AutoX Newbie with TA - F-Body Road Racing and Autocross Forums

Hey all,

The name's Ken and I just got my 98 Trans Am a little almost 2 months ago and had my first AutoX event last weekend. I'm racing with the NCCBMWCCA crew as my buddy who got me into it runs a M Coupe. He's a pretty good driver and placed 4th in the event out of 115. I absolutely fell in love with AutoX and will be setting my car up for doing so. Anyways, I wanted to introduce myself and share a couple pics from the event. The links below are to a couple vids my wife took. I just made a in car camera mount that'll be handy at my next event April 17 in Waldorf Md. I look forward to talking with everyone and researching how best to setup my car. So far I have some power mods and a strut tower brace. I'm picking up some ZR1 17x9.5's from someone this weekend for $150! I'm gonna put some 265/40R17 Dunlop Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec's on them for this season. They should run decent for this year and next...maybe. Whenever I'm made of money I'll get some track slicks...but for the money these Dunlops have a great reputation. I need to start looking into more suspension stuff...but I might hold off on that this year and get used to the car more first. I do want some racing seats to keep me from sliding all over the place, and am eyeballing 6litereater's seats on his site. I'd like to get a 5 point harness with them, but need to see if I can do that without having a roll cage. Research, research, research. That's why I'm here!

(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/10.jpg)
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/4.jpg)
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/6.jpg)
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/9.jpg)

Here's a pic of the camera mount I made. Some all thread through some square tubing I had. Electrical tape for friction against the camera to keep from turning. I need a couple U bolts to bolt the square tubing to the headrest bars and then I'll just strap the seat back tight so it doesn't vibrate. Not a bad setup for basically being free!
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/7c7a388e.jpg)

Links to Video...yes I carried WAY too much speed into that last sweep..haha...i'm learning!
http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/S...nt=DSCF0371.flv
http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/S...nt=DSCF0372.flv

This post has been edited by 98_TA_EMLC: Mar 24 2010, 09:15 PM

98_TA_EMLC View Member Profile	Mar 24 2010, 07:33 PM Post #1
newbie Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 24-March 10 Member No.: 10,056	Hey all, The name's Ken and I just got my 98 Trans Am a little almost 2 months ago and had my first AutoX event last weekend. I'm racing with the NCCBMWCCA crew as my buddy who got me into it runs a M Coupe. He's a pretty good driver and placed 4th in the event out of 115. I absolutely fell in love with AutoX and will be setting my car up for doing so. Anyways, I wanted to introduce myself and share a couple pics from the event. The links below are to a couple vids my wife took. I just made a in car camera mount that'll be handy at my next event April 17 in Waldorf Md. I look forward to talking with everyone and researching how best to setup my car. So far I have some power mods and a strut tower brace. I'm picking up some ZR1 17x9.5's from someone this weekend for $150! I'm gonna put some 265/40R17 Dunlop Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec's on them for this season. They should run decent for this year and next...maybe. Whenever I'm made of money I'll get some track slicks...but for the money these Dunlops have a great reputation. I need to start looking into more suspension stuff...but I might hold off on that this year and get used to the car more first. I do want some racing seats to keep me from sliding all over the place, and am eyeballing 6litereater's seats on his site. I'd like to get a 5 point harness with them, but need to see if I can do that without having a roll cage. Research, research, research. That's why I'm here! (IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/10.jpg) (IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/4.jpg) (IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/6.jpg) (IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/9.jpg) Here's a pic of the camera mount I made. Some all thread through some square tubing I had. Electrical tape for friction against the camera to keep from turning. I need a couple U bolts to bolt the square tubing to the headrest bars and then I'll just strap the seat back tight so it doesn't vibrate. Not a bad setup for basically being free! (IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/7c7a388e.jpg) Links to Video...yes I carried WAY too much speed into that last sweep..haha...i'm learning! http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/S...nt=DSCF0371.flv http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/S...nt=DSCF0372.flv This post has been edited by 98_TA_EMLC: Mar 24 2010, 09:15 PM

cccbock View Member Profile	Mar 25 2010, 12:08 AM Post #2
Advanced Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 934 Joined: 7-March 06 Member No.: 1,113	Welcome to FRRAX..Pretty car. There are some excellent AX folks here, including National and regional champs. No offense, but it bothers me to see a piece of boxed steel sticking out into the cockpit (your camera mount). I know AX is inherently safer than RR but still stuff happens. I would hate to see you impailed on that thing. You might want to rethink that. Maybe a suction cup mount to the dash or roof? I have seen both. In any event, a big ass pad of some sort on the end (tennis ball maybe?) Safety first. Other than that...have a blast!!! bock