I was giving some thought to building one of my 1200s into a dedicated track racer. My question for anyone familiar with the SCCA is, which class should I shoot for? My options as I understand them are Improved Touring C, Grand Touring 4, or H Production. Is the car going to be more competetive in one class over another, based on allowed modifications and potential competitors? I think GT4 is right out since I doubt a unibody could hold its own against a full tube frame car. I had heard a few years back that the 1200 was THE car to have for H Prod. Is that still the case? My shopmate is building an ITC Volkswagen Scirocco so I would have at least one car to race if I went that direction. Well, any help or suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
Tim

There are a couple of classes were the datsun 1200 qualify, i guess it all depends on the amount of money you want to sink on it( the ITC class will be the cheapest one),also you may want to take in consideration the level of competence and the fun factor of the diferente clasess. You should get in contact with Peter Zekert he has been racing 1200's for a while and i'm pretty sure he has a lot of advice and experiences racing 1200's.

I would say that the 1200 is still a competitive car in many classes and a great starter car, but I would buy an already built car first and give it a go. It is almost always cheaper to buy than build and the car should be sorted. By all means build your own car but use the knowledge gained from someones elses efforts. Also I have found it difficult to drive a car I have built myself on the limit, a little voice always reminds me of all the time I've sunk into it , but I've never had a problem thrashing some one else's !!!!

One person, whose opinion I respect, told me that the car would NOT be competetive in ITC. He said that the west coast had to start an ITD class just for them in fact. I'm leaning towards H Production if I do it. I have borrowed a friend's SCCA's General Competition Rules CD-Rom and plan to look at them after I finish here. I know what you mean when you say it is hard to thrash a car you have built. That might be a factor when all is said and done. The car will probably wind up back on the street though, so the point might be moo.

After reading and rereading the rules for H-production, I think that sounds like a fun class. Of course the 1200 was the only car that half of the spec sheet was missing in the rule book. I've sent an e-mail to the SCCA to see if they can give me the rest of the specs for the car and then I'll make a decision. Then again, the autocross I went to the other day looked like fun and their rules seem pretty lax. I might look into that instead. Who knows? Oh well, I guess I'm through here for now.

If you like autocross but want to be more serious than just attending cone derbies, what about ProSolo? Or Solo II?