Road Racing - Looking for some auto x advice.

So I just auto xed my 95 Firebird Formula for the first time today and I'm looking for some recommendations for suspension mods. So I just wanted to hear some suggestions from people who have been doing this for a while or know what they're doing.

Give Sam Strano a call and he can fix you right up. Congrats on the first event, you'll be hooked now!

before you start spending money, you have to look at the class youre running in. was it an SCCA event or a small local club. if it was an SCCA event or something similiar, they could be very strict with the rules, and youll end up outclassing yourself. some clubs will bump you a class if you change your washer fluid. theyre pricks like that.

come back with more info. of course everyone will tell you to just practice with a stock car first. at least give it a full/mostly full season before modding, and see how you like it, if you can make many events, etc.

Its SCCA but our local chapter has a class called STO. Which is street tire open so I can do any mod I want as long as I stay on street tires.

never heard of that before. if you just want to race and learn, then save some money and stay mostly stock for a year. see how many races you can make, regularly. and if there is unlimited modifications allowed, then it sounds like there could be all-out racecars there. stripped, gutted, 1000lb lighter cars with maybe even more power (LS1 swapped-anything jap-like a miata).

anyway, if you really want to start spending money, shocks/struts/sways are the usual starting points.

Unfortunately they changed the name from last year. It used to be Street Tire Fully Unlimited. It was great to see cars with STFU on the side.

That's fine if you are going to race only in you local region forever... The minute you run somewhere else you'll be screwed in any other class you'd be put in. And frankly with the power and weight, any class that forces you to run on street tires only is problematic for the competitiveness of your car. We have too much torque, and too much weight for street tires to deal with as well as they can on smaller, lighter and even AWD cars.

Unfortunately they changed the name from last year. It used to be Street Tire Fully Unlimited. It was great to see cars with STFU on the side.

hah..

If you want to upgrade springs, shocks, and sway bars, go for it. Just know that you'll be bumped up a class or two or three if you entered a regional series! :D But at that stage, you'd want to start running a stickier tire too, which helps BIG TIME.

FWIW, I've only ever run 1 auto-x event (although I've run ~3 season's worth of track events) and even though it was my first time doing auto-x, I ended up being the second fastest F-Body there! :lol: (out of ~20+!! :D). There was only 1 car faster than the other F-body and myself, and it was a tricked out Subaru :rolleyes:. My car has Strano's suspension in it, and I ran on a set of Toyo RA1's. I think I surprised the rest of the guys there, 'cause I just showed up and ran, claiming I've never done it before! :lol: (which wasn't entirely un-true ;)).

You won't be the fastest guy out there in your first season though, unless A) you're really good, or B) your competition sucks. The advice that the guys have already given you is pretty good ... try it for a whole season first, THEN get into modding. You'll know better which direction you'd like to go with your car, and with the racing :cool:.

I have to second this comment. My first Auto X a month ago, I was 85 out of a field of 92 cars with headers, exhaust, and fairly new BF G Forces. Put on some NT-01s this week (not perfect for Auto X but affordable) and finished 17th out of 61 cars in my second Auto X. I beat several C4/C5s, Miatas,a S2000 on Rs and all of the other cars in the ESP class (my class). Club President said he is kicking me out of Novice for the next event. Come to find out, my stock suspension isn't all that bad with some decent traction. I am sure I would get smacked around with some serious ESP guys, but all in all I was pretty happy with the results.


That's fine if you are going to race only in you local region forever... The minute you run somewhere else you'll be screwed in any other class you'd be put in. And frankly with the power and weight, any class that forces you to run on street tires only is problematic for the competitiveness of your car. We have too much torque, and too much weight for street tires to deal with as well as they can on smaller, lighter and even AWD cars.

not everyone does SCCA or bigger events. most all my mods were done before ever having an interest in autox/road racing. i could care less about some douche telling me ive done too much to my car, and there is no way in hell im ever going to de-mod it just to run in a certain autox a handfull of times a year.

if youll be in that STO class, then try it a while, and if the bug bites you strong enough, buy what you want and have fun with it. its hard to, but try to compete against yourself and your own times, rather then another car that might be in a different class.

The first think I'd work on improving is the nut behind the wheel :D

In all seriousness, Sam can set you up very nicely, but you really should work on your driving skills first before changing everything. If you local region offers a school, take it. If there is a region close by that offers a school, take that one too. Run the whole season without messing with anything, this way you are not chasing the set-up and guessing if it's you or the car getting better or worse. Then at the begining of next season, take the Phase I evolution performance driving school.

Read this from a veteran:

http://www.dmvrscca.org/topten.htm

This should give you some good direction.