Is AIX dead in its present form?

[jrsmotorsports]

thanks, i will post some more.

specs

jrs front sla susp,bilstein da shocks

jrs rear tq arm 3 link, with watts,da bilstein, ccw sp16, race lightened wheels

ls3 416ci ,jericho 4 spd

jrs tri y headers,

[supermac]

WOW!! That is cool...I talked to RayBob about building a second gen for AI and he told me I was crazy! Prolly cause I don't have 1/10 of your fab skills! Amazing work! More Pics?

[pederb]

I really like what I'm seeing

 

Cheers

[AIX9]

Well this is a tough question because looking at the rules there are probably less than five true AIX cars in the country. Before I started my AIX build I went to a few races to make sure that was the direction I wanted to go and saw the dominant car at the time (Ernesto Roco) was a more glorified normally aspirated AI car with more horsepower. This appealed to me as I didn’t want the restrictions of AI. Now, although I don’t think you need 1000hp to be competitive, you surely need 800. To reach indycar and F1 hp levels in a grassroots racing program is absurd and unrealistic for 99% of people. I know it says X(extreme), but there has to be some kind of limitation. I am not blaming the people who have built these “class killers”, quite the opposite. There are some truly amazing cars that have been built within the rules of AIX. The craftsmanship, forethought, time and money in these cars are second to none and these car owners should be proud of their creations. The fields are small because there is no attempt to create parity in the field. There isn’t a professional racing series in the world without engine restrictions of some kind. Adding weight would be the easiest: forced induction+500lbs, FI+100lbs,Al block+100lbs, etc… Something to try and get more people racing, otherwise it’s just a TT with the haves and have nots. Everybody wants to win, but if we were good enough we would be in nascar or F1 already, so let’s get back to some close grassroots racing. I asked a good friend of mine who has plenty of money why he races in spec miata and doesn’t build an AIX car. He stated” I’d rather finish last in a group of ten cars separated by 2 seconds than run away from the field and finish first” Just my personal opinion.

[74 mach]

AIX9, tell us about your car.

[AIX9]

Its a fox body mustang with a stroker 351W to 408. 540hp at flywheel. Jerico 4spd, tubbed rear, 8.8 locker with TA. Front is home built SLA and griggs anti-roll bar with Penske shocks and forgeline zx3r(bought used from Roco). Gonna try a ford racing AL block to get some weight off the front and hopefully slightly more hp but reliability is more important to me. Ill post a pic later. Ive seen your car, WOW-amazing, you do very nice work. I would really hate to see the class go away due to lack of participation, thats why Im hoping we can do something to make it more competitive for everyone and attract new people. The top guys will still be the class of the field due to their hard work and preparation, just a little more parity is all we need.

[pederb]

Were are you located?

[gbrown8439]

I don't know if there is an easy way to verify this but I don't remember the car count in AIX being any higher three or four years ago when it only took 600 RWHP to be competitive.

 

IMO making 800+ RWHP doesn't cost much more that making 600 in the grand scheme of building an AIX car. If you do the work yourself you can have the power adder needed to make that kind of power for less than the price of a high end pair of shocks. The rest of the drive train should remain pretty much the same.

 

If you want the class to grow open it up to more cars. Let the old World Challenge cars in with a weight penalty for the firewall mods most of them have. Hell, let old Trans Am cars in if you can figure out the proper weight/power penalty to make them competitive. Put them on a set of DOT radials and see how they run.

 

It's called American Iron Extreme. I say bring on the extreme!

[Ed M.]

I won the AIX championship in the SE in 2007 and 2008, runner up in 2009 with an AI car. I found that durability won out more times than having the fastest car. IIRC, we always had at least 3 AIX cars and 5ish at times so it wasn't as if I won the championship because I was the only one who showed up. However, I was always the one with the least HP but I always finished. And that, my friends, was the key... My point is, IMO, you don't have to have gobs of HP to be competitive in AIX if you stay focused on the big picture (if a championship is what you're after) and spend more of your time on car prep and seat time rather than trying to find more HP. Food for thought - my .015...

 

Ed