Racing classes

[Dell'Orto]

Random number of tyres to have, would have thought 8 would have made more sense.

[85AW20v]

With Targa tyres it's about managing your tyre wear with the six you're allowed. For the two day events you're only allowed four. Most cars wear tyres at one end faster than the other so rotation is the name of the game. If you run different sizes front to rear you have to make the decision which ones are going to be the harder compound and run with that.

Go to www.targa.co.nz for regs and costs to enter. Compared to club rallies like Taranaki or Waitomo, costs to enter are higher but thats because it's a business that has to make money and the organisation of it isn't done by volunteers. But where else do you get to do 770km of legally driving as fast as you can in a week And next year for the fifteenth anniversary it's going to be six days and probably be more than 900km of specials

The last couple of years I've budgeted $1700 for the weeks accommodation and meals. You can't drink much as you're breath tested each morning as you leave the overnight park. For fuel we work on about 2.5-3km/l in the specials and 10km/l touring so around 400l of fuel plus what it takes to get to Akld and home again but thats not counting the service van. As Leon said $300 a tyre for 14-15" anythng else $400-500. Plus spares and a week off work so the costs do start adding up.

[2jayzgte]

Forget the targa unless you have some decent driving experience sure without the costs you can have fun but stick to your level of driving.Lets face it we have all seen the 1 day heroes in targa righting there cars off just stick to a realistic level and have fun without emptying your bank account.

[nzae86]

Last time I did Targa in my ae86 the cost was about 10k so i would expect to cost another 2 -4 k now . The budget to run the car I'm in this year as co driver is about 30k .
Start with some club stuff , and get some idea of what type of racing you want to do, club, race or rally , then think of a budget and multiply it by 10! Some clubs like Hamilton have a Tarmac series , that involves autocrosses through to hillclimbs and dual sprints , most can be done in your road car

[matt dunn]

Last time I did Targa in my ae86 the cost was about 10k so i would expect to cost another 2 -4 k now . The budget to run the car I'm in this year as co driver is about 30k .

I think that was somewhere about the cost for the years I had to do with it,
tyres, fuel for the rally car, and the service vehicle, accomodation, and travel to and from the event from the SI etc etc.

[AE86less]

The targa question was more out of curiosity..

$30K for a weeks entertainment is pretty intense

Gonna join HCMC once the japanese ratrod is finished.

[cogent]

Is there any form of tarmac autocross in NZ? Its a shame we dont have any areas that I know of in Wellington (other than slipway) that are suitable.

In the states they have an awesome league! Guys get real serious for their walmart-parking-lot cone-dodging motorsport!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocross

[matt dunn]

Is there any form of tarmac autocross in NZ? Its a shame we dont have any areas that I know of in Wellington (other than slipway) that are suitable.

In the states they have an awesome league! Guys get real serious for their walmart-parking-lot cone-dodging motorsport!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocross

We run events down here very similar, pit sprints, and a loop sort of called the go kart track at levels,
which are one car at a time, tar seal, race against the clock events on short courses.
I think the rules are no straight more than 200m or something to class as clubsport basic.

Cool events, but I dont think I have any incar footage to load up on youtube, as I haven't done many since I started more serious class racing.

[BigDon]

I would say flag "track days" as you get too many beginners (and clowns). Join a car club and start doing some single/dual car/multi car sprints. Then your with guys who have gone to the effort of joining msnz and a club and you will learn heaps and have access to lots of knowledge from the more experienced guys. I belong to manuwatu car club and go to a few HCCC and HVMC sprints as well, they are very well organised.

[Leon]

Is there any form of tarmac autocross in NZ? Its a shame we dont have any areas that I know of in Wellington (other than slipway) that are suitable.

The problem is lack of venues. Over the years we have used the Riverbank Carpark, the old GM Plant in Upper Hutt, and Todd Park for seal, but the ever growing pace of development means that we can't keep venues for long.

But yes, there has always been autocrossing in the area, on all sorts of surfaces in Wellington, and hopefully always will be. I've been doing them for 14 years now.

However, I'd suggest that you might want to look at more of an all surface venue car, as that way you'll be doing about 15 or more autocross events a year without having to go further out of town than Levin.

[strx7]

We use the Baypark Speedway pits up here, HUGE concrete area, timed runs for 2 laps, which is usually a shave over 1 minute per lap.

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=4JqK-DdFgtg

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=6LFgXqb16Qc

for some footage of them

[cogent]

Over the years we have used the Riverbank Carpark, the old GM Plant in Upper Hutt, and Todd Park for seal, but the ever growing pace of development means that we can't keep venues for long.

What about evening events at the riverbank? Once every two months or similar. I might get in touch with Ben from slipway and see if he has any interest in running more events like we had on Monday.

[Leon]

Various car clubs have run autocross' at Slipway, so that isn't an issue. MMC ran one earlier this year, and a few have been run previously. I can think of at least three.

The problem is that to cover costs ($500 / half day @ slipway + $6 per car entered for motorsport levy), you need a decent turnout otherwise it is a money pit.

Again, evening events have run at Hutt Riverbank, but with the dumb f@cker population congregating there on Thursday nights, the locals are anti car and noise. We even tried running events for something stupid like $10 targetting the boy racers. You'd get something like five people enter their cars, and three times that number of people doing stupid stuff leaving the carpark ... yet they're too afraid to actually grow a pair, and enter the event. Go figure

[d1 mule]

$500 for half a day is pretty reasonable i think. group of 5-10 would be an awesome half day. ill guess at $800 for full day even that is still pretty good.

[pc]

$500 for half a day is pretty reasonable i think. group of 5-10 would be an awesome half day. ill guess at $800 for full day even that is still pretty good.

The going rate for an AutoX in Wgtn is $20... and up to $30 for expensive ones. Who wants to pay race track money for what should be cheap motorsport?

I would rather be doing some form of motorsport at least every couple of weeks... not every half year, so cost is an issue.

[d1 mule]

^ i would WAY rather spend the money and get on an acutal track where you can go fast not blat around cones in 2nd and 3rd gears

[postfach]

Autocross is a good way to improve your car control skills, for $20 it's a bargain and worthwhile, and also something that most people can afford to do regularly. That kind of motorsport = FTW. Going all out at a track is awesome (and is definitely my intention) but its also heaps more expensive and inherently more likely to end up causing damage to your car.

If you're still reading this thread Hunt, you could find out about getting involved with league racing at your local go-kart track (I assume silverdale or the one on the concourse are the closest ones to you).

[cat007]

Autocross is a good way to improve your car control skills, for $20 it's a bargain and worthwhile, and also something that most people can afford to do regularly. That kind of motorsport = FTW. Going all out at a track is awesome (and is definitely my intention) but its also heaps more expensive and inherently more likely to end up causing damage to your car.

If you're still reading this thread Hunt, you could find out about getting involved with league racing at your local go-kart track (I assume silverdale or the one on the concourse are the closest ones to you).

As long as this thread has turned into (why is it my threads here or on SCONZ always turn into a giant discussion, often off topic....? haha), yes I am still reading

For $20 I would LOVE to compete in an autocross type event. I really enjoyed the autocross event at Suprafest - as you'd know if you've watched my vids hehe. For that money I'd be there every chance I could hehe.

What do you mean by league racing?

[postfach]

At Action Raceway (Silverdale) they have league nights where you register and show up (weekly I think, you'd have to check) and race in a proper competition using their karts. They remove the speed limiter etc and its like a proper racing series. Probably have it at the one on the concourse too but you'd have to check on that as I've only been there once (wicked track, if you've never been).

[strx7]

^ i would WAY rather spend the money and get on an acutal track where you can go fast not blat around cones in 2nd and 3rd gears

Most road cars unless running a 4.5:1 diff (or higher) spend most of the time on a race track in 2nd and 3rd gear...............