I've driven stocker to FC while drag racing on/off for 35 years. My son has been low budget road racing first with a stock Miata and now a stock '97 3 series BMW.I have a '65 Dart that I'd like to be able to compete on a road course, not any particular SCCA class, and challenge him. I don't need to spend lots of $(although I said that about drag racing) but enough to get that Dart on the track and be respectable for what it is. Got the motor covered with a 325 Hp 273. 2.65 1st gear 4 speed and any assortment of rear gears for an 8 3/4. How about some help for the set up. Be nice to be able to drive it on the street from time to time. Whatta' you got for my combo.
You need to find a venue first. Places that will let you compete against your son in his car on a road course are very limited. For
track days, the tracks generally don't allow transponders, and the sanctioning bodies don't expect or want to see any racing.
The Midwest Motorsports Council runs "high speed autocross" events on tracks. Moparmitch has posted about those. SCCA has considered "Time trials" in the same catagory as hillclimbs. So if a region near you runs those, thats an option as long as the cars meet the safety requiemnts (which are similar to race cars). SCCA is experimenting with some new activities, so keep an eye out there. The Ultimate Street Car Challenge is the organization may have the closest to what you want to do with street cars.
Once you know who you will be running with, then you can decide on tires and wheels. They are your best starting point for determining the rest of the setup. Almost every time I've changed my competition tires I've ended up making setup changes.
If you are looking at W2W racing, that's another story. Look up Dave Mapes Lame Horse Racing zebra Dart, Mike Ritz Team Starfish, Robert and Jim Benson's Dart and Barracuda to get an idea about setting up an early A for vintage or open racing. The Bensons generally run in regional open SCCA class.
