| Hmmm, thought there would be more responses to this. I'll preface my
comments by saying that I'm unfamiliar with SCCA racing, so the term
AS, IT, and such are foreign to me. What I have to offer may relate to
showroom stock is some manner, but I don't know if this is something
you can run locally or if it requires a lot of travel.
I would say that what class you decide to run in and the amount of
sponsorship you seek is dependant upon what you intend to do with your
racing career. If you are looking to move up in classes on a regular
basis and actually make a living driving cars, you will need to choose
classes that will allow these moves. If your simply pursuing a hobby,
then you have an entirely different set of options to excercise.
As far as cost goes, 3000 can be a windfall, or a short coming of
extreme proportions. I'll attempt to give some ideas of cost, but it is
for an entirely different type of racing. You may or may not be able to
adapt this to what you intend to do.
My team has just completed its first season running street stock class
stock cars on a paved 1/4 mile oval. This means we are running cars
that are not very sophisticated in the suspension department, using V8
engines under a claim rule and absolutly no computerized anything to
have to work with/around. We spent $5000 dollars this year for a mid-
pack runner finishing 12 out of 40 cars. This figure is all inclusive
for everything from uniforms and publications to entry fees , gas, oil
and tune ups. We run V8 engines using a 500 cfm two barrel and would
burn up approx. 7-10 gallons of fuel a night under a program consisting
of two 10 min practice sessions, one 10 lap heat race and one 25 lap
feature. At over 3.00 a gallon, fuel is a major expense. All of this
for your basic Saturday night screamer, running 24 weeks out of the
year.
The figure above does not include the purchase of the car, trailer, or
any of the other support vehicles. We could have maybe done it for
less, but it is unlikely, and next season will certainly cost just as
much, if not more, because of our plans for a more reliable powerplant.
If your planning on traveling any sort of distances to compete, plan on
substantial increases for food, lodging, and tow vehicle gas and
maintenance.
Hope this is of some benefit for your efforts. Maybe those closer
to SCCA racing can give you some more insight than this. But like .1
said, how competitive you want to run is directly relative the amount
of dollars you put into, plus time and effort.
Tony
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| Can somebody help me understand the rules for the various production
classes of SCCA road racing? I know these are highly modified cars, but
it's hard to understand what determines what car goes in what class
just by looking at the entry list. Here's some stuff from the latest
Sports Car magazine results from this year's nationals:
E: Miata, MGB, Porsche 356, Lotus 7
F: MG Midget, Lotus 7, Spitfire
G: Spitfire, Sprite, MG Midget, Porsche 356
H: Midget, Sprite
How come so many of these run in two or three classes? Is it mostly
engine displacement? That might explain it since the early Sprites and
Midgets had little 900 cc or something engines.
The underlying question is this: The Miata unexpectedly won the E
Production class this year against a strong bunch of competitors. If
Mazda sold a Miata with say an 1100 cc engine, could they be used in G
Production? If somebody just put a destroked engine in could they
compete in the lower class if Mazda never sold them with that engine?
Doug.
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| Hopefully some others will chime in as well, but I believe all cars get
graded by a committee before they are put in a given class. I'm sure
they look at speed, displacement, etc and try and fit them
appropriately. One way to understand the rules is to read the rules
book. There is always one to borrow.....
jim
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