new guy here and lost

[cl45a]

so last night i was reading over the production rules and i got lost somewhere in the modification area,so if someone could help me out it would be much aprecated because next year i plan on running or if someone could suggest a class for me to start with

[jlwolf]

If you don't like reading rules, try a spec class.
Spec racer ford is a good place to start.  Fun car to drive; always someone to play with no matter what your talent level; and relatively cheap to operate (cheap by race car standards).

Regards,
Joe

[Miata88]

Spec Miata, these cars are legal in as many as 4 classes.
Big fields and close compitition and competitive cars can be bought at reasonable prices.

Or, Formula V, small open wheel cars, nice size fields and cars are very reasonably priced.

[JimR]

Joe and Jerry make good points on their class recommendations.  A lot depends on your budget and goals, but the worst thing you can do IMO is race against no one.

Here are some sites to check out in the order they were offered

http://www.specracer.com

http://www.specmiata.com

http://www.formulavee.org

I have participated in both FV and SRF and both are challenging.  Jerry races Miatas and there are lots of them. You can also rent each of these cars from various sources which can also be a good first step before deciding.

[StephF]

What do you like to do? Do you like to work on your own car, build it, tinker on it? Or would you prefer to have something a bit simpler, less hands on? Do you like newer cars, older cars or doesn't matter?

If you want to get into a class but don't want to do the prep alone, you can go a couple of routes. Probably the safest route would be to hook up with someone who is already prepping cars. You can get a lot of referrals here, but Matt Kessler comes to mind in the IT catagory. He may also do prod cars too, I'm not sure. He's a stand up guy. (and I don't mean comedian, although he can be)

If you don't already have a car, you could talk to your prep person before making a final decision about buying versus building. Both have pros and cons. Above all, you want to be sure you prep your car so you are legal for your class.
Once you have had a chance to get a feel for prep with someone for feedback, it's much easier to make sense of the GCR and set off on your own.

The other route is to buy a prepped car, BUT that holds it's own set of issues. You might be buying someone else's problems, or even a car that ISN'T prepped legally for what you want to do. Just be careful on buying anything, but do know that there are some decent  cars for sale pretty reasonable right now. You can check on the classifieds on the IT.com forums for IT prepped, or on other class based forums (Is there still a prod site out there? Think there's a spec miata one too) You can also check the back of Sportscar magazine.

Above all, choose a class and car that you like, and can have fun with.

And do what you did...ask questions. There's a lot of folks who will be happy to help.