Houston SCCA Autocross 7/6/2008
 

Register online now for $25 an event(double enter for 2 events) or you can just show up and register at the event for $30.

You have to have a SCCA membership to race, but you can get a weekend SCCA membership for $15 at the event. The $15 will also go towards payment for a full membership if you choose to get one. If you are already addicted go ahead and get a full membership.

The event is at Gulf Greyhound Park on 7/6/2008.


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...,1.279907&z=10


Try to show up at or before 8am.



If you need better directions or more info, just PM me.

If you've never been before it as an experience worth having.

I believe there is a discount if you register early at www.DLBracing.com event.

As far as classes run under "BS" if you are stock, or X if you are not. You should be able to double register. You get 4 runs per group (Morning group and afternoon group if you double entered)

For those who were out last time this course is completely different from Houston Police Academy. This one has less traction, more gravel, asphalt, and is much more technical. Honestly I like this one the best.

Edit: BS class you can perform the following modifications. Front sway bar, shocks, ignition (wires, coils, spark plugs are OK, I think the mazmart solution is against the rules), alignment, any DoT legal tires (R-compounds), and you can replace the air filter element(not the intake!), brake pads, and any fluids.

Sweet!

i think i'll miss this one.. long weekend = time to visit home =(... and 3/32 on my front tires @.@

oh, fuel pump replaced.. and all problem gone =D wooot. hero i hope ur having my kind of luck.

Rotate your tires!

ya, doing it tomorrow, but i still gota head home tat weekend though.

Yeah, 1 of Nick's tires are gone too. He's probably going to end up beating us in a mazda 6.

The shame!

BS if you are stock STU, BSP, SM, XP, EM, STB if you are not depending on mods.
In X you would have to enter XBS, XSTU, XBSP, XSM, XXP, XEM, XSTB

na.. we just have X here.

X is for the bmwcca event. The scca event has the classes for our car that StrokerAce listed.

Hero, let me know when you guys want to do that fluid change for the tranny and diff. I'll be out on a trip for 2 weeks, that's why I won't be able to make this one. AIM: tynguyen22

Edit: trip starts on June 28.

StrokerAce is right, but I would recommend everyone here run in the local Houston-only class "STB" (That would be "X-STB" for those of you double-entering), and here's why:

Cars in BS can run on Rcomps, and no truely "stock" car can keep up with a car on competative tires. However, the next rung in the RX8's ladder is the STU class, where some very VERY heavily modified cars can run, and none of us (except for maybe Monki) have enough mods to even hold a candle to some of the cars that run in that class.
STB is a nice middle ground where all of our cars fall. It's intended for cars who are running the typical line of popular everyday mods (Tower Braces, stiffer shocks, lower springs, CAI, Cat-back exhaust, etc.), but are still on regular street tires.


Short Version:
BS is full of cars with Rcomps that will dominate your face and not give you much to benchmark your performance against.
STU is full of fast cars on Azenis with mods out the @$$ that will dominate your face and not give you much to benchmark your performance against.
STB is full of similar cars on near-OEM tires with only a handful of mods that will give you a good run for your money and provide a decent benchmark to guage your performance against.











P.S.
In case you missed what HeavyMetal said, I will be borrowing a friend's Mazda6 for half the day and running in STS.

hahaha...I registered for STU for the last one, but I may do XSTB the next time around. My setup sounds like I should have been in XSTB or STX. I need to do more mods if I want to do STU again, like a flywheel, Rcomps, sways, and high performance brakes.

The reality is that we all just started so we are not going to be competitive in any class really. That being said, there should be enough RX-8's out that we can gauge our performance against each other.

Nick is going to run 1 of the events in my car. Lets see if I can chop the time I'm usually behind him down to a second or less.

I wasn't saying we'd be more "competative" - I just said STB would give you better cars to guage your performance on.

Watching Amita & Paul beat you by 7+ seconds in BS with rcomps isn't going to tell you as much as coming 2½ seconds behind Zach's S2k; he's like me - he races the car as it is, half-heartedly modded on ecotires.

Just so you'll know what the X class is. It was created as a place for the expert drivers, who already have a closet full of trophies, to compete and not discourage newer drivers. There are no points or trophies for X. Just a place to compete. The results are indexed on the PAX/RTP index. You would enter XBS instead of BS to run X. It runs in both morning and afternoon groups. Some people aren't morning persons or want to run early while it's cooler. Some people run in X in the morning so they can run in the afternoon in the DB (double entry) class when their regular class is scheduled to run in the afternoon.

If you want to compete for a year end championship trophy, don't run X.

At the BMW club the X1-X4 are just a dumping ground for any non-bmw or non-porsche.

BTW Amita put a spanking on STB last event. (also every RX-8 except mine)

Check where you are overall on the PAX to see how you are progressing.

When I first started I used Amita & Paul as my performance benchmarks because they were #1 & #2 at my first two GGP events in STB (where I ran). Over the next 10 events I participated in, that benchmark became very useless and very frustrating...
Paul got Rcomps and started competing in BS, while Amita bounced between BS & STB making it hard to know if the time split between us was related to my driving or her setup.
...then things got REAL confusing...
I got rid of the MazdaSpeed suspension and went back to stock, fully expecting the gap between us to widen as a result. Nope. Amita is still beating me by about the same amount of time, and I'm somehow able to tie Paul at the BMW events.

That's why I've been trying so hard to get more RX8s to come to these events; I need more people in the BS/STB classes on "true" street tires.

1 - PAX doesn't really help if your competition is always changing their index.
2 - If your car isn't "maxed" out for that class, the PAX number doesn't help much. I used to swear by PAX and tell my friends that they were much better drivers than me since they always beat me by 20 or more spots in PAX. Then a practice day came and I ended up beating all my friends in their own cars :/

Hence all the RX-8's out will be mostly competing against each other, regardless of mods. Despite what class you choose to race in it doesn't matter because Nick, Luke and I are BONE STOCK. It takes more than an event or 2 to get better. I want to see as many RX-8 members out as possible to see where I sit in a year. Hopefully we stay neck to neck and make BS in Houston one of the most competitive classes to race in.

Btw, I'm starting to understand your rant about the greatness of crap tires. Last event I made small changes to my driving that made the car feel much better. I'm still taking some turns wrong, but I was a bit more confident on the accelerator and brake.

It's hard to even explain the small changes, but it seems everything is starting to come together.

Out of curiousity who is Stroker Ace? Are you the guy in the blue RX-8?

the other guy in the blue rx8 was a kid named nick, he said he had never got on the forums, i told him about it though

I was talking about the older guy that runs BS at Houston SCCA. I've never seen him at BMWCCA. He has years of experience I do believe. I think Luke too a ride with him 1 event.

oh ok, i rode with a m3 my first run, it was pretty bad ass, cant wait till next month

ya, ray's his name, 10 year racing experience and drive with a 12 o'clock position, gave me a false sense of how my car "can" behave lol.

I think I will finally be able to take my 8 back to the autocross again ;p

Nice, just make sure its tuned!

I wonder how it will handle with the extra power.

Awareness Bump.
Why is this thread lower than the events that have already happened?


Also, I wanted to brag about the fact that I somehow managed to win worker of the month AGAIN despite the fact that there were 10 or more people whom I *know* worked June's event harder than myself. Personally, I think Chad - whom helped out on both days despite being dead tired from working out and sunburned to a lobster red color - deserved it more than I did. I unoffically revert my award to Chad for his hard work past month.
EDIT:
Plus, I don't think it should go unmentioned that you alone are responsible for the significant growth in RX-8 turnouts at the Houscca & BMWcca events. While it's not the kind of "work" the people in charge may look for, your dedication to spreading the word and increasing the sport's popularity certainly shouldn't go unnoticed.
/EDIT

Chad: July's event is on me.

Too late, I already registered!

I'm not sure if I should get any credit. Between you, Luke, and me I think our conversations at the weekly meets are just getting more people interested. Plus making people aware of the autocross events is doing wonders as well.

People who own RX-8's and never take them to a LEGAL race event, especially one that involves turning, is like owning an Enzo and the car never sees anything past 60mph. Sure the car looks nice, but the real art isn't in the looks.