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Biggins · 02-08-2018, 10:39 AM

I sadly have not driven my car all winter and have been focused on a complete rebuild of our house while living nearby. It is progressing, but it is a 5-6 month project and have to remain patient. The house should be everything we wanted (except a garage) when it’s done, but I finally started pulling the trigger on some things for my car that I can hopefully use long-term.

A few of you know this story/situation already, but… After getting crushed by the ND Miata for the past two years, I decided to finally get the “best” parts for my car and run in the “best” street/stock class for my car for 2018. I think my wife was sick of hearing me complain and got me the +$4k MCS double adjustable shocks (for less than half of that price and freshly rebuilt) from a friend who decided to get a Corvette. It was too good of a deal for what are considered very good high-end shocks, assuming I can figure out the adjustability. I will mate these shocks with my stock springs, put the stock sway bar back on the rear, and run in the DS class for 2018 against Clyde’s Camaro turbo, WRXs, Type-Rs, etc. My car should still be competitive in 2018 in the DS class, but I will probably go back to my 2017 set-up and the CS class after this season because I like the car lowered and some very fast cars (FoRS, S3, Evo, STi) are moving to DS class in 2019. Ugh.

Since SCCA keeps changing the stock/street classes every year, of course they created a spec class for the FRS/BRZ with a kit (~$5-6k) from Tire Rack, but it would have forced me to re-buy all of the parts I already own because they will not allow my existing and identical parts to be certified for the class… oh well. If I was starting fresh with a stock FRS/BRZ, this is probably what I would do. I’m curious to see how my set-up will compare to the speed of these cars.

The next things I have bought or am in the process of buying are different gadgets for running a camera and data. I hope that I find everything useful, but the plan is to have a GoPro set up to record each lap/run and have it synced to a tablet mounted on the dash with GPS data through the OBDII reader spitting out data on an autocross (Solostorm) app. How this works will be a mystery to me until I try it out, but many people swear by it and claim that it really helps their driving and understanding. It will all be new to me, but I hope that it will be a useful tool to improve my driving. I already have a ProClipUSA mounting system specific to my car, a newish GoPro, Samsung tablet, but I need to order the rest of the stuff.

In the meantime, I’ll be in the market for a 4-5 door vehicle this summer when the house is done that can be practical for driving around town and maybe double as an occasional autocross/track thing in a pinch. I’m mostly narrowed to a $8-12k budget E90/91, F30 320i, Civic Si sedan, Acura ILX, Mercedes C300, Mazda3, or something similar… The FR-S won’t be going anywhere and I plan to get the most out of the MCS shocks for several years.

02-08-2018, 10:39 AM	#106
Biggins Crotchety Join Date: Aug 2007 Carmudgeonly Ride: 22 Tiguan, 11 328i Posts: 912	I sadly have not driven my car all winter and have been focused on a complete rebuild of our house while living nearby. It is progressing, but it is a 5-6 month project and have to remain patient. The house should be everything we wanted (except a garage) when it’s done, but I finally started pulling the trigger on some things for my car that I can hopefully use long-term. A few of you know this story/situation already, but… After getting crushed by the ND Miata for the past two years, I decided to finally get the “best” parts for my car and run in the “best” street/stock class for my car for 2018. I think my wife was sick of hearing me complain and got me the +$4k MCS double adjustable shocks (for less than half of that price and freshly rebuilt) from a friend who decided to get a Corvette. It was too good of a deal for what are considered very good high-end shocks, assuming I can figure out the adjustability. I will mate these shocks with my stock springs, put the stock sway bar back on the rear, and run in the DS class for 2018 against Clyde’s Camaro turbo, WRXs, Type-Rs, etc. My car should still be competitive in 2018 in the DS class, but I will probably go back to my 2017 set-up and the CS class after this season because I like the car lowered and some very fast cars (FoRS, S3, Evo, STi) are moving to DS class in 2019. Ugh. Since SCCA keeps changing the stock/street classes every year, of course they created a spec class for the FRS/BRZ with a kit (~$5-6k) from Tire Rack, but it would have forced me to re-buy all of the parts I already own because they will not allow my existing and identical parts to be certified for the class… oh well. If I was starting fresh with a stock FRS/BRZ, this is probably what I would do. I’m curious to see how my set-up will compare to the speed of these cars. The next things I have bought or am in the process of buying are different gadgets for running a camera and data. I hope that I find everything useful, but the plan is to have a GoPro set up to record each lap/run and have it synced to a tablet mounted on the dash with GPS data through the OBDII reader spitting out data on an autocross (Solostorm) app. How this works will be a mystery to me until I try it out, but many people swear by it and claim that it really helps their driving and understanding. It will all be new to me, but I hope that it will be a useful tool to improve my driving. I already have a ProClipUSA mounting system specific to my car, a newish GoPro, Samsung tablet, but I need to order the rest of the stuff. In the meantime, I’ll be in the market for a 4-5 door vehicle this summer when the house is done that can be practical for driving around town and maybe double as an occasional autocross/track thing in a pinch. I’m mostly narrowed to a $8-12k budget E90/91, F30 320i, Civic Si sedan, Acura ILX, Mercedes C300, Mazda3, or something similar… The FR-S won’t be going anywhere and I plan to get the most out of the MCS shocks for several years.