Cal Club Autocross Forums

Am I just wrong (I am new after all), but it seems as if ESP is completely dead in this region. We only have one indexed ESP driver (John Fendel) on the PAX this year. Did it go out of vogue for any reason? The class I can most easily get my car to is ESP, however, I'm wondering if its worth it with only one other person in the region competing in it. The main reason I'm considering ESP is because it can easily transition, I'm in CST now and trying to figure out what my car is at national level events where CST isn't a class can be a real head scratcher.

What happened to ESP?

Thats how I feel about SMF, heh.

How about Prepared Combined in CP? Used to be Combined Prepared Modified (CPM). I was thinking about bringing the Trans Am out someday.

Adam Tarnoff wrote:What happened to ESP?

Class proliferation.

SP has been combined now locally as well. Seems like more and more people are moving to the street tire classes.

Ron Tsumura wrote:How about Prepared Combined in CP? Used to be Combined Prepared Modified (CPM). I was thinking about bringing the Trans Am out someday.

I'd like to see some of that T/A tire smoke out here at El Toro!

Come join alex and I in Combined SP We need more people. 2 bsp cars (us), an SSP vette and you would make a welcome 4th.

Anthony Porta wrote:Come join alex and I in Combined SP We need more people. 2 bsp cars (us), an SSP vette and you would make a welcome 4th.

I need to get my car to ESP spec; might take me like, a month

Adam Tarnoff wrote:

Anthony Porta wrote:Come join alex and I in Combined SP We need more people. 2 bsp cars (us), an SSP vette and you would make a welcome 4th.

I need to get my car to ESP spec; might take me like, a month

Its a slippery slope but fun to ride!

Anthony Porta wrote:

Adam Tarnoff wrote:

Anthony Porta wrote:Come join alex and I in Combined SP We need more people. 2 bsp cars (us), an SSP vette and you would make a welcome 4th.

I need to get my car to ESP spec; might take me like, a month

Its a slippery slope but fun to ride!

I'd have to go back to a stock motor and stock lower rear control arms... but then I could run slicks.. on 17x11 wheels. The trade offs seem worth it.

What happened to ESP?

I think it was a combination of things.
First SCCA included the BMW's, then took them away when they dominated.
Then they included the turbo imports which dominated locally and to some extent nationally. They are still there.
ESP used to be like CP, the "spec" class for American muscle cars. With the imports added, it just wasn't the same.
Then the economy dumped and with the cost of tires, etc., it got expensive to compete with big, heavy cars for fun and trophies.
And then some people just moved on.
Now they are introducing CAM, which will try to draw in the muscle car crowd that moved on to Good Guys, etc., unlimited mods on street tires. I hope this works out.
Finally, ESP was supposed to draw on the guys that made "typical" changes to their cars, but still drove them on the street.
The rules haven't kept up with the "typical" changes that are made in the real world, so the guys we might have attracted were classed out of where they would ever be competitive.
And technology doesn't stand still, so "typical" is still changing.
All of this is just my humble opinion, your experience may be different.

Soooooo, "_SP" ( A-F), running non Hoosier tires (that of a 200 tread ware) would be called what?

Adam Tarnoff wrote:

Anthony Porta wrote:Come join alex and I in Combined SP We need more people. 2 bsp cars (us), an SSP vette and you would make a welcome 4th.

I need to get my car to ESP spec; might take me like, a month

Before you spend money going backwards on changes,you should get some big sticky tires and run in CP. I think Mike Sullivan runs a similar era/prep Mustang there? You could have classic Ford vs. Chevy battle. }:)

David Barrish wrote:Soooooo, "_SP" ( A-F), running non Hoosier tires (that of a 200 tread ware) would be called what?

dead meat?

Ron Tsumura wrote:

Adam Tarnoff wrote:

Anthony Porta wrote:Come join alex and I in Combined SP We need more people. 2 bsp cars (us), an SSP vette and you would make a welcome 4th.

I need to get my car to ESP spec; might take me like, a month

Before you spend money going backwards on changes,you should get some big sticky tires and run in CP. I think Mike Sullivan runs a similar era/prep Mustang there? You could have classic Ford vs. Chevy battle. }:)

I need to read the rulebook.. but it looks like all my current mods are CP kosher

Remember to that there are "slicks" what Prepared and Modified cars run on and there are DOT legal R-Compounds that xSP and SMx run on.

There are are "street tires".


oh and the times Greg McCance and Mark Madarash run in ESP is enough to scare the masses away.

I personally wouldn't compain about what your running until you win..... I would welcome more SP participation.

Anthony Porta wrote:I personally wouldn't compain about what your running until you win..... I would welcome more SP participation.

I'm looking for a spare set of wheels for slicks; I'll slowly working the car towards ESP legal-ness.