Road Racing


  • What is Road Racing?
  • What class is my car in?
  • What's Improved Touring class?
  • What about my CRX with a LS/VTEC?
  • So you got boost or NOS?
  • How fast is your car?
  • Is there a webpage that lists the rules?
  • Why does SCCA make you pay for the rulebook?
  • How come racecars have tape on their headlights?
  • Is there insurance if you car is damaged?
  • How do I get started in road racing?
  • Should I buy or build my racecar?
  • How much does it cost to race?



    What is Road Racing?
    First, road racing is NOT racing on the street nor driving fast through secluded public roads - both of which I find reckless and do not condone.
    Road racing is competitive racing against other competitors (wheel to wheel) on purpose built closed circuit tracks and sanctioned street courses. The term also applies to motorcycle racing.
    Autocross and HPDE and even time trials on the same road racing courses should not be considered as road racing. Autocrossing is its own entity of competitive driving. HPDE should not be at all competitive and is meant for the introduction and refining of high speed vehicle control. Participation in HPDE and similar events are more correctly labelled as "open track event". While time trials or Solo1 are competitive driving events on tracks, it still lacks the component of wheel to wheel racing.

    What class is my car in?
    There are a few different clubs and organizations that offer competitive and organized amatuer racing such as SCCA and NASA that have their own classes. SCCA has a good page describing the different classes for club racing and their searchable database. But typically, the only two classes for beginners who race sedans (as opposed to open wheel/sports racer) is Showroom Stock and Improved Touring. Both classes are very strict on what you are allowed to modify on the car for competitive classing reasons.

    What's Improved Touring class?
    Improved Touring is a step up from Showroom Stock and is a great class for beginners to serious club racers. Minimal safety preparation is required including 6-8 point rollcage, race seat and 5 pt. harness and personal safety gear. Shocks are limited to 2 adjustments and may not be threaded body nor have remote reservoir. Otherwise, choice of springs and sway bars are open. Stock engine may not be modified any more than rebuilt and blueprinted to stock tolerances (i.e. no aftermarket cams or pistons) and bored to a max 0.040", but port/polishing is allowed up to 1" from flange. Intake and exhaust is free. No aftermarket body kits or other aero devices except for a lower front air dam. Stock brake rotors and calipers but allow steel braided lines. Purchase the GCR for full list of rules.

    What about my CRX with a LS/VTEC?
    Sorry, there is not a specific open engine class in SCCA. Part of racing is rules, and it would be impossible to classify cars competitively by unrestricting engine choice for all cars. East Coast Honda Challenge is a race series that allows hybrid Hondas with several venues on the East Coast in association with NASA.

    So you got boost or NOS?
    Like there is no classes for open engines, using NOS or modifying an engine with a turbo or supercharger is hard to regulate and maintain competition. However, it doesnt mean there are no road racing cars or classes that use turbos, just not in amatuer racing, especially IT. A well designed turbo'ed engine could conceivably perform very well on the track and is not a matter of simply reliability.

    How fast is your car?
    The level of a racecar and driver's performance is measured in lap times, not top speed, 1/4 mile times, nor 0-60. But if you must know, its typical to get up to over 100 mph at the end of a straight away, but theres always a limiting turn to slow down and turn, some taken at speeds of 90+ mph.

    Is there a webpage that lists the rules?
    The SCCA GCR (General Competition Rules) is not published online and the rulebook must be purchased from the club either directly from their national office or a regional office and is only $25. NASA has their CCR (no class/vehicle specific rules) available online in .pdf. East Coast Honda Challenge has their rules available online.

    Why does SCCA make you pay for the rulebook?
    SCCA is a club. Its financed by its membership and sponsors. Support your club beyond entry fees and membership dues.

    How come racecars have tape on their headlights?
    The tape is to prevent broken pieces of glass/plastic falling on the track. Shards of glass on the track are a hazard because they can puncture a tire. The tape helps keep the glass together if it cracks due to flying debris or collision. A side benefit of course is it helps protect the glass, but only minimally depending on the thickness of the tape and is not the primary reason for usng the tape.

    Is there insurance if you car is damaged?
    Aside from insurance fraud, there is nothing to the like of race insurance for your vehicle. (I've heard of racecar insurance that covers the car on the trailer and in the paddocks, but not on track.) Any incident damage is up to the car owner to repair. Even if the damage was someone elses fault, theres no rule that requires him to pay for your damages, no matter how much damage. It will be up to the stewards to conduct disclepline and possibly fine the person at fault, but no money will go to the "victim". However it is the "gentlemanly" thing to do to offer any reasonable assistance if you know youre at fault and generally help your fellow racers. Racing is a risky enterprise and you are as much of a danger to yourself and to others. Stuff happens. There's a phrase commonly used, "thats racing". You shouldnt race a car you are not prepared to see completely balled up.

    However, SCCA and NASA do provide a substantial amount of medical coverage in the unfortunate event of personal injury that will pay on top of personal health insurance.

    How do I get started in road racing?
    Generally you need to obtain a competition license in order to race as a driver. SCCA offers their novice license after successfully completing their competition school. Requires two weekends of wheel to wheel lapping that demonstrate competent and safe driving and knowledge of course flags, driver skill in "how fast you are" is irrelevent for passing the school. You must use a car meeting the minimum safety requirements and passed tech inspection that my be your own, rented or borrowed. You are judged and instructed by current SCCA licensed drivers for the purpose of approving the student as someone they are personally comfortable racing along with on the same track. Some regions offer a super weekend school that is completed in one weekend. NASA awards competition licenses differently. You participate in their HPDE events and once you feel like you want a licence they will have an instructor monitor you during your HPDE and will grant you a license. Another way of obtaining a license is successful completion of any approved private instruction race driving school like Bondurant and Skip Barber.

    If you do not have a car, it is possible to rent an already prepared vehicle for your event or school. Otherwise, you must prepare or buy your own car to minimum safety and competition specs. It is up to you what is financially viable and suitable for your interest.

    Having previous track experience with open tracking or even autox is not required, but certainly helps get the driver acquainted. However, from personal experience, I found many things I learned from open track experience were bad habits and had to relearn anyway once in competition as I had greater benchmark of performance. Many drivers successfully go thru SCCA competition school with no prior track experience and drive safely during competition. HPDE and open tracking does not prepare the driver for wheel to wheel driving.

    The last advice I can give is something I found extremely important. Before doing anything, go to an event first to get an idea of what goes on at a race and what types of cars are being raced and by who. Get to know some actual racers and discuss with them about their experience. The best way of doing this if you dont know anyone is simply look up who are the drivers in the prospective class and type of car you'd like to drive and contact them personally and ask to crew for them for a weekend and get actively involved. The advice and perspective will be a huge benefit to your starting out. I personally have recieved immeasureable amount of advice, mechanical assistance and even parts from my mentor after just helping out a weekend or two changing tires and measureing tire pressures. Your results may vary.

    Should I buy or build or rent my racecar?
    It simply depends on many things. It basically boils down to money. The benefits of building your own car is understanding the car better than a prepared car as you have personally chosen and installed all the components. This also allows better pitside knowledge in case anything should happen. Also, if you already have the car that you know you want to prepare as a racecar, then youre maybe 1/3 the way there already (but still got a ways to go). The advantage of buying a prepared racecar is its simply already built and stuff like a legal rollcage and suspension parts should be turnkey and typically a bunch of valuable spare parts are bundled together. Plus, you might still be able to feed off the knowledge of the previous owner, but not always. Age and wear of parts should be taken account for, but buying is generally a cheaper option. I personally dont recommend buying older racecars especially since I have seen novices have to deal with blown engines and broken suspensions that they did not know how to deal with and became very costly and frustrating to replace old parts. There are many other factors, but in general I find it more fulfilling to have put together my own car, even tho I havent fully finished it to be competitive.

    The last option is to rent your racecar for the weekend. There is usally some professional business or private person that has an already built car available in most classes and will most likely provide tires and gas and possible trackside assistance for the whole weekend. In my region, renting usually costs $800-1200 per race weekend. To some, it makes more financial sense to just rent, especially before building your car to see if racing is what you want to do.

    How much does it cost to race?
    Simple way of answering this is "A LOT!". Another way of answering this is simply "about $200 for my entry fee", but that obviously doesnt reflect all the actual costs that go into racing. After buying the actual car and initial go-fast parts and tools, there are still parts that need replacing like tires and brake parts which is expensive. Even more to account for is travel costs (gas, hotel, meals). Also, you must consider how you will transport the car. Almost all racecars, even in IT, are trailered to the track. Which means buying not only a trailer, but a tow vehicle which is a whole other car to buy, register and insure. Although it is still possible to drive your racecar to the track, especially in a showroom stock class, you must have a contingency plan if there should be an on-track incident that doesnt allow you to drive the car back home.... All together, racing is EXPENSIVE! There's no room for "I'm a cheap college student but I want to go road racing", if thats the case, then you have no business going into road racing, stick to autox or open track days or just crew or work at the track on the weekends to get involved first and youll be getting a good start into racing once you get a positive cashflow.










    The purpose of this FAQ is to provide a centralized source of information to common questions frequently asked that provides a comprehensive answer that may not be given for each time a question is answered. I just wanted a place to brain dump my knowledge. All information in this FAQ is a product of my own thoughts and shall be regarded as my own opinion, unless otherwise noted. Take it for what its worth. I do not pretend to be an authority and am open for correction and input.