Autox Car Classification. What Class?

Tomorrow, on Monday, Memorial Day Holiday, I intend to autox with the wonderful, super secret, Mid Ohio Club.  All events held at the end of a dead end road, hidden by a large building and barely spoken of which keep attendance down to less than 30 cars.  

My plan is for the first time to take out autox'ing my '94 Infiniti Q45.  As I read the SCCA rules and car classifications the car seem to fit in STX for these reasons:

• Lowered springs (but not coil overs)
• 18" wheels (15" factory)
• tire size of 225 (265 allowed)
• 400 tw tires
• upgraded brakes with all 300z turbo brakes
• relocated battery to trunk
• Catch all class of V8 sedans less than 5.1L
• but...

The car has a 5 speed manual trans which is all Nissan 300z parts.  Infiniti never offered the Q45 with a manual trans.  I can not find in the SCCA Rules if this is allowed for STX.  

I can find a lot of words about differentials and a lot about engine mods but nothing about transmission.  I do see in 14.10G the following:

14.10G: any mechanical linkage can be used

Do you think this means that switching to a mechanical form of shifting is allowed?  

Friend of mine swapped transmissions in his MSM which threw his car to SSM.  He and a bunch of others just went to EM for the sake of easy classing.  

Your car isn’t likely to be competitive in any class on 400tw tires so I doubt anyone will complain no matter what class you choose.

Technically, you're in SM. If the SCCA rulebook doesn't explicitly say you can do something, you can't do it.

scca makes stuff confusing.

At least in rallycross there are 3 classes per drive wheel type.(not counting constructors class because there are like 4 cars nationwide in that class) unless they split AWD between FI and non FI like i think is on the books for 2020.

Will said:

Technically, you're in SM. If the SCCA rulebook doesn't explicitly say you can do something, you can't do it.

This

Powertrain swaps outside what was Available on that model are not legal until Street Mod.

So you're in SM now, but there's a new class on the horizon that you will probably fit into as well. 

Here's a quick breakdown of mods by class for street and ST. 

street

Shocks/struts that maintain stock mounts and spring perch type. Has to maintain nominal ride height within 1 inch of stock. 

1 sway bar may be changed. 

Exhaust after the Cat is open. Must exit vehicle in stock location.

Drop in air filter replacements are legal

Wheels maybe be +/- 1" of stock diameter +/- 7mm of stock offset and must maintain stock width. 

Tires are 200tw and above

street Touring

Wheel diameter is open, each class has different rules on width allowances. 

Tires are 200tw and above, max allowed width is defined by class and drive type. 

Coilovers, camber plates, camber bolts are legal( there are restrictions on how many arms can be adjustable and toe arms are not ST legal.)

Air intake is open up to the throttle body. Must use stock MAF sensor.

Exhaust is open, but must maintain catalytic converters within 6" of stock position. 

LSD's can be added in some classes and drivetrains. 

Brakes are open as long as any replacements are larger than the stock parts they replace and are ferrous material. Drums may be converted to disks as long as the disks are larger in diameter than the drums were. 

Thanks all for the education.  SM is fine with me.  As mentioned above, it likely doesn't really matter.  This is an event of 30 cars.  In many classes you might be the only competitor.  Furthermore, I'm not there to win, I'm there to test, have fun, and play with my own toys.  

'Twas a good day! 

12 cars, 14 drivers. 8 runs each. Won my class (guess how many their were in SM.)  Even with awards, done at 1:00.

Nothing broke. Drove the car home (1hr) w/o incident. 

Good course layout but a tight course that was not favorable to the car the with the longest wheelbase and heaviest curb weight.  I generally kept up with the two SN95 Mustangs that were present so I'm good with that. 

The format was 4 runs morning, 4 runs afternoon. 

My morning was

• Bad run w/ 2 cones
• Good run
• Bad run with backwards spin
• Slow but clean run

The afternoon was 4, consistent (all 47.xx times) with no cones!  The morning was good for tightening the nut that holds on the wheel. 

I'm guessing you were both first and last in SM? 

I won Detroit Region SM class a few years back in my 5 speed swapped SVX.  Rarely did any competition show up for events.  I was out to have fun in a cheap old car.  I achieved my goal!  

12 cars?  

Some regions will have a "T" version as well for 200TW+ tires since SM is a R-comp class as well.  

John Welsh said:

 

 

 

I love your Q45 but every time I see that picture I want to make a shift boot for you. 

Ian F said:

Some regions will have a "T" version as well for 200TW+ tires since SM is a R-comp class as well.  

We do SMS. It's where the Tib goes and so I am dragging the truck there too.   

Stampie said:

John Welsh said:

 

 

 

I love your Q45 but every time I see that picture I want to make a shift boot for you. 

There are some other pieces.  The factory window switches are mounted around the shifter.  For '94 these switches are redundant meaning that the passenger door has a switch on it and both rear doors have their own switch so if eliminating these center switches you just loose "captain control" to be able to roll down the rear windows (not that big of a deal.)  Also lost is the "lock button" so that rear passengers can not roll down their windows.  The driver's window is controlled on the driver's door.  

That picture above shows the stick in 1st gear.  For 2nd gear there is some slight hitting of the "wood" that I think could be routered out to solve the issue.  Below is a picture of 2nd gear. 

For reference, here is the console to the full factory '90 Ivory Pearl car.  

spacecadet said:

So you're in SM now, but there's a new class on the horizon that you will probably fit into as well. 

That sounds like there is an import version of CAM on the way. Am I reading that correctly?

In reply to John Welsh :

Thats begging for a turned aluminum gated cover.  Feel free to use my idea.

In reply to Stampie :

Oooooo. Nice idea! 

I generally lack the skill and the tools needed but still a cool idea. A have a boat builder friend who probably has the skill (but lacks the time.)  We'll see. 

Buttttt, another friend comes to mind who certainly has the skill, the tools and the artistry to help....