What have you broken or damaged autocrossing?

[OversteerS2K]

If you've been autocrossing for any amount of time (post that too), what have you damaged and/or broken while autocrossing? This is to be a testimonial thread for the benefit of family members of mine that think it's absolutely absurd to "beat up" a "nice" car like mine. Exclude wearables such as tires, brake pads, clutches, diminished fluid life, etc. I've come across a whole lot of folks (family, S-2000 club guys, et all) that carry the perception that autocrossing is just abusive to the car. An intensive event with, say, 8 runs may give you 8.5 minutes of hard driving. Personally, I would have given the car the same amount of wear that day if I wasn't autocrossing. Some of the 3 or 4 run events give you 3 to 4 minutes of driving hard, probably no different (wear wise) than a short commute to work.

Personally I've been autocrossing for a little over a year and a half with the bulk of it the second half of '03. Other than some cone marks my car has come through just fine. The worst thing I ever did was at my first FSF event. I backed into an A-Mod, Formula type car, gouging up my rear bumper and cracking his fiberglass fuselage. I couldn't see it an any of my mirrors and felt like a complete idiot. Luckily the owner was really cool and let me off the hook with some sincere apologies. Twice I've glazed the clutch. The smell is awful, but both times the clutch was back to normal within a day (buit that rancid smell lingers for a few more).

I've seen a totalled Prelude (driver error), a broken A-arm on a 325i, a few popped shift linkages (911 and a GTI), and a broken foglamp on a Jetta.

Your $0.02 would be appreciated.

Have a great X-mas. I hope there are some go-fast items under your trees.

[Chin]

Honesntly I feel like I wear on my car making 5-6 passes down the track (1/4) but thats just me I use autoX's to hone my skills on and off the tracks because thats what its about..being a better driver.

[sloaccord]

i'd autocrossed my old car, a four door 93 accord, a couple times before it got wrecked ina traffic accident. nothing ever happened during the races. it seems that daily use was more dangerous for that car- i.e., being around other drivers that are retarded and like to hit my cars.
i've had my current 92 accord for a couple years, and been autocrossing it off and on with more frequency for almost three years. nothing's ever happened to the car- ever, and we're talking about at least 20 autocrosses- so like 80 runs, minimum- not to mention a two-day evolution event with like i dunno, 6 hours of race driving, total? i do admit that at the last race, one of my fender liners fell out and was deposited on the race course. the car's freaking 12 YEARS old. gimme a break. needless to say, the loss of a fender liner doesnt hurt the car.
i've also run my father's miata a couple times. nothing happened.
my dad ran his '02 carrera a couple times. ran over some cones. nothing happened.

autocrossing is, i think, the safest, cheapest, least automotively destructive form of motorsports available.

[PseudoRealityX]

-bolt that holds shifter to "shift rod" came loose, deposited on track, found all pieces, missed 1 run, drove 5 hours home with no trouble(protege)

-ripped off plastic body undertray during off-course excursion at GIR (protege)

-ended up overheating at Valencia, but that was due to a faulty fan switch that wouldn't turn on. Shawn Phillips rewired it for me and never had a problem again

-Brian basically submerged the car into a lake at the First ever PRO event in Talladega in January. Car needed a bath...that was all.

-I installed new motor mounts, screwed them up, and one eventually FELL OUT during a run, when being driven by Leonard. Fixed, ran the rest of the event, took 20th of 100 in PAX using a CSP pax.

-Broke a wheel stud while ON THE WAY to Topeka this year, due to a loose wheel.



by my opinion, I've never BROKEN ANYTHING that wouldn't have happened on the street the same day. Also, that's autocrossing HEAVILY for ~2.5 years. ~30-45 events per year, mostly 2 day events. Easily 700 runs of autocross, and probably 500 of those with fairly hard launches. Also had probably 20 different people drive my cars at one point or another.

[0HP930]

Damn, if I can't count tires I have nothing to report.

[Chin]

Oh, my battary toppled over in the slomoms a few times, I need to strap it down tighter..lol

[quicksilver EK]

Ehh a few scuff marks from cones nothing more,worst ive seen was that BMW that went into the drink at Z-hills.

[jaball77]

Haha, yep! That broken A-arm was hands down the most bizarre thing I have ever seen! I've got a picture of the car afterwards somewhere... ///M4d kAmber!

Personally I've done no damage to my car in ~1.5 yrs autocrossing other than cone scuffs, but I've been told I drive like an old woman, so... :-)

The only other incident I've seen that hasn't been mentioned here was when an ITR spun at FSF, hit the timing box, and broke a side skirt...

[Muddy]

Originally posted by PseudoRealityX
-Brian basically submerged the car into a lake at the First ever PRO event in Talladega in January. Car needed a bath...that was all.
I think "submerged" is an exaggeration! :lol: I skipped through a mud puddle backwards. I also had a rock get stuck between the caliper and the rotor. Hearing that loud squealing noise after what happened was kinda scary.
Otherwise I have cracked the dash on my POS cavalier (not really sure when or where, I just noticed it one day), and screwed up the alignment on my poopra, which is still on the original 15 year old suspension. The worst thing I have seen is some dumbass wrap his car around a tree.

[Leonard]

Started in the beginning of 2002, So roughly 2 years although I haven't made a lot of events this year.

- Ran over an external tooth lock washer that put a 1" gash in one of my VictoRacers. It sliced entirely through the rubber and into the polyester cords. Didn't touch the steel belts and the tire still holds air although I haven't used it since. Granted this is tire related, but it's not tire wear related and depending on the debris could have been far worse.

- Slightly bent wheel during off course excursion in the rain at FSF. I slid across the grass on the east side of the course (making a 3-4" rut) and across one of the asphault parking roads. The wheel bent was the first into the asphault and when it hit the road. Also took a face full of water through the window as I splashed sideways through a puddle at the edge of the course. That event prompted me to purchase my own closed face helmet.

-- Took a double large cone at the finish at Lakeland to the right side of my bumper. It ripped the plastic cowling out of the rivets that hold it in place. (Hence my distaste for double cones. :) )

-- More cone scuffs and scratches than I can count and eventually even some flaking paint on the front of the mustang.

[BodyRollin']

ummm i think i broke a front turn signal bulb when i hit a cone once....that is it... approximately 2 full years of events (actually only completed probably one season but was running with2-4 different clubs so i count it as 2 seasons since i was autoxing almost every weekend at some points) plus an evolution school phase 1 and 2 (which is a TON of runs prolly equal to more than i have actually made doing autox lol) and the only thing i have lose is a tunrn signal, and worn through a couple sets of rubber. god i love my honda lol. and its like i always say..i firmly believe autox is far less strenuous on a car than drag.... autox wears on suspension, tires, and brakes. acceleration and shifting are all done smooth and fluid (if you are doing it right)...as to where drag is wear and tear on motor, transmission, and axles. much more vital/expensive parts. you rev it up, launch hard and bang the gears all the way down the 1320 then light up the brakes so you can make that turn off lol. makes no sense to me why drag racrs say "i dont wanna put my car through all the wear and tear of autoxing" when in all reality most of the poeple that autox do so in their daily drivers lol.

[PseudoRealityX]

accidents I've seen AT autocrosses:

1. James Penrod put his Integra Type R on it's side at Roebling at the Divisional in '02. Bought his S2000 the next day

2. Instructor driver puts Z06 into fence at GCAC

3. Z06 goes into fence at GCAC

4. Matt Dooner knicks a lightpole at the Atlanta divisional in '03

5. Richard West center punches a dumpster at Ft. Myers during the ProSolo in '03

6. Chris Petersen backs her MR2 spyder into a pile of cinder blocks at the end of a spin at the Ft. Myers ProSolo in '03

7. Z06 hits Dennis and another course worker at Ft. Myers ProSolo in '03

8. Dat center punched 2 jersey barriers at Sebring this year

9. multiple BMWs have broken fog lights

10. Heyward Wagner lost a wheel while on course at the Petersburg ProSolo in '02

11. Chris Marsh lost a wheel while on course at the Ft. Myers ProSolo in '02

12. Scott Minehart put his 80cc shifter kart into the tires at ~80mph at Roebling Road during Divisional in '02

13. Eli Bothe puts his 240SX through a gaurd rail at Ocala Speedway at an INTMO sponsored event.

14. Hyundai Tiburon gets AIR at same Ocala event, bends some stuff

15. a couple of motors blowing up, always a motor that's been built to at least street prepared spec. 3 BMWs, 1 Miata

16. 1 diff exploding, Jason Minehart '02 Ft. Myers ProSolo

17. someone's axle broke at a GIR event, I think it was Bill here on TR.

18. Cary Quick blew out a tie rod I believe at a GIR event.

19. I found that I had a loose wheel bearing, still drove the rest of the day

20. car to car contact involving 2 S2000s at Topeka this year at the National Championships.


-ok, that's all i can think of.

[Loren]

Limiting the topic to just "how abusive is autocross to a car mechanically speaking", I think that anyone who is an agressive street driver is putting no more wear on their car than they would on the street.

You might be putting more STRESS on your car, which could cause a weak part to fail. Chances are, that part would have failed soon, anyway. If you're that kind of driver (and we all are), wouldn't you rather something break on an autocross course than on the street, anyway???

As for accidents, they are more likely to happen on the street than at an autocross.

In my 8 years of autocrossing, I have the usual cone marks that can be buffed out but nothing has ever broken or been damaged. May have cracked the under tray on my car from running over a cone... or it could have happened running over something on the street... who knows? The under tray on my wife's car is all beat up and cracked, too... and it's NEVER been autocrossed.

Bottom line: Did you buy your car to DRIVE or to LOOK AT?

[w0rd]

1.5 years of autocrossing and all that I have done is cracked my front mud guards hitting the jump at Lakeland.

Todd: I saw you back into that formula car. That is Dave, he's on here as Lola56.

[OversteerS2K]

Well Lola56 was a nice guy. It was purely accidental but if he decided to be a prick he could have held my feet to the fire for some expensive repair. 99% of the autocrossers I've met have been good people, which is another subject altogether, but not something I could have said about the crowd in any of my past exploits.

This feedback was good. I brought it up because my X-mas list was comprised of dozens of car related items. On the low end was a $40 CG-Lock and it went up incrementally from there to an $800 set of Hoosiers. Not that I am NOT grateful (Mom, Dad, Bros., & G.Friend), but I received nothing related autocrossing and have a lot of crap to get if I want to run one of the Feb. SCCA events. I guess the socks I got can be worn there, but they won't do much for run times :) .

[PseudoRealityX]

as I was telling a friend earlier tonight....

PseudoRealityX (12:06:41 AM): it's hard to get your parents to put 2 custom machined '95 mazda 929 wheels with the proper 11mm spacers under the tree....

[Alan]

I guess autocrossing can take partial responsibility for destroying my last set of rear wheel bearings. Due to a factory defect, they were bound to fail anyways, but the added abuse brought them to an early demise.

[fastforward]

I started autocross racing in 1995 with a '90 Escort GT. But, didn't really get more active into it until '98 racing my wife's '96 Altima SE. Now I'm racing the SVT Focus.

Most of my runs were with the daily driver kid commuting Altima. I started racing it with 68K on the clock and stopped racing it at 125K. The car and I competed in about 15-20 events until I bought the Focus.
Broken parts=0

Sometimes after a really complex and twisty course the passenger door would stick a bit upon opening it (body torsion.) It usaully settled by the end of the day though.
Overall, the car always drove great both on the track and on the street afterwards. Never an issue.
I'd say that autocross is not detrimental to a car's health. I've learned that most cars are over-engineered for their supposed intended purpose of just shuttling people around. They can take the "abuse" of autocross quite easily.

If I was a car I'd want to be driven...that's what cars are for. Garage queens suck.
The fun factor and knowledge of my car's behavior under radically changing handling conditions far surpasses any notion of wear and tear on my car.

[BisquitMan]

I have been autocrossing on and off since 2000. Never broke anything on my second gen RX-7, "overworked" the power steering pump on my Dodge Neon and blew all the PS fluid out all over the motor, although I expected this to happen, since I had 225 wide slicks on the front of a car that had a PS pump made for 175 street tires, had either the coolant or windshield washer resevoir (can't remember which one) come unbolted from the firewall, and spill fluid, never broke anything on my GTI VR6.


Edit: I forgot to say I broke front wheel studs the first few time I ran my Neon because they got too hot and seized up, so to change tires I had to bust them off, but I must say they take about 5 seconds to replace. I learned my lesson and started putting antiseize on the studs.

[Bill]

Well I've been autocrossing for a little over two years now. No real damage other than the following:

- Broke an axle at Gainesville Raceway
- Tore inner fender lining at this past BMW event at airport
- A few cone kisses from assorted events

Nothing major so far. Can't say I've seen others get into too many accidents either aside from a few nasty cone hits and some OC action in the grass.

[w0rd]

I forgot one incident...
I lost a wheel weight from a cone being lodged in the brake caliper area. Everyone was wondering why my front wheel was smoking. 2 runs with a melted cone stuck in your wheel will do that.

[mofugga]

ripped off a couple plastic screws that hold the plastic undercarriage stuff in place, fixed with zipties:lol:

lots of cone marks, easily buffed out

i've seen a few mishaps at events but i think jesse covered them all in one of his previous short stories :D

[Tits McGee]

I took out the timing box on the Sunriders course and put an dent in the space where the fog lamp sits on a Protege 5.

[4wdFury]

nothing other than tires...

[Miles]

at my first (and so far only) autox i manage to liberate a corner of my front bumper after nailing 2/3 of the cones on the course on one particularly bad run at gir... although seeing that mr2 go in the drink really put that into perspective. luckily everyone walked out ok, and the car ended up being ok too (just had some water in the distributor)

and i most definitely put more wear and tear on the car in it's daily duties than i did at that autox...

[MrSideways]

Autoxing over 5 years now.

Rear CV joints causing replacement of both half shafts under warranty in the S2000 after Petersburg proSolo.

Lost The bracket to the front sway bar during petersuburg prosolo (explains my huge slide in the challenge round)

Large Dent in Passanger side rocker pannel due to Jim's 3 spins in one run at D.C. tour.

Frame rails destroyed on Miata from towing on a tow dolly to nationals.

Something in the front suspension broke at the Peru Prosolo in my miata causing awful handling. Never found what broke, Never cared. Sold the car.

Overdrive Wiring ripped out in a spin in my old Volvo.

Thats all I can think of.
Ian

[sloaccord]

i'd like to introduce a new thing- what i've broken while trying to make my car better for autocrossing.
the list would be so long, it would be ridiculous. working on old cars is the suck! stripped bolts, spinning nuts, seized contol arms and shit, its stupid.

[g-50Cab]

My pride has been broken a few times - and probably a few more mm on my tires - and maybe a few scratches from rocks being thrown up. That's it. I think my car likes the abuse - always seems to run better afterward!

[Lola56]

OversteerS2K Wrote:

The worst thing I ever did was at my first FSF event. I backed into an A-Mod, Formula type car, gouging up my rear bumper and cracking his fiberglass fuselage.

Well Lola56 was a nice guy. It was purely accidental but if he decided to be a prick he could have held my feet to the fire for some expensive repair.



Lola56 Wrote:

Thanks for the kind words. Of all the things that have happened to me in over 20 years of autocrossing, this was one of the least important/expensive things that have happened to me.

The worst? 1992 at Normandy Mall in Jacksonville, my wife was driving the BM Formula Ford, went into a severe push in a corner due to sand off the line, and drove the car straight into a fire hydrant at 25MPH. The front of the car was demolished. This is insignificant to her injuries, which the included a borken foot and a shattered vetebrae in her back.

Costs for this? $1,500 to repair the car. $25,000 in medical bills for the injuries (which was not covered by the SCCA insurance since she had medical insurance through her job.) 8 weeks of lost wages.