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About Classing
What is it about?
All vehicles are grouped with other cars with similar levels of performance and modification for purposes of timing and scoring. Here is rough outline of the types of Solo2 classes:
- Stock - dampers, cat-back exhaust, front swaybar, and DOT race tires the only notable performance upgrades allowed.
- Street Touring - many popular suspension and engine bolt-ons, and street tires with a wear rating of 140 or greater
- Street Prepared - suspension, DOT race tires, and minor/moderate engine upgrades
- Prepared - extensively upgraded vehicles
- Modified - full-on racecars and extensively modified production-based racecars
- Street Modified - street cars with engine swaps and modifications
H-Stock Mini
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E-Modified Datsun
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How is my car classed?
The full SCCA Solo Rulebook is online in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) format, and can be downloaded and viewed with Acrobat Reader. The classing heirarchy can be confusing at first, so feel free to log onto the OMR Forums and ask one of our regulars to steer you in the right direction.
For a new autocrosser, the main thing to remember is to learn and have fun. "Competitiveness" can wait, so don't worry about who or what is in your class.
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Your car will need numbers and class letters on the side of the car so that course workers can identify you. The SCCA requirement is numbers 8" tall with 1.25" stroke (thickness) and class letters 4" tall with 0.75" stroke. OMR allows first-timers to use shoe polish to mark numbers and letters. Shoe polish or painter's tape is hard to see, so we recommend buying a magnetic number set or a sheet of magnetic material (or static cling for composite bodies).
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Learning Curve
Course Walking
Walking the course is an often underestimated part of learning the sport and getting faster. Always err on the side of arriving early so you have plenty of time to walk the course multiple times. In the beginning, just knowing where it goes seems like a challenge. Don't hesitate to ask someone in the know about a confusing section.
As a rule of thumb, if you can't run the course in your mind or the draw the general path on a piece of paper, you should walk it again. Help your memorization by narrowing down the sea of cones to just the important ones. Cones just set boundaries or provide direction, so pick out which ones you want to be looking for when you're driving at speed.
Experienced autocrossers use the course walk to plan how and where they are going to place the car. Behind the wheel, they are looking ahead to key cones and fine-tuning the line they planned during their walk. This is easier said than done, but it comes with practice.
For now, taking the time to know your way around will make the task of driving easier.
Getting the Most Out of It
Your first time out, you could be one of the slowest drivers at the event. Don't worry, though. We were all there at some point, and remember it well. You will see your biggest improvement during your first few events, chopping off seconds with every run.
Autocrosses are social events, like a very open fraternity of car nuts. When you are not driving, there is plenty of time to meet new people, BS, and learn from others. Armchair racing can be as important as the actual racing in some company.
Autocross for your enjoyment, not to be the best. It takes years of experience to be among the most competitive in the sport.
Going Faster
Seat Time
Exposure pays, whether behind the wheel or riding as passenger. OMR allows one passenger with helmet during autocross runs, so use it to your advantage. Most drivers are willing to share their tips and knowledge, unless they are on their last run or sitting in the car with helmet in place. If you have time between runs, you might find a ride with someone more experienced. Taking or being a passenger is a good way to gain insight on how to improve your runs.
The more seat time, the better. Autocross schools, as held by some SCCA regions and private schools like Evolution, are an effective route to better driving. Prices vary widely, but experienced instruction is valuable no matter what. Traveling to other regions' events on off weekends and attending higher-level events (described below) is also great for experience.
Tires
Other than driver skill, tires are the single most important investment you can make for autocrossing. Many drivers have a second set of wheels and tires just for competition use. In stock class, the wheels you use must be the same size and width as stock, and be within +/- 0.25" of the stock offset. Street Touring is another category with width limits. Check the rules before you make an investment.
Relatively affordable extreme summer such as the Falken Azenis Sport, Kumho MX, and Hankook Z212 are common in Street Touring, where a 140 minimum treadwear rating is required. They are also popular among casual autocrossers in classes where more expensive, faster-wearing race tires are allowed. Tires like these are a good place to start for beginning autocrossers.
In the Stock, Street Prepared, and Street Modified classes, DOT-rated race tires are allowed. They are closer to a full racing slick, but have radial construction and minimal tread grooves to meet regulations for street legality. They are hardly a tire for street use, rather a tire designed with autocrossing or road racing specifically.
The Next Level
Solo2 Event Types
Regional - Our regular monthly events are at the "regional" level. OMR autocrosses are among hundreds of Solo2 events held by SCCA regions across the country.
Divisional - SCCA regions are grouped into one of eight divisions, and OMR is in the Midwest Division (a.k.a. MiDiv). Every year, a series of regions host two-day divisional Solo2 events leading to a divisional points championship. Typically held at larger sites, they attract SCCA members from all around that part of the country. Divisionals offer a larger, more competitive field of drivers while maintaining much of the laid-back social atmosphere of a regional event.
National - the best drivers with the most competitive cars come together at large events administered by the SCCA national office. About ten National Tour events are held at sites around the country, bringing in competitors from great distances. SCCA calls them the "Road to Topeka," referring to the week-long Solo2 National Championship held in Kansas during September. High turnouts in all classes require clockwork operation, fast coursework, and detailed timing and scoring. Trophy positions are fought among top drivers with cars prepared to the extent of the rules.
PAX Explained
You might hear about PAX, also know as the Racers Theoretical Performance index. It's not an official SCCA system, but it's used by OMR to give out a couple of extra trophies to the best drivers (in theory) at each event. It uses math developed by a panel of super-smart national autocross experts to take the car's performance out of the equation.
Try this example: a driver in an unmodified Mini Cooper (H-Stock) has a best time of 60 seconds, while a driver in a more potent Datsun racecar (E-Modified) ran the same course in 54 seconds.
Both classes have a number on the PAX index chart:
HS = .792
EM = .887
Notice how a slower class has a smaller number? When you multiply it by the actual raw time, you get the "indexed" time.
HS Mini: 60.000 x .792 = 47.452
EM Datsun: 54.000 x .887 = 47.898
Advantage: Mini. The indexed time takes the performance of the car into consideration. In theory, the driver of the Datsun would have needed to pull a 53.48 second run to match the driving skill of the Mini's pilot on that course. Though PAXing not 100% accurate, it's based on years of competition at major events around the country. PAX times give a relative sense of who are driving their cars to the fullest potential.
You may hear more advice than you can absorb talking to other autocrossers. Remember that having fun is the first priority, followed by improving the driver. Don't worry as much about performance upgrades until you begin learning how to get the most out of your car. See you at the next event!
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