Budget autox

taparsons wrote: I would prefer rwd. I have a 97 prelude, however it's a an automatic. Manual swap?

There's nothing wrong with just trying it out with that car. Frankly unless you get on a course with a lot of straights or you are putting down gobs of power you'll never leave 2nd gear in an average FWD car anyway. I don't have tons of experience myself but the first year I autocrossed if I left a corner REALLY SLOW I would down shift, but otherwise it almost always stayed in 2nd.

The other thing I'll say is don't wait for the "perfect car" or to think that you have to do all kinds of mods to be competitive either. The reality is you could show up with that M3 and get your ass kicked by some guy in a Cavalier. Autocross is all about driver skill and you have lots to learn anyway.

You are going to feel flat out embarrassed when you get out there, no matter how good of a driver you think you were before you started. My first year drove me nuts. As much as I thought I was doing everything right, and even when friends of mine commented on what they saw me doing on the track as looking good, I was still slow. It's kind of like golfing. You think you are going through all of the motions correctly but there's still some little nuance is going to screw you up. Just go out there and have fun with whatever you drive.

I always have thought of it as "if you can't autocross it, it's not safe enough to be on the street." Seriously, you could have to do any move you do autocrossing on the street when a kid runs out between two parked cars is an inattentive driver runs a stop sign.

If you feel that your car could handle that, you're probably good to go.

Contradiction wrote: Just go out there and have fun with whatever you drive.

Do This!

/thread

Shoot...My Autox ride for next year is a 210K mile Mazda 3S in H Street. We are just fixing a few torn bushings and tossing some new tires on and going to town. We are using the car to train my buddies daughter car control in a safe place.

I'm sure either car you have is just fine to autox. I took my 66 barracuda to an event a couple years ago before I tore into it.

I just picked up a $300 1985 Celica GT with an Automatic, it's been sitting for 10 years.

Already done? Battery + Wipers. To Come? Tires (Might come with free slot mags!), Alternator, fluids, and a helmet.

I am going to be doing my first autocross this year, come hell or Vancouver Island sinking.

Hell, I might run my 2001 Sportage some point as well, if they let me!

In reply to WonkoTheSane:

So does this mean running my 2wd one ton Dodge truck isn't quite as stupid as I previously thought? I mean, it'll be slow and sloppy, but then again I probably will be to. (Though, I have been considering getting a Miata or some other much less trucky thing.)

In reply to Chadeux: You'll learn a bunch about driving your truck at the limit. We used to have a guy show up with a 1982 F-150 long bed 6-cylinder...on race tires.

In reply to snailmont5oh:

I'm not sure I can run race tires with a heavy Cummins on the nose, I might look into this more now though.

Of your cars, which will pass tech right now? Drive that. Don't do anything for the car more expensive than a roll of painter's tape for numbers and a fill-up at the gas station.

Go do it. You'll probably be in a fight over last place, so be mentally prepared. You are not going to win. You will probably get faster as you complete your runs. You'll probably hit a cone. You'll probably get lost. You'll probably try different techniques, and find yourself getting slower or faster as you work it out. See if you can catch a ride with someone more experienced between your runs - it will recalibrate your expectations. More experienced course workers might give you pointers, and you should listen.

When it's over, you'll get your time, and you'll have spent your entry fees, and you can ask yourself if you want to do it again.

Chadeux wrote: In reply to WonkoTheSane: So does this mean running my 2wd one ton Dodge truck isn't quite as stupid as I previously thought? I mean, it'll be slow and sloppy, but then again I probably will be to. (Though, I have been considering getting a Miata or some other much less trucky thing.)

When you're playing this far outside the box it's good form to contact the club first and ask. We've had a couple of S-10 sized trucks, at least on ex police Tahoe and a couple of other non traditional vehichicles AX with us. It always makes the day go smoother if the safety guys know about it and know to have a chat with you about things first. I've done safety runs in my Silverado before and it's an interesting experience.

Klayfish wrote:

Duke wrote: Honestly, for autocross, especially if you're a rookie, *anything* that's not an unlowered SUV or pickup will do.

This. If you're just looking to dip your toe into autox, if your car runs and is safely drivable, just go do it. Don't worry about rebuilding the suspension. Once you get really good, then you can take those next steps. Right now, if you've never done any racing at all, your car...even in it's current state...is more capable than you are.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Get out on the track! Run a shopping cart if you have to.

It will usually take more than one season to get the driver up to speed.

Then you can blame the car when you are not fast..... :^)

Better than spending a crap load on the car and going out and looking like a tool!

bentwrench wrote:

Klayfish wrote:

Duke wrote: Honestly, for autocross, especially if you're a rookie, *anything* that's not an unlowered SUV or pickup will do.

This. If you're just looking to dip your toe into autox, if your car runs and is safely drivable, just go do it. Don't worry about rebuilding the suspension. Once you get really good, then you can take those next steps. Right now, if you've never done any racing at all, your car...even in it's current state...is more capable than you are.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Get out on the track! Run a shopping cart if you have to. It will usually take more than one season to get the driver up to speed. Then you can blame the car when you are not fast..... :^) Better than spending a crap load on the car and going out and looking like a tool!

exactly! I use to autocross my 87' MR2 which hadnt had new suspension bushings since... 1987. With a set of coilovers and basic bolt ons to let the motor sing it was a blast! I knew i wouldnt be competitive but it was great to just get out there and have fun. as you get after around the cones you can save up and do upgrades as the money comes in.

When my dad went to 2 autox events before we started driving. The first one I was 11 and there was nothing really going on. The second one was 10 yrs ago or so. We went and were sold. He had a 83 rx-7 in the barn on the farm. We pulled it out the shed and got it running and then drove it on 5 or 6 yr old tires that were dry rotted. It drove like crap but we had a blast! Dad bought new tires and we were at every event in that car for a few years.

The car was never seriously modified but we always had a great time. We would compete against each otherand we were way slow.

To do autox you dont need an awesome car you just need to have fun.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Honestly there's quite a few things worrying me, that made me never seriously look into trying it. Things like: "Is a 215/85-16 tire going to stay on the rim when I throw this battleship into a corner?" "Is the course even going to be wide enough to get a long bed dually through a corner without knocking over some cones?" "Are people going to get angry when I demolish half the cones on the course?" "Can I move my arms fast enough to even think about changing directions quickly with this incredibly slow steering box?"

Frankly as much I'm sure it'd be hilarious both to do and to watch, I'm probably going to hold off until I get something that wouldn't be actively trying to defy physics and scaring everyone on the property when it does it.

In reply to Chadeux:

That's actually a good mature decision.
You sound like an ideal co-driver.
You just need to find someone like minded and trade their entry fee for using their car. If you were in Houston I'd have you in the Civic at the next event.

We held an event at Dover Speedway's parking lot last September - wide open, fast course. I let one of our regulars drive his 2000-ish F150 because the course was wet and he was on crappy all-season tires so I figured he'd never generate enough grip to roll the thing. If it had been dry and warm I never would have let him.

My truck is very wide, low-ish, and has terrible tires on it. So I'm not that worried about a rollover. My biggest concern is honestly one of the extremely tall and narrow front tires coming off the bead.

Put the maximum air pressure in them. You'll want to drive in such a way as to not be pushing them around all the time, anyway.

Chadeux wrote: Frankly as much I'm sure it'd be hilarious both to do and to watch, I'm probably going to hold off until I get something that wouldn't be actively trying to defy physics and scaring everyone on the property when it does it.

It'll be grand! What could go wrong?

Thanks for all the comments! I will definitely be out there soon!

RedGT wrote:

93EXCivic wrote: Another choice if you are set on RWD, '90s MR2. They will swallow a tall driver with no problem.

Do we live on different planets? I'm 6'2". I have daily driven and autocrossed Miatas for years. Tried to codrive a '93 MR2 once. Had to be slouched sideways with sunroof vented open and my helmet sticking up it.

Weird. I'm 6'4" and feel like I have to duck my head to see under the windshield frame in a Miata. In my MKII MR2 (it was a hard top--sunroof cars do have less room) I had plenty of room between my helmet and the roof.

Haha, autocrossing a truck cant be TOO much worse than my buddy autocrossing his 80s Crown Vic:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnhxJi11WHM

In reply to Desmond:

Cool! Navigating that Crown Vic must have been a blast!

I'm sticking to my guns here, abs saying that, if it's not outlawed by the rules, drive it. No matter how you do, you will learn stuff, and it might be the stuff that saves your life when a deer jumps out in front of you or a dumb vajajay pulls out in front of you in an Explorer. Autocross literally prevented me from crashing when the second one happend to me. I agree with Wonko. If you drive it on the street, you should autocross it.

In reply to snailmont5oh: "...or a dumb vajajay pulls out in front of you in an Explorer. Autocross literally prevented me from crashing when the second one happend to me"

I'd say use your daily driver, order a cg seat belt lock, a set of Bridgestone RE-71R tires. Do the best you can, make friends you can learn from and hit it hard. It got this dumb vajayjay from complete rookie to winning the scca novice class in a stock bmw sedan... plus those autox skills come in handy when a tool in an Escalade pulls out in front of you on the freeway.