East Tennessee Region SCCA

I am new and wanting to start racing solo. I need to know exactly what division I would register in. I have a 2006 Mitsubishi eclipse gs all stock.

Bradtkd wrote:I am new and wanting to start racing solo. I need to know exactly what division I would register in. I have a 2006 Mitsubishi eclipse gs all stock.

If you want to run in "Novice" the late model Eclipse's fall into G-stock

In novice, everyone has a base class with a 'multiplier' based on how fast cars in that class should be, we call it PAX. G-stock is a relatively slow class.. so, for example, you might have a multiplier of .800 that we multiply your fastest actual time by.. while another novice in a Corvette Z06 will have the base class Super Stock with a much higher multiplier of .900 (because its a faster car) - so if you run a fastest time of 60 seconds we multiply it by .800, and your Novice time will be 48 seconds. If the Corvette runs a best time of 60 seconds we multiply it by his .900 and he'll have a PAX'd time of 54 seconds and you will have beat him.

The PAX multipliers are based on a ton of data some pretty smart folks crunch every year (this is a link to the actual PAX values, G-stock has a value of .816 http://home.comcast.net/~paxrtp/rtp2013.html). If you want to run 'heads up' and see how fast you are compared to other street cars on street tires we have a class called STM, where you can run any car as long as its on road tires.

Welcome!

The problem with PAX for the 'stock' classes is that they're based on cars running what are called R-comp tires, essentially soft compound racing slicks with a few cosmetic grooves. There is a Tire PAX class for stock class cars running on street tires with a UTOG wear rating of 140 or higher. Those are still a lot stickier than normal street tires. They have enough tread that it is safe to drive them on the street during warm weather; hence they are often called summer tires.

But that's not really important for a first event. You just need to drive the car and see if you think it's fun before investing anything in car preparation. You will need to put more air in the tires than the recommended pressure for normal driving, at a guess, about 10 psi more. People who drive their cars to the event usually bring a small air compressor or air tank to fill the tires. The club has loaner helmets so all you need is a car with seat belts, working brakes, a firmly secured battery and wheels that aren't falling off. Unless you're a natural, you won't be competitive your first time. Don't let that discourage you. It takes most people a lot of time to develop the skills to run near the front of the pack, or even the middle, for that matter.

Geez, everybody with the math and rules and tires and junk, lol.

See below for the simple version:

You have basically three options with our region:

• "Novice" G-Stock
• Open G-Stock
• STM

Of those, I would recommend signing up as a Novice in G-Stock.

-Novice G-stock would put you heads-up against other G-Stock cars AND up against other Novices in other classes using the math that ke0ki2k described. So essentially two ways to win.

-Open G-Stock would ONLY put you heads-up against any other G-Stock cars.

-STM is our local "run what you brung" class. It essentially has no rules other than you must use a street tire. Your car would also technically fit here. It's usually a larger class, but the competition can be pretty stiff at times.

The only things you need to do to or check on your car to run are:

• Make sure your battery has a tie-down. Some strap or bracket that goes over the top of the battery and is then attached to the car.
• Make sure your brakes work
• Make sure your car does not have any major leaks (coolant, oil, gas, etc)
• Make sure your tires are not corded, and have normal pressure in them (as on your door jamb, or a few pounds more)

Otherwise, as dewitt said, we have loaner helmets if you don't have your own, and plenty of people to answer questions at the event if you have any.

If you have time, check out this page: http://www.etrscca.org/solo/must-read-information/ It has lots of information and some useful links.

Another option is TGS (street tire) at least for the rest of this year. I am not sure what next year looks like.