Hi Guy's (and Gal's)
I know there are some hardcore racers here on the board with track only cars, so I figured I'd ask. I have been tooling around with making my hybrid a track only car in a year or so. If I can swing it that is (if Intel stock ever goes up again). My question is what have some of you done to make your cars a track only car? What would I have to do to meet safety requirements? I talked to a club racer at a race in bremerton and he talked about a roll cage and crossbars and so on. I am planning on taking a performance drivers course.
Most of you know the extent of my mods to my hybrid. By the time I reach the point of track only, I would be done with perf. mods and ready to work on better breaking and handling. Any idea how much a trailer for a car is?

Thanks in advance.
James

 

Bremerton huh? I have family on Bainbridge Is.

Anyhow, the most important thing you want to do is get a quality cage -- you get what you pay for. So don't try to get the hook-up that will save you $1000, at the expense of having getting a hacked cage. When I built my cage, I decided to go with the SCCA ProRacing requirements -- same requirements that the World Challenge uses. You can find the safety specifications at http://www.sccapro.com/01rulebook/index.html in the Section 2 apendicies. I ended up copying the Realtime Integra cage design, as you can see on the link in my signature.

You will also need to install a fire supression system or approved extenguisher, and a remote battery/ignition kill switch.

That is about it for necessary car-safety modifications. Of course you will need a fire-retardant suit, helmet, shoes, gloves, etc. Make sure to consult your organization's handbook for exact requirements.

I have done the following to my R in preperation for track-only use.

Interior

- Cage (duh?)
- fire extenguisher.
- carbon-kevlar FIA approved seat.
- 5-point Simpson harness.
- remote kill-switch
- removed airbags.
- quick-release steering wheel (makes it MUCH easier to climb in over the door bars.)
- window net.
- Gutted all interior plastics (except for the dash), wires, driver and passenger windows associated parts, side-impact beam, heater core and all components that were related to the AC/heating system that were under the dash, etc.

Engine.

Nothing internal. However, removing the cat and running a straight pipe that dumps 2 feet after the header made it not so legal, and loud too (ear plugs required.) It puts out 188hp to the wheels, not so bad for a stock engine.

Suspension.

- Mugen N1 dampers with 600lb front and 900lb rear H&R springs -- these are pretty soft.
- Mugen 26mm rear swaybar, stock front.
- King Motorsports front and rear camber kits (allows lots of negative camber to be dialed in.)

As a point of reference for how much these modifications helped, I ran Willow Springs with the rear gutted, the Mugen LowDown suspension, and 26mm front and rear sway bars turning 1:44-1:46 lap times. The next time I came back, after the cage, suspension, etc. I ran 1:36-1:37 lap times consistantly.

In regards to a car trailer, just pick up a good used one for 800-1200 dollars.

Good luck! You wont regret it.


[Modified by Andrew, 10:38 PM 6/26/2001]

 

OK, this is the post that I need to bookmark!!!

Watch for me in your mirrors Andrew!!!

 

Whoa there, Chris. Don't get too cocky!!!

 

Thanks Andy.
How much should I expect to pay for the interior/safety work?
I know how much I am going to be paying for suspension mods already.
Thanks.
James


[Modified by itrhybrid, 8:41 AM 6/27/2001]

 

Andrew, good suggestions. I'll need to bookmark this post as well.

I think we need some updated pics of your car Andrew.

Also, how much did it help to have wider wheels? 15x7 Kosei K1's vs 15x6 stock ITR wheels?? Just curious about that also.

 

As a minimum you can add a 4 point roll bar from Kirk, Autopower, etc, a good fixed back steat, a fire bottle, and harnesses. That will be enough to do track events, time trials, and Solo 1 events. If you plan to door to door race that thing .. consider doing what Andwer did and get a permanent welded in cage, fire system, etc. It depends on what you want to do with the car.

 

A good cage will run just under $2000 for a custom jobbie. If you're concerned just about the safety, you can get a pre-made cage from Autopower for around $500. No need to get chromoly. Save the bucks and get mild steel. Chromoly will run the price of a custom cage up quite a bit.

As for cage specs, I looked at the link Andrew was referring to, but I chose to stick with IT and Grand-Am, which allow you to run 1.5"x.120". Actually that's a requirement in IT. Yes, I know the Type R will never be in IT, but that's what I chose. Some series, like Speedvision WC, let you run 1.5"x.090".

You can see pictures of my cage in my link, and Andrew's got a link in his sig too. Two different philosophies to accomplish the same thing. Safety and chassis rigidity.

Seat? I chose a Kirkey because they're more comfortable to me. Most of the roadrace seats pinch my shoulders forward and cause my back to hurt Added bonus? Kirkeys are only $170 for an intermediate.

Gutting the interior is pretty easy, unless you have sound deadening. This stuff is serious work to get out For those of us with R's we don't have to worry about this part.

Warren

 

Hey thanks for all of this info guy's. Looks like I can expect to pay about 1K for a quality roll cage that will meet most safety regulations. Like I said before, I do not know at the moment how much serious racing I will be doing. Probably start off with some lapping days then move on from there.
Do you knof any site to check out trailers? I tried Traderonline.com but found almost nothing.

James

 

I wouldn't go in for all of this at once. You can do a few track events first - without many if any more mods at all - and THEN decide how much you expect to do in the future. Then, if you decide you're going to do a lot of track time, AND if you're willing to live with the inconvenience of some of these mods (or have a dedicated track car), you can proceed with this stuff.

Remember, in your first few track events, you won't be using anywhere near your car's capabilities anyway, so many of these items won't make a difference.

 

I know. I have been talking with my wife about the idea of a dedicated track car. She said tat she would be ok with it on a few circumstances. The car would only be ised on the street in if it were an absolute last resort. All I would hopefully have to do is swap my stock rims and tires back on and throw some sor of passenger seat.

Also there is no way I would be able to do all of it at once. Budget (wife) would not allow for it.

James