[Steve91T]

What series are you racing in? Are time trials about all that's really practical? I'm not interested in autoxing.

[Fair]

What series are you racing in? Are time trials about all that's really practical? I'm not interested in autoxing.

I think W2W racing is too compromised to do in a street car. It is done, rarely, but also these are rarely winning cars. Maybe once in CMC, long ago, but not today. Street legal cars can be done in NASA Time Trial, however, but there are always compromises...

(IMG:https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-Events/NASA-TWS-042515/i-JsBjZsX/1/M/P7A_7020-M.jpg)

We ran NASA TT3 for 3 years (and TTB/TTS for the 2 years before that) in our 2011 Mustang GT, above. It was technically street legal, but during the last 3 years it got pretty difficult to street drive it with the aero we ran. In the TT# classes (TT1/2/3/U) the aero is virtually open, so you are going to be held back there in a true street car.

(IMG:https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-Events/Drivers-Edge-MSR-C-091915/i-Th4G9Zg/1/M/B61G2591-M.jpg)

The Time trial letter classes (TTB/C/D/E/F) are a different story. These classes are "points" driven, and you have only so many points to use for modifications before you bump up a class. So if you keep the aero mods to a minimum you could still street drive your car.

(IMG:https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Projects/2001-BMW-E46-325Ci/i-33xq848/1/M/IMG_0857-M.jpg)

We're building the 2003 BMW 325Ci above to run in a NASA letter class (TTD) and it will be the car I tell my customers to never build: dual purpose daily driver street car + TT car. We're doing this to show what compromises you will run into tracking your daily driver. It will have a roll bar (see below), racing seats, harnesses.... but still keep all of the glass, A/C, and most of the interior. A compromise, to be sure.

(IMG:https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Instructions/E46-roll-bar-install/i-59cSrGv/0/M/DSC_0780-M.jpg)

A full roll cage is "difficult" to pull off safely in a street car, as you have steel tubes running next to your head. Same goes for harnesses - you need to keep auto-retracting seat belts in place for street use, then switch to your 6+ point belts for competition.

(IMG:https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-Events/NASA-at-Hallett-062114/i-5DQzxmQ/1/M/20140621_113259-M.jpg)

Of course Time Trial has minimum safety requirements, so it is up to the competitor to chose their own safety upgrades beyond "SFI helmet + 3-point belts". Convertibles do have to have at least a roll bar. Luckily there's virtually no contact in NASA TT, and fewer crashes than in W2W classes. But peer pressure is at work, and the TT directors and other TT competitors do a pretty good job of pressuring people to up their safety gear as they get quicker. Probably half the TT fields in Texas are caged cars with driver's in full driving suits and HANS units. The car above was fully caged and the driver in a HANS + suit when he drove off track and through the barriers. Almost flipped. But again, extremely rare in TT.

(IMG:https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/TechArticles/S197-Mustang-wheel-teesting/i-tPbf7LB/1/M/B61G1626-M.jpg)

The TT contingency winnings can be as good or better than W2W club racing classes. CMC and AI pay out Toyo Bucks, right? Every TT event for 3 years netted me 4 Hoosier tires, if we had 5 in class (we usually did). 2 tires per day to f1st, 1 tire to 2nd if we had 7 competitors. We ran on sticker sets every weekend, racked up dozens of wins, and only paid for one set of Hoosier in 3 years. And never had contact with another driver or even did any damage to the car in 5 years of NASA TT events. So.... yea, TT isn't all bad. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

This post has been edited by Fair: Oct 11 2015, 06:36 PM