Thinking about a dedicated auto-x car

[Tbird232ci]

this is only a thought at the moment, since of course, im poor

i was discussing with my girlfriend about building a dedicated race car, because ive been getting reckless on the roads, and really nutty on the backroads, ive almost put my TC into a telephone poll, and ive had it fully airborn

i was thinking about almost a fully prepaired car, fire suppession, 12pt cage, a pair of racing seats, having only the dash in it, and probably power window motors...since the car would be street driven...to and from the events, no heat, none of that good stuff, only thing id wanna keep is door lock, windows, a radio, and wipers, along with all the lights that are needed for steet legal

it would be a thunderbird of course, 5.0 swapped in, 5-speed

how would a car like this be classed really? is there a general guidline of classes?

[Horse]

If you go to the scca website www.scca.com you can download the rulebook for classing cars. I'm pretty sure that would put you in Street Mod. class, but I'm not entirely sure

[Tbird232ci]

ill just build the car and run in an exibition class

[Zim]

honestly, look into a different car than the t-bird. If you want a dedicated scca racer you need to find the car that has the best front and rear balance for handling. A cheap miata would do wonders on an autocross track.

[Tbird232ci]

well, having something like a miata, neon, civic, mr2, or most of the other entry level cars wouldnt do me very much good, because i already have spare sets of wheels/tires, many parts, and access to parts, not to mention parts interchangability between my two cars i already have

[Zim]

neons and civics would be entry level cars yes, however if you go to scca.com and look through pictures... the miata's are defanitely not entry level cars. Some of the best racers run miatas... and an mr2 would be sweet as well. Trust me, you want a light car

[Tbird232ci]

reason i say "entry level" is because of cost

im not looking to be competative, keep up in points, race in a series and all just yet, i just want to get my fill of corner carving, off of the streets, explore the potential of these cars (not many people build and race these, id like to try it, and find out why for myself)

if i wanted to be competative, id pick up a Neon ACR, they can be had for 1,200-1,500, with sets and sets of tires, parts, engines, all kinds of things

i mean hell, i have 2 wiring harness, im going to have a rear, spare engine, wheels, tires, lots of small things, so if i break something, i wouldnt have to buy anything, i already have it

[Tbird232ci]

plus, if i were to gut one of these cars, it would be withing 200 pounds of a gutted fox body stang, a big weight difference between the mustangs and birds is the extra sound deadening (its everywhere!), and all the options such as power seats (which most of these got), all the extra wiring of the crap like headlight controls, all the creature comforts, and all that, these cars when taken down to the essentials are actually suprisingly light

[lowflyn]

Miatas are incredible on autox tracks. There's a guy here, drove an hour and a half with the top off in 40 degree weather cuz he had 4 rims/tires on his trunk for the ride. He owned everyone, and mostly stock.

[Zim]

Yeah autocross has nothing to do with high HP, its all about cornering. There was a guy running a S/C viper putting 750hp down to the wheels and he was horrible because he couldnt keep his tires planted, then the miatas just go cruising around the corners without even a squeel of the tires. Miatas are incredible on those road coarses, I cant believe it.

[fastmustangs1]

That would cool. I am thinking of converting mine to a competition car as well. Latley I have been removing weight spare tire, sound deadening material, and have new seats going in.

Matt