So You Have a Classic Euro Sportscar and Want to Autocross...

"mikecyc72usa" (mikecyc72usa) 05/04/2016 at 20:16 • Filed to: SCCA, Autocross, Triumph, Spitfire, Vintage, Heritage, Classis, Hoon, Thrash, Euro, British, Italian, German, MGB, MGA, TR6, TR4, Jaguar, Fiat, Austin Healey, Morgan

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They’re out there, lurking. Skulking. Waiting. Under carports and tarps, dust covers and sheets, forgotten in the backs of barns and garages or lavished with attention. Jags, Healeys, Triumphs, MGs, Fiats, Porsches all are itching to be used by owners who aren’t part of the shine and show crowd, but don’t want to show up at a local SCCA autocross and run essentially alone. Until now. There is a brand new class for these older cars in the SCCA. Welcome to HCS and HCR, Heritage Classic Street and Heritage Classic Race classes. Below is a picture of my Spitfire hastily numbered and classed in the HCS class. Here are the rules, which are purposely simple: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Essentially, HCS means the car has to be street legal. I used to run in FSP, and was pretty much bringing a plastic knife to a gun fight unless weather and course design conspired in my favor. Which was basically never. Since my friend Robert wrote the rules of the class with some input from me, I didn’t want to be a hypocrite so I switched over to HCS. Currently I am the only one in my class locally. However I have several friends who are now interested in dusting off their cars to throw them around some autocrosses.

This past weekend I went to COTA to watch the Russian GP (I’m currently 12th in the world in Badger Fantasy F1 League, WOOHOO!) then run a Texas Spokes Sports Car Club autocross over in Lot H at COTA. It was my second autocross in HCS. My friend Duncan parked next to me in his Morgan +8, and he was considering running the event with me. He spectated and didn’t participate, but is interested. What we wanted to create was a place where older Euro cars could compete against other period cars, like the Classic American Muscle (CAM) class has done in the SCCA. Let’s face it, other than Vintage Triumph Register events (2 a year including Nationals for me if I’m able to make them) I, and many others have nowhere to compete against comparable cars.

So HCS is now a place for my car and I to hopefully mix it up against other cars of similar performance. HCR is for the stripped out race prepared versions of these cars. So dust off Dad’s MG, Triumph, Austin Healey, Porsche, Lotus, Fiat, BMW or Ferrari and join the fun! We have spots on grid waiting to be filled. I hope to foster some friendly rivalries in HCS, just like I have in the Vintage Triumph Register ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) at the past two Regionals. But more about that next post.

CaptDale - is secretly British > mikecyc72usa 05/04/2016 at 20:20

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This is awesome!! This would be great for my AH Sprite when and if I put her together.

mikecyc72usa > CaptDale - is secretly British 05/04/2016 at 20:21

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It’s the perfect car and the perfect class for it. I hope you get it back together soon!

Übel > mikecyc72usa 05/04/2016 at 20:29

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You know, on one hand this will be pretty nice if I ever decide to run my Karmann Ghia, but on the other hand I don’t think it’ll really help my chances much.

Liam Farrell > mikecyc72usa 05/04/2016 at 20:31

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Can’t wait to bring my classic European Sports Car out from under its cover.

mikecyc72usa > Übel 05/04/2016 at 20:32

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There is so much more than raw time, etc in this class in my eyes. Even though I’m really competitive and want to win, it’s fun for me to see other cars of the era being driven hard. It’s a spot for those of us with older slower cars to not only be a bit competitive with each other, but also to have an excuse to meet and hang out.

mikecyc72usa > Liam Farrell 05/04/2016 at 20:33

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Do it! What do you have?

bmil128 > mikecyc72usa 05/04/2016 at 20:57

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As long as they stick to the intent it's cool. I've seen C6 Z06s and Charger Hemi sedans running CAM which doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe > mikecyc72usa 05/04/2016 at 21:13

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Looks like its time to buy a helmet

mikecyc72usa > bmil128 05/04/2016 at 23:21

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That shouldn’t happen as those cars are far too new for that class. Sounds like a classing issue with the organizing club.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > mikecyc72usa 05/05/2016 at 05:02

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Sweet! I really want to import the autocross formula used in the States into the UK. We’ve got similar things but they’re either on fields or really really tight courses that are designed not to go out of first.

We're sorely missing an intermediate step between the street and ~£300+ trackdays (or even more for a hillclimb if you actually want something that's competitive).

CaptDale - is secretly British > mikecyc72usa 05/05/2016 at 11:11

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Yes thank you. It just time and money, both of which are always in short supply.

mikecyc72usa > CaptDale - is secretly British 05/05/2016 at 17:39

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there is a pyramid to life: time, space, money. Usually we only have 2. When we get all 3, it’s brief but glorious.

CaptDale - is secretly British > mikecyc72usa 05/05/2016 at 17:41

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Buttt.... I have none of those things :(

mikecyc72usa > CaptDale - is secretly British 05/05/2016 at 18:40

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Patience. Neither did I for quite some time.

CaptDale - is secretly British > mikecyc72usa 05/05/2016 at 19:03

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As my mother always says, “Patience is a virtue. Sometimes found in women, never found in man.”

Liam Farrell > mikecyc72usa 05/05/2016 at 20:17

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Hehe

Sam > bmil128 06/14/2016 at 08:24

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There is a C7 that competes in my local CAM-S class (I really don’t know what CAM-S actually is). All the CAM cars were actual CAM cars, like a ‘69 Camaro, a 455 Trans Am, and a ‘66 Firebird. My dad and I are going to attempt to run a ‘64 Impala 327 in the class, just because of how funny it would be. We also want to run our ‘72 Cadillac, but that might not even fit into any classes.

Sam > mikecyc72usa 06/14/2016 at 08:24

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Wait, they have this class now? I wonder if I can get away with running my ‘78 924, since it was the first year of production.

mikecyc72usa > Sam 06/14/2016 at 11:19

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Not at this time. Car has to be 1974 or newer, or be a model that was in production in 1974 like MGB, Spitfire, TR6, etc.