mods for a entry level clubsport car

[strx7]

Seeing as theres some people here in the know - would I expect to be turned away if I was to turn up to scrutineering because of seat/seatbelt arrangement?
Recaro fixed back seat mounted using genuine side brackets onto vehicle specific Recaro rails. Using the stock 3point belt which the buckle is off the rails as per factory. Belt doesn't run through the harness holes as it sits across my fat gut quite nicely.
Worst case I can run it by a local scrutineer pre-event just to be sure.

judging by your description it seems fine, I'd pass it.

[LEAKER]

Ok I'm looking at motokhana, auto cross and any sealed event possible really. Id like to do hill climbs but I suspect theyll be cage only events. Car in questions is viewtopic.php?t=88602

I will be getting a race suit, boots. Have a helmet. Will run through the 62 page document supplied tonight

[1I1]

Sweet cheers Shane.

OP, does Manfeild interest you? Theres heaps of events held to suit and its not all that far from Welly really. In a month or two they are having an event on the backtrack too.

www.motorsportmanawatu.org.nz

[TTEETT]

Looking at the car personally I would be removing the body kit for weight reduction and ground clearance. Would also look at some wider wheels with a better offset and maybe higher springs with a stiffer rate.

Once you start enjoying events and getting more confidence all worries of aesthetics will leave and you will only care about going faster, when I started I was worried about stone chips now I don't back off even if I go through a fence.

You can do plenty of road sprints and some hill climbs are run under clubsport rules so you will be fine there.

[2jayzgte]

Hydraulic handbrakes are nice, but I would say not something you need to spend money on initially, I do lots of gymkhana/graskhana/gravel events with various car clubs at clubsport level and most of the time the winning cars don't even have them! Most of all you need the skills, the toys come after when you develop the skills.

Nothing like being schooled at a clubsport event buy a guy in a 1970's Mini when you are driving flash looking Targa car, brings you back down to earth quite quickly

Hahahahaha I no the exact feeling happend to me a few times over the years I just had to laugh though and yes very humbling.

[LEAKER]

Looking at the car personally I would be removing the body kit for weight reduction and ground clearance. Would also look at some wider wheels with a better offset and maybe higher springs with a stiffer rate.

Once you start enjoying events and getting more confidence all worries of aesthetics will leave and you will only care about going faster, when I started I was worried about stone chips now I don't back off even if I go through a fence.

You can do plenty of road sprints and some hill climbs are run under clubsport rules so you will be fine there.

Yeah It was built as a road car with the occasional track day in mind however I have a 73 crown that I drive a lot more so this is going to have most of the road removed and more of the track put into it. I'm removing the bodykit this weekend and running factory bumper again. I'm just going to run spacers on the back of the wheels atm as they are weds sport rs5 race wheels which are light as hell. As for ground clearance the car is a lot higher than it looks once you remove the bodykit and I'm hoping I will get away with it as is at the moment. Id say it would have 140-150mm clearance from memory. Ideally id like to spend the money on coil overs if I get serious.

[LEAKER]

OP, does Manfeild interest you? Theres heaps of events held to suit and its not all that far from Welly really. In a month or two they are having an event on the backtrack too.

www.motorsportmanawatu.org.nz

YES! I am very keen to head out to manfield. Ill check that out tonight aswell after I've read through the other info.

[Leon]

In Wellington you can do Mt Vic Hillclimb, Port Road Street Sprints (January and October) on seal with no cage. Shelly Bay needs cage (big drop to into the sea). Wallaceville Hill is 2wd cars only (due to being run by old school club who only allow 2wd vehicles).

All autocross and motorkhana events are no cage needed in the area.

Heading out of the area a bit, there's Admiral Road in the Wairarapa that needs no roll protection. But Kaihinau Road in Shannon does need roll protection.

As a side comment, and not making any judgements about if the venue is "good" or "bad", Manfeild is a venue where you will find out how much heat your brakes can take. If you're going to overwhelm the heat dissipation properties of your braking system that will be where you'll do it.

Port Road is also medium to hard on brakes (I've cooked several cars on completely standard pads there). Mt Vic is practically no braking. Autocross events are practically no braking.

[Boost_4_Life]

Oh, and keep the factory heating / venting / cooling system in place ...

This!!! I HATE rallycars that have the demister taken out. Mine has it removed, done by previous owner. Considering most of the time, we are doing rallying in the rain and mud. My new car will have one, rather carry the extra 4kg and be able to see thank you very much!!

[Leon]

Until I smashed the front of my car in at Shelly Bay, I had working air con in my race car. Three seconds to unfog the car in any conditions, and I could sit there on the dummy grid at Manfeild in 30 degree temperatures wearing a two layer race suit and crash helmet.

Meantime everyone around me is passing out from the heat while I've got penguins bashing on the window of the Corolla begging to be let inside where it's cold.

Then Shelly Bay bank happened, and air con radiator became an interesting type of modern sculpture. Now I have no air con.

But I still have two cup holders.

[strx7]

Until I smashed the front of my car in at Shelly Bay, I had working air con in my race car. Three seconds to unfog the car in any conditions, and I could sit there on the dummy grid at Manfeild in 30 degree temperatures wearing a two layer race suit and crash helmet.

Meantime everyone around me is passing out from the heat while I've got penguins bashing on the window of the Corolla begging to be let inside where it's cold.

Then Shelly Bay bank happened, and air con radiator became an interesting type of modern sculpture. Now I have no air con.

But I still have two cup holders.

hence air cond is staying in the supra track car, its AWESOME being able to do the warm up lap around to the grid with the a/c blasting full cold, so you can race in comfort despite the sweltering heat outside and everyone else having to put up with crazy temps inside their vehicle

[LEAKER]

What I heard:

As a side comment, and not making any judgements about if the venue is "good" or "bad", Manfeild is a venue where you are garunteed to $&#$% your brakes and most likely run off the track causing extensive body damage.

[Leon]

Nope, while I've fallen off every single corner of Manfeild, I've never hit anything there

[1I1]

You only have to push as hard as you want to though.

[LEAKER]

ok im a little confused about the seat situation.
I currently run subaru wrx sti factory recaro seats which have built in rails. Do these class as sourced from another series production vehicle?
The rear mounting points have been removed and replaced with those from the factory celica seat rails and welded on in a manner to replicate factory mountings.
Will these be ok?

If not can i use any fixed back seat or do they have to be fia approved? The reason i ask this is there are several manufacturers claiming their seats are not fia approved but can be used in "many race series"........

And if i run fixed back seats bolted directly to the floor do i have to run 400mm2 plates on each corner of the seat mounting point? That seems really big?

[wde_bdy]

And if i run fixed back seats bolted directly to the floor do i have to run 400mm2 plates on each corner of the seat mounting point? That seems really big?

400mm2 is only 20mm x 20mm or a round washer of 23mm diameter.

Callum

[strx7]

You only NEED FIA seats to international race & rally events

[wde_bdy]

And if i run fixed back seats bolted directly to the floor do i have to run 400mm2 plates on each corner of the seat mounting point? That seems really big?

400mm2 is only 20mm x 20mm or a round washer of 23mm diameter.

Callum

Just read the Schedule A link (has been a while), 40cm2 is 4,000mm2. So a square washer of 64mm or a round washer of 72mm. My current toy needs a little work then.

Callum

[Leon]

ok im a little confused about the seat situation.
I currently run subaru wrx sti factory recaro seats which have built in rails. Do these class as sourced from another series production vehicle?
The rear mounting points have been removed and replaced with those from the factory celica seat rails and welded on in a manner to replicate factory mountings.
Will these be ok?

If not can i use any fixed back seat or do they have to be fia approved? The reason i ask this is there are several manufacturers claiming their seats are not fia approved but can be used in "many race series"........

And if i run fixed back seats bolted directly to the floor do i have to run 400mm2 plates on each corner of the seat mounting point? That seems really big?

Yes that seat counts as from another series production vehicle.

Rear mounting point on seat rail, or rear mounting point on floor of car changed?
If seat rail, then probably ok. If new mounting point on floor, then probably not ok.

You can use most any fixed back seat that you wish. However, saying that, if you can get FIA approved you're likely to be dealing with a *vastly* safer seat than if you threw a random Jamex Racepro or somesuch seat at it. Have a sit in a bunch of race seats, and find the one that suits your width and height the best. Don't buy a seat without putting your bum in it, cos some seats are unspeakably painful for various builds.

That said, don't panic about seats too much at the moment ... do some events with the Subaru seat, see if the Celica is *the* car you want to race. Then if it is, start looking at cages, seats etc. Because once you go caged, that sort of financial commitment means you're stuck with that as a race car for several years

[LEAKER]

rear mounting point of the seat. i drilled out the rivet from the old seat rails and removed the rear mounting point and then welded it to the sti seat rails.
So that should be ok for now and i will upgrade to some fixed back in a few months.

As for my own lack of inteligence relating to the 40cm2 thing, i really should have known that. i just read it as 40cm x 40cm without even realising what i had done. Cheers for clearing it up callum.