New here and to hill climb

[drummerej25]

I didnt seea welcome thread so i figured id just intorduce myself. My name is Keith i have an 07 sti.Ive done autocross before and alot of drag racing have always wanted to try hill climb. One of the reasons i joined the forum was to make sure i have my car set up correctly for the upcoming season so there arent any issues when i show up,also having a little trouble figuring out my class i know that would be a "classification" topic and can move my question there is need be lol. I know to atleast run i need a helmet and i believe fire extinguisher,cage ir preferable but not neccessary. Any info would be greatly appreciated Oh also have met one person that runs ther hill climbs has a gray sti 06-07 with the plate 4mcrae on it names Brian is was vcery helpful during the short convo i had with him.

[sachilles]

From past experience, an sti classes as either U1 if completely stock or Sp1 if still street legalish but not stock. Helmet needs to be SA2005 or SA2010 rated, though I think we take certain fia certifications now. Fire extinguisher needs to be an ABC type, mounted on all metal bracket. The common placement on Subies is to mount the bracket on flat stock the mount that to the to front bolts of the passenger seat. Welcome aboard

[drummerej25]

Thanks for the info and thanks for the welcome.
My car has springs(from the first owner) other then that no suspension mods.The motor is far from stock biult with cams,still stock turbo an fuel system though.Also from the convo i had with Brian apprently having no cats makes a diffrence in your class?

[sachilles]

I was under the impression that removing all cats was a no-no in street prepared, but looking at our rules(you should look at them http://www.hillclimb.org/rulesregs.html ) it says you can remove emissions equipment.
Based on your post above, you'll end up in SP1.

Keep in mind we do have sound requirements, so even though it might be legal to run without the cat, you'll need something to muffle the noise to an acceptable level.

Keep an eye on the forums, as we have our annual rules meeting in January. Things can change for next season.

If you are running caged for next season, head and neck restraints are required for 2013.

[walterclark]

Welcome!

As Seth wrote, your car would fit in SP1. Its not clear to me, but I am guessing you do not currently have a full cage. That is OK. Many regular hillclimbers began in a non-caged car and a number still run them. You will be subject to the "breakout rule" without the cage, limiting how fast you can ultimately go at any given hill, but its not a bad idea to take it sort of easy (in particular with a really fast car) until you get used to hillclimbing anyway, plus it improves the odds you will have a car to drive on Monday. Running under the "breakout rule" also permits you to wear clothing that is less auto racing specific and to avoid having to use a head and neck restraint device.

The Classification and Technical rules are not that lengthy so read them carefully as they apply to the SP classes and all cars. Its easier for us to answer specific questions when something is confusing or not clear to you than to try to guess what you havent read about and write down everything you need to know, have or do.

[drummerej25]

I did read the rules and regs before posting lol I guess ill blame lack of sleep for not paying attention,sorry guys. My main questions were on the class of car as far as what i needed.Chances are the cage wont happen for this year also taking it easy is somthing i have in mind as this is my dd. The sound level thing may be a problem my car is fairly loud 3 inch tbe no cats equals sounds good but loud.I think sound needs to be 90 somthing decibals which im sure mine is not. Ill give the rules another read before asking more questions. Thanks for the welcome and your patience lol

[drummerej25]

Ok so here is a questione the dba reading is at 50ft but is it at idle or a certian rpm?

[walterclark]

I think I have this right. Published in the event info: No limits at Ascutney or Philo, 90dBA at Burke and 96dBA at Okemo.

Don Taylor does the checks if needed and the exact procedure isnt published but I think he usually measures as you pass by on a run - somewhere beyond the start line. So not at idle...

If it were done at tech (very rare) I think we would use the ISO 5130:2007 method, with a limit of 105dBA as that seems to correlates fairly well to the 96dBA at 50' in the open.

The only turbo-4 in my recent memory that had issues was Alex Grabeau with his Evo. My guess is he ended up getting some sort of muffler but at the event where he first had to do something (Okemo) he ended up installin a 90 degree turn (up/down/left/right) to redirect the sound and attenuate it some.

I did a track day at Lime Rock Park last summer in my GTI and was concerned I might be above their 86dBA limit for that event and by my own measures I was right around that limit at peak noise output so I got a SuperTrapp to bolt on the end of the tail pipe - just in case. Didnt need it.

[drummerej25]

Hmm maybe i wont fair so badly,ill hav to find someone who has a meter and atleats get an idea of where im at. I know u can get a dba meter on a smart phone no idea how accurate that is though lol I do have a silencer that came with the exhaust ut lets be honest thats just silly haha. Thanks again for he info

[walterclark]

I have a sound meter app on my iPod Touch. I found it needs to be calibrated in the general range of where it will be used (e.g. around 100db for this stuff) and then it is pretty close to my Rat Shack meter (which is what everyone uses at motorsport events). Without this "calibration" mine was way off - and still is when going well down in the range , like 60db or way up like 120db. Its all probably related to the mic and supporting circuitry being different from device model to device model.

The calibration was simple enough. I set up a noise generator and speaker to produce 100dbA on the RS meter when about 2' away, then moved the iPod in place of the RS meter and did the "calibration" in the app to read 100db. I used noise rather than a tone to help reduce the errors caused by likely frequency response differences between the 2 devices.

Speaking of apps (off topic), I also have pretty cool function generator, o'scope and spectrum analyzer apps on the iPod. Too bad I cant run more than one app at a time...