In a message dated 96-11-03 04:31:32 EST, homestay@infolearn.com.au (Syl's
Sydney Homestay) writes:
<< I always look forward to clearing my e-mail on Monday morning to hear of
Barney's exploits in the autocross or, more recently, his trials and
tribulations of getting to, through and from the autocross.
<< .....
<< My question: Is autocross that which we in Australia might call MOTORKHANA
in which the meeting includes events designed to test the acceleration,
braking and general manoeuvrability of the cars and the skill and judgement
of the crew members. Conducted on either sealed or unsealed surfaces and does
not of itself include a speed event. >>
Paul,
Since it is I to whom you refer, I'll take my best stab at explaining it. It
has a lot to do with speed and driving skill, little to do with crew members.
The rule book must be a hundred pages, I'll try to condense it to one page.
You start with a large parking lot (preferably paved), or maybe close off an
airport runway on a weekend. Put out a hundred or more traffic marker cones
we call pylons to make a small road racing course, lots of turns,
switchbacks, slaloms (chicane), and not too many straight sections. Allow
for a standing start with a short run at a timing line, try to make the
course about a minute long (plus or minus a half minute), ending at another
timing line (or maybe the same one). Electronic timers are nice, but any
stopwatch will do in a pinch. The course should be changed for each outting,
never the same twice, so the home court does not have any unfair advantage.
Run just one car at a time against the clock, quickest car wins (time
trials). SCCA Solo-II rules dictate that (in general) the course design
should allow for the speed not to exceed 70 mph for the fastest cars, and
that the course should not pass within 25 feet of any fixed obstacle, such
that the driving conditions encountered on the course are similar to those
you would encounter if driving on public access roadways (minus other
traffic). SCCA likes to avoid the term "racing", prefering to refer to the
sport as "precision driving trials" or such. But in reality, we are racing
to beat the clock. The term "solo" refers to the single car at a time on the
track, and Solo-I is run at higher speeds, usually on a closed circuit road
race course.
To keep things competitive, SCCA designates about 25 different classes for
the cars in Solo-II, not all classes will always have entries, and some
classes may have only one car entered. In the case of a single car in a
class, that competitor may be "bumped" up into the next faster class. Run
time difference between successive classes may be about 1/2 second for a 60
second lap. The class your car is assigned to is determined by speed
potential. This is basically a gathering of statistics on an annual basis to
determine how fast each model of car runs, and thereby assigning that model
into a particular class.
SCCA Solo-II has four basic types of classes.
Stock class is for cars which are very close to showroom stock, very few
modifications are allowed.
Street Prepared class allows almost anything you can bolt on without
cutting or welding and without internal engine modifications and with street
legal tires, so carbs, headers, brakes, suspension parts, wheels and tires
may be substituted here. You may also substitute another engine within the
same model line, such as installing a MGA-MKII 1622 engine in a MGA 1500.
You should expect these mods to make your MG about 3-1/2 seconds faster on a
60 second course.
Prepared class allows most everything from Street Prepared class, except
that you should use the original carburetors, which you may re-tune (jets &
needles). You may also do a lot of body lightening (remove weighty things,
strip to the nines), and you may use slick tires. For all this you are
expected to shave off a few more seconds.
Modified class allows litterally any modifications you like (saving the
safety devices and four wheels), and the Mod class you are placed in is
generally determined by gross vehicle weight and engine displacement. So get
creative, add wings if you like, cook your checkbook, and shave off a few
more seconds.
Within these four basic types of classes there are divisions based on speed
potential. For the rest of this year my MGA is in E-Stock, just one step up
from the basement. The one slower class is H-Stock, generally 4-cylinder
sedans without high output engines. It seems that for next season the MGA is
being switched into H-stock, which should give me about another 1/2 second
advantage over all the other classes.
This note being long enough already, any further explanation will have to
await future questions or discussions.
G'day mate,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA (with an attitude)
|