New to Auto X and HPDE! From drag to road racing.... with the wife lol!!

[SRDFTITAN]

Ok so as the title states me and the wife are going to try some auto x and road racing together. We plan on starting in auto x in August through (SCCA) and slowly as we progress start doing some HPDE with NASA. I currently already had a build going on that was originally intended on being a dd/drag car. But now as plans have changed so have the parts. Being that I was going for the dd/drag theme the motor setup was geared for monster hp and just going in a straight line. Of course now I'm going to have to detune the engine some and change up some things in the suspension dept.

Build thread: SRDFTITAN/LOADED811 97 EJ8 TURBO BUILD THREAD!! LOTS OF PICS **CUSTOM GAUGE HOLDER**

Paint thread: SRDFTITAN'S 97 EJ8......Oh god I decided to paint my own car!!! - Honda-Tech

Here are our new Scott Racing & Development Factory Shirts that my wife just designed. I know a little overboard, but hell if I'm going to suck at something (racing), I'm going to look good doing it!! These shirts look awesome, as they should because she's a graphic designer lol!! As we move up in road racing she is going to design all of our pit crew shirts, race suits and even the design/graphics on the race car. She has some kind of 3D program where she is currently designing the graphics that are going to go on the side of the car!! When she's done with the 3D image I'll be able to view the car with the graphics on it from any angle!! I know, I know I'm lucky as hell!! Check em out and let me know what you think, she did two designs, one all black shirt with gold lettering and one black and gold shirt with gold lettering. I'm leaning towards the all black with gold lettering because there much cheaper. What you guys think?

[Elbow]

I think you should forget the shirts and focus on track time. lol

What class will you be racing? Any idea on who is doing your cage or if you're buying pre-fabbed?

[SRDFTITAN]

lol on the shirt comment, anyway I should be in the SMF class. And Mainstream Performance will be taking care of the cage, haven't decided yet on custom or prefab yet. As far as track time goes I'm going to be in almost every event that SCCA and NASA are putting on for the rest of the year. That will continue into next year until I figure out if I want to stay with auto x or continue up the ranks with NASA. I'm guessing by your comment that you do some type of road racing or auto crossing as well?

[Black R]

Ya come play in smf with us!

Forget a cage - that's extra unneeded weight.

You will need to focus on suspension, race rubber (275's), and getting weight down in order to be competitive.

Do you have an LSD?

I'd recommend a small, quick spooling turbo in order to give you the midrange needed for autox.

[Elbow]

Well he did say road racing, so he has to have a cage.

I guess I'll see you at RA in August?

I don't do NASA but do SCCA stuff, did NASA HPDE in the past and the club isn't for me. I use to autocross some but haven't since like 07.

Big difference in the way an autocross car is setup and a road race car, I recommend buying an already built road race car, get your license, and then race it and learn. Starting off with autocross and some track days is a great first step.

[SRDFTITAN]

Well he did say road racing, so he has to have a cage.

I guess I'll see you at RA in August?

I don't do NASA but do SCCA stuff, did NASA HPDE in the past and the club isn't for me. I use to autocross some but haven't since like 07.

Big difference in the way an autocross car is setup and a road race car, I recommend buying an already built road race car, get your license, and then race it and learn. Starting off with autocross and some track days is a great first step.

Originally I was going to stick with SCCA, but it is hard as hell to find the information that I was looking for on one of their 5 websites. Right now all I'm wanting to do is some auto x with the occasional HPDE, just to make sure that we like it. I'm pretty sure that we are going to love it, so when we decide to go all out with HPDE/PDX and then on to TT/Road Racing we will be in the market for a dedicated race car. I want to make sure that I have the same car from the start if possible, so that it can be a smooth progression up the ranks without having to learn a completely different chassis mid ways through. So I'm guessing your doing some PDX with SCCA? If you are I would like to get some information on that as I think it's easier to get your competition license through SCCA over NASA. Plus NASA will get pretty costly while trying to move through all 4 HPDE classes they have, correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks for the comments and help.

[Elbow]

Originally I was going to stick with SCCA, but it is hard as hell to find the information that I was looking for on one of their 5 websites. Right now all I'm wanting to do is some auto x with the occasional HPDE, just to make sure that we like it. I'm pretty sure that we are going to love it, so when we decide to go all out with HPDE/PDX and then on to TT/Road Racing we will be in the market for a dedicated race car. I want to make sure that I have the same car from the start if possible, so that it can be a smooth progression up the ranks without having to learn a completely different chassis mid ways through. So I'm guessing your doing some PDX with SCCA? If you are I would like to get some information on that as I think it's easier to get your competition license through SCCA over NASA. Plus NASA will get pretty costly while trying to move through all 4 HPDE classes they have, correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks for the comments and help.

They only have one website: The Sports Car Club of America - Home

Road race rule book: http://www.scca.com/assets/2012GCR-updatedJuly1.pdf
Autocross rule book: http://www.scca.com/assets/2012_Solo_Rules_May.pdf

Atlanta Region website: www.atl-scca.com
Atlanta Region Solo website: Atlanta Region SCCA SOLO (Autocross)

I like the way you think though about starting with autocross and moving to a DE type thing, it's a big investment just to jump into real wheel to wheel and if you're fairly new to track driving it's a great path to take.

I have done PDX in the past yes and NASA HPDE, I have instructed some in the Atlanta region with SCCA as well. Feel free to ask any questions!

I think you learn more getting your license with the SCCA (as long as you get a motivated instructor), NASA HPDE doesn't really teach racing as an SCCA school does and you're right, you will spend more doing HPDEs until they approve you for a comp. school, BUT, that's extra seat time which isn't a bad thing, but it will cost more and after a while you're just doing circles running HPDE unless you find you would be content doing DEs, some people find that fills their need and they don't care to go racing.

Have you considered Skip Barber? It's costly but you won't find better instruction anywhere else and at the end of a three day you can walk away licensed.

[SRDFTITAN]

Ya come play in smf with us!

Forget a cage - that's extra unneeded weight.

You will need to focus on suspension, race rubber (275's), and getting weight down in order to be competitive.

Do you have an LSD?

I'd recommend a small, quick spooling turbo in order to give you the midrange needed for autox.

Yeah your right about the suspension, because I'm still going to daily every now and then I went with Ground Control custom rates of 450f/430r with Eibach Pro Dampers. I was going to swap out my shocks but after a call to Eibach I was assured that my pro dampers that I already had would work for now. I'm replacing every bushing front to back, front and rear camber kit, new inner and outer tie rods, rear toe adjuster, rear lower control arms, stock front sway bar with new end links, rear sway bar with subframe, etc. As far as tires go I already had to trim my fenders to fit my 215's that are on there now. And currently I have a wavetrack lsd. Thanks for the comments, hope to see you out there. What will you be driving.

[SRDFTITAN]

Again thanks for all of the advice. I've considered all three options that you speak of. The first being SCCA, but I got a little confused going between all the aformentioned websites and then having to piece everything together lol. Maybe it was just me. But anyway I liked the way the NASA stuff was laid out, HPDE then TT then Racing! Just seemed like an easy transition with NASA but just as you said you could be in HPDE for a good while. I think that would have been ok if all I wanted to do was HPDE, but I'm going to try and go all the way up if I can. I'm going to check out the links that you put up for me about SCCA, but just in case I still can't find what I'm looking for; How would I go from auto x to pdx then racing? Like stated above I also considered the racing school, I just didn't see how you could really learn something over the 3 days that was worth so much money. I looked into it over the course of a day and found mixed reviews about it. Me and the wife both have decided that starting in auto x is the best decision for several reasons; one making sure that we even like this type of racing and also making sure that its something that we can be competitive in. I would hate to drop $4-$5,000.00 just to find out that I hate it and need to go back to drag racing lol!!! Again I do appreciate all of the advice and more is welcomed. In August at Turner Field will be my first time doing this so wish me luck!!

[Elbow]

Again thanks for all of the advice. I've considered all three options that you speak of. The first being SCCA, but I got a little confused going between all the aformentioned websites and then having to piece everything together lol. Maybe it was just me. But anyway I liked the way the NASA stuff was laid out, HPDE then TT then Racing! Just seemed like an easy transition with NASA but just as you said you could be in HPDE for a good while. I think that would have been ok if all I wanted to do was HPDE, but I'm going to try and go all the way up if I can. I'm going to check out the links that you put up for me about SCCA, but just in case I still can't find what I'm looking for; How would I go from auto x to pdx then racing? Like stated above I also considered the racing school, I just didn't see how you could really learn something over the 3 days that was worth so much money. I looked into it over the course of a day and found mixed reviews about it. Me and the wife both have decided that starting in auto x is the best decision for several reasons; one making sure that we even like this type of racing and also making sure that its something that we can be competitive in. I would hate to drop $4-$5,000.00 just to find out that I hate it and need to go back to drag racing lol!!! Again I do appreciate all of the advice and more is welcomed. In August at Turner Field will be my first time doing this so wish me luck!!

The biggest difference between autocross and PDX is neither require any license or major safety equipment. Road racing does. PDX is open to anyone with a basic car that can pass tech, pretty much the same tech they do at an autocross, no license or previous experience is needed. They will issue you a logbook that's used for PDX and Time Trials with SCCA, as you progress you will move up to driving without an instructor, than have the chance to drive time trials if you want to but that does require some more gear.

The Skip Barber three day school will teach you more than you would believe, things track day instructors probably don't even know, it can be done at a later stage though if you wanted more input. They also do track days sometimes for drivers and offer feedback, once again at a level higher than most volunteering track day instructors.

My biggest piece of advice is don't worry about modifying the car, just drive, you don't need race tires, aero work, or any of that to get on track, spend all your funding on entry fees and basic weekend prep then go faster as you move up. I see your car is already modded which is fine, but I wouldn't keep modifying it, if it runs strong, has solid suspension and doesn't leak or fall apart, it's ready! Just go out, learn, and have some fun! Autocross is a lot of fun for the price, I did my first when I was fifteen and was hooked for a few years you learn a lot about car control that can be used in other areas as well.

What you really need to know is:

-What car do you want to race?
-Do you want to race or do time trials?
-What is your budget?

I would follow a path that goes along with my plan, meaning if you want to end up racing SCCA GT then start with SCCA and move up to that class, if you want to race NASA TT then do HPDE and move up to time trials.

Remember that actual wheel to wheel racing requires all of the gear such as legal helmet, suit, head and neck device, the works. Time trials with NASA doesn't require much of anything to my knowledge and with SCCA it requires a roll bar at minimum and pretty much the rest of the gear racers use. SCCA time trials is not as popular as NASA TT because it's not typically ran during the club race weekends around here, but it's still a good gig and they run hill climbs as well such as the one at the Dragon.

[SRDFTITAN]

Ok so today got a lot accomplished on the car (body work wise). The car is sitting in the paint booth as we speak!! All I have to do in the morning is tape a couple of things off, wipe down with a de-greaser and spray. When I got home I had a present sitting at the door....





Front springs @ 450lbs/inch


Rear springs @ 430lbs/inch


Very excited, now just have to wait on all the other stuff so I can do everything at the same time. Comments welcome!

[Elbow]

Nice, those are very soft rates for a road course but for track days it should be fine until you want to get more aggressive.

[1moreaccord]

Definitely put a lof of time, energy and focus into the shirt. That is most important here!

[SRDFTITAN]

Yeah these rates would be considered soft for road racing, but I think it will work out great for a "starter" suspension setup. Plus I'm going to dd this car every now and then. I didn't want to jump in with crazy spring rates not knowing how it was going to effect the dynamics of the car. Thanks for the comments as always and keep them coming.

[SRDFTITAN]

Just a little update:

Parts are starting to show up in the mail already. Need to get all the suspension stuff on tonight as I have an appointment at Honda tomorrow morning to get a 4 wheel alignment.











Stay tuned!!

[SRDFTITAN]

Ok today have a little update for everyone. Got the ASR sub frame brace, ASR sway bar and rear lower control arms in. Everything was running pretty smoothly until I crawled underneath the front of the car and discovered that my down pipe was cracked almost all the way around it. So the H brace, radiator, radiator fan, fan switch and alignment is going to have to wait until I can get the down pipe fixed. I was however able to get a lot of negative camber out of the back with my lower control arms and the good ole washer trick!! Anyway here is some pics, keep the comments coming.

















The carnage!!!

[eraser4g63]

Tracksunlimited.net for some track time. Driver mod is by far the best mod you can do, I have built cars then tried to track them it makes the learning cure way too steep. I picked up something that is bone stock and put pads and new brake fluid in it and called it a day, when the OEM tires die it will get stickier tires, and the path of modification will be as I push something to its max it will be replaced with something to take it farther. I cooked my brakes at AMS hence New brake pads and better fluid.

[SRDFTITAN]

Just a quick little update:

Since my exhaust was broken I figured it was a good idea to address some other exhaust issues. My exhaust is already 3" that was fabricated and installed by Mainstream Performance, however the muffler that is on my car is a modified factory Honda muffler that I wanted to try out. This combination worked very well, as the exhaust note was extremely quiet and it flowed pretty good. However just to make sure the exhaust flows at its maximum I'm retaining the 3" exhaust but scrapping the modified muffler. In its place will be a 3" x 6" flex pipe (for the down pipe issue), 2 (two) Dynomax 24245 Race Bullet Resonators/mufflers with dimensions of: 3.5" inlet/outlet x 17.25" in length, and a N1 style muffler with silencer. Hopefully this combination will allow the engine to flow at it's absolute maximum and also stay on the quiet end. I do understand that it will not be super quiet like my modified Honda muffler, but it should be quieter than most (keeping fingers crossed) lol. I also was wanting to make sure that I maintained a straight through design throughout the entire exhaust this time around. Well thats it.

[SRDFTITAN]

Got a little update:
Was able to get access to a welder and fix my down pipe. Got back to the shop and it bolted back up with no problems. I then had to make a new oil return line gasket to stop a leak that I've had for a while. After this I finally was able to test drive the car with the new suspension setup and all I can say is ......SIMPLY AMAZING!!! Its very nice and predictable/nuetral. Will be taking it to get an alignment hopefully on Tuesday at Honda and then I will be able to feel the full benefits of the newly added suspension components. After I got back from the test drive I checked my coolant levels again to make sure there was no air in the system, the new radiator, fan and fan switch are working out great!! I then turned my attention back to the body and started wet block sanding with guide coat. I started on the passenger side quarter panel and made my way up to the passenger door before quitting lol. I will say that the body is surprisingly straighter then I thought it was going to be, especially since this is my first time. I am very pleased with the results so far and look forward to getting the block sanding done by this weekend. Hopefully if everything turns out right I'll be posting some pics of the car with the base coat and clear sprayed on in the next couple of weeks, just have to see how everything works out. Anyway enjoy the pics and comment.

[Elbow]

You're spending too much time on building the car.

Driver mod > car mod! lol

[SRDFTITAN]

You're spending too much time on building the car.

Driver mod > car mod! lol

You are correct sir, would have been working on the driver mod this past week end, however had some problems with the down pipe and couldn't get it fixed fast enough. Also need to get an alignment so the vehicle will track straight like a normal car. Will be working on the "driver mod" on August 26th at Turner Field, going to also try to get to some events in the Dixie Circuit as well.