Autocross, Collection of the 6gc Member's thought on AUTOX Options

[hitcachi]

my god! where do you live that you have so many auto X events! Around here its like.....1 every eon! Seriously, and when one does finally come everyone is like OMFG ITS SOMETHING TO DO! YES!

[jdg371]

hahaha.. well there like 3 different groups I could race with.. TSCC, ODR, and a Corvette Group..

oh yea.. found some nice pics of me and my brother.. it looks like we entered a turn the same time.. and exited the same time hahaha

MRS is his. my Celica is in the Back

[boosted_K2]

nice! that MRS looks real nice, does it run CS?

ya im in the same boat as you right now, Ive been living off of low speed high cornering events since i got into autocross. only over the past few events have things really sped up and my inexperience is showing (though i did have last years ESP national champ beat after the 1st day of the cen-div event. (less a clipped cone). I expect the same to continue next event as I will be autocrossing at Grattan Raceway on labor day, very fast with lots of elevation changes.

heres what my schedule has been for this year, i expect (work schedule pending) next year will be more intense, including more cen-div and national events as well as the national championships in topeka... id like to go to the pro runoffs as well but i donno... i need to work a lot on the mental portion as pro events are much more intense.

06 Schedule:
April 1st - Phase 1 Evolution driving school - Cincinnati OH
April 2nd - Phase 2 Evolution driving school - Cincinnati OH
April 22nd - Kettering University Spring AutoX #1 - Birch Run MI
May 7th - Detroit Region SCCA Season Opener - Clarkston MI
May 14th - Kettering University Spring AutoX #2 - Birch Run MI
May 29th - Detroit Region SCCA Memorial Day - Clarkston MI
June 3rd - SCCA Pro-Solo National Series Event #5 Day 1 - Peru IN
June 4th - SCCA Pro-Solo National Series Event #5 Day 2 - Peru IN
June 25th - Detroit Region SCCA Spring Fling - Ypsilanti MI
July 15th - Cen-Div Series SCCA Event #5 Day 1 - Oscoda MI
July 16th - Cen-Div Series SCCA Event #5 Day 2 - Oscoda MI
July 23rd - Detroit Region SCCA Firecracker - Waterford MI
Sept. 4th - Western MI SCCA Labor Day - Belding MI
Sept. 17th - Detroit Region SCCA Bring on Nationals - Ypsilanti MI
Oct. 7th - Kettering University Fall AutoX #1 - Birch Run MI
Oct. 8th - Detroit Region SCCA Season Ender - Auburn Hills MI
Nov. 11th - Kettering University Fall AutoX #2 Let the Flurries Fly - Birch Run MI

so racing 14 weekends out of the summer with taking all of august off, there were a few events i would have liked to go to (peru Cen-Div championships, DRSCCA Oscoda Prostyle, MVSCC Heat of the Night night AutoX) but schedule bit me bad in august... oh well, gave me time to fix the car.

[jdg371]

dude you race in the nationals? daym.. im just in local events hahaha
yea my brother runs CSPN

This post has been edited by jdg371: Aug 23, 2006 - 9:30 AM

[boosted_K2]

This year i only raced the closest pro-national (got my ass kicked too) but that was more i had an extremely bad weekend rather than me not having the ability to compete with them. next year i expect to do a little more traveling... i want to go back to peru IN for the pro and the national series event, as well as D.C. and maybe tag along to arkansas... we'll see what happens. id highly recommend doing pro and/or national series events (atleast the one closest to you) its a blast and you get to see how big autox really is. Id also HIGHLY recommend going to an evolution school, i will be going back for sure early next season, dunno if i will redo phase 1, 2 or both... or do a phase 3.

oh he runs street prepared? how competitive is he? what kind of tires does he use? do you guys run your local series for points or just go when you can?

[hitcachi]

boosted, based on your experiances, do you believe that a 6th gen (with the proper suspension modifications mind you) can compete and hold its own during regional or national events? Or against cars like miatas or S2K's. Or is it mainly just the person behind the wheel?

[boosted_K2]

heres my take:

first on stock category:
celicas as far back as 4th gens up to 7th gen GTS (7th gen GTs are in H-Stock... dont ask me why it is this way) are all in G-stock. nationally, nothing in GS has a fighting chance against the Mini Cooper S. H-stock is the same way with the standard Mini Cooper. On the local/regional side, I think given the proper stock class treatment it just depends on the driver and the local competitors, you would be at a distinct disadvantage but given enough time to develop as a driver in the car they can atleast be competitive... unless you are driving against a lot of minis with decent drivers. I think the right thing to do here is try to get the celicas (less the 7th gen GTS) moved to HS.

modified classes
Back in 01 and 02 John (evilspeed) Dolecek proved the 6th gen to be competitive nationally in STS class, winning and placing in a number of national pro and divisional events, however the class has really evolved since 02 and repeating such a feat would be extremely difficult though i will restrict myself from saying impossible. I think if the celica were to have a fighting chance in a class nationally this would be it, but for lack of a lesser cliche you better be damn good if you expect to take that knife to a gun fight.

[hitcachi]

heres my take:

first on stock category:
celicas as far back as 4th gens up to 7th gen GTS (7th gen GTs are in H-Stock... dont ask me why it is this way) are all in G-stock. nationally, nothing in GS has a fighting chance against the Mini Cooper S. H-stock is the same way with the standard Mini Cooper. On the local/regional side, I think given the proper stock class treatment it just depends on the driver and the local competitors, you would be at a distinct disadvantage but given enough time to develop as a driver in the car they can atleast be competitive... unless you are driving against a lot of minis with decent drivers. I think the right thing to do here is try to get the celicas (less the 7th gen GTS) moved to HS.

modified classes
Back in 01 and 02 John (evilspeed) Dolecek proved the 6th gen to be competitive nationally in STS class, winning and placing in a number of national pro and divisional events, however the class has really evolved since 02 and repeating such a feat would be extremely difficult though i will restrict myself from saying impossible. I think if the celica were to have a fighting chance in a class nationally this would be it, but for lack of a lesser cliche you better be damn good if you expect to take that knife to a gun fight.

Hmmm, that is weird. Why would a 140 power 7th gen GT be in H-stock, but a 135 (roughly) 6th gen GT be in G -stock? also, are 6th gen ST's in G? Casue thats just weird. Sorry for being noOb but this whole thread has me intriged, but im not very familier with these classes. Like what order do they go in and what is STS? Thanks boosted.

[jdg371]

yes.. it doesnt matter if your GT or ST 6g your in GStock either ways..

I believe the only celica with a different class is the alltrac.

umm.. my brother is prepared cause when he bought the car off the dealer (one he works in) it came with all sorts of TRD goodies. Right now he has some bridgestones up front an yokohoma in the rear. we race for fun and points in the ODR events. (right now hes 6th place in novice with 2 races) im 32 with 1 race lol


Right now were building (planning) on our double duty autox car.. a 81 Starlet.. which were hoping to just be classed at SM

This post has been edited by jdg371: Aug 23, 2006 - 12:05 PM

[boosted_K2]

"Hmmm, that is weird. Why would a 140 power 7th gen GT be in H-stock, but a 135 (roughly) 6th gen GT be in G -stock? also, are 6th gen ST's in G? Casue thats just weird. Sorry for being noOb but this whole thread has me intriged, but im not very familier with these classes. Like what order do they go in and what is STS? Thanks boosted."

y its that way? the only guess i can venture is because a group of 7th gen GT owners were able to present a case to the classification committee that got their car dropped to H-stock, id imagine non-7th GTS owners would have a good case to have that done as well. classifications as well as class index multipliers and altered and adjusted every year depending on national level competition. If vehicles dont come out to national competitions, they usually dont get paid attention to for reclassification. Even the Alltracs are G-stock.


cool starlet should be fun

[jdg371]

alltracs are GS!?!?! wha!

[boosted_K2]

yup yup, still cant say they are very competitive though

for your entertainment:
stock classifications:
http://www.scca.com/_Filelibrary/File/stoc...tionsbymake.pdf

street touring classifications:
http://www.scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/stre...ntalclasses.pdf
http://www.scca.org/_FileLibrary/File/Stre...anufacturer.pdf

allowable modifications can be found here:
http://www.scca.org/_FileLibrary/File/2006_solo_rules.pdf

[jdg371]

good read.. hmm I should have grabbed the Geo Prizm.. I would have a better performing car lol..

[hitcachi]

^ Very good read. I need to go over it again though so i can better understand it. Boosted, why are you just now showing your face. Its been awhile since I've seen this many posts from you. There was awhile there, where you just didnt post anything.

[jdg371]

FIRST time ive seen boosted was in this thread lol

[boosted_K2]

yea it has been a while since i was on here regularly. Ive been very busy with school now that i am into my senior year and starting my thesis project. Over school term i also am president of the Kettering University Firebirds Club so i am in charge of a bunch of events (autocrosses, drag days, karting). I obviously have been busy racing SCCA, and I also have been karting frequently (this thursday is industry night at kart2kart so we run the course backwards, should be fun). I also am working full time for a paint process engineering firm... granted its not even close to what i want to be doing, but i only have 3 more terms left of it before i graduate and i wont stay on here after that. i browse the site periodically but havent really had much time to post or really any threads that have been worth putting my $0.02 in on, not much of a celica expert these days haha


wow next week marks the 4th year as a member here (atleast since the site was reset... i might be one of the few members here who remember that lol)

[jdg371]

what kind of karts do you race with.. we have an indoor go kart track here.. thats basictly where I started lol.. then moved on to do it in my own car.. the karts we use are sodi chassis with a 6hp honda.. they're suppose to be at around 40mph top speed

[boosted_K2]

we run basically identical karts here, i might try doing an autox event in a shifter kart next season

[jdg371]

theres a 14yr old here that races a 125cc.. he gets FTD all the time.. I also race with him at the Indoor Go Kart (AIK)

This post has been edited by jdg371: Aug 23, 2006 - 3:14 PM

[boosted_K2]

yea F125s are pretty wicked a few of the guys that run them in detroit region have a good shot at the national championship this year.... not always FTD on PAX though, there are quite a few REALLY good drivers here, few national champs.

and that really helps too, IMO you can only improve as much as your competition will allow you... you will get too comfortable if the competition is easy.