STS vs CSP

[channelmaniac]

ROFLMAO!

Tell us 3Bean, what are the next couple of things you have in mind for the BUR?

RJ

[ccage]

Yeah, but you're not exactly the best example of "street practical," wouldn't you say?

Actually, yes I would!

I hope you aren't taking any offense to that comment. It wasn't meant that way at all. You're doing what you want with your Miata, and that's cool.

I've already resigned myself to the fact that autocrossing is going to be a pricey endeavour. Mind you, not as pricey as shifter karts or the like, but pricey none-the-less. Hence the reason, unlike yourself, I wouldn't be breaking out the spread sheets and calculating tires costs... it would only make me worry more!

FWIW, I did that because I didn't want to get my hopes up and jump in only to run out of money and be disappointed.

And (also FWIW), it doesn't look nearly as bad with street tires in the budget. Assuming I can swing 150 runs from them (which seems possible seeing that TW 60/80 tires deliver ~60), I can run all the NTS2KOC and SCCA events as well as the two PCA schools for around $625. Not that scary when you consider the expenses spread out over 8 months! (Heck, that's under $100/mo.)

Doing the spreadsheet helped in a couple of ways.

1) It helped me see quickly the difference between CSP and STS2 -- those soft tires would have eaten my lunch.

Like many I have a limited budget and it was great to be able to see what the tradeoff would be. Back when I first got into autocrossing (briefly) in college a great guy (who still writes a column in SportsCar) did a fun run in my CRX and turned a run 6 sec. faster than mine (on a ~1 min. course WITH MY 275 LB. FAT AZZ IN THE CAR). Clearly there was more to be had from the driver than the car, and that's how I need to approach this now. All I have from back then are memories of people -- I'm a 100% novice driver and from a competitive standpoint seat time is more likely to make me faster than parts -- even soft tires.

2) It helped me balance my money and decide what events I'd like to run.

It seems to me that the schools are worth the $$ to run, though I don't think I'm going to have the $$ to do the Evolution. We'll see as it gets closer -- maybe I'll get lucky and end up loaded then -- but realistically probably not.

3) It helped me figure out how to handle tires as I may have a driving partner.

I have a friend who'd like to run with me, and now I have a bit of a grip on per-run cost we can do a "tire fund" and eliminate problems if I run more events than he wants to. (Or if he bails out, this gives us a way to square up.)

Anyway, I think I'm finally on track. Unless something really weird happens I'm planning on picking up the Azenis and angling for STS2. With any luck I'll be mowing down cones come Feb.

Thanks to everyone who's pitched in here with information and advice. It's also nice to know that I won't have to go to my first event alone with no idea what's going on.

Chuck

[Treibenschnell]

I hope you aren't taking any offense to that comment.

None taken at all!

[tailchaser]

For reference, my current Azenises still have the better part of 1.5/32 tread and have about 6,000 street miles + 110 runs.