What class is my car?

[HG Nakai san]

Hi, I'm new to this and have never done an autocross before a i was wondering what class my car would be in or if it can work for multiple classes which would be the best, I have a 2005 ford mustang convertible, it has a cold air intake, a flash tuner, bear drilled and slotted factory size rotors, stoptech brake calipers, ebc yellow stuff brake pads, wilwood high temp brake fluid.

[steverife]

Is your tire treadwear rating numerically higher than 200?

If so, you can run STU (basic bolt ons, popular cars in class are Evos, STi's, 350Z's, base C5 corvettes) or you can run CAMC (very limited ruleset, domestic 4 seat rear wheel drives that weigh at least 3300 lbs).

[jcox07]

The cold air intake bumps you into STU or ESP or Cam C or our local catch all class of STM as long as you are on 200 TW tires or higher for STM and STU and Cam C but in ESP you can run R comp tires.

[dewittpayne]

Short term, if you run in novice class, then the car class doesn't matter as only your raw time counts. Long term, you won't ever be competitive in STU at major events. That's pretty much why the short lived STP class and the CAM-C classes were invented. OTOH, there aren't many locals running in STU so you might be able to get a cheap trophy or even a class championship just by showing up at every event. The local competition in CAM-C can be pretty stiff, as a lot of drivers that would normally drive in PRO class frequently run in CAM-C. The S197 convertible chassis is also not as stiff as the coupe, so that could eventually be a handicap.

STM is also a raw time only class so competition there can be pretty stiff as well. OTOH, the prep rules are even looser than for CAM. If you get the bug, be prepared to possibly spend a lot of money on preparation. There's a mechanic here in Kingsport, Beau Dunnivant at Blue Oval Classics, that is very experienced at prepping Mustangs. It's a one man shop, though, so it might take a while to get your car worked on.