Wanted: Your SCCA/NASA Race Car
 

Since this is racing specific, I thought it would be ok to post here:

Looking for an RX7 prepared for SCCA or NASA racing. I'm not overly concerned about the body cosmetics, as long the car is well set up, mechanically sound and the price is right. I prefer a higher horsepower Gen 2. Please email pics and info to atlantica_inc-racing at yahoo dot com.

Thanks
Darrin
Austin, TX

hey whts up man.....if your looking to run in the IT class the motor should be close to stock..with the exception of the header and exhaust......but if your looking for a high horsepower car then you would be running in like EP(Eproduction).......and you can find a car race ready from $7000-$15000....it all depends on how it was built if it has spare parts stuff like tht......and there is a website you can check out its call speedsourceinc.
they usualy have cars for sale...

Thanks for the heads-up. I've been going over the SCCA class specs and wondering where an RX7 would run. I've seen a couple of IT and EP cars so far, so that makes sense now.

Anyone out there have experience in either of the two classes, and be willing to share their advice on running an RX7.

Thanks

ITA is tons cheaper and easier to setup and maintain. Can always upgrade an ITA car to EP too.

A second gen would not run in ITA, but rather ITS. It would run in EP along with the first gen (12A or 13B powered). Don't know how easy they are to maintain, but there are tons of them so they can't be too difficult. I know the first gens are easy as pie.

If you'd like to come check out some Spec7's (which happen to be the cheapest form of road racing there is) I've got a bunch and I'm not far from the airport.

IT7 is great! Highly reccomend it. Very competitive racing.

i was reading about ITS prepped FC vs. ITS prepped BMW e30s over on improvedtouring.com. the FC seems to do reasonably well on an overall basis. someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

I might also be in the market for something soon. I want to get licensed next year.

Your better off with a Spec Miata. :)

Already sold.
-Matt

The website still says it's for sale. ;)

Thanks for the email so far. I'm still putting together a list of possible cars.

I was looking over the SCCA southwest region race results. Seems like the fields are pretty good in ITx. Not so many cars running EP it seems. And what's with GT3? I could see running a nice twin turbo there, but hardly anyone races that class.

Here is my car https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=438164

Carl that is just evil. THis is an RX-7 site. Once you race SM you should be banned from this site.;)

I only speak the truth!!! Ive been racing our Spec Miata this season, what a blast!

spec miata are fun an all but nothing sounds like a rotary...i personally like the ITS class just cuz the amount of competiton for cheap....when you get in to the faster classes like EP or GT3 its more money and less competiton= less fun.....just my 2cents.........well here check this out......i was at daytona back in june for the race on saturday in the ITS race group there was 105 cars in that one run group alone....anything from BMW to FC to 240sx alot of different cars was an interesting race to watch....so my opinion would be to go with an FC and run ITS class

Agreed. ITS seems like the best group to start in. If I suddenly want to turn some portion of my bank account into race car parts, I can always move up to EP.

I'm still torn between ITS with an FC, Spec Miata and to a lesser extent IT7. IT7 is cheap, but the cars seem to have some quirky handling and the rules seem to be a bit off in regards to tire sizing. Sounds like it might be annoying to drive/race.

Try looking in the for sale section of
http://www.improvedtouring.com/chat2/

From what I've heard and seen, right now ITS/IT7 would better. Spec Miata is still pretty new to the SCCA and not regulated as much as it should be. I hear the current drivers complain constantly about the blatant cheating going on. While it's cheap, from what I hear right now it's pretty frustrating at the moment.

ITS is MUCH faster than spec miata and much more expensive. IT7 is about a 1/3 of the price that a competitive ITS car would cost and with regards to the tire size, IT7 now runs a spec tire.

please explain how ITS is more expensive to run??cuz ITS runs a 15x7 wheel.

More expensive than SM? Easy, if you just look at the suspension. The package in SM is a low buck spec pack. In IT you can spend over a grand per corner on shocks alone. Take a trip to the ARRC this weekend and look at what's under some of the top flight BMW and RX-7 rigs. You'll see Advance Design this and Moton that. Other things like the custom 5.12 rear gear that's pretty much mandatory for an ITS RX-7, the high dollar Motec systems that are becoming all the rage. SM is a cheaters paradise and there are guys dumping a lot of money on cheater engines and shocks. But built to letter of the rules an IT car will be vastly more expensive to build and maintain.

I think he might be referring to purchase price nor cost to run (as in race).

That is exactly my concern with IT prep. Unless I get a car with those goodies, there is no way I'd want to drop that much $$ to keep up.

That my concern with SM rules and SM builds.

It seems *easier* to build an IT car b/c you are allowed to do certain things. While in SM, you have to try and hide what you did to eek out those extra tenths from spec parts. Overall it still seems (my perception here) like the general operating budget of a typical SM driver is lower than those of drivers running IT.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong or your informed opinion/experience differs. :)

mahjik - thanks for the insight.

Any comments on the competitiveness of an RX-7 vs 240Z, 280Z and BMW 325i in ITS?

Thanks
D

The ARRC results have just been posted. The ARRC is the defacto national championship race for the IT classes. It's held every year at Road Atlanta. Not all of the best in the country are there but the guys that do run up front are very representitive of the best you'll find anywhere. There are some pro racers that make token appearances every year. This year Chet Wittel was on pole in ITS in a 325 with an RX-7 4/100th back. Wittel won the race by 2.5s over the same RX-7. In Cen-Div an RX-7 won all but three races this year. There were a couple well prepped BMWs from the East that came to play with us at Mid-Ohio and we mostly sent them home with a case of butt hurt. One did manage a win late in the year however. The RX-7 is near the top of the game again IMO with the restrictor that was added to the Bimmers. There is scuttle-butt that the 325 will receive additional weight over the off season.

The 240 is a dying breed. Very old, hard to find rust free tubs, and the ones that are are worth too much to make a race car out of.

I've got a 280Z. Wouldn't recomend it for racing. It's fun in the corners but I wouldn't classify it as a racecar. Too much work needs to be done to stiffen up the chassis. They are 30 years old by now. It's actually for sale, but that's another story.

Greg

Darrin - ITS is less subscribed than EP. I dont know what results you're looking at, but every race I was at this year there were at least 4 EP cars, sometimes as many as 8 (going from memory... one or two of those 8 may have been DNS). In ITS the most cars were 2. Granted, the last race at TMS there were 4, but that's an overwhelming number compared to all of last year.

There are several RX7's running ITS here, and I can't think of a single ITS car (save for a couple of Datsun's all owned by one guy) that are anywhere close to "fully prepped". I think if Ludwig or one of his pals came down they would trounce the field.

SWDiv, save for a few exceptions, is not a fast or best-of-the-best division. We have had our share of National Champions, but probably the only division with fewer would be whichever one(s) Alaska and Montana are in. :eek:

OK - I race an EP 1st gen Rx-7, and Mazda has made it's products the staple of several racing classes for many years. Don't erase history though, because Datsun held that position before Mazda came around and there was some pretty good racing between them during the overlap. Anyone who thinks Z cars are not raceworthy simply hasn't been around racing enough. A well prepared Z car is still a contender in EP. Especially at the regional level Z-cars are still potent ITS performers with some examples having been continuously developed for over 30 years. There are a bunch of both tub and tube GT2 Z-cars sprinkled generously over the country that still win in regional competition. Reasonable modifications can produce a lot of horsepower out of those straight sixes!. I think ITS HP over 200, and GT HP over 300 is pretty commonplace for those cars. So - while I think rotary power is the way to go, don't blow off those Datsuns like they don't exist. There are tons of shells and parts still available, and they are cheap too!

PS - This isn't even counting the huge numbers of racing 510's that are still screaming around tracks.

If you are referencing my remarks then read again. I said they're a dying breed, in ITS, because you can't find good tubs for a reasonable price any more. Some parts, differentials come to mind, are also rather scarce. The ones that are running strong can be competitive. One just ran 4th at the ARRC and Wittel won two in a row with his 3 and 4 years ago. A good ITS Z car puts around 160-170 to the wheels.

Maybe it is substantially different in other parts of the country. There still seems to be a reasonably good supply of Datsun Z cars, parts, and shells here in the Northwest although some things are getting a little harder to find. Rust was ALWAYS an issue with these cars, but they seem to repair fairly well especially when they only need to look like a racecar! Believe me, I am a Mazda racer through and through, but I am really looking forward to running the GT-2 240z we have been prepping for the 25 hours of Thunderhill.