Ok new thread...

I dislike SCCA so much, I'm wondering if there are any other amateur racing sanctioning bodies out there, and what their requirements are to go racing.

There just have to be other options besides SCCA!!??

 

here in southern California we have several different sanctioning bodies. NASA - northern california was the starting point. they are developing a national program with several regions already established. very good group here in california. TCRA specialises in late model touring car type vehicles but has classes for every type race car. POC porsche owners club here in the LA region is very hardcore very professional type racing mainly for porsche race cars, but they do allow other high end race cars. HSR/VARA for the vintage crowd and alot of car clubs that offer racing, Alfa club, Porsche Club, Pantera club, Viper club, etc. unfortunately these are not always national clubs. http://www.nasaproracing.com/ http://www.touringcarclub.com/ http://www.porscheclub.com/
http://www.bsedan.com/
http://www.nsscc.com/

 

I really only know of NASA and PCA besides the SCCA.

Why do you hate the SCCA so much anyway? Too many rules?

 

YUP!!!

Too large...too much bureacracy...too much wasted time...too much wasted money...

I could go on...

 

I think NASA just opened up a Midwest chapter. Looks pretty interesting!

 

The NASA league looks very accessable. There are guys out there running diesel Dodges and minivans! There angle is that racing should be available to everyone. The SCCA is more racing should be for those who are worthy.

 

I'm running NASA next year.

PaulC

 

How is NASA different/better than SCCA?

I can only find one category in NASA that I could race in with a 3rd gen....."super unlimited".......

The website describes this as the catch all category with "high dollar equipment".......

Hmmmmm, that doesn't sound too inclusive to me.

Is there really any organization/category that will take a moderately modified 3rd generation for wheel to wheel competion???

Fabian

 

foko, I don't know all of your story, but for wheel to wheel racing, it's rare that the "modify first, decide which class later" is the path to happiness and financial success. I don't do w2w (I don't have that kind of money to burn), but all the advice I've ever seen was either "buy a car already built for the class you want to compete in" or "pick the class you want to compete in, and buy and build a car well suited to the rules of that class".

I don't know of any scenario where a person with a modified car has great success with "Okay, now that I've done this to my car, what class do I fit into?"

From the experience of NASA racers I know, NASA seems like a pretty accomidating organization.. if you have enough people who want to race together, consider starting your own series, ala East Coast Honda Challenge ( http://www.honda-challenge.com/ )

If you've got enough people who want to race in a certain set of rules (so long as they are safe), I'm sure the $$ of your group will talk..

 

Foko,

3rd gens are SOL in any of the amatuer racing classes, because of those turbos.. Same with T2s. Neither SCCA or NASA have classes (aside from ITE/SP and SU) that permit turbo RX7s

However, don't let Super Unlimited scare you, get your basic safety equipment done, and you'll be fine.. Download the NASA CCR from their website (http://www.nasaproracing.com), you may have to buy it, but if you want to go racing, you gotta pay

I think when people say NASA's pretty inclusive, if you have enough cars to form a race class, you can usually get that class added.. For example, American Iron is a new class as of last year, live rear axle Camaro/mustangs, classed based on their HP/weight ratio, fairly open otherwise. Or Spec Roadster, Factory Five Racing kit cars, full safety equipment, running a spec engine/chassis configuration. SCCA will NOT add new classes without an act from god.

Anyway, good luck

 

More reasons why I dislike SCCA, and am not enthused about NASA...

 

Well, at least 66,000 disagree with you.

SCCA may not be as responsive to people's needs as we would like, but they have far more plusses than minuses. They have rules stability. I can race my car from FL to NH to Seattle to AZ and the rules are still the same. And the rules for IT are not that dissimilar to 5 years ago. This helps to keep costs down since you don't have to constantly buy every new option that gets approved.

One point I do agree on is SCCA's standpoint on turbo cars. There should be a class below the all-out racing classes like SPO to accomodate turbo cars. Some regions have ITE, which will allow you to run with the less expensive prep level that IT affords (i.e. no fuel cell, less cage work needed, hand held fire extinguisher). Both classes are kind of a run-whatcha-brung environment which allows guys to spend whatever money they want to.

It sounds like you want your cake and coffee too. You want to be able to run whatever you want, but you don't want to have to do it in the framework of someone else's rules package. Unfortunately, it's difficult to meet every need of over 10,000 Competition License-holding drivers out there, but SCCA is still the best game in town.

 

That may be true, but there are SCCA members who are also frustrated with "Denver" but have no where else to go to race their cars...SCCA's a monopoly of sorts...

Thank God, we live in a free-market society...

 

Well, ITE is still a decent class to run in, here in the SF region, my friend Alan is nipping on the heels of a turbo 300ZX, and the prep levels are similar to my ITS car, so it's not like you have to spend tons of cash to compete. The problem is, you're running against so many different types of cars, hard to match up with someone and really race.

PaulC

 

I don't know why NASA hasn't met your needs. It has been said that if you bring a sufficient number of like cars, they will essentially "create" a class for you. What else doesn't "enthuse" you about them?

I thank Him every day!

You can have, basically, one or two things in general. You can have an organization that has rules which create a competitive base that people can build towards, with stability, and competition guidelines that everyone is governed by.

Or you can have an organization that tries to cater to the needs (whims?) of all the members, where rules are secondary, which allows people the freedom of creativity to the limit (and beyond) of their budgets, but which doesn't necessarily guarantee any level of competitiveness between cars because they don't want to "offend" anyone.

They are both out there, if you can marry the two and create the best of both worlds, knock yourself out. I wish you luck.

 

open classes are good in that they allow you to run any modification you want as long as the car meets certain safety standards, but it does not guarantee your modified car is going to be the most competitive. I have raced in the super unlimited class with NASA for three years and 2001 I was runner up in overall year end points and narrowly lost to our team car that at the time was nearly identical to mine. On different weekends I was not the fastest but I did find it competitive and fun. with the flexibility to change anything on the car I wanted.

 

what kind of insurance does nasa have?

 

According to NASA, as much as SCCA. We already had THAT debate on the Improved Touring forum.

PaulC

 

I believe they even use the same insurance carrier. several million dollars of coverage for both sanctioning bodies. I have found that even some of the time trial and open track clubs also carry this same insurance, some don't though. and remember this insurance kicks in after your own personal insurance(if any) is used. I cannot recall hearing of anyone ever using this (SCCA or NASA). I don't think the insurance coverage is a big deal, remember auto racing is dangerous and you can get killed or injured even in the best of times.