AutoX classification for my GS-T

[KPWSerpiente]

Can someone tell me what class I would be in when I get around to doing my first AutoX? (I'm busy the next few weekends otherwise I'd be all over the local stuff).
Or point me to a site that can tell me but I think you have to buy this info?

1998 Eclipse GS-T

basic things that I think push me out of whatever stock class I'd be in?

larger than stock turbo (I know that means something)
much more than stock boost (?)
major ecu modifications (think that influences it?)
street tires, stock suspension

What else makes a difference?

-T

[Mike]

Street mod.

[ScottyB]

all you need to know:

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im almost positive you'd be in street mod

[JackoliciousLegs]

ahem... street mod..

[DierwulfBL]

If your car is a normally aspirated sedan (four seats, four factory seatbelts, not sports-car derived) of 3.1 Liters or less, or one of a few small turbocharged cars specified in the rules, and perhaps prepared further than allowed in Stock Category

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

[G.Irish]

If your car is a normally aspirated sedan (four seats, four factory seatbelts, not sports-car derived) of 3.1 Liters or less, or one of a few small turbocharged cars specified in the rules, and perhaps prepared further than allowed in Stock Category

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

Well if your goal is ultimate glory and dominance in the local autocrossing circles then I'd say no, don't waste your time. If your goal is to have fun and learn then don't worry about the classing. They'd probably let you run STS anyway.

Its great to win but you can have fun just doing it. Chan and I did just that in my Civic EX automatic I had when I first started out back in the day (read: 3-4 years ago). Sure we weren't destroying the field but we weren't last. We had fun, learned a bit, and made a lot of contacts. You can do the same and maybe someone will let you drive something cool. Like a particularly generous guy who let me autocross his S2000 before I really knew how to drive a manual.

[ScottyB]

If your car is a normally aspirated sedan (four seats, four factory seatbelts, not sports-car derived) of 3.1 Liters or less, or one of a few small turbocharged cars specified in the rules, and perhaps prepared further than allowed in Stock Category

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

seriously man, just go out there to have fun. if anything, you'll learn some of the limits of your car's handling that you will never reach on the streets. also, don't worry about horsepower. good driving skill will enable you to go much faster than your horsepower would make you think. (trying to be modest here) at my first auto-x, my lard-ass 150 horsepower accord was able to post better times than some wrx's and a bmw 330ci. those cars are far better on paper than my car, but my times were better because i outdrove them (or so i think). i can't tell you how worthwhile my $20 bucks was for that one autocross.

most of the people that autocross do it for fun, so don't worry about trying to win. think of it more as a cheap performance driving opportunity

[.RJ]

I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so

Because staying at home or jackassery on the street will teach you anything?

:rollseyes:

[Mike]

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

Your car may not be street mod, what have you done to it? As has been said, if you're going out to win then yeah you might as well stay home. Unless your car is about twice as good as the next best in class you're not going to win at your first autocross.

Just as any sport, driving well takes time and practice. Nobody comes off the street (no matter how much street racing or corner carving they have done) and wins national titles. Thinking you'd win is almost like saying someone who kicks ass at Madden 2004 should be able to reach the Pro-Bowl in the NFL if they go out there for a season.

For the record, I do quite fine in street mod (an unlimited class) with about the same power as you and performance shocks. Real racing is about more than raw power.

[Chris]

I was going to reply on this but everyone already said exactly what I was thinking... (come on my del sol s doesn't come in last!)

[BLINGMW]

yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about winning at the local level man. Sure, you might end up being good and be able to beat 90% of the people that show up, but if we all walked when McGeorge or some other pros decide to show up, there wouldn't be anyone there to run! You just learn from the people that are better than you. That's the idea. They're likely to let you ride along, and like G said, they might even let you drive their car. :wink: Nothing but fun to be had.

[Evan]

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

Step #1: Loose the ego. You arent as good as you think you are.
All of us have had to come to the realization of this when we started driving in motorsports activities.
Once you get over this, you will find that motorsports is extremely fun and rewarding, not to mention you will improve much faster without the ego.

And guess what, even if you had 400 hp, you couldnt beat that pro in a 200hp car, or even a 80hp car.

[Sijray21]

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

I would try it out, i mean i don't have the most powerful car either. The first time i did an auto-x was in cloverleaf last nov. I was able to come out with 6 out of 16 or something like that and ended up beating an rsx-s, some wrx's and a couple sho's. It's more about the driver knowing his car, and auto-xing let's you learn about your car through hard driving that you can't or shouldn't do on the street. I say go for it, the only thing it really beats up is the tires and maybe the brakes, but i seldomly was on the brakes hard. If you're hesistant, just come out and watch for the first time, then decide if you want to. I recommend it if you have a decent amount of tread life left in your tires.

[.RJ]

Step #1: Loose the ego. You arent as good as you think you are

Rule #6

[Mike]

I have yet to do an AutoX that was hard on brakes, so I wouldn't worry about that. Tires? Yes it'll chew them up a bit.

[ScottyB]

best avatar yet!

[Dave]

Yea definitely changed my mind on autocrossing. I'm not going to try and race 200whp cars with 80whp, definitely gonna pass on that, no point in trying to win something even a pro couldnt do, and spending money to do so :roll:

Does this fall somewhere on the excuse guage? (see "phun with photochop" thread) Just drop the $20, go out there, drive the piss out of your car (legally mind you, since you don't have to worry about some cruiser pulling you over in the middle of an autoX circuit), burn a little rubber, and learn something about yourself and your car.

[JackoliciousLegs]

what they said... don't rule it out because of classing. The only person you'd be shortchanging is yourself. I'm classed with M-coupes. I don't care. Just go to have fun...

[Dave]

Jack's gonna get r0lled

[DierwulfBL]

not only shortchanging myself but my car too, im not as lucky as some to have a "track car" and a "beater". If my car blows up (which its most likely about to do) im SOL. If i run my car hard im losing about a quart of oil every 300-400 miles. Its actually shooting oil out the right side causing some nice long 2nd gear spins (right side is pegleg). And whoever was talking about "jack assery" on "streets", if that comment was directed towards me, ill have you know THE ONLY ticket ive EVER acquired was a PARKING TICKET about 3 weeks ago, which is much less than whoever made the comment im sure. Any and all road racing in fluvanna is done on UNPOPULATED roads (something a lot of you probably dont know about) or even private paved roads. For now im gonna take it easy on my car til i get a new 4afe to put in. On another note my friend just picked up a 1988 subaru GL hatch 4wd, so anyone interested in some rallyX events should talk to me cause after schools out were gonna be goin to some (anyone wanna take their WRX out?) I'll be in verona the 14th for the autocross event though to check it out, if it looks like its not too hard on the car and worth 1/5th of all the money to my name then maybe ill enter one. Also, have you guys ever thought of getting your own AutoX track. Theres gotta be an abandoned parking lot somewhere you could get permission to drive on/rent it out. Cones run about 1 dollar a piece (ebay) if it were ever something you guys were looking to do, id throw money down for cones it if itd make for free runs (assuming we got permission to use the parking lot for free). I dunno, something to look into i suppose (unless you guys already have).