My Fastest Run From This Weekend’s MiDiv

"Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)" (bman76-4)
08/06/2018 at 15:55 • Filed to: None

Didn’t win my class, but I was the fastest car that didn’t show up and leave on a trailer, so I’ll take that consolation prize.

Drove 4 hours there, ran 10 runs over 2 days, and drove 4 hours home... with AC.

^my Miata and one of my trailered competitors.

DISCUSSION (9)

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
08/06/2018 at 16:23

I 100% think that bringing your car on a trailer should automatically put your car in a different class. Like yeah there are way too many classes as is in SCCA but it seems ridiculous that the real serious people will trailer “street class” cars to the events. It shouldn’t matter for prepared classes and such, you expect trailered stuff for anything moderately built to the class. But damn, street class should be 400+ TW and no trailered cars allowed. Basically I wish autox could be more competitive for shitty rental cars.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/06/2018 at 16:35

I’m on 200TW tires and stiff suspension, but I run a somewhat streetable ride height and, as a result, less camber. Also, full interior and such.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
08/06/2018 at 17:21

Well yeah I mostly include street touring in the, its silly to have those trailered category. Since most of the ST classing stuff is stuff you could do to a real street car for every day driving. My Miata is setup the same way, except I would end up in STR which a NB Miata is totally uncompetitive in (versus NC, ND, and S2k in there). Have never cared too much about autox classing though.

And really I am not sure when next I will get to do an autox. Ive been doing $179 track days with 80 minutes of seat time. So the $/seat time has been crazy good doing that. I do not miss driving hours to get to an event and getting fewer than 20 runs in a whole weekend, representing under 20 minutes of seat time. For pretty much around $100 AND having to work the course. NO BUENO! Haha

Jayhawk Jake > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/06/2018 at 22:11

I kinda agree, though I get trailering even a street class car just for convenience. Not tires though, bad tires just make autox irritating.

I’d like to see SCCA change some of the rules in the ST, Mod, and Prepared classes to be points based like NASA. I haven’t participated in a NASA event so I don’t know how well it works, but it’s really frustrating that if you want to compete in SCCA events you have to do EVERYTHING the class allows even to the detriment of your car outside of autox.

Jayhawk Jake > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/06/2018 at 22:12

Why is having to work such a negative? Track days need course workers too, and they’re usually volunteers.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Jayhawk Jake
08/07/2018 at 11:43

Being out in the sun is definitely a negative. Like sure, I dont mind doing it if I have to but I certainly enjoy the day way more without having to do that. I have done an autocross where there were paid workers picking up cones and that was awesome. And it didnt even impact the cost of the day which was sweet.

I am very appreciative of the course workers at the track volunteering their time and in the future I would gladly consider doing it (on a less hot day). But if given the choice of pay money versus work the course, I will gladly choose pay money. My time is better spent resting in the shade or working on the car if needed.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Jayhawk Jake
08/07/2018 at 11:45

Yessss I love the points based thing. That would entirely fix my frustration. I have done an event with MSNE where it worked exactly like this. Where even having 200TW tires versus “normal” street tires was worth some amount of points just like I was thinking. It was MUCH fairer and allowed modding the car without making it uncompetitive. But SCCA is much more popular in most places.

Jayhawk Jake > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/07/2018 at 16:38

Have you gotten involved with your local SCCA leadership at all?

Sorry, I’m Regional Executive for my region and I was Solo Chair for two years before that. Autocrosses don’t just magically happen, it takes a ton of work. The least competitors can do is help out the day of shagging cones. Sure, we could pay workers, but they won’t get paid much and it’s not like any of the pre-work would be compensated fairly at reasonable rates.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Jayhawk Jake
08/07/2018 at 17:02

I am not trying to argue that having competitors pick up cones is such a bad thing. It kind of just works for autocross and I get that. It is entertaining to watch the other cars and actively be involved with the event in some way even when not driving. But my point was just that now that I have started doing track days I have found that to just be one unintended benefit that I quite appreciate. I think more so I would be happy to work the course if I got way more runs. And that happens in some smaller regions. I LOVE small region autocross. Sometimes they cannot put on big courses but you often get a lot more runs. If I can get 20+ runs in one day because there are sub 60 people at the event in just 2 run groups, it is perfect. But any of the bigger regions charge double the price and I get 1/4 the runs. Sure it might be higher competition and of course the venues might cost more, I understand the reality of things. But as is, I have the choice to drive a bit further and get the experience that I love. In the end I am just there for fun, the competition aspect is secondary.

I have not gotten to any autocross events yet since moving to California. It seems like the only events close to home are run by PCA anyways and I am not interested in those politics lol. I basically have to head down to San Diego for SCCA events and that is a trek! I used to do 20+ events per year when I lived in NJ so its just a very different change for me. Now I can do track days though for pretty cheap, with less travel time required to get to the venues. So its just hard to get involved with Autox again and make a difference. My complaints are just observations and really would not stop me from enjoying it as is.