SCCA/ Autocross Questions
 

After reading a lot of your posts I am really interested in autocrossing. I was wondering if any of you could answer some questions. Is it expensive? Are there any autocross races in the San Antonio/ Austing TX area? How often are the races? And finally do I have to get any special licenses and if I do how do I get them? Basically what do I need to do to start autocrossing?Sorry for all the questions but I've just printed out my membership form and before I send it out I'd like to know what I am getting into. Thanks for any answers you can give me.

In our region Saturdays are a seperate race from Sundays. There really is no practice. Price is $25 for non-SCCA members $20 for Members. Tires can get sorta expensive as you'll probably want to mount some sticky tires that you use for autocross on a seperate set of wheels. So you will buy a set of wheels and tires and autocrossing wears out your tires faster and the stickier the tire is usually the treadwear rating is lower so the wear out faster. BUT you can do it on normal street tires when you are first starting out, but I would recommend that you have decent street tires. For sure you'll want to get a good tire pressure guage (one with a needle and a little button that you can use to let out air). That's anywhere from $10 to $15. You will also want to get a portable air tank (5 gallon will do). That will run anywhere from $20-30 dollars. www.harborfreight.com sells a tank on their website for $20. Many auto parts stores and Sears have these items as well. The reason why you want those items is becasue you'll want to fool with the air pressure in the tire to keep the tire from rolling onto the side wall and loosing traction. So you'll also want some chalk or shoe polish to mark the tire and see where it rubs off on the sidewall so you know how far the tire is rolling over. You'll need a helmet, the loaners can be crusty at time. Go get a motorcycle helmet at first, they cost a lot less than purpose-built car racing helmets that have Nomex lining, which you don't need for autocross. You can buy magnetic numbers also but colored tape will work fine or most events have numbers printed out on a piece of paper you can tape to your car. Later on you will probably see the need for things like a four point harness that attaches to you rear seatbelt bolt and front seatbelt bolts(it hold you in the seat better than the stock belts). They're around $150. Basically, autocross IS the cheapest and safest form of autoracing around and is really enjoyable. Honestly, before you buy anything go out there with your car and entrance fee money and see how you like it. Before you get there stop by the gas station and fill up your tires with 5-8 psi more than what you would normally run or what is normally specified by the manufacturer of your vehicle and HAVE FUN!! Check out www.scca.org and find the link to you region there will be more links there and info to help you find the autocross in your area. Also, there are several other clubs that might be holding events in your area as well. If you like it, go get your self a helmet and start saving up a little dough for some tires.

Here's a little website I cooked up: http://home.dejazzd.com/mlouie/autocross.html

Howdy! First of all, this is my first post to this message board, so hopefully it will work OK 8-)

There are several organizations in Texas that won't show up on the SCCA pages. For a newbie, it may be preferable to try out some of these events because the entry fees are often lower than the SCCA and club membership costs are usually a lot lower than the SCCA (~$20 vs. $50+ for the SCCA).
Some of your local clubs are the San Antonio Sports Car Association (SASCA) in San Antonio (duh), Spokes in Austin, and the Texas A&M Sports Car Club in Bryan. Of these clubs, TAMSCC has the best site IMHO, the entry fees are the lowest ($8 with a membership) and the events aren't usually as crowded as the other clubs, so you get more runs and the atmosphere is more relaxed. Of course, I'm biased because I'm an Aggie and former TAMSCC officer 8-)

Here are some links:
http://tamscc.tamu.edu
http://hometown.aol.com/cleioniii/index.htm
http://www.ccsi.com/~vitek/spokes/index.html

Good luck!