The autocross is nothing new; it’s been around for decades and was typically reserved for sports cars or track cars. Most of the time, those cars were small, four-cylinder vehicles with race springs, thick sway bars, race tires, and could navigate through the cones quicker than many exotic cars. You could also find F-body cars from GM, Mustangs, ‘Vettes and a few European sports cars at the autocross, but seeing anything else was a rare site.
Not your everyday autocrosser, this truck runs on Ridetech Coilovers and StrongArms
But times have been changing the last few years, and thanks to events like Goodguys autocross and companies like Ridetech, we’ve been seeing some interesting vehicles snake their way around the course with pretty incredible results. Not only are we seeing more and more classic cars and trucks participate, but the drivers don’t seem to mind pushing their cars to their limits on the autocross course.
Such is the case for Tyler Gibson’s 1947 Chevy we found on the Ridetech web site that he’s been tossing around in the turns. With an S10 chassis that’s modded up to accept a 47 pickup body, Ridetech triple adjustable coilovers and StrongArm control arms, this truck and it’s ultra-wide 315 and 335 tires is making easy work of the autocross course. The two videos below show how much work the suspension goes through as the weight shifts from side to side in the turns, a pretty cool lock at Ridetech shocks in action.
The Pro-Touring movement has been infiltrating the hot rod scene for a few years now, and it gives people, and vehicles, that were previously straight line performers a chance to enjoy using that big round thing in front of them a little more often. Seeing an old truck like Tyler’s go through the course like this is starting to bring some excitement back to autocrossing.