safetyfastgt

Perhaps the wrong place to post this, but seems like there's more racing discussion in this forum. I've been wanting to do autocross for a long time, but never thought I had the $ or a suitable car other than my old MGB. Unfortunately, most of the races around here are a 1 - 2 hour interstate drive from me, which is no fun in the MG. So, now that I have the Mustang, I figure it's a good time to give this a go. Not worried about being the next Sam Strano, just want to go have a good time.

First race is tomorrow. I can't get there in time to sign up, and don't think I want to the first time anyway. I figure I'll just go watch and get some info for future sign ups and SCCA membership forms. They have a novice instruction class listed for late in March that I want to attend. Any other suggestions are welcome.

Looking at classes, I would currently be stock. I do plan to get Koni STR.Ts and Steeda sports in the near future, after Sam returns, which I think would put me in STX class. I'm also in love with 2010 GT500 wheels and am determined to get a set, even though that looks like it will put me into STU class. Not sure if that puts me at a disadvantage, but like I said, I'm nearly 40, and I'm more focused on overall enjoyment of my car year round than being the next hot shoe.

reece146

Drive your car completely stock for at least the first season. You need to learn to drive first and then learn how to tune the car for whatever driving style you develop.

Once you get comfortable with the car and make some friends with like cars at events you'll get the inside track with respect to what really minor things you can change to make the car really work and develop your skill.

Definitely sign up for an intro course - if it is anything like the one offered by our local club it'll be a completely awesome day/weekend event.

HTH

Campo 427R

Looking at your location I searched paved race tracks in Tennesee and are as follows: Memphis Motorsports Park, Nashville Speedway, Lakeland Internantional Raceway. There are also about 9 paved oval tracks in your state too.
I agree with your look and see approach. I'm sure you'll catch the fever with autox, HPDE or Drag strip racing.
+1 with reece146, just drive what ya' brung' and make mods accordingly. The new acquaintenances you make will become friends and they will help you and your car progress.
Have fun, be safe, enjoy!

safetyfastgt

Thanks for the advice. TN is a long state, so Memphis is a good 8 hour drive away. I'm closer to NC.

safetyfastgt

Had fun watching today. I'm curious, are most of you guys with a 5MT staying in second gear pretty much the whole race? There's one long sweeper I saw today, where you could get up enough speed with third, but not sure that's a good idea.

Whiskey11

Yes. Once I'm in 2nd I don't shift out of it. I have 3.55's in the rear and at the top end in 2nd I reach 65 mph. If there is a straight THAT long to reach the top of that I'd just ride it out. By the time you've shifted to third you'll just be shifting back to second so you've wasted that time and slowed down in the process.

safetyfastgt

Whoops. Typo. Meant 6MT! I figure it's easier to stay in second with a 5MT.

reece146

Yep, when you are first starting out with autocross second gear is the only gear you need. Once you really get into the groove and comfortable with your driving (i.e. you are no longer concerned with how to approach a course) then is he time to start experimenting with shifting.

Caveats apply; some courses may need third to stay off the limiter or need first to slide the car in a hairpin lets say but at this stage forget I said anything like that. It varies from car to car as well. With my S2000 I'm through the gearbox through first and second all over the place because of the low torque levels. I drove a friends E46 M3 on the same course and only had to use third one time on a long straight at the back of the course.

safetyfastgt

Do you guys find you're putting a lot of extra wear and tear on your cars? One of the attractive things about this to me is the minor cash outlay. Pretty particular about my cars too, so until I get in the groove, I'm sure I'll be pretty worried about damage. Didn't see any yesterday, but one guy told me he skidded into an island curb and damaged his rear quarter and wheel.

Whiskey11

It may just be my location and the concrete at the location we autocross, but my stocker BFG KDWS tires were fine at the beginning of the season, by the end of the season the outer edge is completely destroyed and I'm at the wear bars at 24.5k miles. Most of that is my lack of experience and chronic understeer caused by my lack of experience. Some of it is set up related. Specifically the outer edge dying is camber related. I ran 38 psi front and 35 rear. Any higher than those numbers at either end and the car just slid around everywhere and had no grip and that is at the Nationals site in Lincoln which is pretty hard on tires. This year we have 4 events at the Nationals site of our 8. At this point I've accepted that I may be replacing tires every other year or so which I think is pretty standard for quality summer tires anyway.

As for other parts? None really so far but last year was my first year and I'm not exactly generating massive G forces and taxing the suspension. I PAX just ahead of mid pack. Of 50 I'm around 20-23ish. Which for being on street tires and still having the F-Stock PAX modifier, that isn't too bad.

EDIT: Damage is going to be dependent on the area you race. I'm blessed (possibly cursed) with having the Nationals site in my back yard (ok it's 45 minutes away) which is pretty much a wide open slab of concrete. We raced in a mall parking lot (mall is closed) with some light poles but proper course design and a little common sense at the obstacles near those light poles prevented any damage. I wont say people don't have vehicles get damaged. Last year I witnessed a local ESP guy shear off a ball joint on his Camaro at the end of his run on the turn back to the grid. I've seen one older BMW lose a bumper but I think the bumper wasn't ever attached properly to begin with and I witnessed an EvoX eat a clutch. I doubt you'll have any of those problems on a newer vehicle without mods.

After each event and before each event just pull the wheels off and inspect all of the components for excessive wear. I doubt you'll see any. When you start modifying suspension it's probably not a bad idea to go back through and retorque the bolts you loosened up once a year to make sure they are still tight. Specifically the front spindle bolts. For a bone stock car where only the lug nuts are removed, I wouldn't worry about the suspension much.

I did notice some wear and tear on another part though... my wallet. I was expecting that though!

EDIT EDIT: That's twice I've edited! Anyway, you want to use the gear that suits the course. With a 6MT I'm willing to bet 1st goes pretty high up MPH wise. 2nd gear should for sure top out around 61-67 MPH depending on your final drive ratio (3.73 I think it's 61 mph??). Generally unless the course is really tight you'll use 2nd. If it's pretty tight you may try running the course in 1st one time around and 2nd the other time around. With the 5.0 you've got plenty of power to play with, you may run faster times in 2nd on a tighter course because it deadens the torque breaking the tires loose. That will require you to play around with it!