Shout out for the Mid Ohio Club Race. The track is in great shape and they are finally addressing some of the other issues at the track - gate 3 entrance is now paved!

Still plenty of spaces left.

We are thinking about starting the races on the back stretch this year - like the pro's do.

 

Guess I will have to find a new place to take pics

 

Back stretch starts are the way to go...NASA has been doing it there for years...can reduce the number of first corner crunches significantly. Good decision !

 

What turn is considered the back section?

 

The straight between Turn 2 carousel and China Beach.

 

yes yes yes to alternate start location

 

Keyhole to China beach

 

World challenge started on the front straight last weekend. Might not have been the same number of cars in the group though.

 

For those who have forgotten....

https://vimeo.com/47956007

 

Great race weekend! I love the track, love the garages, love the keg beer.

I've never taken a green on the back straight so I don't have first hand knowledge. But I think there are positives and negatives to both locations.

Front straight: as long as they throw the flag late (and they do), the speeds into turn 1 are relatively slow for that corner (not much hard braking). Turn 1 is wide (can go 3 wide) and then there is another straight where positions get sorted pretty easily.

Back straight: it seems speeds into China Beach would be pretty fast with harder braking and a corner that is more narrow followed by a combination of corners where issues could compound. But obviously most of the Pro races start there so it must work fine.

 

Old video of a back straight start in probably the only car I've owned that I really miss

<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/37211099">NASA Nationals 2007 GTS Challenge John Haas</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user10536898">John Haas</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

In BMWCCA we always started on the back.

 

They also started adding rolling starts to their race weekends, thank god.....in which case, makes it easier for big fields to line up accordingly, compared to the front straight.

Between T1 and the Keyhole is also easier to keep cars in formation than compared to thunder valley through the carousel.....

Regardless, should be a fun weekend, look forward to it.

 

To those of you who ran Saturday afternoon - that was AWESOME racing You boys must have ***** of steel

 

Saturday was slippery that's for sure !! I think starts should be on the back straight.