A pair of autocross questions

First question: I've autocrossed my bone stock Speed3 for 2 years now (my only AutoX experience). This season I started with fresh Star Specs. I feel like my driving made a lot of progress this year but after about 18 events and 10-15K street miles all 4 tires were at the wear-bars (even with a mid season flip). So at the end of the season, how much time was I giving up compared to fresh tires? Maybe they are just as fast at the end of their life as at the begging...maybe I'm losing 1.5 seconds on a 60 second course. I don't know. What do you experienced AutoXers think?

Second question: I'm picking up a 95 Miata for this next season. The car will probably stay stock for the first year as I learn how to tackle DIY tasks and catch it up on maintenance. I have at least one friend interested in co-driving the car. He's offered to help pay for the car and/or upgrades but I'm not really comfortable with him paying for parts of the car (seems like an awkward situation waiting to happen); I'm more comfortable with him paying per event to rent the car. What's a fair price to cover all of the wear and tear on the car? I know the Speed3 went through about $50 per event in tires alone, but assume the Miata will be easier on tires. But we all know autoX beats on more than just tires. I won't be using my co-driver as a tire warmer for myself, so I'll want him to actually pay a fair price. I'd love to just let people drive the car but can't really afford that right now (that's why my track car is a stock car from 17 years ago).

On item one, I've found most autocross tires to get faster as they wear, including RS3's and Azenis (direct competitors to your SS's). I doubt your wear gave up anything at all, if not actually getting quicker.

On item two, I don't think is reasonable to "rent" a seat. Let him pay for some stuff on the car (gas, half the set of initial tires) and/or do some "sweat equity" (bench press that transmission when you're changing the clutch). Renting a seat implies to me that you will have a 100% ready to go car, and it sounds like that might not be a guaranteed thing.

I'd feel weird taking anything other than having him pay my entry fee.

On item 2: If it were my car I would just ask that he pay his auto-x entrance fees at the events he participates in. But if cost sharing is really an issue maybe ask him to pay for two tires?

50 dollars per event on tires alone? I think you are forgetting the fact that those tires are only mileage rated at probably 30k to begin with at best and you also did 18k miles?

In the clubs I run with you have to pay two entry fees for two drivers

I usually offer or accept a paid for entry fee when codriving or offering a codrive for someone who won't be doing it regularly.

My long term codriver and I usually split tires and upgrades and wear items. The car doesn't see daily driving, so virtually all the wear is autox related.

I've paid over a hundred bucks to codrive a car on Hoosiers. Still cheaper than buying them.

In most cases, I let people drive for free though. When your car breaks at an event, it's nice to have a few people offering up their cars for you to drive.

No one has accepted my offer yet. But I offer my miata for free to codrive if its someone I know and they pay their entry fee

I've had numerous codrives in my car. Most were from their cars being down for some reason, and they didn't want to miss a points event. I've never taken a penny for a codrive, just a codrive debt (I get to drive their car at a future event).

the only $$$ I've ever accepted for a co-drive is the other person paying my entry fee .... usually no charge .. one who co-drives my car quite often insists that he pay my way ..

if it's a regular thing .. from what I see with others that do this ... is share the cost of tires ( these are Stock class drivers on Hoosiers ) so it makes some sense ( they're going to go through 2 or 3 sets in a season ( + a set of rains )... they also tend to share maintenance items, and the price for changing out parts ( go fast up-grades )

Thanks for the feedback guys...looks like splitting tires if he's doing the full season and somewhere between free and my entry fee if he's doing a couple events is the consensus.

Any other thoughts on the new tires vs. old tires?

One - I don't run street tires, so can't say. I know Hoosiers do not get faster as they get old. But I am 99 44/100 % sure tires weren't costing you a second and a half.

Two - Paying something toward tires is fair. That's about it in my book. Having a second driver has some advantages. Someone to talk to about the car, a tire warmer, help getting everything ready. That picks up a lot of the "tab".

CrashDummy wrote: Any other thoughts on the new tires vs. old tires?

As stated before, the SS have a very sharp fall off rate. You'll know exactly when they are done.

I ran SS on my old 240 and had a year and a half of autocrosses on them before they fell off. It was a night and day difference when they did. Plus they were past the wear markers before the drop off occurred, so I'd say you're not losing much as they are now.

Tires get grippier (in the dry) as they wear down but less grippy as they age and turn into hockey pucks...

My friend & co-driver bought the second set of tires. He either drove or co-drove the car for 5 years, and I'm fine with that. Another friend co-drove my car for most of the year, and paid nothing, but gave me $$$$ in great advice and input on my driving and my car. I think I got a bargain in both cases.

Question - Are you running in stock class against people on R-compound tires? If so, you're giving up a couple of seconds right there. Or are you running an ST class? Since your Speed is stock, you are eligible to run the new RTF class on the Star Specs.

My star specs have lots of miles and autocross runs, similar to where yours are. At the end of the season I was still winning events and fast. As someone else mentioned, you will know when they are spent. They are very good for most of their life, and then rapidly start to suck towards the very end.

The ion redline had star specs for autox's and summer driving, they were pretty much slicks when I sold the car.....they felt just as sticky in the dry as when new, but in the rain or autox's with a bit of crap on the surface, they were a bit sketchy....I doubt you've lost much, mine were rubbish at the end if it was cold though.

Edit: I was still winning G-stock locally with that car too.....

I charge $5 gas money for a co-drive. Miatas are tough and autocross isn't THAT hard on them.

When I co-drove another person's car for a season I paid for half the tires and served as his private instuctor. He went from back-field competitor to taking second in class in season points. We both won.

A friend and I are getting a car to autocross. He is buying the car and we are splitting the consumables and work on it.

I had a buddy recently offer to let me co-drive his e30 rally-x car out of nowhere! He didn't want anything in return, but I offered to let him codrive my e30 at an autocross day, which is very well setup.

It seems like a cool trade to me and I've been dying to try rally-x!