I've had a long history of participating in SCCA autocross events, for many years in a D Prepared Mini and more recently in an '03 MINI Cooper in H Stock and a '06 Supercharged MINI Cooper S in G Stock. MINIs are a perfect fit for autocrossing and have been the car of choice for most of the top drivers in both classes. Unfortunately, a new MINI lacks the utility I need as a driver so I began researching 4 door possibilities. The '09Cobalt SS sedan seemed to be a good fit as an autocross car/people hauler and I found one with limited slip.

Not finding any aftermarket wheels in the stock size that would clear the Brembos, I bought a set of Enkie EKM3 18 x8 to mount the stock Continentals for the street, then purchased Hoosiers fitted on the stock rims for autocrossing. The car is otherwise as purchased.

My co-driver (my son) and I first ran the car last Sunday in the Houston Region autocross event. After a nip and tuck battle with a driver in a BMW330 CI, my son won D Stock and placed 7th in PAX among 97 drivers. Yours truly placed 3d in D Stock and 24th in PAX, not bad for an old fart.

Our impressions of the car are mostly positive. The turbo lag will take some getting used too. Our supercharged MINI had a much quicker throttle response. We are going to try powering-on mid corner to compensate. We've not been left-foot brakers, but we may try that also. Sunday's course was rather tight and we never got to the rev limiter, so a more open course may suit the Cobalt better. Unlike on the Cooper S, which has an unaggressive limited slip, the Cobalt LS really works and we did not detect any wheel spin problems.

A final note, in the six years we've been competing in the Houston Region, I can't recall any Cobalts entered in any class, nor was there any on the entry list of the National Solo Tour when it was held in Houston recently. There are some very successful Cobalts out there (Kevin Dietz won the ProSold championship in a '08 tc, for example). I hope more owners will join the fray. At the trophy ceremony at Sunday's autocross, the announcer awarded the trophy for D Stock by saying it was a strange day when a BMW was beaten by a Chevy Cobalt. We had a good laugh.

 

Not terribly uncommon. Even in my 2.4, I've beaten out two beamers and one benz in the G Stock class in the two AutoX's I've been to .

Congrats on the nice finish and big congrats to your son for taking home the W. Keep working at it, it's pretty obvious that the car is a performer.

 

I should have made it clear that the comment about a Cobalt beating a BMW was made in jest. The announcer, being a car guy, was well aware of the credentials of a Cobalt SS tc. And being an experienced autocrosser, he knew that competition within stock classes is among drivers, not cars. The SCCA groups stock cars into classes based upon their comparable performance capabilities. For example, all cars in D Stock theoretically have an equal chance for success. It is the drivers who create differences in the times for a run. If you beat a BMW or Benz in your class, you are a better driver. Of course, legal car preparation and having the right tires also comes into play, but that is how skilled drivers approach autocrossing.

 

Nice to see another 'old' SCCA autocrosser here. I ran a DS Saturn Ion Redline a few of years ago down at the National Tour event at Texas City. Good luck in DS, I'm met a couple of Cobalt DS competitors including a guy from Seattle who plans to run at the Nationals with his DS Cobalt.

This year's my first Cobalt effort. I'm in DSP with the Cobalt and I might even get it to be competitive. I'm presently first in points in DSP in the Rockys, however, there are several fellow DSP competitors who always run in 'X' class (except for National Tour events and for the Nationals) and, unfortunately, I'm still about 1-2 seconds away from being really competitive with them.

As I said, good luck in DS.

Scott

 

Scott: Thanks for the good luck wishes and the same to you. In my early days I worked on all of my cars and could do engine and tranny rebuilds on my Minis. But old age and the complexity of new cars have discouraged me from doing anything under the hood anymore. And my son has no interest in working on cars. So we race in the relatively hassle-free stock classes. North American Motoring.com, has a great forum devoted to autocrossing MINIs. The G Stock national champ participates. Lots of sound info regarding set-up, tires, shocks, etc. is available. I would like to see this forum go in that direction. Have fun in the Rockies.

 

How old is too old? I'm still the only 'worker' in my Cobalt (thank god it's not engine internals -- been there, done that many, many years ago). My next birthday will occur on September 10, my day driving back from the Nationals (I drive the 8th and 9th) - I'll be 63 on the 10th. I'm only shooting for 'not last' -- but you know how that goes, the Cobalt isn't a favorite in DSP, in fact, here's the list of entrants for this year (note that there's a Mini Cooper S in class) - it's a BMW place:

DSP Count:30

11 Herbert, Scott
Colorado Springs, CO 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS Wht
Front Range Muffler Hoosier Continental Divide Region

13 Waldbaum, Matthew
Omaha, NE 2008 Mazda Speed3 Blk
Hoosier, Streetunit.com Hoosier Nebraska Region

33 Choy, Jeremy
Winnipeg, MB 1995 BMW 325is Blk
Canada One Vacations Kumho Badlands Region

41 Wrolson, Darryl
Waconia, MN 1995 BMW 325is Blk
Sears BMW Other Milwaukee Region

43 Florance, Peter
Virginia Beach, VA 1987 BMW 325is Blk
PFTuning.com/Vorshlag Motorsports Hoosier Old Dominion Region

52 Lew, Karlton
Fremont, CA 1984 Toyota Supra Blu,Lt
Dad Hoosier San Francisco Region

57 Campbell, Eric
Canal Winchester, OH 1989 BMW 325i Blu,Dk
Campbell DKI & Led Zeppelin Hoosier Ohio Valley Region
GL

60 Grayson, Christopher
West Chester, OH 1988 Merkur XR4Ti Blu
www.mc2racing.com Hoosier Western Ohio Region

61 Schweikle, George
Lexington, KY 1976 Alfa Romeo Spider Red
Scuderia Scrap Hoosier Central Kentucky Region

77 De Los Reyes, Gilbert
Union City, CA 2000 Subaru Impreza Blu
Genitrix Motorsports/KOMUSH Eng/ROT Hoosier San Francisco Region

81 Pizzato, Alberto (a local competitor)
Aurora, CO 1995 BMW 328is Blk
Bimmerhaus/Poras Racing Ventures Hoosier Colorado Region

85 Salmon, Gavin
Santa Cruz, CA 1991 Mazda MX6 GT Red
Teamunemployment.com, RRAX.com Hoosier San Francisco Region

92 Franson, Chris
Vernon, CT 1993 BMW 325is Blk
AmbrosiaSW.com /Thanks Mike Hoosier New England Region

93 Curtis, George
Salt Lake City, UT 1993 BMW 325is Wht
CTR Kumho Utah Region

94 Keiler, Doug
Virginia Beach, VA 1988 BMW 323 Blk
Atlantic Autowerks Hoosier Washington DC Region

95 Lipsinic, Patrick
Bixby, OK 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Blu
LMSports/Kartboy/Izoomgraphics Hoosier Northeast Oklahoma Region

96 Speidell, Elliot
Avondale, AZ 2003 BMW 330i Slv
Hoosier Arizona Region

98 Zacharda, Allan
Sherwood, OR 2006 Mini Cooper S JCW Blk
3Z Racing, Hoosier Kumho Oregon Region

141 Jones, Stephen
Duluth, MN 1995 BMW 325is Blk
Northland Subway Hoosier Land O' Lakes Region

143 Bleh, Thomas
Virginia Beach, VA 1987 BMW 325is Blk
PFTuning/Vorshlag Motorsports Hoosier Old Dominion Region

152 Lew, Donald
Fremont, CA 1984 Toyota Supra Blu,Lt
Celicasupra.com , Lubrify.com, Hoosier San Francisco Region

157 Shchipkov, Alex
Albany, NY 1989 BMW 325i Blu,Dk
SoloRacer.com/BMW2002.com/TCKline Hoosier Mohawk Hudson Region

158 Krolewicz, Jon
Elgin, SC 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS Slv
Boxer4Racing/SubaruPartsPro.com Hoosier South Carolina Region

160 Martinez, Ben
San Jose, CA 1985 Merkur XR4 Ti Wht
www.MC2Racing.com Kumho San Francisco Region

169 Schmid, Chris
Colfax, NC 2004 Dodge Neon SRT-4 Slv
Thanks LJ&T! Hoosier Central Carolinas Region

177 De Los Reyes, Noel
Union City, CA 2000 Subaru Impreza Blu
Genitrix/ROTA/KOMUSH/D&M/HOWTEK Hoosier San Francisco Region

181 Pora, Thomas (a local competitor)
Arvada, CO 1995 BMW 325is Blk
BimmerHaus Performance Hoosier Colorado Region

192 Shields, Mike
Temple, NH 1993 BMW 325is Blk
Ambrosia SW/wife's eternal patience Hoosier New England Region

196 Rowse, Doug
Phoenix, AZ 2003 BMW 330i Slv
Hoosier Arizona Region

199 Smith, Mark (a local competitor)
Denver, CO 2004 VW FrankenGolf (R32) Slv
SCR/Ska Brewing/Bildon/KW/SPE-ED Hoosier Rio Grande Region

My son and I used to race together - either in our own cars or co-driving mine, but he's now in the Air Force out of Colorado (and busy as a KC-135 crew chief) so I'm to only driver.

As I mentioned, good luck in DS. I won once at a National Tour event (at Texas City) but there were no Acura ITRs racing there. Everywhere I ran against an ITR, I lost to the ITR.

Scott

 

Scott: Congratulations on having the guts to run with the Big Dogs at the Nationals. I raced a Mini at the Nationals years ago, did't do very well. Like any sport, there are those in autocrossing who have a talent and drive far beyond most of us. We ran against the national H-Stock champion here in Houston in 2005- a humbling experience to say the least. My son was the Houston Region G-Stock season champ for the last two years with our Cooper S, I was an also-ran. We both realize competing successfully at the national level is a different ball game. In any case, good luck in Lincoln- make your fellow "old guys" proud. By the way, I'm 71.

Dick

 

I'm afraid I've both lucky and unlucky when it comes to racing locally (SCCA Rocky Mountain region). I used to race in DS -- and the National champion in DS was a local racer. Lucky because I always had a barometer against which I could measure my performance - unlucky because I could never win or even get close -- 2nd in points two years running.

Now I'm in DSP and there are 4 local DSP competitors who have long histories of finishing no lower than 5th at the Nationals - include a couple of National champions. So I still have both good and bad news with this situation. But where I was always 4-6 seconds (or more) behind the DS guy, I'm now 1-2.5 seconds behind the best DSP guys. And I'm just getting started sorting the car. I'm now confident that I can at least be a threat.

Locally we also have FSP, CSP, AS, BS, and a few other class champions so they're a great help when it comes to improvement recommendations and suggestions about driving styles or hardware ideas. I've also had the opportunity to attend three driving schools where the locals rode and helped.

I started SCCAing back in the late 60s/early 70s and drifted away because of Life: money, military deployments - 26 years in Special Forces - 3 'wars', kids, etc., etc. Did some drag racing later, motocrossed for a few years (I was really lousy at it), had a couple of Harleys and crotch-rockets, then switched to skydiving and skiing. So I have >1000 jumps and I'm a ski instructor. About 6 years ago my son suggested I try SCCA autocross with him (he thinks he introduced me to the sport). So I re-discovered autocrossing. My wife hates my skydiving so she doesn't complain about car parts -- 'if' I don't get back into skydiving seriously. -- seems like a good trade-off for now.

BTW, 71 doesn't sound too old to me! Interesting how all things are relative. I'm now trying to get my 10-year-old granddaughter into SCCA Karts -- she's very competitive generally -- so she can co-drive cars with my in about 6 years when she's 16 (I'd be 70).

Scott

 

Scott: Looks like we are having a private conversation here. My hat is off to you- you have the experience, talent and drive to be one of the Big Dogs. And you certainly have had an adventure-filled life. Again, good luck at the Nationals and keep us posted on the results.

Dick

 

you guys are lucky. we do not have a autocross culture as such you guys described. sounds like it would be a blast. we have autocross events here and there nothing big. good luck to you both in the races

 

Hey Dick, another semi-old time autocrosser here.

I was a frequent autocrosser from 1992 until 2005 or so. I used to run Houston, first in DS later in STS in my 98 Neon. Just got the SS, don't know if I'll be autocrossing it, but I'm going to run it with the Porsche club in the Valley in 2 weeks. Check out rgvpca.org

Jeff