Street Prepared build

[mp5smuggler]

did you empty and remove the windshield wiper resivour and take that out?
dont forget to yank the seats out and the glove box and the center console and..... well you know what i am getting at.

can you run a CF hood in the class you want to be in?

 

[xelderx]

did you empty and remove the windshield wiper resivour and take that out?
dont forget to yank the seats out and the glove box and the center console and..... well you know what i am getting at.

can you run a CF hood in the class you want to be in?

Uh...I can't do any of that in Street Prepared. Interior has to remain stock. I can empty the resevior though.

 

[mp5smuggler]

how about replacing the entire dash with the fiberglass one and paint it to look stock?

 

[xelderx]

how about replacing the entire dash with the fiberglass one and paint it to look stock?

You should be a consultant for a NASCAR team. LOL

 

[mp5smuggler]

hey.... the wheels go right to... wow... i never knew that.

im serious corksport has the fiberglass dashes on their site.
if anyone asks ya its just the crappy mazda interour that came with the car

 

[dmitrik4]

(no)

that'd be cheating. what's the point?

if you beat someone b/c you cheated, where's the fun in that?



is tony working on your struts yet? i'll be very interested to hear how they come out. you're running 350/475 w/ the MSP front bar and the 21.5AWR bar in back, right?

btw, i emailed delsing about their 1" hollow bar- he said that pricing should be available soon, and that it will be a special order part.

 

[mp5smuggler]

win by a inch win by a mile winning is winning. cheating is only wrong if you get caught. you dont think the other guys is trying to get an edge somehow?

i tihnk everyone has heard these before and they are true in a strict sense. doing it right and winning is a great feeling and the way it should be, but thats not how the world is. this is a world of sneaky pete bottles and just upping the boost you never know what the other guy is running so you have to be able to get the max out of whatever you have.

 

[dmitrik4]

no, i don't think they are. autoXers are a notoriously upright bunch...they tend to have what's called "honor" and "integrity." once you blow that, don't bother coming back- once a cheater, always a cheater. i'm glad you don't autoX with me.


...and if you think no one would notice a fiberglass dash, you must not have ever autoXed competitively. that wouldn't fly even locally.

 

[mp5smuggler]

i never have autox'd i my 5 is setup more for running on the street.

i will be trying my hand at some autox events this year and ill be upfront with my mods its not like i can hide them in daylight like on the street at nite.

 

[xelderx]

I've been doing some serious debating on my priorities with the car and here is what I've come up with. I really, really want to ge the AWR struts first, but I can drive the car fairly well on the setup that I have right now and hopefully even better when I get the new front springs. What I want to work on now are the few things that are actually holding me back from where I really want to be. I've been wanting to take this car to Solo I for awhile, but Solo I requires a roll cage. I've come to the descision that I'm going to take care of that first so that I can start entering Solo I events as a novice and eventually get my license. FIrst I will need to get my racing seats so that the cage can be built properly around my seating position.

 

[gar777]

interesting, keep posting Xelder. You'll be the FSP guinea pig. I run FSP but only because I have a set of 15" race tires I use on my ES and got bumped out of stock due to an aftermarket seat and springs. I am not close to being competitive, not even for STS times, but it's still fun learning and keeps me from having to buy Azenis for STS. It's my daily driver so I'm not ready to go as far as you're going but it's fun to watch and plan mods down the road. Good luck and let us know when your next event is. We're expecting 6-12" of snow so I won't be autocrossing any time soon.

 

[xelderx]

Our first event is a Test "N" Tune non-points event on Feb. 20th. If I get enough money for my birthday I'll hopefully have the cage done by then. Starting in March I'll have 2-3 events each month so getting a cage completed without missing an event is going to be tricky if I put it off any farther. I'll hopefully have the new ported and polished head/intake manifold back in the car this weekend, but the weather is going to be crap so I probably won't get to test it out properly. After that all other mods have to wait until I finish the cage and get my new seats and harnesses.

 

[mp5smuggler]

ill talk to that shop i mentioned earlier about what they can do ok

 

[Katya4me]

interesting, keep posting Xelder. You'll be the FSP guinea pig. I run FSP but only because I have a set of 15" race tires I use on my ES and got bumped out of stock due to an aftermarket seat and springs. I am not close to being competitive, not even for STS times, but it's still fun learning and keeps me from having to buy Azenis for STS. It's my daily driver so I'm not ready to go as far as you're going but it's fun to watch and plan mods down the road. Good luck and let us know when your next event is. We're expecting 6-12" of snow so I won't be autocrossing any time soon.

I thought you could swap seats in STS unless you were swapping out seats w/ side airbags?

 

[Katya4me]

i never have autox'd i my 5 is setup more for running on the street.

i will be trying my hand at some autox events this year and ill be upfront with my mods its not like i can hide them in daylight like on the street at nite.

You're going to autox this year????????

 

[mp5smuggler]

ill be trying to go to some small events yes

 

[xelderx]

ill talk to that shop i mentioned earlier about what they can do ok

Let me know. The parts guy at my Mazda dealership builds race cars and he said he would look at the rules and tell me what he thinks he can do it for.

 

[dmitrik4]

snow? bah. wimps. i'm leaving for an event in 5 minutes, actually...nothing like a good snowcross. hopefully i'll get home before the heavy stuff comes.

I thought you could swap seats in STS unless you were swapping out seats w/ side airbags?

seat swaps are ok in ST*, airbags or not. you can't swap out airbag steering wheels. the seat must weigh at least 15 lbs and extend to the middle of your head (so no go-kart seats).

 

[gar777]

I thought you could swap seats in STS unless you were swapping out seats w/ side airbags?

You are right, aftermarket seats are ok in STS, even ones replacing stock seats with side airbags, I believe. The problem, though, is that you can't run r-coumpound tires in STS. This is all a bit strange since you CAN run r-compounds in stock, where very few other mods are permitted (can't change wheel diameter or width, for example). So, I get bumped from stock for running 15" wheels on an ES, then get bumped from STS for running r-compound tires, and end up in FSP where, to be competitive, you have to make tons of mods, as Xelder is doing and the car really isn't comfortable on the street anymore.

Hopefully, the SCCA will reconcile these classes so that stock is fewest mods, then STS (or whatever the class name is) is a step up from there and allows ALL of the mods of stock plus more and then Street Prepared is a further step up from STS and allows even more. This would allow a better build path and natural progression from class to class. After all, except for the traction rating, ST-competitive tires aren't really street tires anyway.

Dmitrik,
I WISH we had snowcross here but we share our autocross lot with the NY Islanders hockey team and they usually fill up the lot on weekend winters (but not so far this year!). I guess we have to get down to Phillly for some rally-like fun!

 

[dmitrik4]

ST classes are only a few years old- before, you went right from Stock to SP. ST was created to offer a sort of intermediate level- a way to offer a class for those people with typical bolt-on mods. no, it's not a direct path. but it's not meant to be...there's not really a direct path from any class to another.

Stock has always allowed any DOT-approved tire- that's not going to change on a national level. Locally, regions may offer any class that they want.

ST, by definition, is a street tire class. it allows all Stock allowances except one- the tires. hence the purpose of the class. ST is the only class that doesn't allow DOT r-comps.

SP is, in large part, ST with r-compounds.

the rules are created with national-level competitors in mind. local regions are free to offer any class they would like, and many do (STX2 in philly, for example). you're free to run 15" r-compounds, but as you saw, it might bump you into a class you don't want to be in. if you want to be competitive, plan your mods accordingly. if not, don't worry about it and just have fun.