> First of all, if anyone is running a Stock car that costs more than
> $20k and is concerned about costs sell your car and switch classes.
I drive a stock car which cost more than $20,000, because that's what
I want as my daily driver. The goal of stock class autocrossing
should be to race your own everyday car with as little *additional*
cost as possible -- not to convince you to sell your car and get a
beater so you can afford to prep it to the limit of the rules.
I fully appreciate Katie's comments about driving being more important
than shocks or wheels, but on the other hand, I don't want to spend an
additional $2000 on shocks and $1600 on wheels just to be sure that
that guy or gal that's beating me and HAS spent the money really is
beating me because he/she is a better driver.
> Seriously though, I don't think most of us got into this sport because
> it was cheaper than our other options. I too was suprised initially to
> find out that you could do so much to a car in the "stock" class, but
> then it became fun to tinker with the car a little and see the results
> without having to do too much to stay competitive.
>
> I think we also need to look at the sport from a blank slate
> standpoint--If you have no car, what does it cost to get into the
> sport--rather than the amount of money you need to put into your $50k
> car to make it competitive.
Why? This is NOT how most people get into the sport. They don't say,
"I think I'd like to get into autocrossing -- I'll go buy myself
another car".
> Again, if you think it's absurd that you have to pay 1-2k to put
> "competitive" shocks on your $50k car, maybe you shouldn't be racing a
> $50k car. That's only 2%-4% of your car's value. It cost me almost $500
> to put shocks on my $5,000 MR2 (replace with Miata where applicable),
> that's 10%.
I don't think that anyone is complaining about $1K shocks on a $50K
car, but rather $5K shocks on a $30K car, or $2K shocks on a $20K (or
$8K) car. Your $500 shocks are reasonable, because they're pretty
close to what you'd have to pay to get any shocks on the car...
> Also, think of all the money we'd (all autocrossers nationwide) have to
> spend to switch everything back to OEM. And who's gonna buy my Koni's
> then?
That would only happen once, and if you were wise and kept your
original equipment then it would be almost free. Conversely, think of
all the money all autocrossers nationwide have to spend to upgrade
components every time they get a new car.
--
john@idsfa.net John Stimson
http://www.idsfa.net/~john/ HMC Physics '94
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