interested in trying solo1 this year...

[andrew1984]

interested in trying solo1 this year... what are the typical costs?

[ctenche]

Sounds great!

In terms of the costs are you referring to the entry fee for an event or an all inclusive costs encompassing tires, breaks, fuel, etc? Also, are you talking about one event or an entire season?

[andrew1984]

Originally posted by ctenche
Sounds great!

In terms of the costs are you referring to the entry fee for an event or an all inclusive costs encompassing tires, breaks, fuel, etc? Also, are you talking about one event or an entire season?


hi, thanks for the reply.

most likely, if i really enjoy it - ill be attending on the sunday events. that adds up to 7 of 12 events.

what is the cost for entry per event?

what is the GENERAL yearly costs for your car? (maintenance types of things)

[ADAM]

costs are around 100-110 per event.... you can get away with one set of tires and brake pads....

[andrew1984]

how do the khumo victo's hold up for a season of solo1?

and one set of brake pads as in, for the season?

[tanney]

Andrew, I did five solo 1 events, three lapping days/evenings and 21 Solo 2 events on mine last year.

It depends on how much overdriving you do as well.....

[tanney]

Oops, my Khumo's were the Ecsta's

[ADAM]

i used 1 set of hawke blues for 7 events..and one set of rotors and 1 set of tires...

[ctenche]

You can definitely get a season out of the Kumho's but like tanney said, it really depends on your driving/overdriving style. If you consistenly overcook the corners expect a much shorter life span.

As for breakes, it varies depending on the pad type, your car and your braking habits. I generally go through about 2-3 sets of Hawk Blues on my Teg in about 14 events and several lapping days thrown in for good measure.

[Silver Fox]

I too will be joining the solo 1 ranks this season as a "newbie". I would like to buy products of our series sponser.

Do we have a tire sponser??

If so, what would be recommended for my car as a track/street tire?? I will be entering a 1987 MR2.

Silver Fox

[ctenche]

I would recommend that you get yourself a set of track only tires like Kumho Victoracers, Toyo RA-1's or Yokohama's. I would not use the same tires on the street as I do on the tracks. Not only will be a poor performer in comparison to a true R compound tire but most likely you'll chew the street tire to bits very very quickly. Overall it will end up costing you more then just getting a dedicated set of race tires.

[Silver Fox]

This is going to be my first try at Solo I and I don't know if I want to spend the money up front for a set of "track only" rims and tires before I even turn a wheel.

I was going to put on a good set of performance tires for day to day driving and hope that they may do for a couple of "track days" (any suggestions??). I guess I want to try it before I spend money on 2 sets of tires and rims.

I hope I'm not being a pain in the ass with this.


Steve
(Silver Fox)

[ctenche]

No you're not being a pain. Questions are good.

I hear what you're saying about the street tires but I gotta warn you that depending on your driving style, one or two events might be all it takes to completely ruin a nice set of street tires.

I might suggest a set of used R compounds. You can usually pick up a set with a couple of events worth of life left on them fairly cheap on this message board.

If you gotta go with the streets then do so. Don't let this stop you. Whatever you choose though I'm sure you will have a blast.

[Taylor]

Steve: Caius is right... basically what it comes down to is this for 15 or 16" rubber... you're looking at

nice set of summer tires = ~$1200+tx (potentially ruined in 2 to 3 events)

nice set of r-compound tires = ~$900+tx (could last a whole season)
used set of r-compound tires = ~$300-500... (could last for a few events and a few lapping days).

Even if you only try it out for 1 event, you could end up doing about $300-500 of wear on your $1200 summer tires.. and depending on how much you might overdrive the car, you could render the tread fairly usesless (i.e. if it wears on the outside heavily)

Sorry, don't want to scare you out of trying it. One event (excluding open lapping) shouldn't hurt slightly worn in tires too much, fact is, you're new and shouldn't be driving that hard out of the gates anyhow.

We just want you to have the facts.

[Dave]

my first Solo 1 weekend was on street tires (the factory original all-season tires that come on a 99 Honda Prelude). I didn't do that much damage to them, even though they were very close to new. I did scallop them a fair bit, but with some highway driving they flattened out nicely. Anyway, I don't think it wore much rubber off, though this was a fairly hard all-season compound. Anyway, I'd say for someone who just wants to give Solo 1 a try, just do it on your street tires and drive within the limits of the tires and your ability.

After that first weekend, I knew I wanted to do more track events, so I went out and got some r-compounds and a spare set of rims. The enjoyment factor went way up after that, since I had way more grip, the car turns in so much crisper, it just really gives you confidence that you don't feel on a set of screeching street tires. But it was a big initial investment and there's no way I would have been willing to spend that kind of money without having tried it first on my street tires.

Just another man's perspective...
Dave

[GR8 Ride]

Originally posted by ctenche
I would recommend that you get yourself a set of track only tires like Kumho Victoracers, Toyo RA-1's or Yokohama's. I would not use the same tires on the street as I do on the tracks. Not only will be a poor performer in comparison to a true R compound tire but most likely you'll chew the street tire to bits very very quickly. Overall it will end up costing you more then just getting a dedicated set of race tires.

I'd offer a bit of caution on this one though, simply because R-Compounds can get a novice driver into quite a bit of trouble, and often don't have the audible warning limits like a harder street tire would.

Also, should he not enjoy the weekend (what???!!!), he'd be stuck with a set of wheels / tires that he'd have to unload, and likely never get close to real value for him. The $100 or so of street rubber that would be burned off in a Solo 1 weekend is far less than losses on a set of rims, and r-compounds (which probably drop 50% in financial value after one weekend).

Andrew,

I'd suggest going to the Solo1 school as a place to start, on street tires (get a good, intermediate set of brake pads though...always worthwhile).

This way, you'll get some in-car instruction, AND some exposure to the Solo 1 experience. If you enjoy that, then it's an easy enough step up to look for spare wheels, and some r-compound tires. At that point, you'll at least know if the hobby is something you might be interested in, and have a better feel for what your car is capable of.

Just my thoughts...nothing more.


Pat

[rainman]

Good point Pat re: Solo 1 school.

If you do choose to pursue the Solo 1 school, the major benefit is that you can take to the track in your first competitive event the very next day because I believe you are entitled to one event as part of the school tuition. So for instance you can take the first school on Sat. May 10 at Shannonville and stick around for Sunday's event (the first of the season!). There is also the Sat. July 12 school followed by event #6 at Mosport DDT.

[Silver Fox]

Thanks guys !!

Your advice and different points of view has been great !! I am planning on attending the first Solo I school in May and sticking around for the first event of the year the following day.

When I bought the MR2 it came with a set of half worn Goodyear Eagle GT's. Maybe I'll run these and if I smoke them I don't care because they were going to be replaced anyways.

I can see how you enjoy this "family" of fellow Solo I racers so much. The help and guidence that you give "newbies" is terrific !!

Thanks Again !!

Steve
(Silver Fox)

[alexb]

Andrew.
You get two days of Solo comp. with youre school tuition.

So that would be the one day school, pluse two days of youre choice to run in a Solo 1 event.

A very good deal!

[alexb]

Sorry i got youre name wrong!

[Silver Fox]

No problem !!

I've been called much worse!

Do many of you show up at the open house in April ??

Steve
(Silver Fox)

[Dave]

Al, did you find the keys to the liquor cabinet again? :p Um, and can I co-drive your car again next year? Who loves ya Babzy!

Silver Fox, yes many of us do show up at the Open House. It's a bit of a Mardi Gras atmosphere :) All the host clubs have tables set up to sign up anyone that needs to join a CASC club (required to participate in either the Solo 1 or Solo 2 regional series) and of course many of us sign up for events at the Open House too since there will be a price discount for pre-registering this year. And then there's the added bonus of getting to chum around a bit with all your Solo friends who you haven't seen in a while, not to mention the good folks at CSC Racing have traditionally given us a 15% discount on all their wares (not sure if they'll be doing so again this year though).

[Taylor]

I received a "NO TAX" notice from CSC for the Open House day (that's where the 15% off comes from). So yes, they're doing it again this year.

Oh and Steve, I didn't notice this in your post before regarding tire sponsorship..;.

Kumho Tires is onboard this year as a sponsor. And While I can't speak for this year, Yokohama was a sponsor last year. (I don't think the sponsorship list is quote done for this coming year yet)

Also, a company called Wheel and Tire Zone *is* a series sponsor where you can buy Kumho's OR Yok's from at great prices.

Sorry if I repeated anything anyone else said in this regard.

[alexb]

Dave,you big hariy fun loving hemaphrodite
You can drive my car anytime!

[Silver Fox]

Sorry......back to the tires.....what about Kumho 712 Ecsta Supra's , Toyo T1-S's or Falken Azien's (I think that's what they are called) They call them "ultra high performance". Would these wear fast as well if I used them for track and street ??


Steve
(Silver Fox)

[Taylor]

Steve: If you want a good hybrid tire (best for both worlds, the Azenis Sport are the tire of choice. They're pretty soft. A number of AutoXers use these, especiallky in a series where Street Tire bonuses exist. They're often referred to as a "cheating tire".

So they'd be a good pick. Though frankly, based on the tread block design, I don't think they'd be all that great in water (i.e. rain).

The 712's are regarded as worth the money, the problem is, they're very cheap. That said, I'll probably end up with a set of them for street use this year.

T1-S's I know little about other than I know some people regard them as loud. They're probably in the same league as the 712's, though I dunno that they're quite as inexpensive.

Someone said earlier about new people and R-compounds and it was a great point... it's probably a good thing to do your first couple track event(s) on street tires, you get a lot more warning before the tires finally let go. R's generally don't give you that warning, but they're more fun to drive on and a necessity if you want to be competitive in Solo 1.

[Chris91GT]

Taylor... are you going to be hitting the track with the MR2 this year?

[Taylor]

Chris: That's the goal. I had a few too many issues last year with it as you may or may not know. Before the 3rd event (I decided against the 2nd event due to the drive to shannonville, weather and lack of rain tires) I was at a lapping day where the turbo backed off the exhaust manifold. That and my clutch fluid boiled in the 40+ degree heat. Course I had no idea what was wrong with the car since it was entirely too hot to touch that day (I tried to let it cool bit nothing cools off in 40degree heat.)

Once I found out the problem (3 of the 4 nuts were gone and the 4th was finger spin-able I put them back on and came out to Shannonville. However since I waited until 1 day before the event or whatever, I discovered one end of my swaybar had disconnected (that nut had backed off) and it wasn't a common nut thread type I had in the house, so I took the other side off and pinned it up, just went very stiff on the front.

After morning lapping the nuts had backed off again. I lost a set of runs that day too and finally doubled up the bolts. I still had an ABS issue. I don't know if you ever saw me drive that car this year but I'd miss my turnin on almost any corner with heavy braking because ABS would kick in the instant I would hit any little crack in the road or what have you. finally the second day I disconnected one of the sensors and it disconnected the ABS. Course I still had this floating front end due to the missing sway bar. My times actually were no better than when the car was stock and I was running it about as hard as I could. Having said that, I had a couple people drive the car and they both had mixed feelings about problems with it, but neither were running it any harder than I was, in fact Adam had lost in in turn 4 on Nelson.

Basically what it came down to is the car has not been corner weighted, no alignment whatsoever done on it since I put in the coilovers. For all I know I didn't even have the ride height proper on the 4 corners, no sway bar and when it was on, I had it preloaded (oops), a sticky throttle body or intake manifold or something under netural accelration, heat saturation, and small tires (205's in the front, 225's in the rear, with 220HP and Torque to the wheels) that I had to run spacers on that were lightly rubbing under hard cornering. The steering wheel is also a little too small for a non-power steering equipped car. Oh right and there was also a dead space of acceleration... problem in the fuel map I think, at that point the car would feel like it felt before when i was running way too rich. Heck I think with all that rich running at the beginning of the year I could use some new plugs too.

After that weekend, I lost one weekend due to working with a FranAm 2000 team, we had the Cayuga one cancelled and another weekend was given up due to the Film Festival. (I'm a film nut, saw 22 or 23 movies at TIFF last year).

So anyhow I need to sort out all that stuff before event #1. I have a line on some wheels that should help me out in that regard. I plan on making a call about getting the car into Japaneese Automotive for cornerweighting and track alignment. I have nuts that SHOULD allow me to reconnect the sway bar. I have a throttle body, intake manifold cleaner I plan on using and on the heat problem.. well I'll probably figure something out after I see how the car handles with a proper setup suspension setup.

So yeah, I plan on running the MR2 this year.

[andrew1984]

damn taylor... dont forget to come up for air every so often :D

[Chris91GT]

LOL Andrew

Taylor, I remember you being very frustrated last year. I think we would have had a lot of fun going back and forth last season. We're switching a few things up this year after Performance World that should make the car even more fun to drive. Hopefully it won't cause me to go backwards from last year... that would be embarassing. LOL

I've gone back to Yoko again after some pretty awful tire wear on the Kumho V700s last year. They last the whole season but were worn so unevenly across the surface that we nearly corded them a couple of times. -3 degrees and still burning up the outside edge... soft sidewalls and a decidly noce-heavy car = ouch.

After a long lapping day (~4-5 track time) at TMP late in October last year on brand new Yokos they showed infinitely better wear and felt much stiffer and more responsive. I can't wait to try out the new SC versions this summer.

[Taylor]

Chris: Well I was frustrated the previous year too. At the end of the season, besides the huge defecit between my first A2 car then my second A2 car (with a BSS2 car in between), I had to deal with things like seizing brakes on an ABS system and the lack of an LSD and power steering. I did far better at my very first Solo 1 event (in the same Class) than I did in any Solo 1 event with the MR2. So yeah, you could call that frustrating. :)

Anyhow, enough about me...Have you calculated your class position this year? Would we even be in the same class again?

And yeah the tire wear thing on the V700's appears to be a common problem. Having only done 4 solo 1's with half a lapping day and one solo 2 on mine last year, it's hard to say how well they held up. Though they LOOK on par with the Victoracer wear.

[Spreader]

Another new member here :eek:

I'm very interested in coming out for a class...and I'm also running street tires...Kumho Ecsta Supra's. Came with the car and they hold like crap but I have to run them until I know I want to do this kind of racing.

Where can I get more info on instructional days???

I've only Solo-II'd once before, (see pic hehe) and that red car from above might have been there. The regional event in Douro near Peterborough? Had a blst and I've since spotted this and I'm interested in trying it out!

Only thing is my Shelby won't be ready until AFTER the May date. So should I bring out the beater just to try it out? Or wait until I have *somewhat* of a performance vehicle?!?!

Thanks guys!

Mike

[Taylor]

Yeah the red car..err I was there. :)

FYI, if that was your first event, the events in the GTA are on substantially larger lots, literrally 4-8 times the size.

Still as I've said in the past, I was impressed with what the Peterborough club was able to put together for that lot. It was a challenging course.

Keep an eye on WiredMotorsports.com for any news of a Solo 2 Instructional event. TAC held 1 (did they manage to do 2? I don't remember) last year at the Brampton Centre for Sports and Entertainment that was done fairly well and the sport actually picked up a number of new competitors from it too!

Of course I'm sure any such event will be announced in the Solo 2 forums here.

Yes it's true those Ecstas arn't the best but they're a pretty good value. Better those than all-seasons. :) At least if/when you burn them out they don't cost a fortune to replace. If you want a good hybrid tyre and don't have another set of wheels quite yet, you might want to look into the Falken Azenis Sport. They're fairly soft and many competitors in the US where there are street tire classes and or bonuses use these tires since they're as close to an r-compound as you can get.

[Taylor]

Oh and (I've said this already today).. I expect you can have fun in any well running vehicle, be it a sports car or station wagon. :) There's no replacement for seat time and if yo ucan get more of it in multiple cars, all the better!

[Chris91GT]

Taylor,

I haven't looked at the latest system in detail. I did a quick calc one night and came up with GS2. I don't think all of those points count with the latest revision, but I expect that I will be calling GS3 home this year. Engine PIPs add up quickly. I will likely go for the dyno route. I am going to take the sheets with me to Performance World tomorrow night and try to sort out all of the details. I just grabbed the latest revision and there's too much info there for me to digest on too little sleep!

[andrew1984]

do you have to do the solo1 school in order to be allowed to do solo 1's?

[ctenche]

Andrew,

No you don't have to take the school in order to participate in solo 1 but it's not a bad idea. First off, if you don't have any track experience it helps you to get some and learn some car control skills. Second of all, you get to learn about how a typical Solo 1 day runs. The whole thing is a much nicer introduction into the sport than just getting tossed in there and working it all out for yourself.

[andrew1984]

good point (Y). is anyone doing take it to the track? (by the way, i noticed my car was in the pamphlet :cool: )

im thinking of doing it, but saturdays are not too good for me :(

[Chris91GT]

Jumping right in is fun. :D There's nothing like "Welcome to road racing" like the drop of the green flag.

That said, I'm signing up for the course this year. I probably need to unlearn lots of bad habits. I wish I'd taken it last year before jumping onto the track, but timing for me was poor last year.