PCA for 997's...
 

I was looking at our local rules (Zone 8 - Southern) for PCA which tells you which class you would run in. I know there are a lot of you out there who know more than me so I just wanted to get some clarification to make sure I read the rules correctly...

The 997 C2S is considered in the "Q" class (A = older, R = newer and faster)...

In addition, there are subdivisions - QS/S = street stock, QS = stock, QP = prepared and QI = improved.

Basically a stock car is in the street stock category. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME DIFFERENTIATE BTWEN STREET STOCK AND STOCK? Interestingly enough, even though a C2S comes with 295 tires, any tire wider than 290 (most people running 295's or 305's on the stock 19"s) gets you 2 "modification points"... For tires, if you are running street tires, you will not get points since most street tires are 180-280 in treadwear rating and you dont get points until you get to below 140 (must be a sticky compound tire).

Also, whether or not you use c/o or just springs, that gets you 2 points as well. Basically, if you stay 8 points or less, you run with the stock category. Personally, I'm pretty new at all this, so I'm trying to stay in the stock class...

However, I believe it says I have the option (in autocross) of going to the "novice 3" category (for which the 997 falls under).

I think I can only run autocross and DE, and if I run 8 days (within 18 mo), then I can attend a time trial event? Is this true? Since I won't get to the track that often, I guess this means I will never be eligible to even run novice at a time trial event? I hope I'm wrong on this... I looked at the calendar and there are only 2 more events this year that I could attend. Would it be better off waiting until the calendar looks like I can attend enough events?

i would not worry too much about all those things, if you did not change anything in your car just claim it as stock.
plus as you noticed already first season you will go as indexed 'novice' class. in PCA all those classifications do not mean much. it matters much more if you decide to run auto-x with SCCA - there you will have different system and if you have such a goal you will need to be careful with what you modify in your car. if you did not change anything serios so far - do not even worry about any of that.