- 3,334
- NJ
- koszak27
So who on here has raced any cars in real life? What kind of car, what kind of race was it and what was your experience? Lets keep it street legal and competition sanctioned/organized only so we don't get 44 straight posts of stoplight races in stock Civics...
I'll start:
I race in the SCCA Solo II autocross for the Northern New Jersey Region (NNJR) at MetLife Stadium (NY Giants/Jets home). We are currently done for the year but I'm hoping for a good year starting this spring. I race my 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA in the C-Race Prepared class (mods below). I have to say that just about all of the basics taught in License tests for GT5 do translate to real life, but video game physics, in my opinion, will never be realistic enough. In autocross "smooth is fast" and you always want to be right at the limit of your tires. Tires are the most important part of the car and this is over emphasized in autocross when trying to corner exactly. Finding the driving line in real life has helped me tremendously in GT5, that's for sure. Still, there is nothing like racing a real car in a safe, organized, event even if you never go above 60mph. Running a car to its limits at any speed will always give you an adrenaline rush.
I remember after my very first autocross run I got out of my car and my hands and legs were shaking. It was awesome.
I've also gone to my local dragway for a couple 1/4 mile runs when I was in high school. I drove a 1986 Trans Am with full exhaust and 190,000 miles and ran a best of 16.4 @ 82mph (it seemed fast then, haha).
My GTA's mods:
Stock block/internals 5.7L V8
Stock Tuned Port Injection
Fully built 700R4 auto trans with vette servo, .500 boost valve, shiftkit
3000rpm stall torque converter
3.70 gear 9 bolt rear
LS1 aluminum driveshaft
Koni Yellow shocks/struts
Spohn spherical strut mounts
UMI double adjustable panhard bar
Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs
BFG G-Force Super Sport 245/50/R16
I'll start:
I race in the SCCA Solo II autocross for the Northern New Jersey Region (NNJR) at MetLife Stadium (NY Giants/Jets home). We are currently done for the year but I'm hoping for a good year starting this spring. I race my 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA in the C-Race Prepared class (mods below). I have to say that just about all of the basics taught in License tests for GT5 do translate to real life, but video game physics, in my opinion, will never be realistic enough. In autocross "smooth is fast" and you always want to be right at the limit of your tires. Tires are the most important part of the car and this is over emphasized in autocross when trying to corner exactly. Finding the driving line in real life has helped me tremendously in GT5, that's for sure. Still, there is nothing like racing a real car in a safe, organized, event even if you never go above 60mph. Running a car to its limits at any speed will always give you an adrenaline rush.
I remember after my very first autocross run I got out of my car and my hands and legs were shaking. It was awesome.
I've also gone to my local dragway for a couple 1/4 mile runs when I was in high school. I drove a 1986 Trans Am with full exhaust and 190,000 miles and ran a best of 16.4 @ 82mph (it seemed fast then, haha).
My GTA's mods:
Stock block/internals 5.7L V8
Stock Tuned Port Injection
Fully built 700R4 auto trans with vette servo, .500 boost valve, shiftkit
3000rpm stall torque converter
3.70 gear 9 bolt rear
LS1 aluminum driveshaft
Koni Yellow shocks/struts
Spohn spherical strut mounts
UMI double adjustable panhard bar
Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs
BFG G-Force Super Sport 245/50/R16