P.J.S.

Glad I could help :-)

gvtesse

Maybe

trackmasters-racing.com
speedventures.com
cfra.net

Horstair

I can speak for NorCal and I second on Trackmasters (Doug Gale). Great group, great clientele and Doug is very flexible. YPTD.com with Phillip Holmes might be another option (Laguna centric though...). I also wouldn't count out NCRC with Dave Mills. They already have their "race category" with standings etc. Shouldn't be that difficult to add us in. The bottom line is that times are tough and very few individual track organizers are filling their "seats". They are already "combining/sharing" trackdays to pool attendees. I think the best way to go is getting us our own run group (or two?) during one of their scheduled events next year. Since the socializing aspect i.e. meeting other rennlisters is the key component of a "get-to-gether", that would be the most efficient and cost-effective option. One single group (or person, like "Savy" -Pete) can just not be successful. Pete lost his shirt on the Reno event, I'm sure, even though over 60 people had "expressed interest" in July and half of them showed up...
By joining one or several groups we also make it easier for not so "hard-core" rennlisters to attend, people who like to drive their cars on the track but are not interested in the last few seconds to wring out...
One track that hasn't been mentioned (and I know Savy doesn't like it...) is Thunderhill in NorCal. While I think Laguna sucks because of the sound limit and I think Sonoma (Sears Point) is a wonderful track if you behave yourself... T-Hill is perfect for a get-to-gether (only ONE wall....) overall, technial enough, 3+miles long and good overnight options.
My 2 cts is that the more RL'ers of all shapes and sizes we can get together at a track at one time the more fun everyone is going to have.

85Gold

Well said makes a lot of sense.

Peter

inverterman

This is the Longest Configuration at Buttonwillow in my 240HP 325is. We would have a ball with this and perhaps work out something with Dave Mills at NCRC.

ChrisF

Speedventures has a history of having special run groups. I'll contact Aaron and ask him what the cost for a separate run group might be and that could dictate how many cars we will need.

savyboy

A lot of great food for thought.

Actually I am fine with Thunderhill, and it is close to me. Laguna is what I don't have any love for.

You are going to need roughly 30 registrants for a personal run group, and will be limited to whatever number and length of sessions they offer. And how many days. Different hosts also have different reputations in how they run an event - which will be of interest to those bringing $100,000-$250,000 cars.

montoya

Yes, my personally preference is an open lapping day format. I have seen it work smoothly with a full range of drivers from intermediate to professional drivers since the track usually stays pretty wide open if the numbers are reasonable. We have that with Porsche train here and it works well. But, I'm game for whatever we can do, as long as it's easy!

drl

I regularly run with a very small private group (12-15 cars). Usually we have the track to ourselves, but a couple times we have piggy backed on a speedventures event, including at laguna. It has always worked perfectly, but that is with a very small group. Not sure how well this would work with 30+ cars of different skill/experience levels, all in one run group.

ChrisF

I emailed Aaron at Speedventures and he was very open to the concept. He suggested a couple of options:

1. Buy out a group within any of their dates. Typically, this is 4 or 5 20 min sessions depending on track. I asked for a ballpark for a track like Buttonwillow and he gave a range of $2500 - $5000 depending on date and how early we would book. I asked just to get an idea of cost.

2. Have our group sign up normally within whatever groups the registrants feel comfortable then buy some dedicated track time for our guys exclusively (20-40 mins). If we have smaller interest than expected, this could be an option.

Aaaron also said that if we were to do several dates within SV, they might be willing to host our rules and results on their website as they do for the Corvette and S2K challenge.

They have a lot of dates at the tracks suggested as well, particularly noting the dates/climates for Spring Mountain and Chuckwalla:
http://www.speedventures.com/events/Default.aspx

Regarding format, I really liked the old Redline Time Attack layout. For a 2 day event, day one was open practice, grouped by experience. Day 2 was morning practice sessions again grouped by experience followed by timed run groups by class. The drivers were let out every 20 seconds or so to gap them and then each was given 4 laps to set a time (1 warm up, 2 timed, 1 cool down). There were usually 3 or 4 timed sessions. Fastest timed run wins.

I've been running with SV since 2004 and while no group is perfect, I have had a long and positive track record running with them. Aaron and Dave are well organized and if we do purchase our own group, I'm guessing we can further adjust our rules as we would like. The struggle, as always, is to get people to commit in advance and not drop out. Given the final attendance at Savvyboy's event, my guess is we will also land around 20-30 drivers.

I'm happy to be the point of contact for any further discussion with SV.

montoya

Perfect scenario- a private run group like that or Porsche Train is always looking for more to cover expenses, up to a point. Talk is cheap, but how many will really show up? The closer you are to a major metro like LA/Seattle/SF/Vegas, the more likely you will have 30 Rennlisters in addition to whatever the private group has. I would be willing to bet though, that for our Porsche Train events at ORP (150 miles from Portland) we would be lucky to get 15 Rennlisters from out of town, but who knows? But as I stated above- an open lapping day format is what I think we are looking for.

Let's get some organizers down south raising their hands and then let's start a poll to gauge the interest....

montoya

This sounds ideal. Regarding the format, let's see who/where/what group we piggyback with. For example, I can say that Porsche Train regulars will not want to deviate from their open lapping format. Somebody like Speedventures who already have run groups, no big deal to run as you suggested.

Let's have some guys voice preference on dates and venues!

This is starting to look good...

996FLT6

Last time joe(rlister speedoflight) and I were both talking to Dave of Ncrc of putting up a dedicated Porsche grp. Maybe be should go into that further. Mike

Horstair

I would think the dates will present themselves once the organizers get their "allotments" from each track. LS has a schedule up through March, none for TH and SP for 2013 yet. As far as I'm concerned, anything from March through early June would work for me (except holidays like Easter etc.).
On the NorCal venues, I think Thunderhill (and Buttonwillow, if you consider that NorCal...) are clear choices. I would love to do Sears but most folks seem to not like the walls...
Laguna, while a historic track, -and if we ever get the Florida crowd out here, they would absolutely have to drive it- BUT with a 92db limit, for us locals that sucks! And I'm personally NOT willing to plug my beautiful Mezger just to appease...
On organizers, Speed could covers us "South" but we would need to hook up with someone (NCRC, TrackMasters?) for ThunderHill and maybe Sears.

85Gold

This Florida boy would like ORP, The Ridge, Thunderhill, Sears Point, LS if I can figure his to get to 92db from 95db the willows tracks spring mountain miller and whatever else you Left Coasters think I should do. My plan is ship the car to Steve Weiners shop as he owes me some then drive from track to track like I do on the One Lap.

Peter