Doug Teulie wrote:I think the street class plates, shocks (I think shocks will be expensive), bars and possibly the wheels will appeal to drivers that like to tinker and have a used car (or a 3 year old car). I don't see someone who has never auto-xed showing up with a new car with bars, plates and shocks installed. I can see Auto-xers getting new cars (20K-50K+) and then spending $5,000 (or much more) to set up the car just for solo in street class. The advantage is that dedicated auto-xers will have a car that works better, not need to change wheels at the track, not cord as quickly, have the chance to tinker with setup, and have more fun racing the car they have. The disadvantage is that people outside of SCCA will not have a car that is configured or not configured properly for street class and they will have no place to run without investing in Solo (I am not sure anything changed). SK1 and SK2 was different in that shocks were the only real investment other than tires. The entry bar was not that high (SK was a popular local class not SCCA national).
Prep levels are still relatively low, IMO.
If you're a A-arm car, you get to add 1 more bar ($150-200ish?).
If your a McStrut car, you get ad plates for front ($400ish), 1 more bar ($150-200ish), and camber bolts for front ($20-40ish), but get less front tire wear than before and possibly make that set of sticky street tires ($600-900) last a whole season or more!
If someone tells me I could spend $600-700 additional in prep, but extend my tire life by half a season or more, my response is, "Take my money, please!!".
Also, I think that for new people with newer cars that have McStruts, the ability to add a relatively lower costs and easy to install option to the car (camber bolts, for example) and greatly reduce their front tire wear would make the sport more appealing and the future running costs because of tire wear less intimidating.