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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6 |
Originally posted by Hdbngr8:
My guess is that the vast majority of people are interested in dyno queens and/or drag racing. There are a few of us that drive on road courses and/or auto-cross. Check out the SVTOA - they have many events throughout the country and are a lot of fun. May also want to check into local car clubs and see whats available.
Yeah, no matter what kind of car it is, you'll tend to find many more of them at the drag strip than at the autocross, and even less in a sanctioned road course race. It's simply because it's easier to drag race... there's less to learn as a driver, it's easier to do well, low entry cost, possible winnings, and it's easier and more convenient to participate. It's something that just anybody off the street can do, and with a small amount of advice and practice, they'll do as well as their car will let them.
Autocross is fun and all, but it's quite intimidating to a novice, and many are hesistant to try it. Novices are also sometimes a bit discouraged after their first event because they don't do well, and it takes participation in many events for them to start to become competitive drivers. Many just blame their lack of performance on their car not being prepared enough, and we don't see them out there again. Obviously, we all know that the car only performs as well as the driver, but novices usually wont believe that until they figure it out for themselves, and plenty quit before that. So, if their whole goal is to go out there and show everyone what a great driver they are and what a badass car they have, looking for bragging rights, they wont exactly be having a lot of fun, then they'll make excuses, bad mouth autocrossing, and never return. You also have to invest your entire day out there and do a work assignment, but the drag strip gives you freedom. So, autocross is really only enjoyable for people who have fun just doing it, even when they don't do well, and are willing to invest time and energy into improving themself as a driver, rather than modifying the car more.
And that's just autocross, which is pretty entry-level and not even officially called "racing". There's are much higher commitments and prerequisites to enter an event under a Club Racing sanction. Of course, once you get into it on that level, there's a lot more freedom, seat time, and fun than autocross or drag... it's just really damn expensive and you've already invested a lot of time and money to even be qualified for such events. Some people will go to an open track day where anyone with a helmet can go out on the road course, but that's not racing, and the novice thing kicks in again when they are constantly being passed by "lesser" cars that happen to have experienced drivers. Some will be humble enough to have fun and decide to actually get into the sport and greatly improve their driving, but most will make excuses and stay away from anything involving turns, because they don't want to get their doors blown off again.
In any case, I'll probably take my daily driven '98 LX out to an autocross one of these days, just to see what I can do with a Contour... I already took it out to the road course once, back when it was open for free to me and I had already gone through all of the race car's brakes. I was a bit pleasantly surprised at how it handled. Being a 100% stock 2.0L Zetec at 5000+ ft elevation, it sure didn't have any acceleration, but I was pleased with how it handled and braked. It certainly responded well for it's super-soft stock suspension, didn't have as much understeer as I was expecting, it was stable, and the stock brakes really held up well, even with drums in the rear. My only beef is that I don't have a tach and the engine is too quiet to hear, so my shift points were less than optimal. I believe it has decent potential, and it would make an awesome sleeper.
I love being the underdog, so I'm somewhat tempted to make a few modifications to this car and surprise the hell out of a bunch of people. My designated race car is to well known to be able to do that much anymore. I'm not sure if I really want another money pit, but I do see a lot of easily unlocked potential in it...
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