Alright just as the title says, I've been thinking a lot lately about trying to join the SCCA and get a start in just production class club racing. At least, I think that's what I mean... pretty new to the whole idea really. I have a 1984 318i sitting in my backyard that isn't registered but runs fine.... it's just screaming out "let me have some fun before I die!" So I'm contemplating just track prepping this car a bit and going for it. Suspension, brakes, strip it down, roll cage, and some engine work and I should be alright.
At any rate, I've been on this forum for a quite some time and just totalled my second j-body (first wasn't totalled rather, traded in) at the beginning of july with no plans on buying another, but you guys have always been rather helpful and quite the diverse group so I figured I would find a few people to give input on here rather than going to the e30 forums and waiting 3 days for someone to post a reply.
Aside from some registration fees, getting a novice license, and maybe a little more prep work on the bimmer to get it to meet regulation, anything else stopping me from diving into this?
What about sponsors? Anybody ever get some lovin' from sponsors for club racing?
And lastly I've heard it's damned expensive. How bad is the registering for races and such realistically? I mean I doubt everybody who does this are millionaires... I'm not expecting to make a living with racing but not trying to break a living either. I work a full time job so there's time for both, right?
What kind of racing experience do you have? If you have none, I would suggest you start out with some local autocrosses.
Zach wrote:What kind of racing experience do you have? If you have none, I would suggest you start out with some local autocrosses.
It's like I responded to my own post
lol
Thanks for the links, Charlie
philter127 wrote:Zach wrote:What kind of racing experience do you have? If you have none, I would suggest you start out with some local autocrosses.
It's like I responded to my own post lol
Thanks for the links, Charlie
Not sure if I understand you here........ no where in your first post does it say you have any experiance....... so assuming you dont, I'd also recamend some Auto-Xing time, before hitting the road coarses....... (auto-xing = large parking lot with cones, road racing = track w/ walls and sand traps........ not the best place to learn how to handle your car)
The track up here, Road America, has public days, where the track is open for the general public to take a few laps....
SPD RCR Z -
'02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT -
'04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI -
'78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap
i talked to a guy the other day and he said that autoxers tend to be the fastest club racers. because in a autox environment you have to be on right now giving 100% when needed. i have been thinking about buying a old neon and doing some neon spec races at waterford hills
maybe i can get noticed
see ya!
It does? Ooo...when is that gonna happen?
the 318 is a fairly popular car in Improved Touring. The thing you need to think about is cost. you can autocross regionally for about $30.00 a month +tire expense (1200 for new rims and tires) then typically 600/year in tires if you autocross regionally, if your looking at doing it competively look at around 1800 (2 sets for dry, 1 set for wet) per year
Autocross is a great jump point to club racing because you learn car control down to an art.
For starting out in club racing, spec miata and spec neon are great, just be willing to shell out the additional travel expenses, for towing your car their and back, and tires at the event.
A modest Club Racing budget would be $20,000 a year, if you hit all the events.
1200.00 in tires(2 sets is modest). + $200.00 (aprox gas for the towing vehicle) +$300.00 entry fee
+food +lodging +whatever breaks on the car
Also A LOT of national level autocrossers will let you co-drive their car in exchange for helping to cover the racing costs, like tires, transportation, etc...
co-driving is a great way to get to the national level for less than campaigning a car on your own. So get out there to your regional events and meet some people.
I miss my autocross family as if it was my own from the brr region www.brr-scca.org. Autocrossers are cool people, and a lot of us are out there to have fun and quell that competition need.
Good luck!
-Chris
also I forgot to add, you can lower that budget about 5k if your willing to buy used tires (2-3 runs on them, lots of racers will ditch them after that, or a set that someone used at a track day) Secondly buy used, but know wha to look for, someone who dumped 20K for a honda will often sell that race ready car for 12K or less.
-Chris
