jdmcbride

Sam - I am interested in starting autocross. What class would be the starting point and what mods are allowed for that class? I have a stock suspension with stock 18" wheels.

Sam Strano

I have to strongly disagree. Shocks do matter, and hopefully a few of the others here who have stock class cars (meaning stock springs) will chime in with their findings.

Not to offend, but things might be different where you live. We run on very real world surfaces here, and very often the sites are not nice and smooth. Even when they are the dampers control how fast the car generates roll and changes direction, as well as how stable the car is, and you can tune things like how it rotates, or not....

You compared Bilstein's to stock. Nobody said the Bilstein's were the ultimate, and in fact they'd be #3 on my list of shocks I'd use for an S197. And dampers are not supposed to limit roll, if one does, it's broken.

You don't know our rules here with SCCA, which is the easiest way to autox here and what most folks would run under. So I'd ask you to consider the situation before proclaiming that anyone do anything. As for what's best, that depends on what you are trying to effect about how the car acts.

And finally. It's not about how serious you are going to be with regards to autocrossing. It's about how serious you are going ot be with regards to a properly working suspension. The suspension doesn't know or care how it's being driven. The parts only act and react to the forces they are subjected to. The car has mass, the springs have rate, the wheels/tires/axles have unsprung weight and all that is there regardless of whether the car is being autocrossed, tracked, or driven to work.

Sam Strano

While your suspension is stock, your car isn't. Your intake and driveshaft take you out of F-stock which has very limited prep rules. Your intake is legal in the next few classes up, but the driveshaft means you have to run in a much higher class than any newbie should, or wants too. Hell, it's higher than I want to run as it takes cubic dollars to compete, and that's in cars that are better than Mustangs.

I suggest you go to scca.com, go to the Solo section and download the rulebook. Read up on the car prep rules. Rules are rules, and every form of competition has them. Many like to complain that X isn't legal and should be...

Since you are new, read the rules, but just go start to do it and learn. But you need to know the rules so you don't keep piling on parts that screw you more and more (so if you want you can prep to a less costly, more competitive class).

F-stock is the cheapest place to run because the cars are very stock. Only tires (on stock sized wheels), shocks/struts, brake pads, fluids, and a few other little things can be altered. You can't blame the car, it's about the driver most of all.

E-Street Prepared is the next, and really the only other place the car is truly competitive. You can do bars, springs, wheels/tires, headers, intakes, tunes, etc. in this class. Not everything goes, which is why you need to learn the rules.

Street Touring... in between stock and SP on prep, but you have to run against AWD cars and do it on less sticky tires. The car is not very competitive here. But it's a good place to get your feet wet since you don't have to compete against cars on all our R-compound tires. But the new ST tires aren't exactly your run of the mill street tires either.

Norm Peterson

FINGT

Not taken. We have the races in parking lots as you have too, well according to www.autocross.com

I didn't say either, it was just an example to a good brand.
The ultimate dampers would be the one that has magnetic damping control $2000/damper.
I don't think you won your titles only because having certain brand of parts, did you

Of course it matters, the more serious you are the more you are willing to put money on it.

Sam Strano

A "good brand" name doesn't equate to performance. It's also doesn't mean that a part with a lesser known name is automatically junk. Bilstein's are a fine quality part, but they do not offer the flexibility or damping range of a Koni, or for that matter a D-spec.....

Well, in fact of my 9 overall titles (between ProSolo and Nationals), all but three of the championships have been on Koni's. I have a ProSolo and a National Championship on D-specs, and one Pro Solo title in another car with Bilstein's on the rear, but Koni's in front. In fact I've set cars up with various shocks from Ohlins, Penske, Bilstein, Koni, Tokico, and so on. I can tell you without a moments hesitation that when someone wants something that works, is proven, and isn't a million bucks for performance application, I'm going Koni first.

I agree the more serious you are, the more you are willing to spend. The difference is I see it as being serious about handling. You see it as being serious about racing. I think anyone serious about handling would care and should care. It just happens to be those that compete demand better handling.

wbw3r

Newbie question: Is it legal in F Stock to just add the Ford Racing parts that come standard on a Shelby GT to a standard Mustang GT? That would be the suspension, intake, mufflers, tune, and shifter?

Norm Peterson

Sorry, but except for the exhaust system downstream from the cats, nope. You'd have to add/change everything over to Shelby GT spec (including any options unrelated to them). Essentially you're creating a SGT whose VIN does not reflect that status.

What you may be able to get other F Stock competitors to agree to at the regional level could be another matter (with no guarantees).


Norm

wbw3r

Do you mean that I'd have to add all the parts together to create what is essentially a Shelby GT clone, or that the only thing I could change is the exhaust?

Norm Peterson

Modifying the exhaust downstream of the cat is unrestricted in Stock, though you may have to meet decibel levels at some sites.

For everything else, yes, you are essentially creating a complete clone. At the National level, people have been protested over surprisingly minor issues (since there are valuable contingencies at stake), so the allowance for building a clone has to be written that way.

There is some freedom in Stock to modify or change, whether you simply mod your GT or turn it into a clone, but this is quite limited. Best to download the latest Solo rulebook. Poke around at www.scca.com for it. Section 13 (Stock) and Appendix A in particular is where you want to concentrate your attention. The general concept is that if the rulebook does not specifically say that you may make a certain mod in some class/category, then that mod is not legal for that particular class.


Norm