Help please. Getting into racing :D

[BrownBear]

Hey revscene. I am going to bcit soon, and I thought it was finally about time I built a track car. Ever since I got into cars I have always wanted to build a dedicated track car. I am most likely to build a 8x-9x civic hatchback. I want to turbo it. I seriously love the sound of a blow off valve . I had some questions about actually starting off though. I want to get into time attack or auto cross, I rather not getting into racing against other cars. I'm a student and if I hit someone else car I would feel horrible. I wouldn't be able to pay to fix. I was wondering how do I start off. Do I need my racing license? Are there some local racing clubs or teams that take on noobies? I eventually want to do the Kelowna Hill Climb. I would really appreciate any help. We all started off some were.

[cdizzle_996]

Hopefully you have deep pockets.

[BrownBear]

When it comes to my car my pockets are very deep. If my gf or anyone ask I got no cash till pay day.

[FS1992EG]

Single cam= turbo!
Twin cam= NA!
Stance Coilovers!
Falken Azenis rt-615k!
Bucket seat with harness!

Good to go!

[BrownBear]

Thanks for all the feedback, but I'm mainly looking into how I get my racing license and get into events and races. I already have a good build planned for my car. I'm thinking k24 swap into a 96 civic hatchback

[cdizzle_996]

Sub'd this thread should be good

[fliptuner]

For autocross, I'd do tires>suspension>brakes>chassis stiffening>power

[BrownBear]

Are there any restrictions on what I can and can't do to my car? I know for autocross they place you in different groups based on your car, but what about track days? I want to rip out everything I don't need and turbo my car.

[fliptuner]

Buy this and sell yours - you'll probably come out ahead.

http://www.revscene.net/forums/69626...0rs-turbo.html

[Traum]

Rule #1 - It is ALWAYS cheaper to buy someone else's race car than to build your own.

I don't know how much motorsports experience the OP has, but assuming that he doesn't have very much at the moment, I would strongly recommend him to get involved with VCMC and UBCSCC for autox to start. No licences are required for autox, and autox is the easiest form of amateur motorsports to get into. You may also prefer to go with SCCBC if you want to get into Solo 1 / Time Attack to start, but IMO, it makes more sense to spend at least a year in autox to get your feet wet first.

I would also recommend the OP to consider where his passion / top priority lies -- is he more interested in:

1) driving part?
2) the competition part? or
3) the car building part?

If you are more interested in #1, then the most sensible thing to do is to simply forget about building the car. Focus on driver training and building up your car control skills first. The thing with any form of racing is, the driver is at least 80% of the equation, so if you can't drive -- ie. squeezing at least 95% of what your current car is capable of doing -- there is little point in building a proper race car when your priority is to develop as a driver.

Another common "mistake" newbies commit is, by modifying / building whatever car it is, they generally violate the stringent rules that government the different forms of motorsports. Autox, in particular, is notorious for this. It could be as simple as removing your rear seats on an otherwise stock car, and you would be classed into the super competitive (and $$$) Street Modified class. The moral of the story is, learn the rules of the game by participating in the game first, and then you'll realize what you can / cannot do. More importantly, there is generally certain class-winning vehicles that make a lot more sense than others if being competitive is what you are after. If you start the car building right away, you could get off on the "wrong" foot and forever doom yourself into being "uncompetitive".

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having your passion in any of the listed (or unlisted) categories I have above. A "problem" I often see, however, is that newcomers initial confuse one priority for another, and inevitably proceed down one path when they are really more interested in another.

[aalex]

what is your budget? if you don't have saving. I would recommend you race with your stock car and develop some driving skill while saving some money for upgrading.

remember making the car go fast wont improve your skill

[multicartual]

Race your car stock to get a feel for it first, have fun, just spend money on tires and driving school

Open track a few times, find out what needs attention on your car. When you track your car you will notice 10 times more about it in 5 minutes than you'd notice in a month of normal driving. Any weak areas will make themselves known to you

Then... add parts and fix shit

[N8]

Originally Posted by BrownBear

Thanks for all the feedback, but I'm mainly looking into how I get my racing license and get into events and races. I already have a good build planned for my car. I'm thinking k24 swap into a 96 civic hatchback

First do some autocrosses and spin the car etc, get a feel for the limit in a low risk environment. VCMC, SCCBC etc etc

Sign up for the next driver training:

Driver Training | SCCBC.net

SCCBC runs most of the road racing events in the lower mainland and are a great resource to fast track your way into racing. We did roughly 100~ laps in 2 days. It was amazing and eye opening.

I'd recommend renting a racecar, which usually are prepped for the track so you know how a race car should handle. Also - it will make learning heel toe faster since the pedals tend to be setup properly. Then you will have a much better idea of what kind of car you want to build.

Also I'd recommend starting with slower cars first and working from your suspension. As soon as you drop an engine or turbo it you can be placed in some very competitive classes.

This is an excellent thread outlining the competitive cars for each class, another newcomer posted this who is in the same position as you:

SCCBC Forum - Newbie car question


And last point... BUY... dont build If you are prepared to spend roughly 2x the amount of money you would to buy the car outright and prepped, then go for it. Racing junk and improvedtouring.com are good places to look for prepped race cars

[boatcaptain]

have a look at lemon race or chump car race in the states.

[CCA-Dave]

Listen to the guys telling you to run the car you own first, before buying or modifying. Improving your driving skills early on should be your top goal, and this can be done in a bone stock, ANYTHING car. Look at it this way: The $5k you spend on a Turbo upgrade/transplant, is a season worth of AutoX and Track Day events. Now, if you say you have already budgeted for entry fees and tire use, I'd say you're best off doubling the number of events you attend.

Traum said it best:

I would strongly recommend him to get involved with VCMC and UBCSCC for autox to start. No licences are required for autox, and autox is the easiest form of amateur motorsports to get into. You may also prefer to go with SCCBC if you want to get into Solo 1 / Time Attack to start, but IMO, it makes more sense to spend at least a year in autox to get your feet wet first.

Follow that advice, hit up the UBCSCC and VCMC events. Also check out RallyBC and the RallyX series. Consider trying some winter events (easier on the car) to see how you like loose surfaces.

-Dave

[fliptuner]

The fastest (indexed) car at the last UBCSCC event was a Mazda2 with only tires, springs and swaybars - all driver.

[Gregboat]

Join a CACC sanctioned club first.

then get a CACC membership

get your autoslalom license ($15)

do some autocross events (log them)

get your novice time attack license ($40-50)

do some time attack events (log them too!)

get your senior time attack license ($40-50)

do the Knox Mountain Hill Climb!


- As your licenses increase, your car needs to play the part. For autocross you can be stock, whereas for time attack you need to increase the level of safety features on your car (seats, harnesses, cage, fire suppression, etc.).

Right now, I'm in practically the same situation as you, I just graduated, have a daily driver, and want to do some autocross and have been researching like crazy.
eventually, I want to build an integra as a time attack vehicle, and my end goal is to do the Knox mountain Hill climb as well.

hopefully my input helps you out. Good luck! (I know I sure need it!)

[Traum]

^^ Minor correction -- a CACC membership is not needed to participate in the autoslalom events. For time attack and most other CACC-sanctioned discipline, however, a CACC membership (in the appropriate discipline) is needed though.

[BrownBear]

Thanks for all the replies, I have been doing a lot of research. I got about 5k that I'm willing to spend on my car right now. I'm mainly interested in the car building, and driving part. I don't about the competitive part that much, doesn't mean I like losing though. I been looking around for cars, I did find this civic hatch without engine or tranny. I was really tempted to buy and build it, but I think I'll start with a pre-build race car, and just fuck around with that for now.

[BrownBear]

Sooo, I just got accepted into BCIT. Looks like all my money will now get spent on tuition instead of my car. I'm still thinking of buying a old civic just to fuck around with and to learn on. Who knows maybe one day I'll take it to the track. I don't really have money to keep spending on new tires and brakes, and just general maintenance that I know I will be doing more of if I track my car.

[Traum]

From the way it sounds, it seems to me that the best way for you to go about pursuing this racing interest of yours is to simply just take what you have now and autox it. Work on improving your driving skills. You are still going to have a ton of fun, and it won't even be that expensive. You are typically looking at $45 - $55 per autox event, or $80 - $150-ish (?) for a day at the autox school (Velocity Driving School from VCMC, or AutoX 101 from UBCSCC).

The good thing about autox-ing is, you can just use exactly what you have, and there is hardly any extra maintenance / wear and tear costs if you are just there to have fun. (But once you start getting your bearings on car control, you are gonna be so tempted to pour all kinds of money into improving the car -- or at least, upgrade your tires.)

At $200 - $250 a pop, track day gets a little more expensive, and the costs of consumables is higher as well. Before a track day, you might need to perform some preparatory work / servicing on the car (oil change, brake flush, other fluid changes etc.) to get the car track ready. After a track day, you are going to want to accelerate your regular maintenance / vehicle servicing schedule -- at a minimum, adjust your next oil change schedule to be much earlier than you would have had you not driven at the track day. Other fluid changes should also be accelerated, and your brakes and tires will see some dramatically accelerated wear. Track days could also be hard on your car and stuff might break, so you'd want to budget for those as well. Generally speaking, for a typical local track day at Mission, even though the registration fee falls in the $200 - $250 range, I think it is smarter to budget ~$500+ per track day in terms of immediate and deferred costs, assuming nothing breaks on the car. And then if stuff breaks, well... you should really have a budget set aside for that as well.

Good luck, and I hope to see you at some of the local events soon!

[Gregboat]

Although a competitive car would be great, you can really make due with just about anything in autocross.

regardless of your experience and what you drive, autocross is more about learning your own limits and the limits of your car. Sure, its a competition, but that isn't the first priority.

Autocross would be a great learning experience and allow you to grow your skill, while improving your car.

[ncrx]

I agree with Traum, start with autocross, u will be quickly humbled and your opinion of your driving skills will change drastically. There's always someone faster no matter how fast u think u are.

take all the schools with ubc and vcmc, do as many events as you can.

add a track day here n there... i would buy a ride in a chump car over building my own race car.. thats just me. i'd rather spend the money racing rather than building n fixing

spend less time building and worrying about the car. i guarantee for the first while u can't and won't get the maximum out of the stock car. drive what u got.. then when u get into it and want to be competitive, u'll want to be in an stc/sts build EF civic/crx or miata if u want to be doing it on the cheap... while they also double as great reliable track day cars. if u got more cash, a used corvette or s2000 or FRS are also great choices.

Other choice is to come karting with us at the wckc... its just cheaper in the long run
try a race now challenge with bbr karting, arrive n drive.
karting will give you your wheel to wheel jolly's with sheer cornering forces u will never feel in a car, sure its not as fast in a straight line, but its just the most bang for your buck racing u can do.

[BrownBear]

Thanks for all the help, I been so busy with work I haven't been on in a while. I been so bussy I haven't even had time to think about my car or autocross or any of this. I'm actually thinking of waiting till spring to start everything. I'm still planning on buying a used 9x hatchback. @ncrx the thing is I don't want to rent a car, I want to build one. I love working on cars, and I believe in beating the living shit outta a car. That's the way they were meant to be driven.