SAN DIEGO AUTOCROSS Sept30 Oct20 Nov18

[seancarole]

Great Job with the beast what suspension upgrades have yall made?

[johnny68]

had a great time thanks for everyones help and advise
john

[soloracerSD]

It was a great day of Pro Touring autocross at the San Diego SCCA SCAT Event.The drivers took their cars around the coures with impressive lap times.And threw some tight sections of course.It was funny a month or so ago a few SCCA members told me "People don't autocross those cars any more.They didn't know of the GG events or the website.It was new to me this year also. Dan W and Bryce informed me about it.At the next event I know of a few SCCA members that want rides in the Pro-Touring cars that ran with us.Even when the Pro Touring drivers were out working the course.I was hearing folks to the left and right of me chatting"It was good to see some Vintage American muscle cars running with us again"etc.."Where did they come from....

I hope to see the Pro Touring cars out again at our next event.The next event will be on the other side of the Stadium(East Lot).It won't have the hills and slope as sept 30 west lot.Lap times will be lower then..Sept 30 lap times. The sept 30 PT cars were doing between 73-76 second lap times. During Fun Runs they got down to 72 seconds.Dan W the competition is getting better...

Yes, If you Run You have to work.Course worker,Starter, Quick Note writer, ETC
That could take more then a hour.

[DTM Racing]

It was definitely fun being out on the course with all of you! Bryce and I had a long talk last night during my drive home discussing the finer points of this class and the competition. Here are the topics we discussed in no particular order:
1) Social Media-
I created a Facebook "Group" for us so we can keep everyone in the loop with goings on, please friend me on Facebook so I can get you all added.

2) Group Representation-
We need to get a "President" of some sort so that we can have someone who can speak to guys like George and Scott and act in the best interests of the group.

3) A meeting to get all this done-
We feel that the evening before the next event (20 Oct, so dinner would be the night of the 19th) we should get together for dinner and discuss the rules before the next event, so people can plan for next year.

4) The Rules-
The proposed rules we've honed in on are....
-American made, American powered
-Factory frame rails and sub frames, no modifications, but additional pick-up points can be used.
-200 TW tires
-72 and older chassis. (If the chassis is "newer" but backwards compatible to the 72 model year, it's good!)
-No alteration of the factory firewall UNLESS it is done for aesthetics(smoothing okay, no recessing for engine set-back)
-4" "Speedbump" rule. We will get a piece of PVC pipe, and it needs to be able to roll from the front of the car to the front of the front tire, the back of the front tire to the front of the rear tire, and finally from the back of the rear tire out the back of the vehicle, completely unobstructed.

5) Club Affiliation-
We have been asked by TART (Triple Action Racing Team) to join their club. They are a no-frills kinda club; mostly the V8 RWD guys, and all they expect is for us to come to events and help set-up/tear down at their 3-4 events a year. While I feel this is in the best interest of the club, we will not make any affirmative motions until we are all meeting face to face at our meeting.

I'm sure I've left something out, and we can address that later. lets get this moving and get at least 10 cars to the next event! We actually ended up rating a class trophy since we brought out so many cars and the SDR guys were very impressed! Lets not let this ball slow down!

Dan

[go-fish]

I was at the Coronado Speed Festival last week and watched the Vintage Trans-Am class run. This blew it away!

Working the course for Pro-touring cars, forced induction cars, and another class that involved a non-M BMW and a STI WRX was a ton of fun. I was at the end of the course where there was some good tail slide going on. I was most impressed with Jake in the red Elky. There were faster cars in the group but, honestly, I didn't know El Camino's could look that balanced around the course. Good driving. The last left turn of the course was extremely tight but all of the PT cars smoked the shorter wheel based Subaru.

The radio operator and the other guy in my work section were impressed. Radio guy was talking about trying to find a 1st gen Firebird to Pro-Tour. He was one of the Miata drivers.

[soloracerSD]

I think the ground clearance ruled should be based on the frame rails.Headers dipp below them and so do some rear sway-bar links.Some of the cars that showed up sunday my be already conflicted by some of the suggestions.

First what you really need is steady cars coming.You can later divide in to PT1 and PT2.This happens often in the SCCA.Your on the right track ,Do your own club thing first.Find a formate that works.If you want the SDR SCCA to adopt a class you have to show you have a class for many months.There is always the other options Sticky tires in SM,SU,CP,BP,XP..... XP,BP.CP,FP=P1 is a four in one class using a pax handicap to equilize cars.All these classes ran with Pro-touring AM-X last sunday. I plan to keep you guys running when they do.

The Firewall rule is a good one.I'm not a PT driver but I know how the rules develop over time..It would be good if you guys had a SCCA SOLO 2 and SOLO 1 rule book in hand.You can see how it's been done before. I have a old 2004 I'll give to Bryce he lives 20 minutes from me.

[Roy69RS]

Yesterday was a blast and want to thank George for the invite and showing us the ropes. I really enjoyed the course especially the hill section. It was fun to drive and made for good viewing. The course was more open then the Good Guys events and other PT events that have been put on for our cars. The regulars seem to enjoy having us there and it was fun to bench race with them and the other PT drivers. I'm sure we will do this again and hope to see more PT cars next time. The open session at the end was the best part and important if you want to see more PT cars in the future. I know track time to the PT crowd is something we are all looking for.

[soloracerSD]

Check this out guys the pictures Hank took of the PT cars on grid..They are up now at our FACEBOOK Page.. The first one is so cool it makes me Laugh..The picture facing the grid with the Roadrunner next to the Toyota and Honda.What a contrast now and then.

Let Hank Know you liked the pictures.." Roy has the link in the next text"


And Roy the hills is why we are called the best autocross location sometimes ..It might have something to do with the beaches too.I'm glade you had a good time..

[soloracerSD]

About creating build rules again.A suggestion I have is follow what I wrote at the beginning of this thread ,Include the engine location rule, ride height rule.Then plan for more cars.When you get the cars then use this as a format base the rules in SM, CP and XP.Except that ride height, fenders , working glass windows and working lights and to front seats,carpet and maybe factory dash pad required. PT1 PT2 can become SM CP XP once you go below 200 treadwear..maybe require that cars are 200lbs heavier then CP. Cp use to have a 16" max rim if you went from 10' wide to 12" you added 50lbs.

Read a current rule book and the one I have.It doesn't have XP, there use to be AP BP. They got combined and added wings..etc. small cars...it kind of put a end to Prepared Vetts.

[Roy69RS]

George - See if this link works.
http://www.facebook.com/sandiegoauto...ref=ts&fref=ts

Check this out guys the pictures Hank took of the PT cars on grid..They are up now at our FACEBOOK Page.. The first one is so cool it makes me Laugh..The picture facing the grid with the Roadrunner next to the Toyota and Honda.What a contrast now and then.

Let Hank Know you liked the pictures.. I have some pics of you guys on the track..send me a pivate message with email add and I'll send them..I don't know to do it any other way..you can post them here then

The face book "San Diego SCCA Autocross"


And Roy the hills is why we are called the best autocross location sometimes ..It might have something to do with the beaches too.I'm glade you had a good time..

[alcino]

I have been thinking about getting back into car events after a long hiatus and stumbled onto this thread. 8-9 years ago I was usually the only vintage domestic out at the Q. Glad to hear PTers being represented. Reading all your posts here have gotten me pumped to make it out to one of the next dates to re-hone my skills.

Technically I don't fit the PT(AMx) class (1976 mustang, 100 wear tires). I can eventually fix the tires but not the year. Hope you guys don't mind an almost Pro-touring car joining the party.

[Tomswheels]

Had a great time on Sunday, thanks to George and Dan for all the help getting the pro-touring cars going. I drove arguably the least modified car there on Sunday (Sway bars, disc brakes and subframe connectors) but one of the things that attracts me to race the Barracuda is LESS Class RESTRICTIONS not more. I think the more people that are able to get out and race their classics the better. I'd go 1978 and earlier 200 treadware and 3200+ lbs as the only restrictions and let everybody come out and race for fun.

[soloracerSD]

The 78 thing might be good 3200 lbs is a good baseline for many early muscle cars..Some cars are below that now.You can always lighten a little and put wieght where you want it.Keeping the weight up also keeps some of the comfort stuff in the car.I know that somePT guys are cutting into the firewall and moving the engine back.Not any from our event.That would be to much.Stock location!

Tom you have stock springs?I'm more impressed with your laptime.

[soloracerSD]

Bring it down anyway you can enter it in SM..You will still be on the track the same times as PT .That would be 3rd run group next event.Good to be there at 7:30 your first event.We are running in the morning next time.That means only chance to walk the track and register and tech in is before 8:45

[Tomswheels]

Stock leaf springs, stock torsion bars, 73 Plymouth Scamp front discs and 87 Licoln Mark VII rear disc. I really felt uncomfortable driving that course for the first four laps, and the car doesnt respond well at all to "overdriving". When I settled down about on lap 6 and ran a 74 second lap it was more representitive of what the car can do.

[soloracerSD]

I felt Like I was overdriving every lap.That track tested my patience.You couldn't get a rethem going.Tight turns scatted around the track and a few tough off camber ones.I think what made it fun to watch the Pro T cars run was you guys had torque.Hard braking then lauching out of the turns.My 82 RX-7 has now 150hp and maybe 60lbs of torgue..I need rethem or I'm kussing and swaring....LOL

Scott and I thought the tight turns would disappoint you guys.You lay out a track and sometimes it turns out much tighter then expected.You guys said "This is open for us".We were like "really"!?.WOW What till they drive one of our fast tracks...LOL

[Hank]

Hey guys,
I met quite a few of you guys at the event on the Sept 30. I'm the guy who was taking pictures on behalf of SCCA Autocross. It's great to see such a positive response from the guys who went! We hope the rest of you join!

With autocross and many such motorsports, there's a lot of talk that isn't followed by much walk. The fact that you guys showed up 8 or so strong does a lot for your credibility in our region. We get novices that come and go, and as the PR Manager (You may have also met Rae, who's the PR rep) and Secretary of the Solo Board, I hear lots of excuses. So great job to you guys for showing up!

Regarding your debut event. George is right. This event was TIGHT. And VERY difficult/technical. If you thought this was wide and fun, you haven't seen anything yet! Honestly Scott of SCAT designed this course in response to the fact that we were letting our speed creep up TOO much. That's why despite so much space being taken up by the Chargers tent, we still had a 70+ second course. Anyway, keep coming out and you won't be disappointed. I like this course because it taught proper technique and patience, but it wasn't "fun" in the slide sideways kinda of way. You slide on that course, and you'll be playing catch up the rest of the way!

As far as classes go, I will do my best to be an advocate for getting a class added NEXT year (2013). It's not easy since November next year and they need a month to vote, so don't hold your breath. I'd need a well thought-out proposal before the next meeting, November 5. Earlier would be better and I can disperse to the board. I'm the secretary and can likely get the proposal brought to the table by SCNAX (my club). They might not be happy about voting on something in December, but it doesn't hurt to try and if it harms nobody, it may just pass because we ALL have been talking about wanting participation numbers to go up for the past months. That's why the PR job was created in the first place.

I think two classes is preferable if you have at least 8-10 REGULARS, but one class may be easier while things are in infancy. For the board, we think, if we add classes, that also means we add jackets and trophies. We don't want dilution or redundancies.

Speaking of SCNAX, if you want a no-frills club, SCNAX is definitely that. We are the largest club, meaning you have a large resource of guys to talk to and work gets spread around when we host an event. Our agenda (and how we vote) is more swayed toward making this sport as affordable and sustainable as possible. Some other clubs are more geared toward making some profit, which often means it helps the club (and its social events) but less so the larger community. Some say we're socialist because we want to make this work (i.e. be affordable) for everyone and keep people coming, and some say they're capitalist pigs. Neither is entirely true IMO. It's true though, TART has a bit of an older demographic with higher HP vehicles. There's a lot more to a club than its cars though...and first place in the musclecar class (F Stock) is DCCSD. More importantly though, the two guys (George and myself) who bothered to create accounts in a forum where they've been autocrossing imports are actually not TART, DCCSD, SCAT or SDAD...but SCNAX.

This all being said and my dumb club allegiance aside, I actually think it wouldn't be bad to join TART or some other club because they could use the manpower. Since I'm of the "socialist" mind that wants to sustain this sport as I know it (and as I can afford it!) I don't mind spreading membership around.

LMK what you guys think and sorry for the gigantic first post! Super thanks to Bryce and George for helping making this happen.

[JakeR.]

I too had a great time this weekend. The course layout as my dad previously posted was terrific especially with the incorporation of the camber provided by the hill. Probably the most fun autocross course I have driven to date and if this is what George and the other regulars think is a "tight" course I can't wait to see an open one. It is definitely the perfect place to become a great driver.
Now that I am living down in San Diego I will definitely be back at these SCCA events and hope to see more and more pro-touring cars there to add to the great group we had this weekend, nice meeting you all and thanks for the compliment Johnny your car looked super mean out there and I can't wait to see it on the course!

[Hank]

The SE lot actually DOES have a hill (on the street side) and the last few events we've used it iirc. Despite it being smaller, we've managed to still have lengthy courses (60+ seconds).

Hope you guys got a chance to check out the facebook page. Sorry I didn't get more action shots...no telephoto lens :(

[soloracerSD]

Thanks For Coming on Hank.. I to have been meaning to meantion the East Side lot does have a hill.It's more like the lower half of the West Lot.Thats where we autocrossed sept30.Smaller hill and dip...NOT FLAT! You watch from a slope above it.Some told me they like that lot better.Another fun day of autocross guarnteed... The last course was mostly 70ish.Long tracks are fun.60 second tracks are just as fun.Your work groups could be less lenghty to..But no promises on that...