genikz

Great vid!

About 1 min. in was a great tank-slapper save. You guys sure do bump a lot, but I guess that's why Porsche put the bumper pads on there right?!?

Makes me think I should move my tow hooks so they don't protrude past the bumper pads.

Drewsifer

I'm looking through the rules, and it seems the only things that absolutely NEED to happen for me to race would be a roll cage, racing seat with harness, tires, a suit, helmet, and HANs device. Weather or not the car would be even remotely competitive (it probably wouldn't be) is another matter. But I could keep the car street legal. Hmmm....maybe I need to rethinking sell my car.

Weston

Yeah, the bumping is just a friendly thing between people who still have bumper pads and want to do it, so there's no damage and it's all in good fun.

Drewsifer

I hope you're happy. Now I'm very seriously thinking about trying to make this work. PIR is only about 6 hours away I guess, and FIR a little less than that. As I already have the car, I could do it. Now I'm agonizing over it! I'd either need to buy a truck and trailer, or find a place to store it up around Phoenix. I could upgrade to newer parts when something breaks. If I had hair I'd be pulling it out!

genikz

I totally understand. I'm rethinking my tow hooks so I CAN bump

84-944

Come and play....your life will never be the same! Seriously, driving to the track with anticipation, race day drivers meeting, buckling in, gridding, rollout, pace lap, GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! REMEMBER TO SHIFT!!!

You have to experience it to know...and you'll dream about it for days.

You'll excuse me, I'm going upstairs to break out the race videos and...nevermind.

B.

svochuck

el paso to pueblo co. 8.5 hours . but if you can March is a driving school and we have 2 or 3 cars that will only have a cage and safety equipment.

We had a great time making that video ! next year at miller with maybe 50+ 944-spec race cars. 30 somthing cameras WOW !

M758

Here are the baics costs for running a 944 spec car.

http://944spec.org/944SPEC/images/st...rtingcosts.jpg

What they don't included are what can be quite personal expenses. Those include transport costs to and from the track, lodging and non standard repairs and upgrades. The transport costs are farily east to get a handle on, but repairs and upgrades all over the map. A well sorted car really will not need and special repairs as they are very realiable once sorted. They can be driven very hard for a long long time. However if you make and error like over reving the motor due to a missed downshift you can bend valves and need head work. Also in our class crash damage is pretty rare. For the most part we don't condone contact and it not common part of racing. It would not be uncommon to run 5-6 years with zero contact in Phoenix racing. Even so al little bad luck and couple of mistakes and you may find yourself needing to do body work twice in 6 months. Sadly I have seen it happen as well as guys who needed to rebuilt motors 2-3 times due what is a little bit of bad luck combined with some driver and maintaince errors. I don't want to put a downer on this, but NO racing is cheap when looked at not racing at all. However 944 spec is one of the cheapest ways you can race. You won't be able to race any car in any series for much cheaper than the 944 in 944 spec. The good thing about doing it in 944 spec is we aim to have fun off track have very good close even competetion on track.

M758

The minimum requirements for 944 spec are the safey stuff. NASA will not let anyone race unless their car has all the safety gear in place. That means roll cage, racing seat, window net, side net, fire ext, and harness. NASA also requires drivers have proper race suits, socks, gloves, helmets (SA rated) and as of June 2008 a SFI38.1 compliant head and neck restraing. (IE HANS, but there a few others compliant). The driver must also be licensed and safe to race on track. NASA has a DE program that can help you progress for never-been-to-the-track novice to a fully legal safe and fast racer. How long the program takes is dependant on the driver skills and ability to learn.

I will say that running at Firebird and PIR we in Arizona have a very strong 944 spec class. We had 11 944 spec cars racing this past Saturday and 9 on Sunday. I would expect to see car counts of 10 to 15 through out the year. We also are the oldest 944 spec region as our first real race was in September 2002 at Firebird East. What that means is that we have some of the most experienced 944 spec racers in the country right here. Competition is very strong at the front of the grid and most of us have been racing each other for 5 years now. Even so we have new drivers coming on line all the time so we have a range of speeds. One aspect that most of us more experience 944 drivers do is also help out the other newer drivers both for car prep and driver training. While some of us have been with each other for many years we WELCOME all new guys and want to see them have fun and feel at home both in the paddock on track. If you have good attitude you WILL have fun with us. We will make sure of that.

I will say that a fully stock 944 with required safety gear will probably be one of the slowest cars in the entire race filed at any NASA Firebird of NASA PIR races. So while you can race a 944 spec with just safety gear for running Az region events I would suggest running in the DE groups while you build you skills, car and speed. Right now we have one new driver who has been slowly converting his 944 from street trim to spec trim, but along the way has been running in every Driver ed event he can. We have a large area in Paddock reserved just for 944 spec and we all hang out together so you do not need to be in the race group to have fun with 944 spec crowd.

Drewsifer

There's just one issue M758, I'm so far away. I couldn't just jet off do to a DE. I'd never have time to work on my car, unless I kept it here with me, which means I would have to get a truck and trailer. Sadly, I will have to pass on this. It's fun to think about, but there are to many logistical issues for me to do it. *tear*

M758

Yes distance is always an issue.

What are the closest tracks to you?

Drewsifer

The nearest track would be the Phoenix International Raceway. Which at about 6 hours away is not terribly far, it's far enough that it makes things complicated.

M758

So dallas Ft worth is over 6hrs from you? You in the El Paso area correct?

Drewsifer

Dallas Forth Worth is about 8 hours away. Yes, El Paso (Sorry forgot to mention that).

M758

Well you are in No-Mans land. There is a race track in Demming, NM, but NASA Arizona does not rent that for racing. The Southern Az PCA (Tucson based) some times rents it for DE, but that is about all you get at that track. Maybe a few DE days here and there.