SOLO II - You Gotta Be Kidding Me??
 

Comparing a STOCK civic to a STOCK GT or Camaro on a Solo II course is like comparing the same cars at the 1/4 mile track, with the exact opposite results. I used to race Solo II in my Sentra SE-R, with no mods what so ever, and I would cream all forms of stock Mustangs and Camaro's. And the freaking Neon's would usually beat the heck out of me. These cars are in completely different classes so you don't even compete against each other at these races. Solo II is like basically an 1/8 of a mile race with about 27 turns in it. The smaller the car the better. Speeds rarely ever get up to 50 mph, though when you're going sideways it is a blast. A neat comparison would be a Solo I race, which is a much larger course and speeds get well over 80 mph. I never did one of those, but that would be an interesting comparison.

This post was in reply to the newest "Rice" post.....sorry for continuing the Rice saga.....:confused:

Hey thanks for shedding some light. But we all know that TINC smokes crack anyway ;)

hey sleeper, don't tell me this, tell the 50-75% of v8 guys around here that come in and talk ridiculous amounts of crap, then go out and run 5-10% slower than stock civic dx's,

every now and then, one will see some times posted, get pissed, throw a fit, tell us that our sport sucks, then leave without doing their course work

from my experiences, i've seen a variety of courses that range from courses that see the winner run in the 22 second range and never top 55........to courses that take over a minute and drivers see speeds over 80.......

a lot of it depends on the location of the event, they run about 10 different sites here.....

my point in the rice post: just cause a civic has a loud exhaust and stickers doesn't mean its "rice", so please watch the stereotypes and blanket statements

buwwahhh I don't doubt that.

Boy ole cbring loves his solo II stuff.

Daniel.

that i do :D

i'm so excited that i've got a car that i can run in it for the '03 season........i had a taste a few years back and its been way too long since i've been behind the wheel

Good for you! Someone give the man a gold star.

Daniel.

If the car only has stickers and loud exhaust, it would be rice. If it is fast, with stickers and loud exhaust, it could just be in bad taste.

Fact is, the GO is the SHOW. When people get the two confused, baaad things start to happen.

true true!!!

i SoloII race as well. Neons, Rabbits and Civics usually do the best. I cant compete with then YET, but will soon i hope. My car is to sloppy right now to even compare myself with them. But my buddy has a stripped out Stang and he also knows how to drive it also, and he beats most of the little cars, but not by far. He has alot of racing experience too. here is a pic:

that is a good looking car, looks like it could be very competitive......

i've watched autocross since i was a little kid, prolly 15+ years......and the two favorite cars i've ever watched run are a supercharged integra that made the pages of Sport Compact Car and a fox-bodied Saleen......

as i believe i touched in the other thread, nobody could touch the Saleen......

mustangs are a very capable platform in autocross, it just seems to take more money, more effort, and more driver skill to be extremely competitive for your "average" autocrosser

:confused: Then you are in a region with some pretty screwed up drivers.

In more cases then not the FTD for the stock class is usually a SS or A Stock car. (Vette/RX7 TT). With B or CS about 1.5 seconds behind. Miata's, Boxsters, 914's etc...

In the mod class BSP is usually the fastest with ASP pretty close. Again no Neon's, Rabbits/Golfs, Civics...

Balance and power to weight, play a much bigger role then just weight alone. Most stock Vettes are well over 3100#'s and longer & Wider then 90% of the cars on the track yet consistantly put down the fastest times.

I won a National SCCA title in 1990 in CS in a Shelby GLHS Charger (only to have it striped becauise the SCCA is a F'ed up organization!!!) that was about 3+ seconds ahead of the G & ES cars and 4+ ahead of HS cars but a good 3 sconds behind Roger Johnsons SS Vette!

22 Second AutoX courses are stupid and a waste of everyones time. 40+ seconds is the rule anymore anything less is pointless.

But saying that FStock cars cant hang with the FWD cars is meaningless unless it's on the above stated 22 second track that fits into the parking lot drags that these rice boys seem to enjoy so much :rolleyes:

I wish anyone luck in racing AutoX, Because it's really a test of how well you know your car and it's abilities/limitations.

so i see you learned how to drive in the bigger courses. huh, you cant learn anything in 22 seconds of going around the course. i dont know the region of yours, but mostly my region is dominated by the cars i mentioned with a decent set of r compound and gutted out cars. very few Stangs can do as well as the Neons or Rabbits unless they are somewhat modified with a good driver. The pic of my buddys stang will beat and run circles around those cars and his suspension is mostly stock. but he has alot of racing experience along with his SCCA licenses so maybe that is why he does so well.

that is true, but unless it is not 40+ seconds or better of a track, your wasting your time and not learning a thing. yeah waste of time.......

here is my region:SCCA SoloII results

believe it or not, that car was totalled, and i do mean totalled! the left front of the car was actually in the drivers seat. he fixed it all. yeah it does look nice from a distance, but if you look up close on the car, you will see mismatched fenders, floor pans crinkled, and the paint isnt the greatest. he took 4 junk cars and made 1 track car. one fender is off a 89 GT and the other is off something else. the nose is off a 87. also, he didnt even paint it, the other parts he got were already red. it is a perfect track car. a 351 Lightning motor powers that car along with the stock 4 cats! trust me, it is fast! it has no interior at all. just the dash and a cage and thats it!

Thats a pretty small turnout I have had days where I had 25 cars just in my class with 250+ total turn out. As far as Cars with gutted interiors well thay are obviously not In any "Stock" class and again it's usually 914's or Vettes or some crazy one off Mod car that is beating the hell out of everyone. But I guess every region is different. maybe it's beacuse I run in the bigger Cities, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincy, Toronto, Dr\etroit that I see more of a representation across the classes. As well as at National Events including the Run-offs...

yes it is small gathering. it is not that big around here because most people dont know about it or dont know what it is.

never said my friends car was in the "stock" class. i was just describing some of his components he has.

i truthfully believe you Aqua, but from your region to mine, you can see the difference. i wasnt doubting you at all. also, you are going to have better cars if you have your meetings from bigger cities. more people, more money. i am just from a small town compared from the ones you mentioned.

now i understand what you meant by 22 seconds courses. with that many people you have, i would agree with you totally. as for the amount of people we have, it works out nicely.

I wouldn't consider it a waste of my time.

I am yet to run any of the really short courses, but i imagine that sometimes you have to do what you can as far as finding sites. It seems to be tough to find places that want to host these things and it isn't getting easier. Everyone in this region knows which sites will be the short courses, so if you think it is stupid and a waste of time, you really don't have to show up or run.

Personally, I'd rather run a 20-something second course than not run an event. I've also noticed that those who do run seem to enjoy themselves. I've also noticed that many seem to improve their skills and that those that run the short courses often tend to do well and continue to improve their skills on the longer course the next week.

I can kinda see what you're saying. I could see like only playing the first 10 minutes of a hockey game, you really don't find you who's the best, you miss out on many factors of what makes a good team (endurance, strength, etc).