I have my first autocross next weekend (the 10th) and since they are going by SCCA Solo-II rules we have to have numbers on each side of the car.

8" Numbers
4" Letters for class designation

And I was wondering if there were any cheap alternatives to buying what I found on eBay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Autocross-Racing-Magnetic-Numbers-Class-Letters-Autox_W0QQitemZ220021075093QQihZ012QQcategoryZ50448QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I know it they are not crazy expensive, but did not know if i could go cheaper for something I'm only going to use a couple days a month.

Thanks.

Painter's tape. Buy lots of painter's tape.

You'll also be the popular new guy there for anyone else who needs numbers, or when they change your number from what it was during registration, or when they change someone elses number.

Plus magnetic numbers will likely scratch your car from continual use and you could buy 10 rolls of blue painter's tape before you equate the cost of a good number set.

Also you can put painter's tape on the likely places to hit cones, like your front bumper, and when you get better at judging your car's position, your rear bumper and rear of sideskirts to protect from scratches from the cone marks.

You can also use the "shoe ploish" on the windows...Tech inspection usually has this available for you to put on for free..they'll also likely have the blue tape for you to use.

Don't buy magnets till you've been doing this a while and have a reserved number.

I agree with all. Deffinetyl put some tape on the front corners of your bumper, I have a scratch from a come on my bodykit.
Shoe polish is the easiest and cheapest way to go about it. They dont have to be magnetic numbers. They will tell you where they want the numbers. Since I love pictures, here is where they make me put mine:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c25/nick120580/car/NickAutoX010.jpg

Most make you put in the side window or upper passanger corner with your class as well.

I've never actually taped the corners up for an auto-x. They're only cones and any marks that you get on the car easily come off with goo-gone or something similar

except when there happens to be something foreign on the cone, or the cone has some nice jagged edges from being chewed up before.

I've got 2 nice scratches on my front bumper that I can't even buff out with an orbital, and when you auto-X as much as I do, you're bound to hit cones.

"If you aren't hitting cones, you aren't going fast enough"

The shoe polish thing is fine too, but it makes it harder for everyone else to read your numbers from a distance, and some of the courses I've been on are a few hundred yards to the other end, so the bigger the number, the better. I prefer to put tape on the side-doors and wipe down the area with my quick-detailer's spray before I put the tape on, and "layer" the numbers and letters, meaning, overlap the edges consistently so you can just pull them off starting on one edge of each letter. For Example.... The letter "S" I use 3 angled pieces of tape, start at the top-right and go down-left, then go from left to down-right, then right to down-left, so that way, i can just pull from the edge I started on, and the rest of the letter sticks to the first piece of tape. You'd be surprised how easy the tape goes on and comes off if you do it that way, and I have no urge to go buy a $100 set of numbers when one roll of $5 3M painter's tape can last me a whole season.

Yea, I thought I read with the group that I am going to drive in that window numbers won't work. I believe they said that the numbers have to be on the side...

But I like the painter's tape idea for the numbers and corners. Because I have a feeling that I am going to be hitting some cones..

Hey Nick06tC, I don't know where Hampton is, but I'm going to be running with the Blue Ridge Region SCCA group next weekend. Have you run with them before? I know the event is going to be in Verona, VA.

I ran at a BRR event in Danville in July, one of the best auto-X's I've ever been on. They actually listen to the racer's feedback and made the 2nd day of the 2-day event as perfect as you can get it by fixing the "issues" with the track from the 1st day. Lynn is the Shizzle.

They also had the A-mod Shark there that George and Todd Bowland run (father and son), it's the fastest auto-X car in the nation, period (arguably faster than the Phantom) The 5 hour drive down there was worth it just to watch that thing, it was completely ridiculous. It's what they based the PAX times off of..... it ran a solid 10+ seconds faster than the fastest time of the day. It's got a snowmobile engine with a CVT transmission, and creates nearly 400lbs of downforce.

Here's some pics and info on it:
http://www.crowmountainhillclimb.org/entries/GeorgeBowland.htm
http://members.aye.net/~racerx/am_georbowland2001subie7_1.gif
http://www.blueridgehillclimb.com/images/turns_boland.jpg
http://sbrscca.org/photos/2003ToledoTour/pages/GeorgeBowland.html

check out the results here for the event I was at in July - http://www.brr-scca.org/CommonwealthGames2006.html
and here's a video of it onboard on an uphill - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9194139898229460808&q=bowland+shark

As you can see, I was the only Scion there, and accidently signed up as novice and got a gold medal lol - it was great though, there was no way I could've competed against Don's IS300, that thing is a purpose-built STX monster.

The Bowland'a are insane with that car...I read about them in the most recent issue of SportsCar...freakin' awesome.

I have run with the Old Dominion Region here in souther VA and I have ran with the Susquehanna region in souther PA. Both were great groups of people so I am sure that the blue ridge guys are no different.

YES CONES WILL SCRATCH BUMPERS. I will take pictures of proof if ya want.

Good call. Painters tape was clutch. And I put it on the front corners even though I didn't hit any cones.

Did pretty decient for my first time. With the PAX I ran about in the middle of the pack.

I'll post some pics of the tape job if I can find some from the event.

How much does it cost to auto-x?

$25-40 depending on the organisation and whether you're a memeber or not. For the Philly Region members pay $25 while non-members pay $35.

At the BRR-SCCA event i was at it was $20 if you were a member and $25 if not. You didn't even have to be a member of SCCA, the car club members at VT paid the same price as SCCA members!

I actually made my own magnetic autocross numbers.

1) Go to walmart, purchase magnetic printer paper for $8/5 sheets.

2- At home, stick it in the printer, and print HUGE numbers in landscape mode. You can easily get right around 8-inches. I used impact font.... Be sure you do it in B&W and on draft quality.

3- Cut out the numbers

4- Get spraypaint from autozone, and paint the color of your choice.

5- Get something to seal it with (i haven't yet.) Shilac or something should work...

And voila!

I made 2 of the following... 1,2,3,4 , STS. This should give me enough number combinations for any day.