Sentra SE-R

[Brettt]

tnord-
I am located just south of Omaha, Nebraska, about 3 hours north of Topeka. I've been going to Heartland Park for drag races since I was a little kid and I always thought the road course looked way more fun.

Racerlinn-
I'm definitely on a budget for the beginning here. I know people have said that I can save a lot of money and headache by getting a pre-built car, but this car is a project my dad and I are doing. He's built his own race cars for years and this is going to be a fun project to start out. We're going to build our own exhaust, intake, strut tower braces and other little stuff like that because he owns an auto body repair shop. (lucked out there) Basically, what I'm saying is things like fabrication aren't going to really be a problem.
-I've already ordered some hyper-flex bushings for the car, and my next move is to buy the suspension. I have the money saved up, but now it's time to make the choice. If you have any suggestions as far a brands on springs and shocks I think that might be the most helpful. I'm still trying to figure out what people out racing actually use.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Brettt]

I guess my "home track" would be MidAmerica Motorplex, since that's an SCCA track and it's about 20 minutes from my place.

[pballance]

Welcome to the fray,

Brettt, for what it is worth, if you are building the car yourself, you need to become very familiar with the GCR. You can find it online at www.scca.org. Be sure to prep your car to the correct ruleset.

IMHO, you should spend your efforts in building a safe car, ie good cage and safety gear, then suspension, and then engine. If you get the safety things out of the way then you can concentrate on getting used to racing while tweaking the suspension. Then you are ready to spend some $$$ on an engine.

You might want to take a look at Dave Gran's book, "Go ahead, take the wheel." It will help you out a lot.

Good luck and welcome

[tnord]

Brett -

I run at MAM quite frequently, live in Kansas City, and have an ITA car as well. I hope to see you often this year. Do you have plans as to how you're getting your liscense yet? Did you know there is a double school at MAM in April where you could complete your liscensing requirements and even run a race on sunday?

with a couple exceptions, ITA cars in MiDiv don't have near the prep level that some other areas of the country do. even if you do nothing but intake and exhaust work, you'll probably have more power than anyone else in the division, and certainly enough to be "in the mix." If I were you I would make sure to get a good cage in the car first, then focus on suspension, and lastly engine. If your funds are somewhat limited, you can skip the motor stuff for this year and spend it on track time.

I'm not sure what shocks/struts the nissan guys are using, but Eibach Race Springs are pretty standard across all makes/models. As far as what spring rates to go with, i would lean more towards the softer side that Steve Linn was suggesting rather than the really high rate 1000lb+ stuff. The higher rates may ultimately be faster with the right driver, but the softer springs should be easier to handle for a new driver.

if you have any questions about what you need to do to get started, the liscensing procedure, or anything else, i'm happy to help.

[email protected]

PS - some of us are planning on a test day at MAM in mid/late march to shake down the cars before the season starts up. if you want, i can keep you in the loop of when we'll be there if you'd like to join in.

[cjb25hs]

tnord-
I am located just south of Omaha, Nebraska, about 3 hours north of Topeka. I've been going to Heartland Park for drag races since I was a little kid and I always thought the road course looked way more fun.

Racerlinn-
I'm definitely on a budget for the beginning here. I know people have said that I can save a lot of money and headache by getting a pre-built car, but this car is a project my dad and I are doing. He's built his own race cars for years and this is going to be a fun project to start out. We're going to build our own exhaust, intake, strut tower braces and other little stuff like that because he owns an auto body repair shop. (lucked out there) Basically, what I'm saying is things like fabrication aren't going to really be a problem.
-I've already ordered some hyper-flex bushings for the car, and my next move is to buy the suspension. I have the money saved up, but now it's time to make the choice. If you have any suggestions as far a brands on springs and shocks I think that might be the most helpful. I'm still trying to figure out what people out racing actually use.

Thanks for the help guys!

Not a nissan guy here but I would suggest Koni Sports with Ground Control sleeve kit. You can get a package deal on shox.com for about $965 bucks. That way you always have the flexibility of going double adjustable and different valving based on spring rates when you get there. As far as spring rate I have no idea. Kinda depends on what tracks you are going to run the most at. I would stay pretty conservative say 350-400F and 250-300R with an adjustable big rear bar.