Street Car Event attendance

[96z28ss]

I think the RTTC was a hit. Its safe to bet everyone had a great time (except if you were told to leave.)
The fact that they had that many cars when it was created in such short notice. It was on Easter Weekend. Same weekend as Barrett Jackson. I think turnout was pretty good.
Myself and Greg drove from Washington and Oregon, to go to this event even though we didn't compete. We wanted to show support for this type of event on the west Coast. (We also need a Power Tour type event also) We volunteered and worked the Autocross we had a blast.

The only thing I would add is that spectators be allowed in, charge a fee and let them watch. El Toro isn't set up for that, so I could understand the reason for that but, as a spectator on the sidelines watching it gets his blood flowing and goes home and gets a car put together and participates in the future.
I don't think Drag Racing and Nascar would be as big as they are if they didn't alow spectator attendance.

These events are in there infancy stage, they are going to grow and they are going to be much more competitive now that money is involved. As projects get finished more people will participate. Im glad I can say I was there when it all started.

[mike343sharpstk]

Originally Posted by 96z28ss

The only thing I would add is that spectators be allowed in, charge a fee and let them watch. El Toro isn't set up for that, so I could understand the reason for that but, as a spectator on the sidelines watching it gets his blood flowing and goes home and gets a car put together and participates in the future.
I don't think Drag Racing and Nascar would be as big as they are if they didn't alow spectator attendance.

These events are in there infancy stage, they are going to grow and they are going to be much more competitive now that money is involved. As projects get finished more people will participate. Im glad I can say I was there when it all started.

I literally JUST called Road America before I read this. For the Street Car Faceoff event spectators can enter the track for FREE, just need to sign a waiver on the way in.

[Blake Foster]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Jimi --

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION....

IMHO these events have to be in locations where you have an abundance of like minded car owners. Doubtful you could put one on up here in the Pacific NorthWET and get enough cars to make it an "event".

Tracy wants one in Nebraska -- but doubtful that would get many takers either.

Yea it's too bad that there don't seem to be enough cars arround.
i would love to do a bunch of events but when it is 24-36 hours of driving ONE WAY it doesn't make it all that feasable.

it looks like i am the one who needs to move.

[GregWeld]

Blake -- We suck...

[mdprovee]

I can say as a newbie, that the RTTC was most everything I wanted.

I enjoyed the autocross and the road course. I knew I had no chance of "winning" but got to hang out, meet people, drive my car, that was the winning in my book. I didnt push my car hard for a few reasons, lack of experience, didnt want to hurt it too bad, amoung things. No one laughed at me. I missed the cruise, but had it not been Easter, I would have done that too.

It is intimidating to come to these events, with some of the better cars and drivers, but EVERYONE was great to talk with, it really lowers the intimidation factor. It was funny...before the event started, Jeff Smith, the magazine editor, came over to talk with me about my car... and we talked not only cars, but some of his family history from the El Toro air base. All the people are just regular people.

The only thing I would have liked would have been more road course time, and some instruction for the new people like me. I am trying to go to local events to get that too.

I would highly recomend if you are on the fence about going to something like this, do it, and you will have a good time, no matter what the outcome is.

[Blake Foster]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Blake -- We suck...

GREG..............




Speak for yourself



there is a open track day July 22 at Seattle??? on the thursday prior to GG thats what i'm shooting for

[rogue]

Originally Posted by mdprovee

I can say as a newbie, that the RTTC was most everything I wanted.

I enjoyed the autocross and the road course. I knew I had no chance of "winning" but got to hang out, meet people, drive my car, that was the winning in my book. I didnt push my car hard for a few reasons, lack of experience, didnt want to hurt it too bad, amoung things. No one laughed at me. I missed the cruise, but had it not been Easter, I would have done that too.

It is intimidating to come to these events, with some of the better cars and drivers, but EVERYONE was great to talk with, it really lowers the intimidation factor. It was funny...before the event started, Jeff Smith, the magazine editor, came over to talk with me about my car... and we talked not only cars, but some of his family history from the El Toro air base. All the people are just regular people.

The only thing I would have liked would have been more road course time, and some instruction for the new people like me. I am trying to go to local events to get that too.

I would highly recomend if you are on the fence about going to something like this, do it, and you will have a good time, no matter what the outcome is.

Don't be intimidated...

All kinds of people track all types of cars every weekend. High Performance Driving Events exist all over the country at tracks across the country. You can go to your local track and look at the calendar to find groups you can run with any weekend that suits you. People often rent cars for the events just to beat on. Mini coopers, even cadillacs/lincoln towncars.

Many run groups give instructors free lap time in exchange for their free instruction.

http://www.opentrackracing.com/

is just one of many examples of the clubs running in Socal. I'd personally like to see more pro-touring folks coming out to local events to get track time.

No need for things to be big productions with pro-touring only cars and sponsors. I do understand their purpose, function in the community and the comfort level of people running with cars of equal style/build. The best part of track days for me is lapping modern sports cars in a 41 year old car. I'm glad there was a carrera GT at the RTTC event for that purpose.

As a community, we should all post any time we plan to attend a local track day, and get together casually as well. Not just at events that are planned months in advance.

[chr2002ca]

Hi Jimi,

The RTTC event was too much fun to not attend again so I think you'll find a growing base of participants year after year. If you could do anything, just get the word out more often and sooner, post vids and photos, etc. Stress to people that you can come out and have a great time and there is absolutely no pressure to punish your car or 'compete'(it's very easy to get all wrapped up in 'competition' and forget about that). There are a limited number of people out their doing this stuff competitively(money, time), so if you can pull in more of the 'just for fun' population, you'll get increased participation year after year, because it's damn fun.

Originally Posted by rogue

Bottom line is, a lot of people feel their cars aren't ready, are too nice, or are too scared to ball em up.

You know, I do love your enthusiam for driving your car hard and trying to get people to participate with you, but honestly, you do go a little overboard with your criticism of people not driving their cars as hard as you have chosen to. I've even seen a post of yours where you ragged on somebody when they did bring their car out to the track but weren't driving it 'fast enough'. Your enthusiam for driving hard and your contributions to this site are very much appreciated(I'm a fan of your car and your videos), but you might want to be a little more careful about how you criticize others and what they decide to do with their cars and how they drive. If you think that getting people to participate by ragging on them for not participating is a good practice, well, maybe it isn't:

Originally Posted by rogue

Not a single person has ever shown.

[mike343sharpstk]

I am so much looking forward to checking out the action next week at Road America.
Idea, as this competition grows, how about two classes?
One class would be an unlimited class.
The other class would be limited to minimal modifications for cars still retaining the stock-style sustension. This 'slower' class may draw in more guys with modified stock suspension (tubular control arms, big sway bars, while still retaining leaf springs, etc.). This is what most pro-touring guys do.

This way the stock-style cars could still compete with each other for the fastest-in-class without trying to go up against the stuff with full custom race suspension under it.

This would give the companies that sell tubular replacement parts and sway bars a venue to show off their 'bolt-on' parts and compete at that level.

[bret]

After reviewing the various comments posted on the Pro Touring and Lateral G forums it seems the main concerns are as follows:

concerned about driving skill
concerned about being slow or looking like a novice
concerned about hurting their car
Too little track time for the time and expense required
No reason to go /nothing to see if you are not racing
Driving Distance
Hopefully the information below will address some of these concerns:


Mothers Car show – We know there are lots of guys who have a keen interest in this kind of event but don’t want to subject themselves or their car to an all out track assault...slow, fast, or otherwise. The car show portion of the MMC is designed to give hotrodders a way to participate without putting their car on the track. Pre-registering for the MMC car show gets you a goody bag [with all the swag inside!] 2 Flowmaster RibFeast meal tickets, and a prime parking spot while you are watching the track activities. Although there won’t be any “trophies”, we will select 5 cars from this group to be featured on the Mothers Car Show that is being filmed at this event!

Bowler 99 Mile cruise – The only performance criteria for this segment is that you drive your car from Putnam Park to the Flowmaster Ribfeast to demonstrate that you actually have a street car and not a race car. There is no time criteria and the points award is minimal. If you break something at Putnam Park, trailering your car to RibFeast will only impose a minimal penalty.

BFG Hot Laps Road course Segment

Tire rules – We understand that this is primarily a street car event and that the drivers have limited on-track experience, especially with sticky tires. That is why we have decided to have everyone run a 200 treadwear tire [or harder]. We feel this provides the best chance for “mainstream” street cars [driven by non-professional drivers] to exhibit their cababilities safely.

The runoff area is large, flat, and grassy to make even to most inexperienced hotrodder comfortable with pushing their car and themselves to go a little faster.

Novice run groups – There will be 3 run groups at the MMC – Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. You can indicate which run group you prefer when you pre register . That way you will be combined with people and cars of similar experience and speeds so no one gets run over…or unnecessarily slowed down.

Track time - As the day goes on [and people inevitably drop out to rest their cars or themselves] we may combine some of these run groups and/or allow people to change run groups to increase your track time potential. If every run group is filled [and stays that way all day] you will get at least 6 sessions of 15 minutes each. Lap time at Putnam Park is approx. 1:30-1:40, so each session will get you around 10 laps. Shorter sessions are easier on the car and the driver, and allow ample time to rest and make vehicle checks and adjustments.

Timing runs – For the Road course portion of the event, we are providing transponders for each participant to offer accurate, reliable lap times. We will record all of your laps with the fasted lap determining your ranking at the end of the day. This way you can spend most of the day practicing/tuning/learning to drive without the pressure to make every lap count.

Spectre Top Speed Challenge – During the BFG Hot Lap sessions we will be recording top speeds for the Spectre Top Speed Challenge.

RideTech Street Challenge Autocross Segment

The autocross track will be approx. 50-60 seconds long for most cars. You will likely use 2nd and possibly 3rd gear on this course, and reach speed of up to 60 mph in some spots. The runoff area is huge so you’ll be able to let it hang out without fear of running into anything solid.

We will be able to run 2 cars on the autocross at the same time so you will get LOTS of track time here. Again, every run will be recorded with your fastest time determining your final ranking, so there is no pressure to make every lap count. Theoretically, if the full roster of cars makes every lap you should get 12 runs in that day. In reality, it will likely be closer to 20 runs because not everyone will want to run every time it’s their turn. You will get a time slip for every lap so you can tune your car and yourself.

Baer Brakes Speed-Stop Challenge

The format will be as follows:
Accelerate from the starting line for approximately 800 feet to the brake zone marker cones
Stop within the confines of the 40 foot long x 20 foot wide stop box.
The object is to get to the stop box [and stop within it] as quickly as possible. This will be a test of both your acceleration abilities and your braking abilities. Think of it as a drag race where you have to stop completely within a designated box! Each participant will get as many runs as time allows to optimize their times.

Awards – The RideTech Street Challenge Autocross and the Baer Speed Stop Challenge will end at 4:00 CST. We will have an awards ceremony at 5:00 CST so everyone can get an early start for home and enjoy the rest of the Memorial Day weekend.

In addition to the segment winners we will crown an overall Midwest Musclecar Challenge “King of the Hill”. In addition to the product prizes this person will receive a beautiful lettermans jacket with the MMC logo on the back and their mane and date on the front so you can show off your accomplishment to all your friends!

General information
· Trailer and RV parking – both Putnam Park and the Lawrenceville Mid America Airport have plenty of trailer and RV parking. There will be no overnight parking at the Putnam Park facility but camping WILL be allowed at Lawrenceville. The airport also offer secured trailer parking for Saturday night. There are NO RV hookups or dumps at either facility.

· Consessions and bathrooms – There will be GOOD food available at both Putnam Park and at Lawrenceville. You are certainly welcome to bring your own, but if you don’t, we won’t let you starve! Putnam Park has nice restroom facilities and trash containers. We will have a good supply of CLEAN port-a-johns at Lawrenceville.

· Optima Invitational – The Midwest Musclecar Challenge is a QUALIFIER event for the year end Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. ONE vehicle will be chosen to represent the MMC event at this year end invitational. It will LIKELY be the overall winner, but only if the overall winner has not already qualified, AND is willing to make the commitment to travel to Las Vegas in November to participate in this televised event.

You DO NOT have to make yourself eligible for the Optima Ultimate Streetcar Invitational to participate in the Midwest Musclecar Challenge. It will have NO effect on the scoring or the outcome of the MMC event at all. It merely provides an OPPORTUNITY for you to be included in Las Vegas event.


Remember the goal here is to have fun with your family and your car. Going fast is optional, and but a happy coincidence!

Now that you know just a little more about the event...here is how to get in on the fun: http://www.midwestmusclecarchallenge.com/?page_id=13