Getting into IT racing

M

mmz31

New member
I have been looking into getting into It racing i have have for 10 years in stock cars but on someone elses dime.. it has been about 5 years since i have race i was just wonder where is a good place to find a car and what kind of car.. i dont want to buy a already made one i want to buy one and build it when time and money permit..any help it appreaciated and thanks for trying to help me get the ball rolling
 
Welcome
You will be advised that buying a pre-built car is not a bad idea at all. You are already aware that racing is a money pit. I enjoyed doing our build, but probably could have saved some by buying a well prepared car-it just does not allow as much creativity. This board is a good place to search for a car as it is class specific. You will also want to contact SCCA and join as well as buy a copy of the GCR to refer to during the year. (There is an online version for free, btw) There are other organizations that sanction road racing events. You might consider doing a "school" or HPDE before beginning a build-another source of car info.

Hope this gets you started.

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Grandpa's toys-modded suspensions and a few other tweaks
'89 CRX Si-SCCA ITA #99
'99 Prelude=a sweet song
'03 Dodge Dakota Club Cab V8-Patriot Blue gonna tow
 
MMZ31, what part of the country are you in?

Most of time it's cheaper to purchase a built car. If you add up everything that you do to build up a car properlly, it will cost you more in the long run, than purchasing an existing car.

Basically, IT classes are pretty much on a scale to $$$'s. ITS are usually the most expensive, and also the fastest. Then ITA, ITB, ITC.
 
im in lawrence kansas .. im not intrested into buying a pre bulit car i have a lot of stuff for race cars and i live with a girl that drives late model stock cars and we have all the stuff we need to bulid a car and do it right i have bulit 3 stock cars before and the always ran up front.. i just wanted to get into cause i am busy with her racing and it would just give me some thing to do in our off time.. i just dont know what IT racing is like here in the mid west and im not intrested if theres not a hole lot of people here to run i know its big back home in maryland just not out here..

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CJ Mcabee
Lawerence kansas
 
There are quite a few people that run IT in the area. IT is the largest field that is run at any race that I have been to, I live in the Kansas City area. You will not be running alone thats for sure, and there are some very fast drivers and cars out there. It would be very hard to field a winning IT car in any class in your "off time", you can have fun for sure but they take a-lot of work expecially newly built cars. If you would like drop me a e-mail and I can fill you in on who to talk to. Topeka is close to you the season starts in a couple of months, Just come up to a race and see what it is all about.
 
some quick advice from someone who has just entered the world of improved touring, and has also just built his own car.
When all the experienced guys told me to buy a prepared car, for some reason I didnt think it was good advice, and went and built my own. Of course, they had been there and done that, but for some reason I thought I knew better.
Someone once suggested on here that you go out and buy a car with your credit card, then pay it off slowly over time. This way your in a car driving right now, not waiting a year to get it built
I would recommend buying an ITB or C car for 5,000 or so (maybe less...). It will have probably close to 8 or 9 thousand invested into it, and you will be paying 50 cents on the dollar. It may not be a championship car, but will get you on the track.
Oh, and if you think your going to build a championship car, you had better allow for about a 15 to 20 thousand dollar budget. Even if you have some race parts already...
With your circle track experience you may consider a mustang, which race in ITB, as you may be more familiar and parts may match what you have...
matt
 
i would love to just just buy a car and get going but i do not have a credit card that i could put a car on..i am real fimliar with the mustang and have thought about going that way but i really havent seen many of them runn and just not sure if it would be compitive.. i would just love to get a car and go racing but im so picky if i bought a car that it would be tore apart as soon as i bought and... it may not be the smartest thing to do but thats just the way i like to do things..
 
I have a friend that was going to build up an IT car. He is a tool maker and likes things done well. he just was not getting anywhere because he wanted to do it right. I put him in my car for a drivers school and that motivated him. he sought to buy a car and none were up to his standards. he finally settled on a ok car with a spare perfect chassis. perfect solution. he got to race no while still using the spare to build up the car he wanted.
maybe that would work for you
dick
 
CJ,

I live in KC and can confirm that the IT Run group is usually the largest one on a Midwest Division race weekend. This is true rain or shine!

I couldn't begin to make an educated suggestion as to a car that you might want to build or buy. I don't know what you like. As for me I sold a Mustang that I built from the ground up to buy a good Mazda RX7 ITA/IT7 car and have never regretted the decison.

Here are my rides:

http://community.webshots.com/user/scottp121

Hope to see you on the track!




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Scott Peterson
KC Region
IT7 #17
 
i was kinda leading towards getting a RX7 or a crx.. i kinda wanna start out in ITB or ITC..but its just hard to get started and i really dont know anyone out here in scca but i have been around it for many years..i would like to find a freind with a car and do my school and get it outta the way just to see if i would like it.. but that only happens in a perfect world.. i guess im looking for a complete car under 2500 or a car cheap to get started...
 
Ooch. Harsh reality time.

Open a savings account, put your money in it, and work races or crew for someone while you build enoungh capital to buy something that isn't going to be a massive headache. Your budget is about half of what a reasonable, cheap, entry-level used car would cost - all by itself - and a third of what you'd need to spend to get that same car and run enough events to get your Novice logbook upgraded to a Regional license.

This is assuming you have a trailer and tow vehicle or can drive the car to the track, you sleep in a tent rather than a hotel, you already have legal driver's gear, and you count every penny as you spend it.

K
 
mmz,

I know of 2 ITB/C Civics forsale in our region in your budget range. One of them was one of my old race cars (1500S) and the current owner has recently spent about $2000 on it and a bunch of time. Its a good solid Civic with 15 years of development (I raced it for 4 years). I bed $3000 would take it with a brand new set of Toyos and a bunch of spares.

Problem is, we are a way over here on the upper right coast...

on second thought, after reading the post above

http://www.nasaforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2212

you'd couldn't go wrong for only $2500. Good deal! I guess it really does reinforce the "buy it instead of building it" theory, and even folks with really low budgets can get into this sport.

[This message has been edited by racer-025 (edited January 22, 2005).]
 
thanks marcus i know that there are cars out there fairly cheap and in this kinda sport it is hard to come by to find a car to go racing and have fun.. but thats the way it need to be in IT racing keep the costs down and you will be able to get a hole lot more people involed in the sport..
 
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