How Much Stress does AX'ing Put on your 914, Will it break a DD? Options

[ericread]

I have a nice little stock 74 914 2.0 that is my daily driver. Like I have mentioned many times before, I put about 15,000 miles a year of daily driving on her.

I have never AX'ed my 914, and I was wondering, how much stress does AX'ing put on your 914. And where are the main points of stress? I would imagine the transmission and rear CV joints would feel a lot of stress, along with the front suspension? And maybe some major tire scuffing?

So if I decided to casually AX, how much downtime should I expect to encounter? I would love to occasionally enter an AX just to learn more about my car, but at what expense and level of downtime would I encounter?

And how much wear would I place on my transmission/CV joints/suspension/etc???

My thanks.

[jhadler]

Your car will be fine. If you have maintained it well, and everything is in good working order (no leaking fluids, no bad CV's, no loose bearings) then you will find that the only alteration your car will have suffered after your first autox is the perma-grin on the loose nut behind the wheel.

True, if you've got maintenance items that you've neglected, they'll get your attention. But if you pay attention, the car will just love you for autoxing it.

I pretty much agree with what was said above, with one exception... Sorry Rich. And that is to stay on your regular tires for now. As a matter of fact, the only thing you should -change- before your first autox (or 2 or 3) is the pressure in your tires. Higher pressure in a street tire will help keep the sidewall from flexing over too much. If you plan to do more than a couple of autox events a year, then yes, a second set of tires (or at least a better set) are the better way to go. It's the one thing on a car that wears out pretty quickly when autoxing.

Really, if your car is in good shape, and you maintain it regularly, it'll be fine.

Here are the suggestions if you decide to increase your participation level...

1) Tuna can oil sump. Helps prevent oil starvation on long sweeping turns.
2) A good set of shocks and good alignment. This will TRANSFORM your car. You have no idea until you do. It will be like the heavens opened up and the celestial light of sportscardom was shining down on you... :-)

Now... Most folks will find this just right, and won't feel the need to go any further. They enjoy the occasional cone dodging afternoon, and that's all. However... Once you get bitten by the bug, yer sunk. But don't fear, there are lots of us to help you through this process. No, sadly there is no cure. But once you get it, you won't care...

And then slippery slope really starts... Wheels, tires, springs, bigger motors, lighter clutches, racing seats, harnesses, cages, fuel cells... All in the interest of shaving that extra second (or tenth of a second) off your times. Terms like "camber", "caster", "ackerman" and "scrub radius" will become second nature to you. People will ask you what you did last weekend and their eyes will glaze over after the first half hour of your excited ramblings of how spectacular your wake-up-before-dawn-outside-till-dark-stand-in-100-degree-heat-all-day day was. You'll begin to find that "normal" people just don't "get you" anymore. And you'll start seeking places to hang out with your "own kind". Race tracks are great places for that... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) And 914world is great for when you're not at the track...

Join us.... Join us.... Join us.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

-Josh2