DtEW

The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) has reorganized their Street Touring classes to produce a new STX class, which can be very important for those of you who have already modified (or plan to modify) your Acura CL-S/TL-S.

This of course applies to Solo II competition venues, otherwise known as AutoXes, autocrosses, or gymkhanas, which are events that give the amateur racer a legal and safe outlet to measure their own (and their car's) ultimate performance on what can be described as a mini-road course.

The new STX class info can be found at the bottom of page 13 of this document:

http://www.scca.org/news/fastrack/02-02.pdf

For those of you too lazy to click, here's the relevant text:

STX
1) All allowances in STS would carry over, including street tires, rim restrictions, emissions, etc.
2) All restrictions regarding body type carry over.
3) Engine size allowance: up to 5.1, normally aspirated and 2.0, forced induction (single turbo or supercharger).
4) Only factory limited slip differentials (LSD) are allowed on AWD vehicles, as defined in Section 12.4. For 2WD vehicles and AWD vehicles that did not come with any type of limited slip differential (including center differential or transfer case), a single aftermarket LSD may be added.
5) High flow catalytic converters are allowed, but must attach within six inches of the original unit.
6) Alternate motor mounts and/or engine locators (bobble struts) sold by the vehicle's manufacturer or their
Motorsports subsidiary or affiliate (Chrysler/Mopar, Toyota/TRD, Honda/Mugen, etc.) are allowed.
7) Alternate driver and front passenger seats are allowed, but they cannot be constructed of a solid outer shell and must have a suspended bottom cushion and be fully upholstered.
8) Brake rotors and calipers are unre-stricted, but must attach to the original attachment points.
9) Additionally excluded cars: BMW M3 (E36 and E46), BMW M5 (all).

If you noticed the reference to STS rules, here they are. Understand that the above is an amendment to what you see here:

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/stre...ing_rules.html

The reason STX class is important to Acura CL-S/TL-S owners is:

1) An LSD, whether the factory Torsen unit or an aftermarket unit, are both legal for use. Previously, this would have excluded the new CL-S manual from participating in Street Touring Stock (STS) class.

2) Why anyone would want to participate in any Street Touring class instead of Stock class is because Street Touring classes allow common mods, such as:

-> Common bolt-on suspension mods, such as springs/shocks, coilovers, stabilizer bars and strut tower braces.
-> Intake (RES is probably allowed), headers, exhaust, undersize accessory pullies, and fuel/VTEC computers.
-> Any brake mods, including stainless braided lines.
-> Any wheels as long as they're 7.5"-or-less in width, any tires as long as they're 225-or-less in width and carry a treadwear rating of over 140.
-> Body kits, spoilers, wings, etc.

3) There exist classes that allow for even a wider variety of mods, but the problem with those are that many of the allowed mods aren't things one would do to a daily-driver, much less to one as refined and comfy as an Acura CL-S/TL-S. Unless you take advantage of every allowance in those classes, chances are that one won't be very competitive. Working to the advantage of the average modified CL-S/TL-S, STX class simply doesn't allow these mods:

-> Gutting the interior.
-> Internal engine mods, including cams and cam sprockets.
-> Adding forced-induction to a naturally-aspirated engine, and vice versa.
-> Race-compound tires (do you know these things have the lifespan of a gypsy moth?)

I think it's going to be a good class. In case you're wondering, this class is as relevant (if not more so) for us IS300 owners as well.