Car Classification

[DVC]

Hi Everyone,
I hope I'm not going to get flamed for asking this question in my first ever post! My son Mason and I entered our first event in Calgary today Oct 14 and had an absolute blast. We were in a 2008 Silver BMW 135i and thoroughly enjoyed running this car and were hoping to get some clarity on classification. We picked up the car as salvage as it was vandalized. I have no intentions of ever putting the car on the street. Someone jumped on the roof, beat the crap out of it, smashed out the rear window and sunroof. It sat out in Abbotsford for almost a year, open to the elements (rain, rain and some more rain). We were forced to strip and discard the headliner, carpet, rear seats, sunroof track, rear trunk carpet, amp, speakers etc. due to mold and have no intentions of replacing it. I also will not be shelling out the cash for a new rear glass and sunroof and would like to remove the side curtain airbags. I fear this will put us in the XP class from what I read in the rule book and other forums. Ive asked around and have gotten some mixed feedback on what class it would fall into. Not really sure what route to go with it, we have a budget to do some stuff the car but know we will not be competitive in the XP class no matter what we do to the car and don't have endless bags of money to throw at it. We are doing this for fun but both enjoy competition and still want to be in a class where we can be competitive. Can anyone shed some light onto what class the car currently falls into? We ran open class today because we really didn't know where it falls.

Thanks, Dan

[Reijo]

You have a set of rules:  Great!

The BMW 1-series belong in FP - read the car classification area for this (see Appendix A, pg. 197 of the SCCA Solo Rules).

The main part of the Prepared Rules (SCCA Solo Rule Book) begins at Part 17 - pg. 97.

Section 17.0.A.1 includes the sentence: "If the rules do not specifically authorize a modification, it is not permitted." ... a rule to live by and not forget.

Rear window removed:   Just have to replace it with lexan/plastic.  The rules do not say that you can remove the rear window so you can't do it.  However I noticed it says you can replace it with a polycarbonate (read lexan etc) material.  Note that on convertibles you can remove all the windows and front windshield frame (what we have done).

One more note here:   All the side windows can be removed (no need to replace them with anything).

The entire interior incl. air bags can be removed in Prepared class so you are good to go there!

I'm not sure why you think you might end up in XP ... basically a class where the engine has been swapped to another manufacturer etc. or something else done beyond the normal Prepared rules.

Welcome to the club!   

[Reijo]

Basically an interior-removed car ends up in Prepared class.  If you do not fit in Prepared then you would be in D-Modified or E-Modified (which are the production car classes in Modified).

Any classes below those, require interiors.

A Prepared or Modified car takes a lot of work to get to the point of being truly competitive but there is no need to do it right away.  Do it over a space of a couple of years or so and don't worry about being competitive.  Just come out and have some fun and keep working on the car until you and the car become competitive.

I would say FP is your best choice of class at this point ... just need some lexan (cheap and you can do it yourself) to cover the rear window.

Hope that makes sense.   

[Shifting gears]

I agree with Reijo Dan, as we are a also a prepared Car and have spent the year learning and tweaking it knowing the whole time we can't be truly competitive until we do the upgrades we have realized over the year it needs.
So next year hopefully we will be far more competitive and we need more upgrades we will get them for the next year👍

[PedalFaster]

It's very, very difficult to be competitive locally in a Prepared or Modified car. The PAX indexes are set based on the potential of fully prepared cars, which in the case of Prepared, means cars that have had tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes a decade or more devoted to their setup, plus of course dedicated race tires.

Not trying to dissuade anyone, but just want to set realistic expectations. If I were running in Prepared, I'd focus more on setting the top raw time at every event rather than looking at PAX.

[Shifting gears]

That's all correct
But like I told you...it is all in fun, if our lil Miata can be within 2.5 seconds of a 911 or M3 with a lil 115HP motor, imagine what we would do with more power and different tires👍
We have been pondering moving to Open for  next year for that exact reason.
So you could still have fun and be in the mix with your 135👍 And maybe beat the Miata🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼

[Midnightsky]

Don't worry about PAX or class, run open class and just have fun learning the car and meeting other car enthusiasts.  After and year or two of consistent running you can start looking at finding a class that fits your goals.  What I have been doing is finding people in similar setup cars and just comparing raw times.  It also helps going for rides with them in their cars and seeing what they do differently.  I had Marco run last event in my car and I learned of 1 crucial spot I've been losing time, the slalom. 

[DVC]

Thank you all for the replies, great suggestions and info!


-Reijo, for some reason the evil google machine told me gutted interiors would land me in XP. I got desperate and did some googling last night as I was unsure after going through the rules. I must of found some bad info on the good old internet (imagine that?). I cross referenced the rules and couldn't come up with a definitive answer. (just me not reading it correctly i guess).


I was just worried that I did something or will do something I couldn't undo that would give us a big disadvantage down the road.  Ive been through the rule book a few times and have a hard time digesting some of the information as there is a lot of info in there!

[DVC]

I would say FP is your best choice of class at this point ... just need some lexan (cheap and you can do it yourself) to cover the rear window.

Hope that makes sense.

FP won't work for us as it applies only to 1 series non-turbo and we are turbocharged 135i

[Shifting gears]

We are going Open next year, stay there with us cool guys
😂😂😂

[DVC]

We are going Open next year, stay there with us cool guys
😂😂😂

Dave,
I’m thinking that’s what’s going to happen!

[Shifting gears]

In open you can do whatever you want, it's all about the fastest raw time, no pax👍