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It's been a long time, but when I made the transition from Regionals (and cars that were Regional eligible only) to Nationals (now Majors), there was a massive step up in comparative lap times, intensity, skill level at the front and better driving all around.
Especially in Production car and sports car (Prototype/Sports Racer) racing classes...
maybe too long of a time... I just grabbed the first Sonoma race from 2018 and compared it to a regional weekend. no real difference at all time wise …...actually the regional weekend was much faster as far as top time and average time.. Sonoma raceway.... Major vs regional. there were more cars in the majors, but many much slower 1:38 for the regional vs 1:42 for the Majors and slow times were 1:50 for the regional and over 2:00 for the Majors...………...just say'in
No, just not as competitive out there, as FBB has said. BIG difference.
Regional E Prod/F Prod (typical) Regional times
National (Majors) E Production/F Production times 2018 (same year as Regional results shown above)
Majors Production times
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Peter,
you are cherry picking one class. T4 and Spec miata don't equal EP. (for example) . I used a more relevant comparison and you can make that at any region around the country. You do understand that regional classes don't equal national classes, so when you compare a specific class in a region , you need to look at their run group. (eg An GT2 national car could equal GT2 regional or ITE Regional running in group "3") the OP's question is related to this. what I have found is that with the majors, these run groups have very similar times and often, the regional times are faster. However, there are more cars generally in a Majors event (not always), and often, the regional event is part of a majors weekend, so that ALL the classes are mixed together.. that alone shows, at least in the west, that it doesn't really matter what weekend you run your car in SCCA. (majors or regional). I will agree, on a majors exclusive weekend, thought the times might not be any faster, the overall skill and experience would be found to be higher. but that's not always the case.
Again, another example of this majors weekend vs regional weekend.... the regional class had MUCH faster times . for a given class, not much of a difference. CERTAINLY never as much of a delta as you showed in your cherry picked example of a T4 guy being 10 seconds a lap slower in regional vs major. ive rarely seen disparity like that out west. below is a great example as well. T2 for regional vs T2 in Major... look, the times are the same.. one is a National competitor and one is just a regional guy... and many regional guys below him are not that far behind
Originally Posted by ProCoach
No, just not as competitive out there, as FBB has said. BIG difference.
Regional E Prod/F Prod (typical)
Regional times
National (Majors) E Production/F Production times 2018 (same year as Regional results shown above)
Mark, I don’t care about the touring classes. Besides, your regional sheet shows Regional only classes, ITE and SP, which are a real catch all, not competitive classes.
I am showing the standard difference between a competitive regional production field and a Majors production field. Nearly TEN seconds faster in the Majors race for EP and FP.
As it was when I made the jump, and as it has been for a long, long time.
Mark, I don’t care about the touring classes. Besides, your regional sheet shows Regional only classes, ITE and SP, which are a real catch all, not competitive classes.
I am showing the standard difference between a competitive regional production field and a Majors production field. Nearly TEN seconds faster in the Majors race for EP and FP.
As it was when I made the jump, and as it has been for a long, long time.
you didn't read the sheets, they both show the regional classes which have the national classes mixed in AND the majors results. are you saying, "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up? (as you mention "regional classes) T2 for example. regional and Majors. that's the comparison. these are NATIONAL CLASSES.. I showed you national classes on a regional weekend and Majors weekend. there is NO difference and I suspect that is the way it would be around the country as well.... this all to address the OP's concern of driving during a Majors weekend. No, I think aside from more traffic (more entries) there is no real difference in the times. probably a slightly average level of experience, but not enough to deter any 1 season experienced driver. Now, without cherry picking, your ONE weekend where an EP driver was 10 seconds faster than another driver at a regional race, find that to be the norm for me..... that's absolutely crazy logic right now. we have had a lot of EP cars out west.. there are no differences between the regional times, majors times OR times at the runoffs for that matter!!
Thanks. It looks like due to shortage of tracks in Texas, the regionals/majors are the same.
Originally Posted by SM#80
SCCA Majors events are supposed to have a little more draw and tend to bring out some of the faster cars/drivers. At least that's the case where I typically run.
Originally Posted by Thundermoose
Seems like all the same cast of characters from what I can tell.
Originally Posted by cds4402
Is there a significant difference in lap times between SCCA regional racing versus majors? I’m planning my first race, and it doesn’t seem like there are any regionals in Texas with the SCCA. Only majors.
Have fun... majors are usually combined out west too and there are no real differences in the weekend. sometimes regionals are much more competitive and faster due to a wider class range, some exceeding Major's classes. this is true especially if the weekends are combined with regional classes.
Majors and Regionals are a location dependent thing.
On the east coast, there is a marked difference in lap times. While some of the majors regulars drop down and run regionals at their home track, many don't.
On the west coast, SCCA just isn't as big and geographically its more spread out. So the same people run any event they can. Don't compare the west coast SCCA to the rest of the country as it's not a valid comparison.
I've won 20 car SRF races at regionals. I was mid pack at Nationals/Majors.
For SRF at the Majors you will have people to run with. Same with SM. The difference is that there will be a larger group of people ahead of you than at a simple regional.
The Majors in the middle part of the country get a few extra fast guys that come in are making the run for points and season championships. It won't affect the middle of the pack most of the time.
If your first race is going to be a Majors, just be a solid predictable driver. You'll be fine.
^^This has been my experience too. I'm a West coaster who races East every other year. Big difference! This is part of the reason the Sonoma Runoffs were scary for SCCA because the subscribership was light. If SCCA continues the Westcaost runoffs it is going to get lighter still because when you compare what the SF region did for Sonoma with what the region did for Indy Runoffs no one but a local or a ringer from the East who thinks he could win because the competition isn't there would come.
My experience on the east coast side of things was that it depended a lot on the class you race. The heavier the class, the more the majors are going to be vastly different than the regionals. For SM, the majors are major. Some of the smaller classes may have only 2-5 cars in regionals and not much more in the Majors, thus not as competitive.
03-22-2019, 03:45 PM
