SCCA Class Question (2016 Rules) - Test Pipes on a NISMO
 

I'm planning on doing my first SCCA Autocross event next weekend, but I'm not sure which class my 2012 NISMO fits into. My only mods are FI Test Pipes, FI catback, and K&N drop-in filters. I looked through the rules, and it looks like the NISMO is in class Street A.

I'm trying to figure out which class the test pipes put me into. The rules for the Street Touring class say that "Any catalytic converters are allowed", but I wasn't sure if they considered test pipes to a form of 'catalytic converter'.

So does that put me into the A - Street Touring class, or the A - Street Prepared class?

Test pipes send you straight to ASP.

Your first autocross will be regional. Don't admit to your test pipes. Run in Street A, novice class if available.

So much for the honor system.

If this event is a winter event I'd say make a thread on your regions forum asking if it's okay for you to run AS with those modifications. If you have no objections then run it.

If it's a summer event you'll probably get push back even if you're a novice, but again you can ask if locally people are okay with it.

If you go to a national event you must run ASP.

Your options:

Run ASP or buy HFC and go to STR, but then you'd need smaller wheels and tires or put stock cats back on and run AS legally.

He can't run STR since it's a Nismo. Definitely agree with the not cheating part though.

Good call haha.

Thanks for the input! I think I may just plan on running ASP. As of now, I'm more concerned about having fun than I am about winning (although that may change after I get a few races under my belt).

Follow up question - is the Novice class different from the other classes? I was looking at the entry list so far for the event, and there's about 10-15 people in the "Novice" class and maybe 5-6 people in each of the other ones.

Different regions do it different ways. In my region, novices run with their normal class (ASP in your case) and then after the event is done are pulled from the normal class results and indexed for the novice results. Your region may or may not do it this way.

As long as you go in not thinking you're the next Senna, then you should have fun. Be warned though if you get to the point of wanting to build a competitive ASP car that it gets expensive very quickly.

Well, the autocross was yesterday, and it was a blast! The only annoying thing was that there was a ton of people. I think there were around 175+ cars racing, so it took forever.

I ended up being pretty slow compared to everyone else, but I wasn't expecting much. I think my problem was trying to go too fast and not braking enough before going into the turns.

Also, I can confirm that it's true what people say about getting an oil cooler. I didn't pay attention after my 2 morning runs, but after my 2 afternoon runs, my oil temp gauge was sitting right at 220. I may look into getting one if I continue autocross-ing.

http://i.imgur.com/0E4JkaJh.jpg