2009 OPTIMA Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational - Lateral-g Forums

**Stuart Adams** · #1 11-09-2009, 12:28 PM

Pretty simple deal, the cars with the best times should finish accordingly. If its a car show then so be it. Kinda ridiculous really. Don't need explanations or sugar coats, #'s are numbers.

When after a race you need explanations, that's all you need to know.

chr2002ca · #2 11-09-2009, 12:59 PM

Congrats to Steve and the folks that helped out with improving Penny for once again taking home 1st place.

Congrats to Steve also for his continued advancement in his driving capabilities. It's quite an accomplishment to win 2 years in a row and it certainly adds to the legacy of Penny.

As for the contest itself, I definitely agree with Steve that style should be thrown out all together. That's just too subjective. The idea sponsored by Chad of having a 'street driving characteristics'(road noise, easy of steering and braking, comfort, etc) is a good one, but again that might be subjective in parts also. However, there has to be some sort of category like that, or as Steve said, it ends up being a performance-only contest and then you have people entering race cars and that'll 'get by on the street' for the event. There definitely has to be something done about the tires. Tires can make all the difference and they need to level the playing field with strict rules on those. When people are showing up with a different set of rims and tires from what they run on the street, that just doesn't seem right. It's not a street car contest if that's happening, in my humble opinion.

Or, they just don't give out an 'overall 1st place', and give individual category awards which might reinforce the idea of 'fun' versus 'a competition'. We all win just by getting to watch it or participate in it. Kudos to Optima for putting it together and letting us see such a wide variety of cars and drivers going at it. I'm not missing out again. I'll be there next year to watch and take notes for sure.

mazspeed · #3 11-11-2009, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart Adams

Pretty simple deal, the cars with the best times should finish accordingly. If its a car show then so be it. Kinda ridiculous really. Don't need explanations or sugar coats, #'s are numbers.

When after a race you need explanations, that's all you need to know.

I agree. Fastest car in all events should win. Otherwise what's the point?

**GregWeld** · #4 11-11-2009, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazspeed

I agree. Fastest car in all events should win. Otherwise what's the point?

Yep -- since it's by invite only -- why invite someone and then shove their nose in the dirt... You saw/knew the car when you invited it to participate!

It's like -- Let me beat on my half million dollar car -- for FREE... win... and then someone doesn't like the color I painted it... Uh... sure!

Having said all that - and my opinion means NOTHING - it was and is a great event!

**Steve1968LS2** · #5 11-11-2009, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Yep -- since it's by invite only -- why invite someone and then shove their nose in the dirt... You saw/knew the car when you invited it to participate!

It's like -- Let me beat on my half million dollar car -- for FREE... win... and then someone doesn't like the color I painted it... Uh... sure!

Having said all that - and my opinion means NOTHING - it was and is a great event!

They just need to be sure of who/what they are inviting.. having us go agains SCCA track cars really doesn't help make the point they are trying to make.

Don't worry.. it will all be fixed though

**Steve1968LS2** · #6 11-09-2009, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue

agreed 100%. Show-touring at its finest. A guy brings out an original cobra, mops up on everyone then gets ripped apart because it doesn't have a 30k paint job and the latest carbon fiber goodies?

to all the competitors and Steve but this events pretty silly.

Again, there's no problem with having a style component.. it just needs to be fair and balanced accordingly.

There's a reason this event is the day after SEMA.. it's not a SCCA divisional race.

**clill** · #7 11-09-2009, 01:46 PM

The event wasn't silly . It was a great event that would have ended great if they would have stuck to their own published rules. The Cobra would have easily won the overall.

Vegas69 · #8 11-09-2009, 01:53 PM

It was a great event and if we all keep whining enough maybe they will just cancel it next year. That's something to seriously consider. We all hear about the "Economic" times and cut backs in marketing dollars.

**Steve1968LS2** · #9 11-09-2009, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegas69

It was a great event and if we all keep whining enough maybe they will just cancel it next year. That's something to seriously consider. We all hear about the "Economic" times and cut backs in marketing dollars.

So long as they "fix" it for next year I'm in.. it was the best run event like this I've ever been to. Just needs some fine tuning in the rules department.

Keep in mind that this is only their second event. I'm optimistic about next year.

buickfunnycar.com · #10 11-09-2009, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

So long as they "fix" it for next year I'm in.. it was the best run event like this I've ever been to. Just needs some fine tuning in the rules department.

Keep in mind that this is only their second event. I'm Optima-mistic about next year.

Fixed it for ya Steve...