Hello, I know I will get flamed for not being in my mid twenties or something but everyone has a start...I am trying to get started "road racing" in the SCCA, it seems like a more controlled environment than the streets or sanctioned roads around here...The club racing looked very interesting and I am wonder what all entachments come with a plan like this? How much money will I have to spend on this, seeing that im on a limited budget-selling parts just dont cut it .... any help on how to begin and how much will be greatly appreciated...seeing that I dont understand the SCCA's explaination.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Anthonyl469 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hello, I know I will get flamed for not being in my mid twenties or something but everyone has a start...I am trying to get started "road racing" in the SCCA, it seems like a more controlled environment than the streets or sanctioned roads around here...The club racing looked very interesting and I am wonder what all entachments come with a plan like this? How much money will I have to spend on this, seeing that im on a limited budget-selling parts just dont cut it .... any help on how to begin and how much will be greatly appreciated...seeing that I dont understand the SCCA's explaination. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Whereas club racing is a far better place to get an adrenaline rush than the streets, its hardly inexpensive even at the most inexpensive entry levels. Auto-X (Solo II) is probably much more affordable and something you could slide into with your current car immediately w/out any additional investment. Many people who later went on to club racing and beyond started out in their teens as auto-xers. Best of luck!

 

What Adam said. Start with autocross, then work into track days and road racing later when you can afford it (and when you've learned the basics.) You also may want to look into SCCA's "First Gear" (formerly called "Speed Freakz") program for people aged 16-25. At a minimum it will save you some $$$ on membership.

BTW- I don't think you'll get flamed for being young around here (unless you're a dipshit, which it doesn't seem like you are, based on the wording of your post above) ... we all started sometime, right? I ran my first autocross back in '91 when I was about your age (and spun a poorly set up 87 MR2 twice in one run!)... but the people I met and the cool cars I saw that first time got my attention and I have been hooked on various forms of this stuff ever since!

PS- one piece of advice... use this forum as a valuable resource as your journey progresses; there are a bunch of very smart, very experienced, very fast people in this place who show up and teach the rest of us constantly

Best of luck and most importantly HAVE FUN,

Jon

 

start with go-karts

 

I love auto x, we have a auto x about 1 hour from where I live. Only problem is that I can never decide what suspension upgrades to get I will always save up and then decide that that is to aggressive for my street setup: blah blah:...But thanks for some guidance and hope you guys the best of luck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Anthonyl469 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can never decide what suspension upgrades to get </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats easy - either none, or a decent set of shocks, and spend the rest of the money on seat time and working on your driving skills - http://www.autocross.com/evolution - this is a great way to improve .

 

I would Auto-x as much as you can right now, and if you have some extra cash try to make a few HPDE events with NASA next summer. A full weekend of 2 days of HPDE can cost you $500 when all said and done, but you can look into being a worker at some of these events and that will give you credit for the next event. Not only will this save you some money but it can be very beneficial to work a corner station if you really want to get into racing some day. For now you should really just stay with auto-x, and HPDE.

Do the above and stay in school, go to college, get a good degree, get a good job, THEN you will have the extra income needed to race.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 57STS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you can look into being a worker at some of these events and that will give you credit for the next event. </TD></TR></TABLE>
How does this work? Color me interested

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by urbanlegend21 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">start with go-karts</TD></TR></TABLE>
What he said

With autocrossing you can use your street car so it doesn't require much extra investment but with karting you can get wheel-to-wheel racing experience for a fraction of the cost of racing full-sized cars. Once you get into 80 cc shifters and above you'll be driving karts that are faster than most cars anyway.

Here are some karting links for you to peruse. If you want to end up in pro racing or if you wanna be really good in club racing one day karting is the way to go. Who knows, since you're still young you might have a chance at the Red Bull F1 Driver Search.

ekartingnews.com
skusaonline.com
CART Stars of Tomorrow
World Karting Association

The karting scene is kind of confusing but read the article on getting started on ekartingnews and try to read up on the different kinds of karts. Since you live in Alabama some of the races in FL may not be too far for you. There is great competition at the FL tracks so check out the schedules on the last three sites for races there.

-G

 

yup - at your age, and presumably a small budget, auto cross is probably a good way to start. Of course your car will put you in a class where you will likely get destroyed (you have a hybrid, right?) After some time behind the wheel autocrossing, you will probably want to become competitive - at which point you may want to think about getting a different car.
To begin with, though, just get to the auto-X, get some seat time, and attend the Evo school - as the others have said.
Good luck.

 

At the SCCA school last week, there was a 17 old who was runnign with us and doing quite well. It all comes down to money to what you want to race in. If your funds are limited I would start out karting and Auto-xing.

 

How much money?

Well what do you want to start with?
Do you want to own or rent?

You need to be more specific. If you want to start seriously you need to set alot of money aside. Plan to spend 2000 dollars per week end.

To have a better understanding of all this

1)become an SCCA member
2)volunteer in a SCCA team for a couple of races. Many teams need volunteers to come to the track and do minor stuff, you will learn a great deal of what is club racing, which class you want to get into, and make friends that will lead you in the right direction. Spec Racer Ford, Spec Miata, IT racing, or formula cars are all great, you need to make a choice before you jump into something. Boundourant, Skip Barber or other schools will teach you the basics, again can you afford it?