Why does the Sanitation Union need a new Prez.

Peter

 

That is why you race!

 

open passing is best, and here you get a courtesy point by most of the time anyway. mandatory point by passing on straights only in advanced DE run groups is annoying.

 

Email sent.
Would you guys be interested in doing a DE at MSR Houston on your way to Austin?

 

+1

It's still a while away and I am keeping my option open. If the passing rule is so stringent that we get black flag every time we pass through turn then I am out! Take a look at the track map ... tons of turns and only two real straights so that means you can potentially sit behind a slow train from T1-10 and T12-20!

Please let us know if there are other club running three days event that will permit passing without restriction.

 

If point by is required then I will not go with that group, it ruins your day when you get people that have tunnel vision.

Thats when you walk up to their car after the session and say, "wow, your car does have mirrors, I just wanted to check."

 

Yep depends on day of week though.

Peter

 

Austin is a long way to go to get no clean laps! I just came from srping mt where i had to run in intermediate group cuz i wasnt wearing a fire suit (this was DE event!?!?). Spent the entire weekend behind corvette moving chicane waiting for point bys on the straights. This was by far the single most frustrating track wknd i have ever had. I knew going into it which group i would be in but figured it would not be that bad. It was. Even advanced group had same passing rules.

 

Guys, keep this in the back your heads. I will have a good amount of track time at Austin by the time everyone starts doing DEs. I would love to come out and help you guys learn the track. Shoot me a PM for some Rennlist group rates

 

Hmmm...maybe DE Cup becomes the next track organizer? "By Trackrats for Trackrats!" Whiners and moving chicanes need not apply. There already seem to be branches in Norcal and S. Florida.

 

Lol! There is a happy medium in regards to passing protocol and it is based on allowing adults to act like adults and "demanding" mutual cooperation. The expectations are set by the event host at the drivers meeting and during the track sessions. Drivers choosing to not respect others in either passing or being passed risk a blacklisting.

SCCA and some other orgs (PCA?) are in the stone-age in regards to the new sensibilities as far as I am concerned. Hooked On Driving is quite progressive and I have a great deal of respect for David Ray for his organizations passing protocols. Best in the business as far as I am concerned.

 

Crazy and frustrating. Here you are a fast, cooperative, adaptive driver and you get a noose around your neck. A perfect example of the "new" generation of trackers and how the rules make no sense.

I blow the doors off all the Track Trials cars (who get liberal passing rules) in my local SCCA, but because I am in Club Trials (no cage), the passing rules are draconian. It's turned on its head, makes no sense and the bureaucracy is so thick it can't be changed. My fellow drivers are all super aware of traffic and great guys but all I get is two clean laps before I catch the slower guys and my CT session is over.

There is going to be a sea-change in event hosts and how events are run and we are seeing the transition right now.

 

We did Road America this summer with MVP during Mancation (I think there were more than 10 of us there). Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not remember ever getting held up the whole time we were there. As for our own group, the passing signals came by one of our guys trying to get out of the way of the faster cars. The only time I was on someones bumper - it was one of us! And I was doing it on purpose.

Not sure which Road America DE it was - either MVP or Nord Stern PCA (best run PCA DE ever) as we ran back to back DE events - but we were passing where ever we wanted whenever we wanted and everyone was respectful and no one was blocking and no one was crying to the stewards. Except this one time when we were 3 side coming out of t8 and I split 2 cars. Stujelly was one of them and did not anticipate that move and he kindly let me know afterwards (all good, we had dinner together that later that summer at Watkins Glen and laughed about it).

 

FWIW - the best DE is by PBOC and they have a group ABOVE Advanced Solo, called Super Solo. Super Solo is open passing, no signals, no pointing, anywhere on the track. Fantastic. One caveat - no one with a racing license of any kind can run in Super Solo.

 

HOD Florida and Southern States don't have good passing rules. NASA HPDE4 and TT are good passing but they sometimes cram way to many cars on track. PCA sorta sucks also unless you are an Inst.

I know let's get Mark Hicks to bring the Chin trailer out to TX. That would be a big win. Or get David Murry to run one of his events there.

Peter