SCCA Rallycross! CB 11/6/11 and 2011 Finale 12/3/11

Bubs360

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
902
Location
New Hampshire
Car(s)
'91 Sentra SE-R, 2003 Triumph Speed Triple 955i
Racing Against Leukemia; Help a Great Cause!

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Ran the Versa in my first rallycross event today, the Sentra will be ready in time for the next one.

Despite being my first SCCA Rallycross event, and not going nuts with my fairly new daily driver, I managed to finish all seven heats and placed 2nd in my class, Stock FWD. I also helped run tech inspections before the event, and we had to go through roughly 50 cars.

So I know I was 2nd in my class, but no idea what my final standings are. After three heats the times and standings were posted, and I think I was something like 19th overall, (Includes stock, prepared and modified classes for FWD, RWD and AWD) right up there with some WRXs and whatnot. Not bad!

I'm waiting for a few pro photographers to upload the pictures they got from the event, I'm pretty sure they got some good shots of me. I also have some incar video, although the camera mount was still a bit shaky. But hey, it works!

Based on chats with people at the event I made a pretty impressive entrance into the SCCA Rallycross community. I'll start a dedicated thread once those pro pics come up.

I will have the Sentra ready to go in time for the next event, which is actually going to be at the same place this year instead of another typical location.
 
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So besides the car itself, what's the cost of an event like this? I imagine there are registration fees, and maybe even special insurance fees, as well as safety equipment. Is this far off?

Also congratulations! 2nd in class and 19 of 50 sound pretty darn good for someone's first event, and with a very non-performance oriented car to boot.
 
Entry fee is $65, $50 if you are a full member of the SCCA. Other than that, your only other real expenses are transportation and car preparation. Since it's a lot like SCCA Solo but on dirt and snow, no special insurance fees. It's relatively low speed and time trial, so not very much of a risk of crashing your car unless you do something really dumb. The closest thing to that yesterday was some people stuffing into snowbanks or getting stuck.

As for safety equipment, basically the car just needs to pass tech inspection. When it comes to that on a stock class car, interior safety is just making sure the seatbelts actually work and that there is nothing loose in the interior. A lot of people just use their daily drivers, or cheap beater cars. However, a lot of people in the prepared class come with racing seats and harnesses, and the modified class often has completely stripped interiors with full roll cages. It's just a matter of what class you want to be in.

When I helped with running tech, basically we check for the above interior bits, make sure the suspension is in good shape and same with the wheels and tires. Make sure the battery is secured. Make sure the throttle does not stick. A quick check of brake function, if the driver brought their own helmet make sure it's legal for SCCA competition, etc.
 
Wow, $65 for a day of racing (I'm guessing the event in total would require an entire day) isn't bad value at all. Since safety stuff like a roll cage, special seat belts, or expensive helmets aren't required, I'm surprised it's not a bigger thing. Perhaps I just don't travel in the proper circles in my area :lol:.

Is ~50 cars average for events in your neck of the woods?
 
The courses average between 45 and 90 seconds typically, but seven runs is quite a lot! Most autocross events I have been to only gave you 3 to 5 runs, so I would call 7 runs pretty good value for money. I should get the suspension issues on my Audi sorted out and go give it a shot... that would be a lot of fun!
 
I don't know, I got seven runs total and felt like I got plenty of seat time. Cool thing too is that "working" isn't really what one would expect when they hear that word. You basically just get to stand right in the middle of the action, and all you really have to do is radio in if anyone hits any cones on your corner, maybe help push a car out of a snowbank every now and then. If you enjoy the action that any racing provides, then even working corners is a lot of fun.
 
Got some of those pro shots of me from the event!

On my way to a 2nd place finish in the stock FWD class!

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The next event is at the New England Dragway (same place) again in Epping, NH on February 27th. ;)
 
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You NER guys are crazy - WDCR isn't starting up RX until the end of March.
 
It looks like a snowball! I love it.
 

Incar video! *Edit: Music is there because all you can hear in the base audio is the camera mount rattling about.
 
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Unfortunately you can't hear anything anyway, that's why I have the music. All you can hear for regular audio is the shaking of the camera mount - literally.
 
No n00b-handler in the car? They usually try to stick a novice guy in there for autocrosses here on at least one or two runs.
 
I wasn't even aware that they would do that. There were a few guys in the AWD class that were there on their first time and nobody had a "noob handler" :p

But I do know a few of the really experienced drivers and I'm sure they would have been more than happy to ride with me if I wasn't confident on my first run! The whole community is incredibly friendly.
 
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