Ok, heres the deal. As you can tell, i drive a civic vx hatch. I have autocrossed for 2 1/2 summers in H-stock. I have always done it for the fun, but it was nice to occationally actually be competitive (two 3rd place finishes, one disputed 2nd place finish).

My car is also my daily driver, though. And this weekend I got in a near accident that could have easily been avoided with some better binders. To be honest, I'm constantly haggard by my stock brakes performance (stock w/ ebc pads up front, drums rear).

So Im considering, just for safety's sake upgrading to teg/si/ex 4 disk setup. I know this will bump me up, and its nice to be at least somewhat competitive (which is hard to do with a car designed for ultra fuel efficient highway cruising). I know you'll all say that if youre a good driver it doesn't matter, but I'm not that great a driver. So what do you think, should I leave H-stock for bigger and better things?

Of course once I go down that road, theres no telling when I'll quit. Sorry for the long post, please give me your opinions.

 

I understand that this post isn't exactly tech-related, so if you need to move it or something, thats cool.

 

i have a teg as my daily driver... and upgrading the brakes to brembo slotted and PBR Metalmasters was one of the best things.. it has saved me from numerous near collisions, so I'd say its worth it

 

Personally better driving will help you stop better than better brakes. Sounds like you tailgate people too close. When I'm driving on the roads I leave enough buffer space (usually 2-3 cars) between me and the next person. I don't even have to use my brakes sometimes when other people are slowing down because I can see cars ahead brake before the person infront of me even thinks about braking.

Larger brakes will just bump you into a difficult class - but if you don't car than go ahead.

 

I never follow larger vehicles (suvs, vans, trucks, pickups) so i can always see ahead...the more time you have the less you need to instantly react and can find a safer path

tailgating isn't wise unless you are in bumper to bumper...though the bad part is when you leave a safe distance it means everyone is free to cut in between you

 

I know. I usually try to have 2 seconds between me and the car ahead, but this was some jerkoff turning out in front of me from behind some parked cars so I couldn't see him (he wasn't even looking from what I could tell).

If I decide to go ahead with the brakes, I'll probably go all out with the suspension, since I'll be bumped anyway. I'm thinking of ground controls, already have konis, sway bars, bushings and all that. That would leave me with a pretty slow car in a fast class tho. eventually I'd try and get some power too.

See the thing thats nagging me is if I do anything I'll want to do everything. Should I go down the road that eventually leads to prepared?

 

Meaning I have konis, not gc's, sway bars, bushings etc.

 

Prepared is a tough class, but if you're worried about crunching your daily driver, that's about the only route to go. Besides that, if you go into prepared and find yourself with the best tire/brake/suspension setup you can find, and don't want to go to SM, update/backdate As long as you put in a honda engine that came in your body style/generation, it's not technically a hybrid, so you avoid the money race that SM is slowly turning into. Besides that, intake and exhaust are open in SCCA, so you can go with aftermarket parts to help your power as long as your engine bore doesn't exceed .040" over stock and your cam stays stock for the engine.

 

^^^
Thanks. I'm really thinking about turning it into more than a hobby. My limited experience has helped me a lot, and I would be confident running prepared with a little training (maybe an autoX course or something).

Q: If i were running a full suspension setup, and little/no power enhancement would I be better off in an ST class or a comp. tire class?

another Q:Update/backdate???

You mean take parts off my car?

Thanks for your imput

 

which means you can drop in an Si engine if you so desire