hf1

If I was on the market for a race car, what class should it be?

Chaos

"E" like is there another class, the former F troop

Cogito_Ergo_Zoom

As someone who has asked a similar question recently, I'll try to help with a few noob shortcuts:

1) Download the PCA rulebook here: http://www.pca.org/Activities/ClubRa...singForms.aspx

It will eventually begin to make sense after the 15th reading.

2) Get out to the next PCA race in your area. This experience will save you a lot of thread searching / question asking here and you will meet some very helpful people that will patiently tolerate all your naive questions.

Good luck.

caymancyr

If you're looking to have in-class competition, there is no place to look other than "E". "E" almost always has a strong turnout. It also has a really great set of drivers at the top to gauge your skill set against and enough racers across the spectrum of racing skill that you always have someone to run door to door against.

___________________________________
Kevin
1991 944S2 (Stock E)
#944

MMarmini

E or F looks great. It seems like E has more older 911s while F has the boxsters and more hot rodded older 911s.

Vampire

Some regions also have a bias toward a class. Spec 911's on west coast and spec Boxster's in other areas. I don't know about (North) East.

Some spec classes have cheaper consumables. Do you want to buy a couple of sets of cheap tires per year or or a couple of sets of expensive tires per weekend?

E class is good competition, has lots of pre built, sorted out, stable cars with reasonably low operating costs. You can purchase one for the same price as a couple of cup car bits.

Cup Cars have prettier graphics.

gums

The newest and fastest car you can afford.
But as Roger Penske pointed out when advising Mark Donohue, you have to be able to afford it, or it won't last long.

93 FireHawk 968

SP 2 followed by SP 3 usually have a load of participants if you want a car with the engine in the wrong place.

Plenty of D and E cars if you like the 911 platform.

GTC-3 is growing with a few new additions for 2013.

Experience and budget play a huge role in this decision as well.

hf1

I'm looking for the class that offers the most fun/competition/learning per $'s (consumables + depreciation) spent. Upfront acquisition cost is not an issue if depreciation is low and most of it could be recouped when sold.

To provide more color, I've raced with Skip Barber (Mazda MX-5s, arrive and drive) for 2+ years and have been happy with that equation. Just curious if racing my own car in PCA Club races could meet/beat it. I've been doing PCA DEs for seven years now and I like the people/atmosphere there -- very similar to Skip.

Would 986/987 Boxster/Caymans fit into F class? From what I understand, Spec Boxsters are not as popular in the NE as they are in the West (South)?

Have been apprehensive about Spec Miata due to the (spec pinata) feedback I've received. Been thinking about doing a SM arrive & drive and judge for myself.

hf1

gums & firehawk,

Affordability is not that important to me, as long as the amount of fun/competition/learning is worth the cost. For example, being among the fastest guys on the track (in a 997 Cup and against two other cars in the same class which I never see) is much less preferable than dicing it out with 10-20 equally powered and equally set up cars. I hope this makes sense.

Frank 993 C4S

A Boxster would fit well into F. A Cayman would be most competitive in H.

Jimbo951

Read the rule book.

E or F has the most consistently large car count.

Come up to the Glen this weekend and look around.

24allen

I'm going to shamelessly plug my own car (Stock "E" 911 for sale) and say that E is what you're looking for. Lots of competition and you will always be racing someone for position.

hf1

Thx for all the responses so far. Couple of them suggested I read the rulebook -- which I did almost halfway and failed to see how it relates to the OP question. I've been to a couple of club race weekends (the DE parts) and I have a lot of DE friends who race -- just wanted to hear feedback from a wider field.

On a somewhat related note, there's an offer in another thread to arrive & drive a 6Cup (+ coaching and support) at WG this weekend for $10k + consumables which some people thought was a good deal. Assuming a 20% profit margin in the offer, is it safe to infer that racing my own 6Cup for the weekend would cost around $8k + consumables, or around $10k, all in? I thought I read a while ago that racing a 6Cup would run about $1k per hour of track time, all in. Granted a lot depends on how much wrenching you would be doing yourself.

FWIW, and as a comparison, racing with Skip this season runs me (with package-deal discounts) about $3600 per 3-day weekend (practice day, qual, race1, race2 + support + coaching + consumables + insurance with $6k deductible). Just show up and get a car through a random draw. They even provide helmets and suits if you don't bring yours. It's not Cup, but the cars are all the same and if you stuff a car or it breaks down, you just draw another so your weekend is not completely ruined.

How would the above compare (cost-wise) to being podium-level competitive in club race E-H, SP1-3 classes?

gums

You're more analytic than I am, from a money standpoint. To me it's not all about dollars.
Come to the Glen this weekend, you'll see one of the biggest Club Race events of the year.
Panorama and CRN are sending scribes and photog's in to cover the largest gathering of 944's ever.