AutoX and classing
 

Have a stock fr-s for the moment but I am looking into rce springs sooner than later and debating exhaust as well. Those would be my only mods besides cosmetic. Where would that put me class wise?

For brakes should I do better pads, fluid? Maybe SS lines or stay stock, or only 1 of the three mentioned?

Also related but not as much car what is a good helmet that a more basic affordable option? Running in mid-atlatic region.

Pass stock & go directly to STX.

Pack a lunch--tough class...

Oh & welcome.

Are you interested in being competitive, or do you just want to mod your car as you like and go have fun?

What you are describing, assuming your "cosmetic" modifications are very minimal, like painting taillights or debadging or w/e, would put you very under prepared in STX. Some cosmetic modifications will push you beyond STX and into SP or SM... for example putting any carbon fiber panels on your car puts you straight to SM.

S.S. brake lines are unnecessary in autocross. I'd suggest running a street brake pad, something that doesn't need a ton of temperature to be effective because in autocross, you wont really be heating them up like on a track.

G-Force brand is one of the best for bang-for-the-buck and open faces are cheap and nice (AND RECOMMENDED) for street cars with airbags.

Cosmetic would be fog lights, emblems, maybe a trd spoiler and something on the front lip.

I am not looking to be super serious but semi competitive would be nice. If I went to stx which I am assuming the springs do what else would I have to do to be semi competitive?

What pads should I look at or just stay oem?

if your doing local only.. then it would be STX.. use your stock pads for now until you learn the car and its potential.. there will be more time to be made by learning to drive than the brake pads will give you.. for now.. I will be on stock pads at a national level ..as the stock brakes are pretty decent.. there is alot more things you could do in STX also..

Check out this thread for all your potential mods

What class would straight stock plus stock sized rims with RS-3s on there do? trying to stay stock for this season to be competitive.

Here are the SCCA rules.
http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...lo%20Rules.pdf

The rims have to be stock size diameter, and width and have to have offset almost the same as stock, (+/- 0.25 inch) watch that. RS-3's are good but some racers will have Hoosiers, etc. for stock class. If you are new to autocross, don't worry too much about car mods, you have a lot to learn in the driving department and you probably wont exceed the cars capabilities. You can change very little in stock and be legal, so be careful. Good tires are the best thing you can do and RS-3s are one of the top tires. And no changing tires at the race, that gets old fast. Have fun!

Thanks, im definetly new and will not be making any big changes until I know i can actually drive the car to the limit effectively. Rubber and weight reduction are what im going for. I was hoping to run this season in stock class with some sticky rubber on stock size rims, no trunk junk, rear seats chucked, and maybe a lightweight battery. All that would probably bump me out of stock tho.

Lightweight battery would push you to STX, which is where you want to be competing on the local level anyway. But remember R-comps are not allowed in this class.

Rear seat delete would send you straight to SM where the PAX will kill you. If you want to drive a lighter car, then whatever floats your boat, but just know that competitively you'd be hurting yourself going to this class.

Stock class allows the following mods:

aftermarket dampers (with stock springs)

aftermarket wheels (same width and diameter. offset can be +/- 6mm I believe)

aftermarket front or rear sway bar (you can only have one. you'll want a thicker front bar to prevent the back wheel from leaving off the ground.).

any tire size you want. for street tires, 225 is probably the widest you'd want to go. some people will disagree and go with 245.

i guess ill just be sticking with the lightweight battery and some rs3s on rpf1s to stay in stx. defiently want to stay competitive so if chucking the rear seat pushes me to sm ill stay away from that.

STX is a competitive class, but defeinitely more fun than CS or RTR because you can keep modifying the car. In stock classes, there aren't too many big changes you can do. Still, you will probably get spanked in STX at first.

Have you autocrossed the car yet in stock form on just some good street tires? I think you will find a well set-up stock-legal FR-S/BRZ is a lot of fun to drive, so I wouldn't make the jump to STX just because of the "fun" factor.

Honestly, if your only plans are larger wheels & a lightweight battery, those items will not provide you a noticable increase in performance around an autocross, if they do it would be mere tenths. You will be no more competitive in STX with those mods than you would be in SM after ditching the rear seats.

My advice is to get some good street tires (Dunlop ZII, Hankook RS3, Toyo R1R, BFG Rival when it comes out) on the stock wheels, the Strano front sway bar, the crash bolts & an alignment. Then just drive as many events as you can to learn, have some of the local veterans ride along with you, & maybe even take an autocross school. Those items would be a much better investment for you as you are starting out, & the good news is other than tires (which are a consumable anyway) this set-up is pretty cheap.

Then, if after a season or so you are bored with that set-up or have hit a plateau with your driving, you can make the jump to STX. At least at that point you have a much better understanding of what makes a car do well at autocross, & not spend money on items that either bump you to a higher class or that do nothing for the car's performance.

race2win gives some good advice. STX is fun, but costly to try and be competitive in. If you're running with OVR in Columbus, there is good fun local competition in both STX and RTR. I'd also recommend sticking with RTR initially. Just put some sticky tires (ZII's are probably your best bet) on your stock wheels, get the camber bolts, and maybe a front swaybar, come out and have fun, and focus on improving your driving. I ran my BRZ a couple of times in RTR last year, and I may run there the whole season this year. We usually have an autocross school towards the beginning of the season.