Hey you guys, screw LimeRock and do Mid Ohio,.....then you catch Watkins Glen on the return. Great track and the weather is almost guarented to be nice by mid May.....

 

+1

 

I know i'm not doing LRP this year... travel schedule doesn't work. MO is appealing indeed.

 

Here it is officially: 03/03/11

From: Skip Barber, Georgia Blades and Scott Mayo

As you know, exhaust noise has always been an issue at Lime Rock Park. We operate under a 1959 Court Injunction that stipulates: the number of weekends (10) that we can run unmuffled; other times we aren’t restricted (Tuesday afternoons); the decibel limit for all other track days; and bans Sunday track use. There have been no changes in the injunction and we don’t anticipate any court ordered reductions in noise levels. But we have growing criticism from some of our neighbors; some of which is justified:

1. Significant manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes (AMG), and Ferrari are building street legal cars that at high speed and full throttle are “on the edge” of our required decibel limit. Given the right atmospheric conditions they go over the edge

2. There has been a major increase in the number of small manufactures building great track cars that are too noisy “out of the box”

3. More and more of our track users have cars in these two categories

4. The Skip Barber Racing School has steadily increased its use of “noisy” Miata’s rather than relatively quiet single-seaters

5. There are a small number of SCCA race cars, mostly Porsches that turn up at multiple club events for “cheap” practice. They almost always need to “test” their “improved” exhaust systems, making too much noise in the process

For 25 years the track set a limit 1 dB level below the injunction requirement to be safe and never exceed the mandated limit, unless the exhaust system broke. Cars were checked while stationary, before going on the track, 1000 RPM below the redline, and theoretically never got on track if too loud. There was no on-track testing to check for compliance as there is now. Porsches had the most trouble complying and it was common to have a Lime Rock exhaust system.

Over the years the 1 dB margin has vanished and on-track testing has replaced stationary checking. A common scenario is that a car runs 4 or 5 laps; is too noisy; comes in to correct the problem (often with steel wool); goes out again; the steel wool blows out after a few laps and it takes a few more laps to get the car in. Then the process starts all over and by the end of the day the car has run multiple noisy laps.

And now we have more complaints.

We are going to deal with this proactively:

· We are going to reduce the total noise

· We are going to have a sound engineer calculate the total reduction

· We are going to tell the town what we have done and we are going to stick with it

We are NOT:

· Going to court to try to change the injunction

· Going to complain about the injunction

· Going to criticize the states motor vehicle laws or the measuring system

· Going to make the economic argument that the town needs a viable track – they know that

We want to stand in front of the town and say:

1. The total noise is down_____%

2. All quiet days are quieter

3. Even the biggest professional race, the American Le Mans Series, is down 2 dB

We are going away from a “one size fits all” dB limit; assigning every club a limit we think is reasonable in terms of cost, impact on performance, and effect on entries. We know “reasonable” doesn’t always mean “easy” or “cheap.” The new limit, effective immediately for your club, PCA is 88 db.

The two big problem groups are the school’s Miatas and some Porsches, regardless of what club they run with. The school is fortunate – they have a new sponsor, Borla, who is building them all new complete exhaust systems. They have already tested under 83dB, their new limit at Lime Rock Park. This is a tremendous reduction – they have been running 88-89 dB, and they use the track more than 100 days each season.



Not so easy for some Porsches, so all Porsche clubs go down 1 dB; but we are going to rigidly enforce this. This 88dB limit is for non-race Porsche days – not for Porsche cars regardless of what club they are running with. So a Porsche limit would be:



88 dB Porsche Club Day

105 dB Porsche Race Day

87 dB BMW Club

86 dB PDA non-race

88 dB SCDA

88 dB Lime Rock Drivers Club

105 dB Tuesday afternoon Test & Tune

PLEASE don’t let anyone come for testing or a club day with an unchanged car that was too noisy last year. This isn’t about “beating the system” by short shifting or lifting off the throttle while being checked. This is about lending real meaning to the phrase, “We’re all in this together.”

 

Fred, come trough Buffalo and stay at my place and then we'll head over to MO on Thursday afternoon. I might be doing Cups and Saucers at WG to be sure care is all good on Wednesday May 11th and then head over to MO on Thursday the 12th for MO. I think Dan J. is doing Cups and Saucers too.

 

i wish he did Mid-O too!!! I'll you know when plans firm up for Mid-O. Cheers Wayne!

 

Mid O sounds good where are the details?...... Not sure about making LRP race.....

 

Hey guys, DO MID OHIO!!!! Been there the last two years and it was my favorite race of the season. The track puts LRP to shame, the people are the best, love to have some company from the Northeast!!!!

 

Anybody have any idea if a 964 Cup with a "suitcase" muffler will pass. I don't think the 964 cups ever had a problem before, but was wondering if 88 db is really that low of a bar.

 

+1 again.

I've never been to LRP but Mid Ohio is tough to beat. It's historic, technical, and a bit hairy in places. Plus, for at least the last three years, the racing has been good and clean with a minimal amount of "carnage."

The Mid Ohio conflict for most people is the proximity to the Glen race (two weeks later). But if I can do both, almost anybody can. See you all there!

 

The race is unmuffled, the 88db only is for DE's...

 

Got that Gary. Will be there April 8th. It's a single outlet.

 

Skippy needs some $ so he can hire good lawyers... or sell the track to a few PCA guys with money and lawyers, then we could actually RACE there and not just drink wine and eat cheese 350 days a year.

I love LRP but I'm getting sick of it. A friend just built a race track bigger and better than LRP on his own property within an hour of LRP. He has the lawyers and money and ***** to stop all the complaints, they can no longer sue him to stop using his track. Look at the thieves on wall street who stole the worlds economy a few years ago and got away with billions with no jail time because they bought off the politicians and have the best lawyers. Anything is doable, we need someone like that to turn around LRP and convince the locals that letting us make noise all the time is in their best interests and make them WANT that to happen...

maybe I have been watching my TIVO'd HBO Boardwalk Empire too much lately

 

hmmm...I had asked around here before I signed up for it, and the consensus was that my car would be OK (I do have a cat and a muffler). Hopefully the tighter regulations won't change that

 

944's are normally not loud at all, when you said yours was "pretty loud" I assumed you had either straight pipes or a ricer "fart can muffler" on it. If the exhaust is stock you will be fine..