I'd like to know what is needed for official racing certification stuff. i just got a membership for scca and want to complete my registration for mazda motorsports. I really don't know teh exact class groups of cars. What class of racing do FD's fall under? with of course all the needed safety precautions..roll cages etc.

I guess I just need info on getting this started. Also is there a place i can find racing licensing in my area? in ohio?

 

Choose type of racing here:
http://www.scca.com/Index.asp?IdS=015D95-28E4EE0&~=

Find your region here:
http://www.scca.com/Inside/Index.asp...gionalSites&~=

Post race questions here:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=103

Rules here:
http://www.solo2.com/MiscDocuments/2007_supp_regs.pdf

Proof of two completed sactioned races here:
http://www.mazdamotorsports.com/weba...0001&langId=-1

 

Basically, your main choices for the FD in terms of SCCA competitive racing is a) autocross/Solo-II or; b) timetrials/Solo-I. Both of these meet the requirement for the MazdaMotorsports folks.

The links above are good placed to start.

If you are interested in door-to-door racing, then your options are much more limited. SCCA club racing (Improved touring, Production) does not allow turbos, based upon the opinion that they are too hard to police. There are other options (NASA, et. al.), but it's still pretty limited.

Your first, best course of action is to find out where your SCCA region meets and contact them about coming to one of their meetings. They can inform you a lot better about what your local options are.

Good luck,

-bill

 

autocross or wheel to wheel? Really, the question is how high is your budget....I am not sure if an Rx-7 still has a showroom stock class, but that would be the most cost effective. Then IT7 or ITS is still resonable, EProd is getting pricy, then the GT3 (I think it is 3, maybe 2) would be the high end of the spectrum.

Check out SCCA's General Competition Regulations and find where your particular model and year is allowed, then decide how many modifications you want to make. Your car will be eligable for multiple classes with different mods, from bone stock to full tube frame cars.

To get licensed, check out an SCCA school. You will need a legal car and all the gear. make sure it is a tested proven car. If it fails then your out all the expense and time. You want to concentrate on learning, not wrenching on your car. been there done that, not a fun time.

I see you are in Ohio, Midwestern Council is around there, mostly Wisconsin and Illinios, might be a bit of a drive but it is cheaper to run, and much less of a time commitment. They offer autocross which is like SCCA's solo time trials, except they run on a race track insted of a parking lot. I am not an expert on SCCA but if you want more info on council let me know!! Good luck!

 

Any info is good info to me lol. I e-mailed the directory of racing rules or something and he linked me to the pdf of all teh regulations and rules. I told him My car and he told me i could run GT1, GT2, or GT3. but all three in the rule book specify that no turbocharging is allowed, so i got confused. I'd like to run whatever class requires the least ammount of modifications. there is no longer a showroom stock for the FD, only for FC's and earlier. same with Touring, and all the others I found.

 

ahh, I missed the part that your's is a turbo. I dont know about SCCA, but Councils patterns much of what they do off of SCCA. A turbo rx-7 2nd gen would be ITGT with council, ITR might be the comperable. I don't know of any realistic class that would allow turbochargers.

 

What classes can a FD, turbo'd of course, run if not in SCCA?

 

I'm on a crew for a team maybe I could throw my 2 cents in on my understanding.
Perhaps your best bet is to start out with NASA, doing HPDE events. You go out on the track with an instructor for a few events and you get certified to do solo. thats the best way to start out safely.
as for classes, as far as I know theres only 1 class for racing a turbo rotary and its in the SPU/SPO class which is pretty much super unlimited. Which means you'll get eaten by the 1000 hp cars. It depends on what kinda racing you plan to do. I personally would love to see a turbo rotary class but i can only dream

How far are you from the mid ohio track? Its a great track.

 

NASA.

Not the space guys, but: www.nasaproracing.com.

If you want to race door-to-door, don't even think about trying it in a "street" car. Between the full cage, the completely gutted interior and the hard suspension, you won't want to drive it on the street.

There are a couple old adages to racing:

1) if you can't afford to ball the car up and walk away from it, don't think about racing it.

2) if you can take a $100 bill out of your wallet, light it on fire, watch it burn down and then take another one out and repeat the performance - you may be ready for racing.

Go back and look through the archives of this group - there's been a lot of good discussion about the costs of racing and what classes are available.

Go get the book: http://www.goaheadtakethewheel.com/ . Probably the best summary there is on getting started in track and racing.

If you want to see what club racers in the SCCA talk about: http://www.improvedtouring.com/

Go look into HPDEs, PDXs, and the other dirving schools first. Learn to drive around the track before you think about racing. It's a much better environment to learn in.

Good luck,

-bill

 

I can't even light up a one dollar bill. wow being 20 in college doesn't make the best scenario to try and start racing I guess lol...****

 

well in that case, what all do you have to do to just run your car at a track just for the hell of it? I just need something to put for Mazdaspeed to let me buy things at a discount and I wanna run the car at the track when the weather gets better. do I really have to go through all this racing school crap?

 

Would a local autocross club get it done?

 

Just do some AutoX trials. You don't have to win, or even come close. You just have to do something competitive where you can send MazdaComp results.

 

can i run in a local autocross club without having to get all the racing licenses and ****?

 

Yep.

 

awesome, thanks one more thing...do i have to do things like use hood pins, get a roll cage, and harnesses and use a fuel cell and all that or can i just run it as it is?

 

You can run the car completely stock for AutoX (and its recommended).

 

wow all this good new is unexpected...awesome Thanks alot

 

seconded. I dont have any experience with Autocross personally, but I belive all you need for a car with no modifications is a helmet and long pants. Once you start adding modifications then yous class changes based on a points system, and the more points the more safety requirements and the higher class you go into. Like if you add a wider wheel, slicks, and eshaust, then you have "x" amount of points and move up into a different class. Points are not like championship points or anything, just a way to catagorize numerous makes and models that are modified. SCCA is huge in autocross and there is a very dedicated group of guys who run it.

If you want to get into the raing scene, do some autocross while you are in college, most are in summer anyway, and when you graduate you will have a good network of people you have met that will help ya out get into wheel to wheel stuff if you decide you want to. With autocross you will be able to see what cars guys race, what is a good match for you and perhaps when the time comes, maybe even someone willing to sell one that is already built and tested. building one is a money pit....been there and done that.

Good Luckand keep them grades up!!

 

So autocross it is All I have done to the car is stiffer diff mounts, front strut bar, non-sequential on the twin turbos, open exhaust, eibach lowering springs, shortshifter, things of that sort. New built Banzai Racing motor, but stock ports. Stock ECU. I found a few classes in the Solo AutoCross book and I found Street Stock, Street Modified, and Street Prepared. It wasn't too clear on what differentiated the classes from each other, but I figured I'd fall into Street Touring or Street Prepared. Thing is the FD falls under Class A, which would put me in there with Vipers, corvettes, Ford GT's, Porches GT3's and Ferarris.....Does that mean I can only compete against cars in my class or what?

 

Street Modified looks nice too. I just read that mostly the top allowed speed up to the level of street prepared is like 65 mph..

 

I don't know what part of OH you are from but I know that the Northwest Ohio Region SCCA is a very active club. Some of those guys drive up and race in the Detroit Region events.
Oh and 65 may seem slow but when you are trying to hustle your car within an inch of a cone and focusing on the next 2 turns you get over it.

 

yeah...because of the turbo and your mods thats what you may fall under, sounds right to me. 65 may seem slow, but like he said, it is all in parking lots or skid pads and the cones are real tight together. It is very challanging from what I hear and I know guys can be real serious about it too. Good competition and fun. i suspect that SCCA puts the 3rd gens in that group with vipers and corvettes because as the course is really dependent on handleing, those other cars are substantially larger, so you may have quite an advantage there. Just my half baked guess though as I dont have any personal experience.

 

I'm in college right now and being competitive in my local area in ASP is an art form in financial management. I have had to seriously pinch some pennies to make it happen. I have Veterans benefits to help me out financially at least. Kiss drinking your weekends away goodbye. That's at least an oil change if not more right there. No more going out to eat constantly. That's hotel, entry fee and gas. Get a girlfriend that's low maintenance. Buy your books on Amazon. If you are a guy that pays for things himself rather than mommy and daddy like me, you're going to need a part time job, too. I work at a parts store and get a discount on the Royal Purple Oil I use. Every little bit helps. Good luck.

 

Ye ai goto school full time.. I used to work..till my dad said he'd pay for everything..then i didnt say no of course lol. stillb roke as a joke though. I have a few hookups on tires. 50% off from goodyear and i can buy whatever from summit racing for store cost cause im special i guess. plus i'm hoping to get a few runs otu of the way so i can buy what else i need from mazdaspeed. I don't think I could afford to make it a full time thing, probabl just once a month or so for fun whenever i can afford it lol.