Despite my unlikeliness of participating in your local event, my interest here is in adopting the same guidelines for our local events (mostly autocrosses).

I think there should be as many classes as make sense depending on the number of cars participating.

The front sway bar may make the car more confidence inspiring, though I would suggest that in the right hands, the stock sway bar may be better. OTOH, with R compound tires without the stock F/R stagger, a stiffer front bar could make a lot of difference in the balance of the car

The Xbraces and STB's should not affect performance much if at all. If anything the extra weight may be a penalty However, the SCCA rules may suggest otherwise.

Cat back exhausts MAY have the benefit of adding a few more hp - and there may be some advantage in that they are lighter. Treat this the same as intakes.

In most cases, you'll find that the driver makes the biggest difference (R compound tires aside).

 

S2Ktaxi,

I tend to agree with much of what you're saying. I'm aware of some roadracers who keep the front sway bar and go to a thinnner one in the rear in some cases. I think adjustability in the sway bar would probably provide the greatest advantage for those who really know how to set up their car for a specific event, much more than just sticking a Mugen bar on the front.

I have not heard of any exhaust really providing any substantial performance gains.

Another common mod. is the bored out throttle body and I'm not sure how to deal with that one either. People say it makes a noticeable difference. Any feedback on the throttle body modification?

Does anyone else have any other common mods. I should take into account?

dk

 

I wouldn't classify myself as one who "really knows," but the SCCA stock class allows sway bar and cat-back exhaust mods, not x braces. Some have said x braces just look good; in any case, I wouldn't have a problem with someone in
a class based on SCCA Stock having one.

However, I do know that DOT-approved tires make a BIG difference in handling. These are also okay in SCCA stock class, and this might be the real demarcation between that and pure stock.

cal

 

OK, here's a perhaps rather strange seeming classification scheme, but I think it won't hurt SCCA prepped cars in any serious way (not to mention they should be owned by more experienced drivers anyway!). The following also scales by financial investment and takes into account common modifications.

Note to Jason Saini: one reason not to mimic SCCA's Street Prep 1 is that given the level investment one has to make to max out mods in that class (coilovers, etc.), race tires are not a major addition, not to mention they're allowed in the class below.

Also, the rather strange inclusion of supercharged cars in S-Improved without race tires is sort of a "let's see what happens" idea since I think a non-supercharged car with Hoosiers, lets say, would win out at many tracks.

At any rate, the following is just a rough draft:


S-Show

Tires: up to 245 width rear tire, 100+ treadwear
Alignment
Brake fluid
Brake ducting
Dust shields
Air filter


S-Stock (Same as S-Show +)

Wheels
Cat-back exhaust
Front swaybar
Brake pads
X-brace
Strut-tower brace
Other common, but not particularly performance-enhancing mods?


S-Improved (Same as S-Stock +)

Tires: any tire
Shocks
Springs
Rear sway bar
Supercharger (only if using tires up to 245 width rear tire, 100+ treadwear)


S-Open

Completely Open

 

What about header upgrade...where is that classified in? It's not a particularly common mod, nor is it very cheap hehe

And it's arguable if it's really performance enhancing, other than the fact that most systems are lighter

 

Here is the official (albeit tentative) classifications we will use for our first event. These may change before the subsequent event, depending on how things go on Jan. 26,27. If you have any comments, please let me know soon so we can finalize this as soon as possible and allow people to set their cars up for the event.

No changes are allowed to a car unless they are listed below. If a component or other modification is listed below, any type (or size) of that component is allowed, unless otherwise noted (ie.

 

NEW S2000 Challenge Series Classification

Well, I told you the classification was tentative. I

 

Maybe springs, shocks, coilovers and the rear swaybar should be moved down to modified. My reasoning being springs as a common mod and it looks like shocks will be very common as well, especially with some autocross people (Maybe shocks should be in Stock as well). And I know a few people with coilovers but no supercharger/turbo/nitrous.

 

desert tortoise,

am I understanding correctly that the lowest class allows adding brake ducts and removing the dust shield, but requires using the stock brake pads?

The first things I did to my car for going to the track were changing the brake fluid and pads. I may one day remove the dust shield and add ducts, but I haven't yet.

Seems like an easy, inexpensive, reversible, safety modification like better pads should be allowed in the bottom class, but not things like cutting and removing parts.

Just my two cents...

Ted

 

"Maybe springs, shocks, coilovers and the rear swaybar should be moved down to modified. My reasoning being springs as a common mod and it looks like shocks will be very common as well, especially with some autocross people (Maybe shocks should be in Stock as well). And I know a few people with coilovers but no supercharger/turbo/nitrous." - reecespieces


reecespieces, You're right that a lot of people have lowering springs. Perhaps a compromise would be to allow springs, but not shocks since the stock shocks can only handle so much spring rate anyway. That would limit the spring rate. The problem is you can't let someone with 600lb race springs and double adjustable race shocks compete in that class; it would be too big of an advantage. What do you think?


"Am I understanding correctly that the lowest class allows adding brake ducts and removing the dust shield, but requires using the stock brake pads? The first things I did to my car for going to the track were changing the brake fluid and pads. I may one day remove the dust shield and add ducts, but I haven't yet. Seems like an easy, inexpensive, reversible, safety modification like better pads should be allowed in the bottom class, but not things like cutting and removing parts." - Ted


Ted, yes you're right. My reasoning is that dust shields and ducting don't increase performance that much, if at all, and it's a dirt cheap modification anway. Even if they were expensive mods, they don't do much for braking. Race pads however are far more effective than stock pads, making a noticeable difference in track times, and are not cheap at all. Additionally, I want a class where people can run who don't want to go through any trouble, expense, etc. with their car. Race pads blacken rims and make noise on the road. We need a very simple, almost completely stock class which only allows mods that have virtually no effect on performance. That's what I've tried to do with that class. My bet is anyone with ducting will have race pads anyway and will bump up to the MOD class, but if not, they can be stock pads for the event and run with those.

Admittedly, the clear problem with the mod class is that there are too many mods possible and if you had every single one of them (especially if we allow springs) then a distinct advantage might start to emerge. The only other option is to create more classes (which I don't want to do), or to have a points system whereby people had to select from among the mods and were limited to a certain number of points in that class. Maybe that will end up being the best way.

dt