Bigbacon

iTrader: (4)

Pardon my stupidity, I have no idea where to find this type of info but question is, when does a car built for racing (even it's its just basic track stuff) become non street legal anymore?

I figured not have DOT approved seat belts and r-comps put the car there, but what else makes a vehicle ineligible for normal street driving?

Gr8Bullet

iTrader: (5)

catless exhaust.....

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

No taillights or headlights..

kster

It would depend on what state you are in. In CA for example, there are a lot of additional laws (CARB approval on emission related parts, minimum headlight height, exhaust noise level, etc.).

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

The exhaust is allowed to be louder on the track than on the street. Many racing organizations require removal or modification of lighting that is required for the street. Roll cages are required today for racing. These shouldn't be used on the street because your un-helmeted head could hit one of the parts causing brain injury.

Both of my race cars were street legal. I got pulled over one time. The officer wanted to see my seat belt. He didn't see a shoulder belt. I pointed down to my competition lap belt. He didn't have any problem with that.

Bigbacon

iTrader: (4)

I am trying to guage how far we can go with a car before we can't go anymore. I have no way to truck a vehicle anywhere but we don't have an issue having to spend some time to modify before/after an event. We would really like to get into more track/race stuff but most certainly do not have the money to get a vehicle that can tow. Even my wife's santa fe can't tow more than a motorcycle.

I think for basic track day things we would be totally covered, I was just trying to gauge more into the future as we start to plan out a car.

I'm almost ok with the rollcage as I think if I'm in a huge accident or rollover there is always a good chance my head is going to bounce off something anyway

It's just very hard to find answers to this kinda of thing but you have me thinking more with your current answers.

dieselsdad

What will you do when you wreck or break the car at a track event enough that it won't get you home? How much money do you think you will spend on modifications for the car? In the end a decent, used tow vehicle only costs about $5000 and even a brand NEW trailer is only $1500 or so. You can have fun doing track events in a street car but once it becomes a "race" car you should seriously consider how to swing the dough for a tow vehicle or trade the wife's vehicle in on one that can do double duty. Once you're really serious about racing you will break things.

Bigbacon

iTrader: (4)

the serious part would come much later.... I'm trying to figure out what one could get away with depending on what is done to the car.

dieselsdad

Why don't you just tell us what you want to do to the car and we'll tell you whether it's legal or not (at least in our area). Trying to guess is no fun. What's your question?

c0ldf1ame

iTrader: (5)

my friend used to have a 911 that was his trackday car and he converted to track only once he started spec racing. He bought a toureg and a trailer to tow it to events. Once he did that we was able to add a full cage with window netting and remove the cat and trim it down to 2800lbs in weight, he was also able to utilize track only JRZ suspension and dial in his track only camber setting and throw some r comps on there.

IMO a halfway race car has none of the advantages of either a race car or street car and has a lot of the problems of both, being impractical and not hardcore enough. If i were you i'd save money and invest in a tow vehicle or just keep the car for now lightly modded at street level trim.

wankelbolt

iTrader: (21)

I used to drive my Spec RX-7 race car 1.5 hours to and from Summit Point Raceway from Baltimore county and city. Did it for eight years.

Cage, Kirkey racing bucket, 5-point harness, no cat, no muffler, Hawk Blue brake pads, rock-hard race suspension, stickers, big numbers, bright red, pulling a trailer with my race tires and tools. Never got pulled over, never got a second look from a trooper. I tried to behave as much as possible but couldn't always keep the speed down. Used to take it to work every once in a while too. Necktie in a racing bucket...

So, the point is, you can go a long way past "legal" and still be able to drive it around. The trick is to know the law and know what you can and can't get away with. Search teh Intarwebs or go to your local library and ask them for help. The laws are explicit and detailed and will answer all your questions.

wankelbolt

iTrader: (21)

I disagree. It's certainly a matter of personal preference, but the closer my street car is to a race car the happier I am. If I can accelerate, corner, and stop before than every other Escalade- or Camry-driving oblivious yammering idiot on the road, I am at a distinct advantage. I like a car that responds when I tell it to do something. Some of my friends hate it when I drive because my cars are stiff and noisy, and the CD player skips. Even my Cop Caprice was like that; dropped, sprung, swayed, Bilsteined.

Bigbacon

iTrader: (4)

i'd rather not tempt fate as I will be the one who get pulled over because the cop was like WTF race car on hiway even if I'm not breaking the law per se.

my thing is you have to start somewhere. Unless you have LOTS of money, I suspect most people that get into this kind of thing already had tow vehciles or they do a half n half or drag stuff to events and install then uninstall before they leave. I find it very hard to believe that someone getting in to just building a track car are going to have everything under the sun that a full fledged racer is going to have. I'd rather spend the money now to get started and drive the vehicle places then spend the money on a tow vehicle, trailer, etc and just have a shitty not upgraded car to tow around...

maxxdamigz

iTrader: (1)

If you can pass an OBDII scan, aren't too loud, and don't have any glaring modifications, generally you aren't going to get a ticket for anything. Some of the best track mods are street legal - brakes, suspension, and tires (to an extent, and you can take track wheels with you if you want to use compounds). Power-wise, if you keep your emmissions system intact and stay within noise limits, you're usually fine (minus Cali I suppose). However, all of that gets you to a lightly modded car. That level of Rx8 is probably fun on the track and decent on the road (suspension stiffness pending). Once you get into heavier racing mods (glass delete, gutting the interior, roll cage, open exhaust, etc), you'd probably want to tow that.

Luckily, a lightly modded Rx8 is probably a decent track car to start with.

Bigbacon

iTrader: (4)

also, this is not for an rx8, it was just a general question. but yea that where we want to start, just a light trrack car that wouldn't be used to actually hard core races, just open track day events or even just really low end races until we are comfortable with the car and what not.

We are talking prbably some stiff suspension and maybe seats + harness so that we can get used to using it.

c0ldf1ame

iTrader: (5)

i guess it all depends on which route you'll take with the car, personally when i first started modding my car i was into upgrading everything to aftermarket parts so my car can be theoretically faster than whatever else is on the road, but as i started to get into tracking i find that i would have been better off with a stock car, since my ever changing list of mods is making my car feel different every time i took it to a track and some of the mods are also making my car a lot more input sensitive. While my friend who also has an rx8 that he kept pretty much stock is already running circles around much more heavily modified cars.

My car is already on the verge of being a track dedicated car and while i do drive it around everyday i have to deal with some of the compromises i've made and give up on some of the comforts that i've done away with. Until i find another daily driver or track car i cant really mod this one any further than what it is right now.

Honestly you can go a long way with just your basic car, a bucket seat and some good tires. If you do plan to mod i would suggest to do the safety equipment first and performance and suspension upgrades later down the road

G-ReX

Virginia is pretty tight about it's regs. Do you live in a part of NOVA that has sniff tests for the cat? Here's links to the state code for motor vehicles and the state inspection rules and approved equipment. When the inspection rules state "approved type", the inspectors interpret that as DOT approved (things like light lenses). A lot of this will depend on who inspects your care, so choose carefully.

Bigbacon

iTrader: (4)

I'm going to be using a 8 for this, I'm probably gonna end up with a late 80s MR2 which is most likely need work out of the box anyway which is why suspension is on my list of things to first. Who knows what a 20 year old car will look like depending on who the last owner was.

The Seats are high on my list just because....

I loved my 8 on the track but I'm not willing to remove it from DD status and I'm not willing to ruin it.