EB3 -- T/Anks for your comment... truly, one of the most difficult decisions for any one to make, strategically, is how much to mod their car. There's lots we can do,,, endlessly doing this, that, and more.. more... but its easy to just mod and spend $$. I've seen so many racers enter the scene (pylon AX/HSAX), and THEN they discover "rules/classifications" that counter-act to their desires... again, so easy to just keep modding and spending $$. Welding/re-inforcing etc is great, but.. some clubs "rules" don't allow it, and others do.. within limits.
As an example of "club/classification rules", I suggest to look at the SCCA Solo rule book ... see how they first break up into categories (Stock, Street Prepared, Prepared, Modified .. and some others)... then they further break up the categories into classes. See what mods are respectfully allowed per category.
Also, you can look at another club's rules -- NASA or MCSCC (
www.mcscc.org)... see how they have differing rules/ allowed mods, etc. Some of these clubs apply "points per modification" to separate your car into different categories (I'm not a fan of "points per mods".. as they can be arbitrary and mis-leading, not equal mods per differnt cars, etc... BUT... as the saying goes -- "When in Rome, you have to do as the Romans do."... in other words, lay by the sanctioned groups/clubs chosen rules... and good luck EVER trying to change any club's rules.
Although I've previously setup my car for national-level competition with the SCCA, E/Street Prepared category, and following those class rules of allowed mods was very straight forward (either "allowed" or not allowed.. no "points per mod") I really enjoyed the end result.. and provbed myself and the car as a top-level competitor (won my region class champioinships repeatedly through the 1980s, and place high at the national finals). BUT... the SCCA has changed some of the rules... allowing some additional mods... but also allowed certain newer cars to be withe clas (AWD Subaru XRTs? Mitsubishi AWD, etc.. and they are beginning to dominate against the traditional pony cars of E/SP... many ppl are complaining... but.. again.. change is difficult.
SO... I've been looking at the SCCA's new CAM-T (T=traditional older pony cars)... and its a cool class... but.. the rules are almost "anything goes as long as its licensed, insured, street legal (?), and with tires of 200 TW or higher, and no, less than 3000 pounds.... the class is NOT an recognized "national competitive class" by the SCCA, but instead, it welcomes local regions to have the class as part of their wknd events .. and the SCCA has "invited" certain racers to come to the September SCCA SOLO Nats for competition... but without a "national recognition" of the results... the CAM class/category is intended more for fun.. attracting the ProStreet type of builds, etc. Fact is, a high-level E/SP car will beat out most CAM-T car at every event... with the exception of the highest pro-built CAM-T cars by professional race car companies promoting their businesses.
I'm in the process of rebuilding my Challenger now... and carefully deciding what further mods to make... looking at the different clubs/classes, etc... I've become a club member of the MCSCC (
www.mcscc.org) as they're local for me... and they have a hotly contested and very popular HSAX competition "series" for year-end championship awards, etc. I hope to become a season champ i one of their more popular classes - B/P or S/S (similar to SCCA's E/SP but with more allowed mods)... see their rules, etc on their web-site. I love the pylon AX m (avg MPH ~45), but I also love the high-speed HSAX/HPDE road course events (avg MPH ~75-80... hitting trpl digit speeds on the long stretches ~100-115...pending different track sites.
I hope to be back "on-track" with my car for the Spring/summer of 2017.
Anyone interested ... I'll be helping as an "HSAX instructor" this Saturday, April 16, 2016, at Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Rockton, IL (just NW of Rockford, IL)... come on out and join the fun!!! BHF is a 2-mile twisty road course... nice overall site!
