H Street at Solo Nationals

A Mini Cooper took the win in HS at Nationals by .232 seconds. (And first in HSL against 2 Fiestas) Second through fifth were Fiesta STs. 18 of the 27 cars entered were Fiestas. (There were 5 Minis total) This is the first year for the Fiesta ST and it has nowhere near the development of the Mini. It will be interesting to see how it does next year. But wow, Kudos to Greg Reno for holding off the Fiesta onslaught in HS!

Greg drove his ass off defending the title. Seltzer did a good job getting close though in his ST. I was in third, .8 off of Seltzer in an undeveloped car (only Konis and 'stones).

While I thought the ST would be the over dog, seeing Greg win shows that putting the FiST in HS was good move. He's a hell of a driver and it looks like he's got the setup to beat for a while. Next year should be interesting after another year of driving the cars.

dang, no focus SVTs?

I have thought for a while the SVTF might be the next one to unseat the mini (I guess it still might). Sounds like the fiesta ST has taken a solid 2nd place though.

fiddly stock replacement parts may be becoming a problem for SVTFs...

So what year was the winning Mini? Curious as to whether the older or newer Mini's are the fastest.

It is interesting how terrible the Fiesta ST really is. Damn near identical specs between the Fiesta ST and the new Mini S. HP, TQ, weight, wheel and tire size etc. One is in HS, the other in DS. Hell, even the base model 3-cylinder Mini was deemed too fast for HS, and is in GS.

In reply to subrew:

Its definitely not terrible, its more that after being in the mini gang's interest group camp for years with g & h-stock, SCCA finally started downclassing cars to take them on.

GTwannaB wrote: So what year was the winning Mini? Curious as to whether the older or newer Mini's are the fastest.

Greg Reno's car that won is a 2010. His co-driver got the last trophy in 8th.

Tim Carritte finished in the trophies in sixth in a 2012. All the rest of the trophies were FiSTs

Still waiting on someone to prep a no sunroof, no audio package 04-06 Spec V for HS.

In reply to wrongwheeldrive:

That would be interesting to see since they have a legit diff. I've also wondered how well an Integra GSR would fair in HS.

Not enough wheel and no diff makes the GSR a no-go in my opinion.

Yes, the rules last year opened up a lot of interesting possibilities for HS:

newer Civic SI, GSR, SER Spec V, Mk 3 Supra Non-Turbo. However, it seems with the FiST hitting the scene, nobody has taken up those options seriously in a national effort. The HART guys brought one of their SI's to the Ohio tour events but didn't really have their best drivers in it so it didn't really show what it could do. There are a lot more powerful cars in HS now, but most of them have so little front tire and no LSD that it's pretty useless on most autocross courses. However, with an awesome driver and a big wide nationals style course, maybe you could make some waves in a TL Type-S or a well put together SVT Contour.

I guess 'driving a slow car fast' and Solo Nats are mutually exclusive things now that the slowest cars are fast.

In reply to Vigo:

It was the only way that HS was going to survive as a class. HS grew from 18 to 24 cars this year at Nationals.

In reply to drdisque:

I'd like to see how some of those cars would do. Hopefuy there will be a better mix next year.

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to drdisque: I'd like to see how some of those cars would do. Hopefuy there will be a better mix next year.

I just wish they still had a stock class for slow cars like H-Stock used to be.

petegossett wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to drdisque: I'd like to see how some of those cars would do. Hopefuy there will be a better mix next year.

I just wish they still had a stock class for slow cars like H-Stock used to be.

You and me both.

petegossett wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to drdisque: I'd like to see how some of those cars would do. Hopefuy there will be a better mix next year.

I just wish they still had a stock class for slow cars like H-Stock used to be.

The mini's are still there, unless you're complaining about pre-mini....

mazdeuce wrote:

petegossett wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to drdisque: I'd like to see how some of those cars would do. Hopefuy there will be a better mix next year.

I just wish they still had a stock class for slow cars like H-Stock used to be.

You and me both.

Have you written your letter proposing cars for creation of Istreet? Considered having you and 2 dozen like minded people troll nationals next year and run HStreet in slow cars with a sticker on your car window saying something about Istreet? Make your desire known. Put your money were your thoughts are. Right now the SCCA isn't interested in sanctioning slow car racing. Make them by making it apparent it would be a huge class.

I will say based on local experience it will fail. People interested in racing just dont tend to realistically buy cars slower than current HStreet. There just isn't that much demand for racing versas and elantras.

nocones wrote:

mazdeuce wrote:

petegossett wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to drdisque: I'd like to see how some of those cars would do. Hopefuy there will be a better mix next year.

I just wish they still had a stock class for slow cars like H-Stock used to be.

You and me both.

Have you written your letter proposing cars for creation of Istreet? Considered having you and 2 dozen like minded people troll nationals next year and run HStreet in slow cars with a sticker on your car window saying something about Istreet? Make your desire known. Put your money were your thoughts are. Right now the SCCA isn't interested in sanctioning slow car racing. Make them by making it apparent it would be a huge class. I will say based on local experience it will fail. People interested in racing just dont tend to realistically buy cars slower than current HStreet. There just isn't that much demand for racing versas and elantras.

Sure there is its called Chumpcar? They just don't autocross.

In reply to nocones:

Honestly I have little good to say from my years of experience as an SCCA member, and thus have no desire to deal with their politics.

Don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled we live in such a golden-era of performance cars, but ~6.5-second 0-60 times for the slowest autocross class??? That's insane.

Given the new Street-class rules, I expect they could create an "I" class for all the "leftover" cars. Sure, within a year or 2 the field would probably be narrowed down to 2 or 3 "hot" cars, but that's not the point. The point is there are tons of cheap cars that were yester-year's hot cars: Neons/Celicas/Integras/etc. that would still make for close, exciting racing...were it not for the fact that SCCA has cast them aside & forgotten them. Is it true that no one wants to run them? I suppose it's possible, but if it were a national-class I think they'd be out en-masse. IMO the dwindling attendance in H-Street/Stock probably had more to do with people growing tired of the MINI dominating, but not wanting to join the bandwagon due to the cars' flaws.

Is that class the real "gap" in terms of getting people to participate? It's already a joke now with the "200TW" tire fiasco essentially making anyone who wants to be competitive to have to use tires that burn up faster than NT01s/RC1s. So unless you are planning to prep a neon to the degree its running through a set of RE017Rs every 2-3 events you are not competitive anyway.

I am all for balancing a class being dominated by an overdog but maybe it needs something else a la the cam class movement that is for slightly older machines? But then as you say IF people participate and then further IF a car to win the class emerges what do you do then? Add yet another class for the leftovers?

Main reasons I don't run SCCA autoX are two fold, too class based and restrictive I change one thing on my car and suddenly my car gets classed completely non competitively. And second the number of runs you get vs what I see with BMW SCCA are just a poor time and money value. I can go to an SCCA event and get 3 timed runs, I can go to BMW CCA and get 3 timed runs plus 8 practice runs with instructors and lunch.

I feel like at the bottom end especially a more handicap based system that adjusted an individual cars "pax" would make more sense but also be a nightmare to setup/police.

wrongwheeldrive wrote: Still waiting on someone to prep a no sunroof, no audio package 04-06 Spec V for HS.

That's my car that I ran this year. Althought it was really stock (no rear sway bar or anything), with the RE-71R mounted on it, I dominated locally in stock this year.

Prepared to the limit of the rules, I think it would have a serious chance in HS at the Nationals.

Jaynen wrote: Is that class the real "gap" in terms of getting people to participate? It's already a joke now with the "200TW" tire fiasco essentially making anyone who wants to be competitive to have to use tires that burn up faster than NT01s/RC1s. So unless you are planning to prep a neon to the degree its running through a set of RE017Rs every 2-3 events you are not competitive anyway.

People are getting thousands of miles and over 150 runs out of the Bridgestones. Also they stay good right up until the tread is gone (in fact they seem to get better as the tread gets shaved down). It's a far cry from Hoosiers in terms of wear and use.

Jaynen wrote: Main reasons I don't run SCCA autoX are two fold, too class based and restrictive I change one thing on my car and suddenly my car gets classed completely non competitively. And second the number of runs you get vs what I see with BMW SCCA are just a poor time and money value. I can go to an SCCA event and get 3 timed runs, I can go to BMW CCA and get 3 timed runs plus 8 practice runs with instructors and lunch.

The classing is a non-issue other than arguing whether a particular car goes into what class. If you want to mod your car then you play the game. Some cars adding an intake and tune gives a big bump in power whereas other cars it doesn't, you have to have a way to level the playing field. There are street touring classes for this reason where you can compete reasonably at a local level and not have to worry about your minor mods.

Whatever SCCA event you went to is poorly run if they only give you three runs. I've been to one day events with 180 people on a course that runs over a minute for the fast cars and we got five runs. Most events give six or seven or more. The only time you should get three runs on a day would be at a multi day event where there are multiple hundreds of competitors.

Thanks Harvey. I was basing my Bridgestones concerns over seeing the damage they had on my friends cars from only individual events. Still don't see how with that much damage that they can last 150 runs except under ideal lightweight car with perfect alignment or something but I believe you.

fanfoy wrote:

wrongwheeldrive wrote: Still waiting on someone to prep a no sunroof, no audio package 04-06 Spec V for HS.

That's my car that I ran this year. Althought it was really stock (no rear sway bar or anything), with the RE-71R mounted on it, I dominated locally in stock this year. Prepared to the limit of the rules, I think it would have a serious chance in HS at the Nationals.

I've been telling people that all year. I have a friend with an 02 that I helped put koni yellows and good tires on. Car was a hoot to drive and quick, but I can't get him to come out to any autoX's any more.

On paper the car is pretty close to the FiST, with 1/5 of the buy in. You trade a little power and slightly worse gearing for a real LSD and lower CoG. Fair trade in my mind.

I'd love to run a prepped one at a national event just to show everyone what they're capable of ;)

PS I think a bigger front bar is the way to go.