The official Auto-X thread

[Rich]

I've registered for my first national event in March. 3 hours into registration and 122 have signed up so far

[Eye of the Tiger]

I've registered for my first national event in March. 3 hours into registration and 122 have signed up so far

Yeah, but which car?

[Rich]

The 86. The Miata has a bunch of frame braces that basically puts me in one of the Mod classes

[Rich]

Randy made an appearance at the Dixie region autocross here in GA

In a pretty dinged up 997. I think it has some kind of suspension mods as well

[MX793]

Randy made an appearance at the Dixie region autocross here in GA

In a pretty dinged up 997. I think it has some kind of suspension mods as well

No class indicated on the car?  Hope you protested him.

[Rich]

They have a run time only class. I'm guessing he's in it

[Rich]

I'm also getting creamed by an old guy in a cooper S who arguably is at Randy's level since he's only a couple seconds off the Porsche and a good 4 seconds ahead of most of us.

There's also a civic type r that's killing me but hopefully the SCCA throws it into a higher class soon.

[Eye of the Tiger]

They have a run time only class. I'm guessing he's in it

That's my kind of class. I don't like all the class rules.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I'm also getting creamed by an old guy in a cooper S who arguably is at Randy's level since he's only a couple seconds off the Porsche and a good 4 seconds ahead of most of us.

There's also a civic type r that's killing me but hopefully the SCCA throws it into a higher class soon.

How many BRZ/FRS/86s are there?

[Rich]

2 others running now in DS.  I think a couple more in STX. I don't know what times they are running

[MX793]

I'm also getting creamed by an old guy in a cooper S who arguably is at Randy's level since he's only a couple seconds off the Porsche and a good 4 seconds ahead of most of us.

There's also a civic type r that's killing me but hopefully the SCCA throws it into a higher class soon.

Ha!  SCCA moving a car into a HIGHER class?  The trend has been to keep shoving fast cars down into slower classes.  Practically all of what was G a couple of years ago is now in H.  Cars that were legit H class cars like regular Civics, Mazda3s, base Minis are just not even competitive anymore when you have Civic SIs and Fiesta STs playing in that class.  A lot of what was D is now in G.

[Rich]

http://live.dixiescca.com/

[FoMoJo]

I'm also getting creamed by an old guy in a cooper S who arguably is at Randy's level since he's only a couple seconds off the Porsche and a good 4 seconds ahead of most of us.

There's also a civic type r that's killing me but hopefully the SCCA throws it into a higher class soon.

What are you driving?

[CaminoRacer]

That's my kind of class. I don't like all the class rules.

+1

[MX793]

Ha!  SCCA moving a car into a HIGHER class?  The trend has been to keep shoving fast cars down into slower classes.  Practically all of what was G a couple of years ago is now in H.  Cars that were legit H class cars like regular Civics, Mazda3s, base Minis are just not even competitive anymore when you have Civic SIs and Fiesta STs playing in that class.  A lot of what was D is now in G.

On that note, I just took a look at the 2019 rules draft for what cars they shuffled to what classes...  W   T   F

Spoiler alert:  No, they aren't moving the CTR up to a faster class with the cars it would normally compete with like the Golf R, STI, Lancer Evo, or Focus RS.  They moved all of those cars down into D to join it.  I'm actually kind of surprised they didn't punt the CTR down to G and then punt the current CSi down to H with the previous generation CSis.

'16+ Audi TTS moved from A to B
pre-'16 Audi TTS moved from B to D
'16-'17 Focus RS moved from B to D (for some reason the '18 stays in B?)
Lancer Evo moved from B to D
Audi S3 moved from B to D
VW Golf R ('15+) moved from B to D
WRX STI from B to D
350Z from C to D
370Z from A to B
981 ('13-'16) Coxster (base models only) moved from A to C
981 Coxster S and GTS moved from SS to A
S2000 moved from B to C
2002-2008 WRX moved from D to G
Camaro SS 1LE Moved from A to B
Shelby GT350 moved from A to B
E46 3-series (non-M) moved from D to G
IS300 moved from D to G

Only car I see moved up a class is the Mustang GT w/ PP2 option, which goes from F to A.  Yes, that's right, the PP2 Mustang GT is in a faster class than either the GT350 or the Camaro SS 1LE...

[Soup DeVille]

They must have moved the S2000 more than a few times; it was moved from B to C when I owned one.

[MX793]

They must have moved the S2000 more than a few times; it was moved from B to C when I owned one.

I only have rulebooks going back to '13, but they've been in B since at least that long, with the CR models being in A.  Looking back through the online results archive, looks like they may have been in A back in '09.  Unless the entrant actually had a CR and that just wasn't recorded in the "Car" field for the results file.  There was also somebody running a CR model that year who ran in A.

[Soup DeVille]

I only have rulebooks going back to '13, but they've been in B since at least that long, with the CR models being in A.  Looking back through the online results archive, looks like they may have been in A back in '09.  Unless the entrant actually had a CR and that just wasn't recorded in the "Car" field for the results file.  There was also somebody running a CR model that year who ran in A.

In '03 it was moved from B to C.

[12,000 RPM]

They should just come up with a calculated point system. Drive wheels, tire compound + mm/lb, power to weight

[MX793]

They should just come up with a calculated point system. Drive wheels, tire compound + mm/lb, power to weight

That's basically what they do, but there's a lot more to it than that.  What about weight distribution and engine placement?  Suspension type?  Limited slip vs open diff?  The general tuning of the factory suspension (a base V6 Mustang isn't going to hang with an E46 M3...).  Classing aside, there's a handicap system based on class so cars across classes (or in mixed classes like pro or novice) can compete head to head.  They consider things like drivetrain layout, power, weight, wheel size, and overall capabilities and class accordingly.  Part of the "problem" now is that newer cars are so much more capable over the past few years that they've had to push the fast cars of a couple of years ago down to slower classes to keep them competitive.  The trickle down effect has basically shit on the folks who were driving the slowest sets of cars, like the economy car segment, because there were no slower classes to push those cars down to.  So the folks running regular Focuses, Civics, or Mazda3s are now classed with Fiesta STs, 8th gen Civic SIs, and Fiat Abarths.  What they need is a new "slow car" class.  Also hurts people like me running the "muscle car" class because as fast cars move to slower classes with more favorable handicaps, my own handicap has stayed largely the same.  My car is no slower compared to a Lancer Evo this year than it was last, but the Evo just saw a significant improvement in it's handicap while mine stayed the same (got a little worse, actually).

There are a lot of classes because the sport has to accommodate a lot of different cars.  And that's before you get into the modifications.

Autocross series like Good guys can get away with fewer classes because
1.  They are a "hot rod" organization so the expectation is that nobody is running stock
2.  They restrict the eligible vehicle to street-legal, American made, and pre 1987.

[Rich]

I did pretty good on the stock tires up in Atlanta (2nd in class of 4).  The forecast was calling for what would have been standing water so I didn't want to waste the RE71R's on a weekend trip to the city just for a half day of standing water autocross.  By the last run it ended up almost dry and I think I could have kept up if the RE71r were on

http://live.axti.me/results/EJ2iEPKrI

And I got annihilated down in south GA by a Civic Type R (2nd place in class of 4).  If I drove my car better I think it was capable of beating the Type R's time. I was on the RE71r's down there.

http://www.dixiescca.com/2019results/Dixie2019-01_FINAL.pdf

[Rich]

At the Dixie champ tour getting my butt woooped

[Eye of the Tiger]

Find your center. Visualize the taste of victory.

[CaminoRacer]

Our first event got canceled because of snow. March is probably too early anyway. I wasn't gonna go because I didn't want to stand around in 40 degree weather (at best, and it was actually colder)

[MX793]

We stopped attempting to schedule anything before May.  Even then, we've had snow (or temperatures cold enough for snow) at our opening event...

[CaminoRacer]

Had a good event out at Utah Motorsports Campus today (formerly Miller)

The Midway lot we were using is very long and narrow, so it takes some creativity to figure out a course that doesn't just turn into a slalom the entire way down and back. Today was a figure 8 type course that was very fast and technical. Guys with bigger cars just had to send it and hope for the best when it came to hitting cones. I enjoyed it a lot. The RE-71R grip is awesome so I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

[CaminoRacer]

This was my fastest time but I hit a cone:

https://youtu.be/Dw3gZIbHztQ


My last run was a bit slower but no cones, so it's my best lap:

https://youtu.be/2VTeaulNocM

[giant_mtb]

That's sick, man. Is it sometimes hard to follow those courses?  I find myself wondering sometimes how people don't just fuck up and go the wrong way. Like I can tell that they lay cones out to make it at least a bit intuitive, but damn. I feel like half my brain power would be focused on where TF I'm supposed to turn next. I assume you get practice/walk time?

[CaminoRacer]

You get to walk the course in the morning before it starts. That's super important to do, although once you're in the car and going fast it can still be tough. Lots of people get lost or go off the course, especially on their first few runs. My second run was a DNF because I completely skipped a corner at the beginning and went straight for the next cone.

[Eye of the Tiger]

This was my fastest time but I hit a cone:

https://youtu.be/Dw3gZIbHztQ


My last run was a bit slower but no cones, so it's my best lap:

https://youtu.be/2VTeaulNocM

I assume 2nd gear the whole time, and I thought  you were going to hit the guy on the fence, cool beans dooood.