Chad I autocrossed many a day in 105 heat
changing tires on and off the car before and after
I used to run against a Doctor who had AC in his turbo
car... I would go over and he would barely roll the window
down.. ac blasting... classical music going... I told him
that it was cheating.. he just laughed and rolled the window
back up.. had some fun times running against him
Now if it gets too damned hot I just roll into my f250
and crank up the AC for a few minutes
One comment I have for anyone listening... A couple of years ago I attended the Australian V8 Supercars race at COTA. It was the first, and only so far, event that I have attended where they used a crossover portion of the track which cuts off the rear dogleg. I really liked that track setup, and I think it would be worth considering for this event. It takes the highest speed portion of the track out of the equation (coming back down from turn 11 to turn 12).
It would allow more actual laps and take some of the risk out of the event. I realize that may not be the most popular suggestion, but I like the possibility of more laps with less risk personally!
Looking forward to making a couple of events next year, one in my back yard!!!
Found a good map showing the option I am referring to... See the cutover at turn 5...
Come on! You haven't lived until you've been 160+ with the aerodynamics of a brick!
The sponsors like Detroit Speed offer suspension parts for 5th gens, in addition to Vintage cars, K&N/Spectre offer parts for all year cars, Falken doesn't care if the car is new or old using their tires. Same for Lingenfelter, Holley & Wilwood brakes, they all sell parts for all year cars. The sponsors have adapted to the new world, so while you all like to complain about c5 Corvettes, Evo's or 5th gen Camaro's running in the event, if we didn't run, there would likely be no events as the Vintage guys are not coming out in force to the USCA qualifier events.
There were only 128 GTV cars registered all year at the 9 USCA events, and about 30 of those participated in more than one event to try and qualify for the OUSCI event. If the vintage cars want to be represented in greater numbers all they have to do is sign up and accumulate enough points to make the big show, like the EVO guys from RS Motors did.
They limit the number of entries, so fill the field at each event with as many vintage cars as you all can. USCA and Optima put on great events that provide all of us with a playground to drive the piss out of our cars and get some great seat time, which I do with a lot of friends at events. Do I ever expect to win the event? No, Do I have any less fun seeing where I stack up? No and I finished 57th overall...I am happily looking forward to the 2016 season!
Dannie, imho the reason you're not seeing the vintage cars out in force is, most know they have no chance of being competitive driving old iron. It's sad to see the genre of cars that built this series dwindling in participation. I think it will continue in this direction until this is just another racing series with late model cars competing. I understand why Optima is doing it this way, they want to sell batteries to the largest audience they can and there's a larger pool of late model cars than vintage cars.
There should be 2 classes, Vintage and Late model. As Tim mentioned, 1992 and back are basically aero bricks compared to 1996-2015 cars.
Aero drag and downforce starts to play a big part of handling at 100 mph and up.
To put in perspective, back in 1969-1970, it took 620HP in a Dodge Daytona (which was very aerodynamic for 1970) to go 200mph and now it only takes ~450hp to go 200mph in a latest NASCAR speedway cup car.
There should be 2 classes, Vintage and Late model. As Tim mentioned, 1992 and back are basically aero bricks compared to 1996-2015 cars.
Aero drag and downforce starts to play a big part of handling at 100 mph and up.
To put in perspective, back in 1969-1970, it took 620HP in a Dodge Daytona (which was very aerodynamic for 1970) to go 200mph and now it only takes ~450hp to go 200mph in a latest NASCAR speedway cup car.
Dont know what's coming for 2016, but they did have GTV (vintage) class, for vehicles 1989 model year or older. So that takes out the old cars vs. modern car argument. It just seem that not many older cars participated this year, and I'm not sure why.
Come on! You haven't lived until you've been 160+ with the aerodynamics of a brick!
I hear ya... If someone like Dusold decides to turn up the boost on his Camaro, coming out of turn 11, with 3/4 of a mile and a running start, I bet he can hit that or more!
Dannie, imho the reason you're not seeing the vintage cars out in force is, most know they have no chance of being competitive driving old iron. It's sad to see the genre of cars that built this series dwindling in participation. I think it will continue in this direction until this is just another racing series with late model cars competing. I understand why Optima is doing it this way, they want to sell batteries to the largest audience they can and there's a larger pool of late model cars than vintage cars.
This seems to be a "chicken or the egg first" classic..... My thought is that HAD Classic American Muscle turned out in sufficient numbers at the local events... you might not be seeing the number of late models and imports. It takes quite a few entrants to make these events worthwhile. If you need 70 cars to turn out and only 30 show up -- that's a huge loss.... and that's EXACTLY what we saw the first year or so. Low turnouts of those the series initially catered to. Then what's left?? Open it up and promote it to more entrants...
I don't know that people understand what it takes to put on one of these events. The club I belong to says it cost $60,000 (sixty thousand dollars) to rent Sonoma Raceway and put on a weekend event! That's 120 folks paying $500 for two days just to break even...
This seems to be a "chicken or the egg first" classic..... My thought is that HAD Classic American Muscle turned out in sufficient numbers at the local events... you might not be seeing the number of late models and imports. It takes quite a few entrants to make these events worthwhile. If you need 70 cars to turn out and only 30 show up -- that's a huge loss.... and that's EXACTLY what we saw the first year or so. Low turnouts of those the series initially catered to. Then what's left?? Open it up and promote it to more entrants...
I don't know that people understand what it takes to put on one of these events. The club I belong to says it cost $60,000 (sixty thousand dollars) to rent Sonoma Raceway and put on a weekend event! That's 120 folks paying $500 for two days just to break even...
Greg, I'm not real sure where you think they catered to vintage cars last year, this basic format/rule set has used since this series started. I know what it costs to do these events trust me. It's their sandbox and they should do what they want since they're footing the bill. In it's current configuration the lightweight AWD cars are going to eventually dominate this event. I'm not sure how you fix it or if they should, but I don't ever see a vintage car being competitive at the invitational ever again.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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