I need advice

All right. Here's my situation. I just turned 18 years old, and I've been driving for about 2.5 years. I feel confident in my driving abilities (not cocky and arrogant) on the road, and I would like to get into racing just for fun. I don't have much money to spend at the moment, and probably won't be able to spend serious money until next summer. Currently I drive a 1991 Honda CRX with some modifications (intake, exhaust, lowered 2", etc) and 185000 miles on the engine, but still runs strong. This is my only car that I drive daily for 25 miles/day on average. It's an older car, I'm still in the process of tuning it up, replacing old parts, etc. Hopefully by next springs I'll have the car in a pretty good shape. Once summer arrives, I'll be working my butt off trying to make some money. Hopefully by the end of summer I can have $5000 saved up, which I'm probably going to spend on a car. What I'm thinking of doing, is for $1000 getting a daily driver which will replace the CRX, maybe just a stock civic or something. Then the rest of the money will eventually go towards the car. At that point the CRX will be set aside for racing only. What type of event would i be best competing in? I don't just want to run 1/4, but I actually want to compete in a road or track course. What parts should I install on the car? I would like to keep the original engine until it runs, and then put a new engine in, and eventually turbo it. That's where I'd like to put that $4000. Also, anybody know of any track within preferrably 1 hour of 49120, NIles, MI? Any other advice someone would like to give me?

instead of pumping money into this car you should realy fine tune your driving skills!!! dont waste your money on anything but an exhaust and intake. you might want to actually take off the lowering springs! they will bump you up into a class that you will have a slim to none chance at winning at. once you have developed your driving skill's, you shloud seriously consider dropping in a B-16 w/ V-tec. that will help you the most. also put the spring back on, along with thicker anti-roll bars, and light rims. little secret... dont run anything over a 16" rim. any biger than that you are just sacrificing weight, and crappy ruberband tires. when you do go out to race be sure that you bring an air tank, as well as a tire gauge and tire chalk. they will be the most invaluable instrument's next to the advice you will recieve from the "veterans"

Are anti-roll bars required, or just optional? Where can I find an anti-roll bar for my CRX, or are they all custom-made? How much am I looking at spending on those? I can't take off the springs, because I bought the car with those on, and don't have any other ones. What is the air tank for? To inflate tires?

if i remember right and i'm new to racing too the tire chalk is to mark the side walls of your tires to let you know how much your tires roll letting you know how much tire you actually have on the tarmak this is where the air tank comes in if you have too much air in your tires you can let some out but if you feel the need to add a little more , you have air most sites that you race at dont have an air hose atleast they dont where i'm from

guys if i'm wrong let me know ok this is just what i remember from last season

You should start autocrossing next season with the Western Michigan region SCCA - http://www.wmr-scca.org/ your car is currently in STS and you can start now. There are many track days at Gingerman Raceway and Grattan raceway, both of which aren't very far from you and for those track days you don't need a roll cage (an anti-roll bar is a part of the suspension, pretty much every car has one) there's announcements for alot of those track days on www.xceedspeed.com , Be advised that aftermarket turbos aren't allowed in most forms of door-to-door road racing and put you in the most difficult Autocross class (SM2 where you go against heavily modified corvettes, MR2s, and miatas)

Also, are most of the races on Saturdays or Sundays? I can't race Saturdays, only Sundays. Are there enough events to make it worth the investment?

almost ALL events are on sundays, every region has at least 8 events every summer and some have as many as 15 and you can go to other regions too. For example, in Niles, its an easy drive to Fort Wayne region and South Bend region.

Go autocrossing at least once to see how much faster other people are. Compared your modified car to people running in stock classes. You will be suprised. It is a cheap way to hone your skills.

Dont do a single thing to your car yet. Driving it to find out what you would like/need to improve the most. Address the weaknesses of the car starting with the most urgent ones. Dont just slap on parts and expect good results.

untill you have done at least 5 autocross events don't worry about your times. there are too many factors involved with the sport to get it right (with the car and driver)the first time out.

if you decide you like it, the first things you should do are sticky tires, and if you need/want new ones, better shocks. somethink like the tokico illumina or adjustable KYB's.

the only thing that will be guaranteed to make you drive better and faster is seat time.

don't upgrade anything on the car untill you are running consistent times, and feel that you can't go faster on the setup it has. once you've done this, let someone who races in Pro class, or just someone who paxes in the high 900's drive your car. if your times are comparable, then it might be time to start upgrading the car.

as far as just starting out, get some Falken Azenis Sport tires, and try to find some stock or cheap 14's or 15's

i've used many tires in autocross, and those have worked the best as street tires. if you treat them right.... well, with a 200AA treadwear tire, i got about 3 years worth of racing and street driving out of them.

best part, they're cheap ;)

good luck, keep us posted

Well, I just got new tires, less than 1000 miles ago. They're all seasons though. Next season I hope to attend some events, and I'll go from there. Thanks for the advice.

I have another question: What exactly is a Snell 90 or better helmet? How much should I expect to spend? Can someone give me ebay links to some of them?

Alot of the time the scca club will have loaner helments there. that is what i do.

Also, your car is in ST2 class and not STS, little slip up there.

I have another question: What exactly is a Snell 90 or better helmet? How much should I expect to spend? Can someone give me ebay links to some of them?


Snell is an independent rating of the helmet's crash worthiness. You should be able to buy them at any local motorcycle store. Prices start around 100 USD for a decent helmet and go to about 700 for a top notch one.

And I agree with the above posts, don't worry about upgrades for now just focus on your driving skills. And as ac427cpe said when you get to mods start with tires and the suspension.


One word of advice about suspension: its worth only as much as its tuning. So find a good chassis tuner and take their advice on what parts to use and combine then have them set it up.