I just went to my first autocross event today and loved it. I was starting to think of some things I can do to my car while still remaining in stock B class.

I was thinking definitely different tires possibly on different wheels
Maybe a catback
Also thinking a different front strut bar.

Would all of this keep me B-stock legal?

 

1) Tires must be DOT legal. For B-stock, the fast tires to be on are the Hoosier A6 or Kumho V710 available from the TireRack. As you're new to the sport, if your local region has a Street Tire class (140 treadwear or higher), then you may want to run on these for a season to develop your skills in autocross. The Hankook RS-3, Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec, Kumho XS, Bridgestone RE-11, Yokohama AD-08's are all very fast and meet the 140 treadwear requirement.

The wheels you go with must be stock diameter and width and within 1/4" (~6mm) of the stock offset.

2) Yes on the catback

3) Front strut bar is a no. Front swaybar is a yes.

 

what would be the most cost effective other than tires since they must be replaced anyways?

Also are intakes legal?

On the tire I was thinking about the rs-3 because they are fairly priced and getting some 225/50/16 (yes I have stock 16's on my auto)
But tire rack has BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW-2 and Yokohama AVS ES100 both in 225/45/16

Would the lower profile be that much better?

 

^^^ just drop a k&n filter

 

Nobody here knows. This is a totally unknown subject, which is why absolutely nothing comes up in a search.

 

Dang that's harsh. I'll bite though.

If you're just getting started, the only important thing is to learn how to autcross. It's a very difficult form of motorsports, and you don't learn it overnight.

- If your region has a solo school, go to it. A few years in a row if possible. Getting correct techniques in place from the start will be a huge boon rather than trying to undo bad habits after they've taken hold. This is the single most important thing you can do in autocross. All new people make the same mistakes, and a school stops them quickly.

- Bum rides with the better drivers in your area. You can learn things that are tough to put into words from them. Get good racers to ride with you and give you pointers.

- Ask if they'll talk you through a course walk. Your perfect trailbrake technique doesn't count if you're not on the right line.

- As tough as it can be sometimes, admit to yourself that you stink. Even our resident multiple national champion Isely has things he can learn and improve on.

- Figure out what you want out of the sport. Personal challenge? Learn your limits? Just have some fun with your car? Most new people focus on winning, which is like a person picking up a guitar knowing a few chords and and expecting to play Van Halen solos right away. Possible, but very, very unlikely.

The RX-8 is a wonderful autocross car right out of the box. It has no bad habits, and rewards smooth and tidy driving. If it were me, I'd drive it as is at least a year under proper instruction without changing anything. Watch your progress by comparing your times to a few bogeys in your region. You'll improve by leaps and bounds very quickly. Then you'll plateau a bit.

Only then would I consider changing something on the car. Throwing money now might make you a bit faster, but in the wrong way. Once you know how to use the stuff you're buying, the difference it makes will be tenfold.

Yeah, I know it sounds boring, but there really is no instant gratification. Time, practice, analysis, learn, read. Over and over again. The more you put in, the more you'll get out.

Welcome to the sport, we want you to get hooked and stay, so our sport can thrive. My words are for both of our goods.

 

^Good input burglar!

 

One way to think about it is, if you spend money to make your car faster, you have nothing to compare it against, and can't really show how fast YOU are. You will just be the slowest driver in a higher class.

If you spend time/money making you the driver faster first, you will be fast no matter what car you drive. I'd prefer to knock 5 seconds off my time by learning how to drive properly, than to knock 5 seconds off my time by getting r compounds and retaining bad habits. Obviously both is better, but do 1 at a time, or you can't properly evaluate the effect 1 change had. A classic rule of thumb for any division of motorsports. 1 change at a time.

Car mods work against the score board, driver mods work against YOU.

 

Not nearly as harsh as regurgitating the same subject for the hundredth time, there's nothing to be said here that hasn't already been posted here by numerous members over and over and over and over ...... ad nauseum

 

Perhaps a stickied "Autocrossing 101" type post is in order?

 

Just so you know I did a search on "b stock" and twenty pages returned with either very little or no relevant information on what I was looking for. Then I looked under the Competition Racing Forum which only has 1 page of posts, all of which still did not have what I was looking for. I then proceeded to the scca website to look on what mods can be used and still qualify for stock class. I then made a post because I was still a bit unclear of what I could do do to the lack of information specifically regarding to rx8s wondering what tires people are running and specific parts people find that work well.

So PLEASE, send me the "hundreds" of post with this same subject that has already been posted "over and over and over and over".

Anyways It seems like I got ahead of my self like I always do and that leaves a big hole in my wallet. I think I am going to just get a good set of street tires and leave it at that because I am in desperate need of a new set of tires.

 

1) Tires must be DOT legal. For B-stock, the fast tires to be on are the Hoosier A6 or Kumho V710 available from the TireRack. As you're new to the sport, if your local region has a Street Tire class (140 treadwear or higher), then you may want to run on these for a season to develop your skills in autocross. The Hankook RS-3, Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec, Kumho XS, Bridgestone RE-11, Yokohama AD-08's are all very fast and meet the 140 treadwear requirement. (copied from above) (don't drive on them in snow no mater what)

2) Koni Shocks. Set 1/4 turn from full hard.

3) Alignment check the sticky thread for ideas.

4) drive lots of events.

5) drive more events.

Anything else is a waste compared to your talent level.

 

There are 2105 different threads in this sub-forum, containing 41,000 posts. I just did a search and came up with 192 different results for "SCCA stock". It really isn't that hard.

 

You have to work with it a bit, search within sub forums etc... And your 'B Stock' search only searched for 'Stock', which will come up with tons of useless stuff. 'B' is a separate word in the search engine, and is too short to include, so it gets stripped out.
Phrase searching isn't possible directly, have to play with it a bunch to figure out how to get useful information out of it, search for longer words that are probably also included in B Stock posts.

Fixing the search tool is something alot of us would like, but probably won't happen.

 

Also, search on google... there are a lot of sites out there with a lot of info on how to get better & what to do. Most of it sounds the same as the advice listed on here too.

I put shocks on my car, but to be honest I wish I had just spent the time/$ on more driving instead.... lots of practice really is the most important thing you can get/do

 

thanks for the search tips and I will make sure to do a bit more searching and digging before a post.

I am just going to replace my tires with some good street tires because they are way past due and keep it at that.

Thanks for the input