SCCA : VETT vs. WS6 vs. WRX

[hummer26]

Im thinking about joining the scca to get into legal racing and I was wondering what car I should get: Chevy Corvette 97-99, Pontiac Trans AM WS6 ram air 98-02, or Subaru WRX 02-03. I don’t know what I want I think the wrx cause awd and a little liter but I want your info and poss. experience, and no stupid threads please I really want good answers and info.
Thanks Steve

P.S- price sub $20,000

[SabreKhan]

Get whichever one will make you happiest. If you want a good all-around car for a daily driver as well as a racecar, get the WRX. If you want a track car only, get the 'Vette. If you're also going to be drag racing on the side, get the WS6. The SCCA is really good about making the classes relatively equal, so whatever car you get, you'll be competing against machines with similar potential.

If you're getting a car *just* for SCCA stuff, you might want to look into a Miata or a Mini Cooper or a Dodge Neon. Those three vehicles have a *ton* of SCCA potential, but are relatively underpowered for what seem to be your tastes in daily drivers. A Miata, though, can be raced in SCCA club racing, SCCA spec Miata racing, Solo I, and Solo II. And, if you're really crazy with the Miata, rallycross. The Dodge Neon, on the other hand, *sucks* as a daily driver and is not a very good racecar, but within its class it seems to be a good choice because it's competitive and very very cheap to upgrade. The Mini is just cheap and hella fun.

So... give us some more information to work with:
Will it be your daily driver?
What type of SCCA racing: club, solo I, solo II, rallycross, spec, kart?
What cars have you driven before?
What style of driver are you?
How much upgrade cash do you have?
Do you want to race just to race, or do you want to upgrade your car and see how fast you can make it?
Do you care more about speed or handling?
Would you prefer to have a ton of people with the same car as you so you can get lots of good advice at every event, or would you rather blaze your own trail and have a car that people recognize as unique and interesting?
All are valid questions for the SCCA racer...

[kfoote]

If you haven't bought a car yet, I'd hold off for a few months to see what happens with the T3 class.

$20k won't get you into a T1 Corvette. Figure 50k min if you want to run mid-pack once you're done with everything

WS6 is a good T2 car, though even here you're probably looking at $35-$40k to run anything higher than mid-pack. Running it in AS is $45-50k once you're done with everything.

WRX is not competitive in T2, but could be in T3. The problem here again is maintenance costs, though the initial cost may be less. The WRX does have brake issues (though no more then the WS6), and general parts costs are more than on the WS6 (halfshafts/CV joints, transmissions, differentials, etc).

If you're looking for a $20k budget including the car for the season, you should be looking at cars in the following classes:

FF
FV
F500
SSC
Spec Miata
Spec Racer Ford
ITA
ITB
ITC

Unless you have significant car experience, you're going to be better off buying a used race car than building a new one, especially if you're just starting out.

[SabreKhan]

For the uninitiated, kfoote's classes are for club racing, not autocross. Club racing is more expensive (by a long shot) than solo, but a helluva lot more fun.

[kfoote]

Yep, I was thinking road racing, not auto-X. You can probably run a season of autocross on either the WRX or the WS6 for close to $20k including the car. The brake issues I mentioned earlier on these cars really only pop up after about 5 hard laps on track, and are much less of an issue in autocross.

[hummer26]

So... give us some more information to work with:
Will it be your daily driver?- prob. not, track only? not sure
What type of SCCA racing: club, solo I, solo II, rallycross, spec, kart? - not quite shur .whats the diff.
What cars have you driven before? some beaters and a few mercedes and a 350z
What style of driver are you? balls out fast driver
How much upgrade cash do you have? not shur what ever it taks to get what i want for parts and saftey.
Do you want to race just to race, or do you want to upgrade your car and see how fast you can make it? mostly just to race and get of the streets
Do you care more about speed or handling? both
Would you prefer to have a ton of people with the same car as you so you can get lots of good advice at every event, or would you rather blaze your own trail and have a car that people recognize as unique and interesting? so i can get lots of good advice. and be a little unique


and the 20k is just for the car, and build it my self, i have experiance in building cars ive made street cars befor, basicly all i want to do is keep it fairly stock: cat-delete pipe exhaust sys. saftey;cage, seat, 5point harnest, and what ever other saftey items i need, stut bar, sus. sys. brakes intake and other fairly easy/ stock stuff.

and the reson i picked those cars is cause i like the way they look best and thats the only reson except for the wrx i like that one cause AWD.

and are any of you in the scca if so about how much is it to join/get started and what do i need to do; satfey, register, just join or what?

[hummer26]

i think solo 1 or 2

[kfoote]

For a good roll cage or roll bar, (note good, you don't want to skimp here), you're looking at about $2000-$2500 installed. Unless you have a lot of welding experience and a tubing bender, I wouldn't reccommend doing this yourself. This is not necessary for Solo 2, only solo 1 and road racing.
Seat and harness-about $500. Again, not required for solo 2
Fire system-about $100 not req'd for Solo 2
Fire Suit-$300 not req'd for Solo 2
helmet-$200
Tires-depends on what exactly you're doing. Figure $600-$800/sett
Brake pads-$150/set

Before going any further, I'd reccommend looking at a couple of rule books to figure out exactly what you want to do. Autocross is a whole lot less expensive and easier to get into, but IMO doesn't have the fun factor of running a driver's ed event or race on a road course.