some autox tires, I should have a shot.

Any more thoughts?

 

Woops. Maybe Street Prepared won't allow the Exede either:

"Direct turbocharger boost control by alternate computer control is not [allowed], since there is no equivalent mechanical allowance. "

Am I reading this correctly?

 

If you want to play with boost, you will have to go to SM. SM is certainly the most expensive option if you are concerned about being competitive, but it allows you the most freedom. And I think the idea of 400-500 whp on an Evo with the right suspension setup is awfully appealing.

Street Prepared is probably the place to be if you can fight the urge to play with boost, but while the Evo looks like it can be very competetive in ESP, many people believe it will get bumped to BSP where it will have a harder time.

As for myself, I will be staying in AS next year. My main motivations for staying in stock are saving $$$ and keeping the car viable as a daily driver. Having said that, you can buy a nice set of coilovers and a bunch more SP-legal mods for the cost of a custom set of stock-legal double adjustable Konis.

And one final note, if you are into PAX scores, you get a more favorable index running in ESP than AS...

JW

 

ESP is definitely your best bet (assuming it will stay in there another year ), as long as you don't mess with boost settings. The good thing is that with the amount of power that you can have, there is not need for such thing anyway (at least for a while ).

If your region has "soft" ESP, than keep the car in the ESP trim and race in the higher class locally and get your trill. If you decide to go to the National event (Tour or Pro), than just run your regular class.


Good luck!


Fedja

 

I'd say that with the mods you made, you would be in ESP. It's a decent class, but as mentioned in earlier posts, it might get moved to BSP. This is because the car is already competitive in the class w/ less than a year out there.

I run A-stock because it's fun, and I have a CSP Mazda RX-7.

No matter what class, the car is a blast to autox.

Good luck and have fun.

 

JW is right on here. A $120 manual boost controller bumps you all the way to SM. I would assume that even removing the boost restrictor pill bumps you to SM.

I can assure you that a bone stock Evo on stock tires would not be embarrassed running locally in Street Modified. Many of the Street Mod cars you'll be up against are econoboxes which have been extensively modified -- with essentially the same stuff that comes stock on the Evo. Add an XEDE and a catback, and you can probably get an extra 50 - 60 HP over stock and a really nice torque curve. With the XEDE and Hoosiers, the car is a threat to win SM in most local regions. And the sky is the limit with respect to the drivetrain -- if you've got the money and time, you could easily develop a 500+ HP SM-legal car.

As for Street Prepared... If you skip the XEDE -- for less than the price of the XEDE you can get an AFC and Cusco front camber plates, which I believe will be your biggest bang-for-the-buck mods in SP. (Coilovers would be nice, but also quite pricy.) And a stock Evo with R compound tires is already competitive in ESP. My Stock-legal Evo won ESP at the most recent DC area autoX -- 14 entrants in the class, including some well-prepped F-body cars -- and the driver had never driven the car before. If you prep the car for ESP, you will likely be the "overdog" in the class locally, and you won't make any friends in the pony car crowd. If the car gets bumped to BSP like JW suggested might happen, forget BSP -- go to SM.

In Stock class, the Evo is certainly capable of winning locally; all season here in the DC SCCA autoX series, an Evo (either JW's or mine) won A Stock in every points event. Throw some R compound tires on and have fun. Above the local level, A Stock is arguably the toughest class for the Evo, because there are some really good drivers out there in well-prepped Corvettes. Pray for rain. One down side of running in Stock -- you have to keep the OEM clutch. If you are one of the unlucky ones who burns out your stock clutch, the idea of paying big bucks to put another stock clutch on the car will be a hard pill to swallow.


Good luck.

 

You cannot "adjust" boost directly in SP. If you have more boost by changing intake/exhaust that is OK.

Jason

 

So to summarize:

A Stock: Car would be competitive and setup would be cheap. Xede and the eventual purchase of an aftermarket clutch would bump me. Tires must be non-race tires, so stock Advans or something else?

E Street Prepared: Car would be competitive and setup would be decent. I would need to run auto-x tires. Xede would bump me.

Street Touring-S and -X: Evo8 is ineligible. Can anyone w/ an '03 rulebook confirm this about X?

Street Modified: Car could be competitive, but I've opened Pandora's box. I may have to spend all kinds of money to beat a particularly fast and/or wealthy driver. At a minimum, I should get R-compounds, Xede, Cat-back exhaust, and an alignment. Coil-overs, sway bars, perches, and lighter wheels would be next on the list I imagine.

After reading through all your comments, I think its probably better for me to mod the car how I want it, and then fit it into the best class. If the car were strictly for autox, I would build the car around the rules, but I'll be doing some track days and lots of backroads driving too. Plus, the car could bumped to another class this coming season or next.

So I appreciate everyone's comments. I'll have to think everything through, but right now I'm leaning towards SM. Either that or doing ESP and just unplugging the Xede for the day. That might get old though.

I'll have more questions later, but this does give me a much better idea of my options. Thanks again!

Joe
http://www.joe250.com

 

 

The Evo is on the STX exclusion list. No doubt about it. It would be a class-killer in STX.

In AStock, the only really necessary upgrade to be competitive is a set of R compound tires (and an appropriate performance alignment). The stock tires might be good enough to win against weak competition, but I gained about 3 seconds on a 60 second course by switching from the stock A046 tires to Hoosiers.

Of the suggested mods you gave for SM, many of them are available before going to SM:

- R compounds, cat-back exhaust, alignment, lighter wheels, and a front sway bar upgrade are all available in Stock.

- Coilovers and a rear sway bar upgrade, plus any engine management (reflash, piggyback) which doesn't control boost, are available in Street Prepared.


If you were seriously putting together a Nationally competitive SM car to the limit of the rules, figure on spending more on mods than you spent on the car.

 

Hi Joe I autox with the SF region as well as Sacramento region for the past 1.5 years.

Have you autoxed before or other racing experience? (on 4 wheels )

AS in SF region is very very competitive. Specially with the likes of Josh Simpson and company with his E46 M3 and several others.

Josh has been national champ a few times and took 3rd in BS in a borrow Porsch Boxster S that he has only drive once before.

But what I would recommend it this. Don't worry about the equipment. You have a solid base of a car. If you've never autoxed before then take the autox school. They usually offer it in the spring just before or just after the season start (march or so).

Also come out and watch. I'll be going to the next event at Oakland Coliseum. Unless you are a member of SCCA you can run in SF event (you can run Sacramento events).

Most everyone is friendly and will take you for a ride without a problem.

I'll be in my Yellow BMW M Coupe if you want to look for me. My name is Rick.


http://www.sfrscca.org/solo2/



P.S. ASP is even more competitive. Which is what you'll be in if you get a thicker rear bar or change the springs.

 

ASP? The Evo's current Street Prepared classification is in ESP, and I think the general consensus is that the only move that would make sense would be a move to BSP. I can't imagine any serious proposal to class the Evo in ASP, it would be a hopeless underdog there.