How to choose a Race Class

The mistake that often gets made is the prospective racer focuses on the car. They get stuck in a thought process of "I love my car and I want to race it". The problem with this is that you don't race cars, you race people. The way to do this right is to figure out where there is a big bunch of people, a big bunch of people that are really friendly and seem to have a great time. Then, whatever car they race, buy one.

1) Identify the sanctioning organizations that have lots of events within reasonable towing distance of you. Lets call "reasonable" 6hrs. For example, go to the NASA and SCCA websites and look at their calendars. There are other sanctioning organizations too, but NASA and SCCA are the largest. Look also for "regional" organizations that might be missed if you look only at national orgs like NASA and SCCA. There's also mfr organizations like PCA and BMWCCA to consider.

 

 
2) Identify the 3 biggest classes in the sanctioning organization that has the most races near you. Do this by looking up race results. Look how big the class size was at 4 races in a given year at different tracks. That will give you a good feel for how many cars in that class typically show up.

3) Go hang out with those three classes, both on line and at the track. Get a sense for how much the racers like their competitors, how much they hang out with each other, and how much they help each other. Are they there to win, or are they there to have a good time with their buddies? Personally, I have strong feelings that the latter is a helova lot more fun.

4) Once you ID which group seems to be the best fit for you and seems to have the most fun.....whatever car they're racing in, buy one. Buy one that is ready to race. Don't fall into the trap of trying to build your first race car unless you have a lot of experience turning wrenches. Most folks that decided to build a race car spend lots of money and never complete it. Ultimately it gets bought for a song and becomes "someone else's race car replacement". Buy your first race car. When it eventually reaches end of life, "consider" building your second car. By then you'll have a reasonable feel for your wrenching skills, the amount of time and $$ associated with building a race car, and therefore can make an educated decision.